Atta bir'tay to our GG.

Look, this lady sporting the shorty shorts is now a Grammie, or a GG, or a Gammie, depending on with which of her older grandkids you're speaking. Who knows what the newest one will call her when he talks.

In looking over the rest of the pictures I have of Keith's younger days, I found many with either Keith or Angela or both pouting, drooling on themselves or staring off into the distance. The one common factor in all the pics is that GG is always smiling and happy. And that's what she does, she brings happiness and love to everyone around her and she's always, always thinking of ways to give to others. I love her for many reasons, and I'm not at all shy to say that some of those include her love for ironing and willingness to sew sockmoneys late into the night, but it's her desire to understand everyone's perspective and to make everyone feel loved that makes our GG a gem.

We love you, GG, and happy birthday to you!

We Saw Baby A'ecks

First, a quick happy birthday to GG! Atta bir'tay to you! More posts and pictures related to that tonight. I would have uploaded them last night, but her son got me sucked into an episode of CSI New York, and my productivity for the evening came to a halt.

The rest of this blog is from two weekends ago, that's how behind we are. We did see baby Alex this past weekend, too, but that's for another blog entry. This is back two weeks ago, when our fair city had the first gorgeous weather weekend. We would have been sitting around our house wondering what to do with ourselves, but Hancock, of Private School and Hancock, invited us to meet them at a park. We said yes! 

So, we dressed our children alike and went to the park. We ran.

Alex threw the ball. Is he not getting to be such a big boy?

And then the biggest of the kids, Private School, (except Keith) coerced the kids into sliding down the big hill. He may or may not have been doing this on his own for a while under the guise of waiting for little kids to join him.

And sadly I don't even have pictures of the cutest gal there, apparently I was so confused by the sun coming out that I forgot how to take pictures. Anyways, Baby Kate, who ousted Alex (formerly known as A'ecks) as the baby in their family. She's a cute nugget of a girl, Keith and I are honored to be her godparents. I've not confirmed with her mom, but I'm pretty sure being a godmother gives me rights to things like prom and wedding dress shopping with my Kate. No? Seems like that would be right up there with providing spiritual and life guidance, I'm just saying. If you want to ogle Baby K, then go back to this post, and scroll down. 

See you tonight for some vintage GG pics!

Lil' Bit of Reading

The title here should be "a little bit of reading, a lot of flashlight".  You might recall that the favorite thing Santa brought these two were the little flashlights. Naturally their dad would point out immediately that one can explore another person's ears and mouth with this flashlight. So if I get a chance to sit with these two and the flashlights are out, Cole asks, Momma, I check yo eahs? And I let him.

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Then, Momma, let me see yo mouf. 

Then it turns into a cast shadows on yourself to make your brother laugh moment.

And then mom spoils the party by reminding you that you asked to sit on the couch an extra 5 minutes to read. This is what it looks like when that same mom asks to take a picture of the book so I can show people what you're reading. 

The other one is more cooperative in showing the book, but not the face. This is his current favorite book. 

Das my Disney Book. 

We do eventually settle and do some reading/making up stories. Per Grady's imagination, Ariel makes her dad very mad and she gets a timeout. She a bad guwl.

But reading is fun for maybe 15 minutes (notice how they've now stayed up way past the additional 5 minutes they begged for) when there is a furbaby nearby and soon poor Elvis becomes the target of their attention. A little hug from the back.

And some mild taunting from the front. 

And then, bedtime. 

SoccerBallPlayer

Somebody needs to get busy with work, so this will be short. See the ball in the picture below? A soccer ball, right? And when you play with these, you become a soccer player. Except if you're Cole or Grady, then you become a SoccerBallPlayer. All one word. 

And when you play, you charge the ball yelling SOCCERBALLPLAYAAAAAAAAAAAAA....

One can't be too into the game-once in a while you look back at the camera to give the fans what they want.

Kick, dribble, whatever its called.

As is natural when your attention span is short, other things become more interesting and you become a SoccerBallCarrier.

And pose in the lesser known yoga stance, UpwardSoccerWarrior.

And then, if mom is lucky, she can sneak inside to get dinner started while keeping an eye on the SoccerBallPlayers. This lasts maybe 15 minutes, and when the picture below was taken, I know we were towards the end of nicely playing outside. See how Grady is looking inside to see if I'm watching? That's not a good sign, it means he's about to do something he's not supposed to, and he is seeing if he can get away with it. 

No you can't, little man, Momma's watching you.

Fwiends

Last November we had our buddies M&M over for a play date while their parents moved. We loved it so much, we had them over again. I still think 4 is easier than 2 at this age, but maybe that's because mine are better behaved (ie. less whiney) when other kids are around. We got our morning started with a little breakfast that M&M's parents brought with them. 

Some of us just shoveled it in.

Others talked and talked. 

Our plan was to spend most of the morning at the park, but it was still too chilly, so we played inside for a little while. Cars and trucks first.

And then some coloring. Morgan was very good at this, and colored peacefully. Cole, on the other hand, was not interested in sharing with his brother, which led to Keith comforting Grady while he's having a very dramatic, but at the same time half-hearted, fit. Morgan helped soothe it over by offering to share with Grady. It took him a few minutes, but he finally accepted.

Ah. And this is just precious. Our buddy Mason seems to love music, and Cole loves the drums. They had the most precious jam session. 

Next was puzzle time. Morgan and I had the funniest conversation while she did this puzzle. This girl is chatty, and so very very funny. 

Grady was playing in the room, but got smart and came and hung out "wif da wadies". 

Then it was park time. No camera at the park this day, but we had a good time climbing, sliding, running, and coveting another kid's trumpet. We worked up an appetite, and came home for lunch. And then a few of us got a little cranky, so we decided everyone should regroup on the couch with a freshly baked cookie. Or two.  

I can't decide what I like more here: the fact that Mason loves that truck so much it HAD to watch the movie with him, or the fact that Cole is almost laying down when everyone else is sitting up. Why sit when you can recline?

Good times with these four. And bonus, this weekend it's M&M's birthday, so we'll be seeing them again.