So, I guess I lost a week somewhere again. Sigh.
But the big highlight of the last two weeks was Grant’s first birthday party. Whee! We celebrated with family at Joan and Skip’s house. We had Jill and crew, Jamie and Nadine, Pat and John, and Beth and Roger. We had a tasty taco bar and then cake. Albertson’s does a little free cake for the baby and it turns out to be kind of huge for a one year old, but it was all his to go nuts with. And he did. See photos:
He got lots of books. He loves the ones where we can read it with animal noises. He also got a little play guitar that he’s nuts for. You hit buttons on it and it plays songs and he does his little bounce dance along with it.
A week ago Friday, we had Cole over to spend the weekend and I took the boys to Disneyland. It worked out great. They chattered happily and I followed them from ride to ride, then stood in line behind them contentedly reading a book. Best plan ever. Saturday morning was the Scout pancake breakfast fundraiser. Kenny and a friend cooked pancakes, other adults cooked sausages, and the boys took orders and served people. I think the Cub Scouts did way better than the boy Scouts on this and James was a pretty good little worker. I was in charge of “PR” or “marketing” or whatever you want to call it for this, and it was the highest grossing breakfast yet, so I felt good being a part of the reason why.
Saturday night Kenny and I had a date night at a stake fireside with Susan Easton Black where she talked about Joseph Smith and it was pretty interesting. Then we went to Yo Yum Yum Yogurt with the Woerners.
This past weeks was pretty much the usual. James had fun at rock climbing on Monday, Tuesday night we had a pack meeting where Kenny ran the paper airplane show, and I went and played Tennis after with Kastell and Alaina. I’m getting kind of better at it. Friday night, a friend of ours from the ward watched the boys so we could go on a group date to see the Bond movie, Quantum of Solace. It was fun. I didn’t totally follow the story but the car chase and stuff blowing up is always a good time. We followed that up with a visit to the Cheesecake Factory afterward. Yum!
Saturday was pretty mellow. We slept in because baby didn’t wake up until 10:30 which is highly unusual but I enjoyed the extra hour of sleep followed by peace and quiet before he woke up. But the happy baby chatter is always nice, too. We decided to borrow a friend’s baby bike trailer and go on a bike ride down to the beach. James misplaced his helmet so I made him stay home, but Kenny, Grant and I had a good time. We found ourselves a table and had a little picnic lunch.
Then we hurried back to meet Joan, Aunt Beth and Aunt Pat who stopped by for a short visit. Aunt Beth brought Grant his present which is great little toddler sized truck for him to scoot around on. He mostly just likes to honk the horn but I think he’ll be zooming as soon as he figures out how to ride it. Then Grant and I left and met some friends to take advantage of some tickets I won on a blog giveaway to go play at Baby Loves Disco. They convert a dance club for an afternoon and kid proof it, then have deejays play disco hits and have all kinds of little toys and things for the kids to play with. It was a pajama party theme and Grant was the only baby his age who could groove to the music. People loved it, especially the deejays. I took some video.
Last night was a mellow movie-watching night and today was a lazy nap afternoon, followed up by a game night with the Arnolds at their place. A fun two weeks!
Now we’re preparing for the Thanksgiving holiday and I’m choosing and discarding recipes like mad. I think I’ve picked out twelve things from side dishes to desserts that I want to try, with a chili somewhere in the middle, so I need to maybe start narrowing things down, you think?
Other pictures:
I colored my hair and got bangs for the first time in years:
Grant had to get a bunch of shots on his birthday so Kenny bought him a giant cookie to buy his love back:
At a dinner visit with Nadine and Jamie, Uncle Jamie teaches Grant how to freebase canned whip cream:
Jamie entertains Grant while supporting James at the pancake breakfast:
James and I striking a cool pose at Disneyland:
