Grady's First Birthday Party

Today we celebrated Grady's FIRST birthday. He officially turned 1 on the 7th, but this was a time for family and friends to come and celebrate Grady. The party was at my parents house and we had a taco bar for supper. After that, we opened gifts and had cake. I think we all had a good time and it was great to spend time with family and friends (Great Grandpa Earl and Norma, Grandma/pa Moseley, Grandma/pa Grady, Athena, Addison, Lucas, Dawson, Elizabeth and Jameson, Aunt Elaine, Darren, Jenny, Brooke, Ally, Lindsey, Heather and Trisha - missing is uncle Matthew who thought the Hawkeyes in MI playing were more important...good thing it was a good game - you were missed uncle Matthew!)

This is Grady's birthday cake. It was from Target (of course) and I had ordered a Lego type cake. I love Lego's and so does Grady. I was not sure what we were going to get by just saying "make us a Lego cake" but I think it turned out cute for his birthday. Here is a picture of the table that showcased his cake and balloons.

The birthday boy's center seat.

Lots of family and friends came and enjoyed time together. As you can see, no matter where Heather and Trisha are, the kids are close by getting them to play with them. More birthday celebration decorations.

We had a taco bar for supper. YUM!!!!

The birthday boy - doesn't he look handsome with his new hair cut?

Here he is playing with his cousins.

This basket is something that he loves to play in at Grandma Jeanette's. This is also something that he loves to do at home in his laundry basket. He wanted to play with the big kids...but he does not know how to write and draw yet.

Opening gifts - he received a lot of great toys! This is a Jack-in-the-box "gnome" style. He received a shopping cart from Grandma and Grandpa Grady. He also got a wagon from Grandpa and Grandma Moseley.

This will be fun to take him on walks in next spring.

Cake time!

Grady loved his birthday cake!

Birthday cake time = immediate bath time!

Heather and Grady

Trisha and Grady

Heather, Stephanie and Trisha - Best Friends!

PROUD PARENTS

What a big boy hair cut!

Today Grady got his first big boy hair cut. I had cut his bangs before, but the rest of his hair - that I was not going to tackle. So, since he was having his birthday party that night and his one year pictures taken next week, we decided to have someone who knew what they were doing cut his hair. Jon made the appointment at Kids Cuts and so we went. Liza was a very patient women. Grady sat on a toy horse and was a pretty good boy. He wasn't a fan of having his hair sprayed with water, but he survived! Here we are right before he hair cut began.

He had a TV to watch which helped keep him occupied from time to time.Here he is actually yawning - he didn't have a morning nap, so was ready for that to come soon. ALL DONE!! This is actually a smile but this is the horse that he sat on during his hair cut. Liza did a great job and now he really looks like a big boy.

A year ago today...Grady introduced himself to the world.

Years ago as a little girl, I often wondered who I would marry and would I have children and what would life be like. Today, as I celebrated my baby boy's 1st birthday, I sat back and reflected on the gifts God has given me. He gave me, Jon, the wonderful husband and daddy and a Godly man who loves his family tremendously! God also blessed us a year ago with Grady - a handsome, sweet boy who just melts our and your heart. As the weekend before Grady's birthday approached, I would often greet him in the morning and say..." year ago I was..." sharing stories about how I was getting ready to become his mommy. He of course really just looked at me and smiled, glad that I was finally in his room to get him out of his crib. The day before his birthday 10/6, I sat in the rocker glider and chuckled as I told Grady of the "car incident" on the way to the hospital that daddy and I had, how the nurse told me getting an IV was not bad, maybe a little worse then the epidural (both lies) and then about the nurse Dotty, who to this day I am not sure about, and so forth. As I told these stories, I teared up remembering the day. Then the day of his birthday, 10/7, I walked into his room singing happy birthday and again teared up as I looked at this handsome little boy who maybe isn't a baby anymore, but will always be my baby boy. His birthday day consisted of playing at day care for a few hours (so I could get supper made for that night), going to pick out balloons for his seat at the table, having lunch with daddy and I and then a big long nap in the afternoon. Grandma and Grandpa Moseley came over and we opened a few gifts and had supper. As if his 1st birthday wasn't a big enough milestone - he topped it by starting to walk. What a boy! After supper Grandma Jeanette, Matthew, Addison, Lucas and Dawson joined in for cake and ice cream (dad and Athena were sick and could not make it). When all was said and done, we got him ready for bed and the three of us played in his room. It was my night to give him his night time bottle (which I will be sad to give up soon), so I got to rock him in the dark quiet of his room. I hummed happy birthday, like it was a lullaby and again reflected that God has been gracious and of course...I teared up again.

Grady - I still remember hearing you cry for the first time and holding you in my arms for the first time. I also remember thinking that I wouldn't be able to be a good mommy b/c I didn't even know really how to make a bottle or how I could be a good mommy when I had just forgotten a month earlier to let the dog outside. I have soon realized that other than providing and protecting you - I just need to go with the flow and enjoy the role that God gave me: To be your mommy. Daddy and I waited a long time for you and you have given us such joy and we pray that you will continue to be the boy God meant for you to be. To have a faith like no other and compassion beyond belief...oh yeah and to always remain the boy who loves his mommy!

A family photo - he is a hard one to get to sit still and have his picture taken. He loves to be on the go all of the time. Birthday boy waiting for cake!

I made the cakes. I had a small one made for Grady and then a bigger one for the party. Let me tell you - the easy squeeze that I used to spell "happy birthday". Not so easy to squeeze! :-) It almost looks like it is a Halloween cake the way I wrote it.

Grady opening gifts. He will get the majority at his party on the 24th, but you can't have a birthday w/out gifts (especially if I am involved...one gets a birthday week.). He received some cool toys and a fleece blanket that Jon and I both made together. He got pretty good at opening his gifts that night (a trial run for Christmas.)

Happy Birthday Grady Stephen Moseley!

Sorry if it is dark - these were when I was walking into his room as I was getting him up. You'll also get to see what he likes to do with his crib now that he has teeth. Ahhh one of the joys of teething. I still love you Grady! :-)

Is he an Iowa Farmer Boy or what?

Grandpa Jim had Grady wearing a DeKalb hat the other day. He looks like such a little farmer boy and his daddy was sure proud at this. Here are some pictures of sweet Grady in his hat and with some good ole' Iowa corn.

Grady sure is growing up!

Or little boy is growing up before our eyes. He talks and talks and even makes a growl sound frequently (not sure what that one means!). He loves to play and his new past time is to slide on his tummy down a slide. One of his other favorite things is to go to grandpa and grandmas and then grandpa gives him a 4 wheeler ride. The other day in the car I asked if he wanted grandpa to give him a 4 wheeler ride and he turned to the mirror in the car and just started smiling big! it was so cute. Here he is on one of his 4 wheeler rides.

We just went on vacation and had fun playing with Grady. We took lots of pictures which I would like to post soon - but here is one of them playing on a pirate ship.
As you can see from the pirate ship picture his hair has gotten quite long in the front - so against my innermost desires I ended up cutting his hair the other day while he was eating. I just snipped here and there. I was so sad when I was actually doing the cutting but at least he can see better now. :-) Here are a few pictures of hew new hair cut - he is no longer the baby he once was but like I said earlier, he is a little boy.

In this picture if you look closely you can see not only his bottom two teeth but also the top two "fangs" that he has. He has not gotten his top middle two yet (but I think i just saw one break through yesterday). When he smiles big and you see these fangs you can't help but chuckle!

He is learning to walk - he walks around everything and now needs to gain the confidence to stand/walk on his own. He will be taking off before we know it. He is also learning to wave and even blow kisses (although he is not good yet at it - but learning). Another thing that lights his face up with a smile is our computer. He LOVES to see the big picture of him on our screen and sometimes we will go through his pictures of himself and family and he just giggles and smiles. Here is a quick video to see him in action.

Family Vacation Part 2- The Moseley's

On Sunday we parted company with the Grady clan (they went to a Brewer's game) and we headed back west to hook up with Jon's side of the family. Every year they, and some friends, get together at this resort up on a lake in Northern MN. It is about 15 minutes north of Park Rapids, MN and about 1.5 or so hours East of Fargo. Anyway, this was about an 8 or 9 hour drive so we split it up in two days. At the end of Sunday we stayed at Jon's brother's house (they were already gone). Monday morning we left and drove the other four hours north. It was quite a ride. Grady is at that age where he does not sleep in the car a lot and he wants you to entertain him, yet he isn't sure what he wants to entertain him with. Can be frustrating to say the least. But we made it. We were there from Monday - Friday.

This was the first time that Grady got to meet his sweet adorable and always smiling cousin Cora from Oregon. She was sure a cutie and has beautiful eyes! Here are the two together and then one of just Grandma and Cora. They are only about 6 months apart.This is just an assortment of pictures from the trip. Jenni and Jeremy, Grady peeking out of a window in one and in another Grady's cousin Lindsey is peeking back at him. Grady also like climbing in and out of things, as you can see he was getting into the cupboards and having fun!

More pictures of Grady and Cora, Grady being read to by his daddy and his Grandma Jean. Also a few pictures of his cousin Lindsey, aunt Jenny and Aunt Jenni. :-)

One of the evenings we had a family dinner. It was a birthday/anniversary celebration for Jon's parents. First we took family photos outside and then had supper inside one of the cabins.

One thing we did was have shirts made that said "Rose Hill Farms". This is the name of their farm in Hudson from which they participate in Farmer's Market on Saturday mornings and Thursday Afternoons.

We then surprised Steve and Jean with matching shirts that everyone had on. Here is a picture of Steve and Jean with the grand kids (minus Grady & Cora - who also had Rose Hill shirts too)

The whole family in their shirts. Steve and Jean were so surprised and loved the thought.

On Thursday afternoon, while we had some laundry to do, we took Grady to the park. They had a pirate ship for him to play on. They also had a wooden castle that had a slide. Grady has found a new love...sliding. I think he love trying to climb back up just as much as he loves going down them. It was so fun for Jon and I to spend the day with him and seeing this playground through his eyes...a child's eyes.

Here is a video of Grady's sliding adventure - sorry if it's not the best picture quality!

Here is Grady on our way home - I think we were maybe 15 minutes (if that) into our drive home. He was such a good boy on our whole trip, but it sure did wear him out!!

Vacation Part 1 - The Gradys

Jon, Grady and I ended up having both of our family vacations back to back. The first part of the trip we went to Sheboygen, WI to an indoor water park right off of Lake Michigan. Grady was still a little young to truly get excited about the water slides, but our family has decided to go there again next summer. I am sure he will really enjoy those water slides as the park is very kid friendly. This family vacation included our family, Matthew's family and my parents. We stayed in the same "apartment" type place and cooked our meals there. It was a fun time!

The first night we tried a pizza restaurant with the entire family.

Family pictures - this one was in the lobby of the resort.

Family Pictures - this was outside our "apartment". In front of the patio was Lake Michigan. It was so pretty!

Grady with Grandpa Jim on the morning before we headed out to our next family vacation.

We bought Grady a new stuffed animal - a dolphin which is about his size. He loved cuddling with it during the rest of the trip. Actually if you "bing" him with it, he thinks it is the funniest thing in the world!

Overall Grady family picture - we will be here next August too!