Happy Birthday Gregory! Part 2

Last night we had Gregory's birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese.

Wow that place gets crazy around 6 pm, glad we got there earlier to enjoy the rides before eating. Gregory seemed to have a lot of fun along with his friends, Jadon, Hannah and Joshua. He also loved all the presents he got. Thanks Kirk, Chrystine, Kira & Brinley for the books and the awesome ball.

Here are some highlights from the party.

The birthday boy riding with Chuck E Cheese.



Jadon having fun.


Hannah chatting with Chuck E Cheese on the phone.


Joshua riding with Bob the Builder (who you can't see).


Gregory with his Mickey Mouse birthday cake.

Enjoying eating his cake.

Lot's of help to open his presents.

I LOVE Mickey Mouse!

I'm ready to go home.

Happy Birthday Gregory! Part 1

Yesterday we celebrated Gregory's FIRST birthday. Wow, hard to believe it's been a year ago since he was born. I remember that day very well...and I am glad for this...even though I remember that day very well, unfortunately I don't remember holding Gregory for the first time or feeding him for the first time. Kind of a sad thing for me that I don't remember moments very well. This is why I capture as much as I can with photos, but photos don't really capture feelings very well, so I think that is why those things get foggy in my memory.

Tuesday night we will finish celebrating Gregory's birthday at Chuck E Cheese's with our friends (and youth pastor), Scott & Ruth and their three kids. So there will more pictures later from this celebration. Until then here are the pictures from Gregory's ACTUAL birthday.

Photo Remark: Below Gregory is intently reading his birthday card from Grandma Betty.

Photo Remark: Gregory is enjoying his TWO new phones from Grandma Judy and Grandpa Oscar.

Photo Remark: Here Gregory is getting acquainted with his Tickle Me Elmo. We weren't sure if he'd be afraid of him or not...he wasn't as you'll see from the video below the photo.

Video of Gregory with Elmo.

Date Night

So the picture below probably doesn't make YOU think of a "date night", but for us it was!


Last Thursday night we got a babysitter (one of our youth group girls--Lauren), and Tom and I went to Supper Solutions, Inc. What a multi-purpose date! We prepared EIGHT meals in an hour! Enjoyed some fun time together in someone else's kitchen--that meant no clean up for us :-) And I got to learn some new recipes I probably wouldn't have tried at home. It was also a learning experience for me. I learned a little more about myself. As strange as this sounds, yes, I learned what I enjoy most about cooking. It's the preparation and the act of putting a meal together. So I learned that what I've been wanting to do for so long...go to a meal preparation place...is not for me. It was nice having everything so prepared for us...all cut up, measurements out and everything all laid out, but that is also what I enjoy about cooking, so I will be doing more of it at home. Now what I've got to come up with now are more recipes for making and freezing at home rather than going out to prepare them and then freeze them. Even though I probably won't have this experience again, it was a wonderful time together with my husband, just chatting as we were working and just working together (yes, we can do this when we want to) :-)

So some of you might be wondering what did we prepare together...here's what we made to put in the freezer: Calzones, Cheddar Bacon Burgers w/Smokey BBQ, Crusted Parmesan Chicken, French Dip Sandwiches, Parmesan Fillet, Santa Fe Steak Tortillas, Stuffed Pork Chops, Summer Catfish with Corn Relish.

What have we been up to?

Hmmm...it's been over a week since I've posted, so I need to get one done. So what have we been up to you ask? Well, at least I hope you're asking :-)

I've been planning Gregory's little birthday party that will be on the 29th at Chuck E. Cheese's. We are going to celebrate with our youth pastor and his family. The theme is Mickey Mouse--partly because this is the only thing Gregory really recognizes and gets excited about right now. In fact, he'll be upstairs and I'll have the tv on downstairs and when Mickey Mouse Clubhouse comes on, he'll crawl down the stairs to watch it. So of course he will get his first stuffed Mickey Mouse--maybe someday we'll go meet him too! That would be a fun family vacation--expensive, but fun.

We've also been working out in our yard (especially in the back yard), trying to make it look better...it's a tough job as you can see from the picture below...it needs a lot of help. Tom's been out sawing and cutting the crazy branches that were EVERYWHERE.

Photo Remarks: The first photo shows the mound of branches. The second and third photos are before any clean-up photos.





And then there's the normal every day stuff--like laundry. Here's Gregory enjoying the empty laundry hamper.
I'll post a separate entry about our "date night" last night--hopefully I'll get to it today.

Adventures with Gregory

As many of you know there are very few dull moments in a house when there is a child present. Here are just a couple of photos to show this.

Photo Remark: Every kid's got to have a favorite hiding place...Gregory's is under the entertainment center.

Photo Remarks: There are so many comments I could make about this photo...is Gregory going to end up as ornery as Tom can be? I am sure Tom would say, looks like he's got some Vilhauer blood in him :-) And yes, Gregory did get in trouble after this photo--for this reason we TRY to keep the bathroom door closed.

Also we FINALLY got Gregory's swing hung on the tree in the backyard. I say finally because we've had it since the first week of Spring (March 20th or so). Gregory LOVES it...and it helps keep him out of trouble too :-) Yesterday it was so nice outside, even in the morning, that Gregory got to go for an early morning swing. Then in the early evening he got to hang out in his swing while Tom and I did a little cleaning up in the yard (trimming back bushes and raking).
Tonight and tomorrow night Tom will be working and Gregory and I will be at youth group tonight. Tomorrow I will pick up our freezer that I have been wanting ever since we got into our house here in Colorado. And this weekend Tom is off all weekend! Woohoo! Looking forward to more family time.

Gregory's growing up even more

This post is all about my baby growing up :-) Tom keeps teasing me when I say "my baby is growing up"...are you gonna be calling him your baby forever--like when he's 15. I am sure I will, just like all mom's--your first born is always "your baby".

I finally got the camera out in time to catch Gregory taking a few steps. Today he took lots more than this and we are so proud of our little man. So below is a little video of Gregory walking and the photo below that is of our baby looking all grown up. Be sure to click on the right (our photos and our videos--there's more photos there and another video of Gregory walking too).

We now return to blogging after a brief break

We're back after a brief break...I've not been feeling well since having a UTI/kidney infection...I'm still not completely better and dealing with some pain still, so I'm trying to take it easy. During this past weekend Tom was the most wonderful husband a wife could ask for. He took care of me and did the majority of taking care of Gregory. I appreciated it so much. I just wanted to brag about him a little bit. He does a lot for us and we are so thankful for him. I know some of you are thinking, huh? Is this the same Tom I know? He has been gone from home for quite a while, so maybe he's changed some? :-)

This past week has been full of first for Gregory...his first REAL words that made sense--mama...his first time saying "dad"...and another big event...his first STEPS! Gregory took about 4 or 5 steps from holding on to the laundry basket to me (sitting on the couch). We had just been talking about how Gregory was getting really close to taking his first steps and how it would probably be when Tom was sleeping (since he's working nights this month) or when Tom was at work. Well, he didn't miss it and was thrilled he got to be here for this first (as well as the others this week). Unfortunately we don't have any pictures or video to prove this since we weren't prepared and he hasn't done it since.

With me not feeling well along with the digital camera being in Tom's vehicle with him at work it took a while to get Gregory's 11 month photos taken, but they're finally done! Click on the link on the right which says Our photos to see more.

Photo Remarks: We have been so blessed to have gotten so many outfits for Gregory from both my sister-in-law and my sister. This outfit was from Raquel--so Gregory might be looking a little more like his cousins these days with the majority of his clothes coming from Jaden & Clay. THANKS!

And the last item of importance was last night we celebrated my birthday (a little early), but had to be this way due to Tom's schedule this week. Tom picked up a Dairy Queen ice cream cake--yum! And he got me a couple of gifts--some beautiful earrings & a great cookbook!


That's all for now...sorry nothing to say about MOPS last week--I didn't get to go since I was sick :-( Very disappointing.