My Mother’s Day was started off by my boys waking me up and smothering me with kisses and a present. Grayson and Derek made me a super cute little card.

“Grayson” signed his name. My almost 21 month old is a total genius! I’m sure he had absolutely NO help from his daddy. Looks like he inherited my poor penmanship though.

(Anyone else notice the “a” is written backwards? Hehe!)

For my gift, my boys actually got me two things. One of them I got a few weeks early, because Derek someone couldn’t wait. This the gift he couldn’t wait to give me…

Now do you see why he was so impatient? Yep, because he wanted to play with it himself. It’s the New iPad, and I love it. So does Grayson…under supervision, of course. Wanna know the best think about this puppy? All we paid for it was $87. That’s right. Your eyes aren’t playing tricks on you. You didn’t forget how to read. I said we paid $87 for a new iPad.

We are constantly trying to save, especially if we ever want to move out of this house, so spending $500+ on a “unneeded” piece of technology just wasn’t in our budget. However, we do have a credit card that you earn points on and redeem for gift cards or other items. (I don’t think it’s the wisest thing to share with the whole world what kind of CC we own/use. I use to work with CC fraud back when I was working and it’s nothing to mess around with.)  Sorry, back to the card. We earn points, sometimes double or triple points, every time we use our CC. And since we only use our CC and never a debit/check card we rack up some serious pointage. We’ve been saving our points for quite a while now and were able to cash them out for Best Buy gift cards that just about paid for this new toy of mine. Woop! Woop!

My second gift was this adorable mug Derek (and Grayson) made for me on Shutterfly. I made one for Derek a few months back, just because, and he felt that I needed one too. Good thinking, sweetie!  I like surprising him with random little gifts from time-to-time just to let him know that I’m thinking about him.

Yes, my child thinks he’s British, and calls me “Muma or Mum.” It’s the strangest thing.

This is a photo of me holding Grayson for the first time. Love.

After church, Derek cooked us an amazing lunch, Gray and I napped, then we headed over to my parents house for dinner with my Mom. My little sister is quite the cook and treated my Mom to a day of meals cooked from scratch, and we got to join in on the yumminess. Score!

Here’s my little dude chillin’ on the couch, and messing with the remote. Playing with my parents’ TV remote and car keys are two of his favorite activities when he goes over there.

He looks so old here. He’s really growing up fast these days. He’s loosing every ounce of that babyish look he had and turning into a little boy. I can’t take it! I’m constantly telling him to “be a tiny baby again, pleeeease!”

For Mother’s Day Gray and I made my mom (Oma…that’s what Gray calls her) a terrarium for her office at work. She has a big window that brings in lots of light, so I thought this would be perfect.

I used some chalkboard paint to make a small area on the front that you can write something. I decided to let Grayson draw his Oma a little something instead.

Derek’s parents were out of town visiting his grandmother, so we wished her a happy Mother’s Day via phone. I hope everyone enjoyed their Mother’s Day. Wether you are a mom or not. I know I did. Although, I did have a nasty sinus headache pretty much the whole day.

P.S. – I’ll be back later this week with a how-to on the easy little terrarium Gray and I whipped up for Mother’s Day.

The Wednesday before Easter was a very busy day for my little man. My friend, Emily, had invited Grayson over for a egg hunting party, and that afternoon my mom’s work was holding an Easter egg hunt at their office for the kids and grandkids of the employees.

We started off the day at Emily’s house. The kids (well, the big kids) dyed eggs, and then we all went on an egg hunt.

My son spent most of the time riding the various toys on the back porch.

And the other portion of the time pushing around Emily’s 10 month old in her walker.

Last year Gray was only 7 months old so hunting for eggs was kind of out of the question, but this year, this year was different. Armed with his “putting things in buckets” skills he picked up at Halloween this boy was ready to find him some easter eggs. I wasn’t quite sure if he would keep with the whole egg hunting thing and instead drop the bucket and venture off in to a neighboring yard, but the boy totally surprised me. He was totally into it, and kept at it until all the eggs were found. He even attempted to knock on Emily’s front door as if we were trick-or-treating. Hilarious!

Once all the eggs had been collected all the kids headed to the deck to count how many eggs they found. Here’s how Gray decided was the best way to count his eggs. On his belly. Have I mentioned he loves doing things while laying on his belly? His Daddy taught him this and this child thinks it’s the coolest way to do just about anything.

After all that fun at we had to go home and take a nap, because at 4pm he had another egg hunt to attend at my mom’s work. It was so sweet. They had little easter baskets for the kids to use and take home, goodie bags filled with lots of fun toys, easter bunny shaped cakes, snacks, and the Easter Bunny was there too! And of course there was the egg hunt.

Even though he had some big kids to compete with Gray collected quite a few eggs.

–> Sorry, I just noticed I didn’t take out the gray background in these photo collages. Ooops! My bad.

Of course, my son went for the pink basket first. Everyone laughed and then sweetly encouraged him to go with a “manlier” color. The bottom right photo is of him stunned when the easter bunny came to visit. Gray kept trying to give the easter bunny high fives and fist bumps. He just followed the EB around with his tiny little had out saying “hi fi!, hi fi!”

How cute is his little pirate outfit? I just love it. It’s classic due to it’s JonJon nature, but not too frilly due to the pirate ship. I love the mix of traditional and edgy. See those shoes on his feet? They are Keen’s (Newport H2). Do yourself a favor and buy your son some. They are rugged, cute, and water proof. Just throw them in the wash and those bad boys are spick and span! They do cost a bit more that I like to spend on shoes, but they are well worth it. My little guy is hard on shoes and sandals. These allow him to have the coolness of sandals, the grip of tennis shoes, and the cuteness of expensive shoes. And they never look scuffed or worn. We will be using these for the beach this summer. I just can’t bring myself to put him in those weird looking water shoes.

He even stopped in my mom’s office to do a little work. What a work ethic that kid has. He must get it from his dad. No, I know he gets it from his dad. This child actually threw a fit when we tried to make him leave “his” office. He wanted to keep working. No joke.

Grayson really enjoyed his 2nd Easter. Can ya tell?

I was still getting ready for church with the little dude found and tore into his Easter basket, so I didn’t get any photos of him opening/digging into it that morning, but I guarantee he loved it. I did snap a photo of it with my phone the night before. After the easter bunny dropped it off, of course.

His easter basket pail is in there somewhere. I took a nod from a super cute little children’s boutiqe here in town called Itty Bitty Bella, and used the Bilibo I got him for Easter as a makeshift basket. He loves sitting in this thing, spinning himself around, and squealing “weeeeeeeeee!” It’s to cute.

This is about all the easter/springtime decorating I did this year. Like I said the other day, we are crazy busy around here these days and decorating for the season is the last thing on my mind. I did take the time however to make a little carrot garland for the fireplace. It didn’t take much time at all to make when you add it all up, but if you would have seen the span of time it took me to make it, 2 weeks, you might have guessed otherwise. Oh well, I got it done…the day before. *blush* See my precious little bunny? He’s a recent Goodwill score for $.99 thankyouverymuch.

I’m not loving the lines I added to the carrots. I think I used to thick of a brush to paint them on. I think I’ll go back and thin them out. I mean, I have a whole year to do it. Which probably means I’ll get ‘em fixed mid March 2013.

We went to church after the basket opening and Grayson “demanded” (like how I used demanded instead of threw a mini-fit?) to walk all the way in from the parking lot by himself. And let me tell you…we park in the BACK.

Look at this kid, can you tell he’s a people person by the way he’s pointing, walking, and greeting people on the way in the door? He’s awesome!

After church we went to my in-law’s for some egg hunting and lunch.

We did our best to get a decent family photo, but he refused to let either one of us hold him. This is the best we got. Not to horrible.

Grayson with his Doogle and DeDe.

After a wardrobe change and lunch Grayson moved to the front yard for a little egg hunting and gathering.

Every time he found and egg he would squeal his version of the word egg “Eeeeeeeegg!!!!”

Later that day we had my parents and our newly pregnant friends EEEEEEEKKKKK!!!!!, Jeremy and Rachel, over for a little cookout. Oh, and we watched our neighbors light a massive, and pretty certain not meeting any fire codes, bon fire in their backyard. May I remind you, we live in a semi-urban neighborhood….NOT the country. Our homes are decently close together. Like my house can catch your house on fire close.

So that was our Easter, nothing to exciting, but lovely just the same. How was yours? Did anyone else use the ever so popular burlap to make Easter decor? What did you make?

2011 was a wonderful year. And I fully expect 2012 to kick it’s butt. Here’s a quick look back at what made 2011 such a great year…

1) Enjoying the 1st snow of the year with my chunky little fella. It just so happened to be his 1st snow EVER. He loved every moment of the cold stuff.

2) Seeing my husband fall head over heals in love with someone other than me.

3) Taking Gray to the zoo for the 1st time with my good friend Rachel. (or as Gray knows her as…Stinky Rachel) I promise the name has nothing to do with the way she smells.

4) Taking the 6 month photos that perfectly captured Grayson’s personality.

5) Going skiing with some wonderful friends in Park City, UT.

6) Knowing that my sweet girl, Wrigley, was going to be okay after her emergency surgery. This may have been the most terrifying month of my life. However, knowing that we could have lost her and now getting to see her sweet puppy face everyday made everyday of 2011 a favorite. You can read more about the squeaky toy that almost killed our dog here, here, here, and here. HUG YOUR PUPPIES EVERYDAY!

7) Grayson was born at the end of the summer, and never got the chance to go swimming during 2010. I wait patiently all winter/spring long for summer to arrive. Let me just tell you, Grayson was meant to be in the water. He loves big pools, baby pools, lakes, bathtub, and dog water bowls (ewww!). If it’s got water my boy is happy. So #6 would have to be spending the summer in the pool and at the lake with Squishy. We are planning to take a beach trip this summer, and I can’t wait to see his face when he sees the ocean for the first time.

Seeing my baby turn ONE! I still can’t believe it.

9) If this kid wasn’t cute enough already I had to go and throw a puffy shark costume on him for Halloween. Trick-or-Treating with this baby shark was hilarious.

10) Watching Gray fall into his 1st pile of leaves.

11) Enjoying a busy but amazing Christmas with my two favorite boys.

In the color of my holiday decor that is. In previous years I went with a more neutral/natural color palette, but this year I wanted tons of RED, WHITE, and GREEN. I wanted the house to be colorful and whimsical since we now have a kid running around the joint.

I told Derek that this year I was changing our christmas tree colors, but to be kind I would attempt to do it on the cheap. In an effort to save money I decided to make a large majority of the new ornaments, and thanks to Pinterest I did just that. And thanks to a 50% off coupon at Michael’s and previous training from my MIL I also made the bow that tops the tree. It looks a bit droopy because the wire in my wired ribbon is pitiful. It barely holds shape. As you can see.

I wanted to add big colorful ribbon to the tree, but I couldn’t find any that I just loved at a reasonable price. And since I’m trying not to spend to much on xmas decor this year I decided to nix the idea this year. Maybe I’ll find something during the after xmas sales.

I decided to go with some basic present wrapping since the tree was full of color. I wrapped all my gifts in craft paper (Actually it’s contractor’s paper I picked up at HD for like $10 to use when Gray wants to color or paint.) I tied a simple ribbon around the package and stamped each person’s first name using some lowercase rubber stamps I already owned and white paint. I got the basic idea here.

Guess who got to help decorate the tree this year. He mainly just shoved things inside the branches, but he sure looked cute doing it. I still find random items from time to time that he has shoved into the tree. I guess he thinks the tree is still looking a bit sparce.

He even threw on a festive outfit to add to the fun.

So, that’s our fun whimsical tree! Did anyone else make any ornaments this year, or even MOST of your ornaments? I wanna see.

I need your help. What color/type of ribbon should I add to the tree next year? Should it have a pattern, or should I just stay on the solid color train?

I’ll be back soon to give you a close up of all my handmade ornaments.

When it’s time for turkey people around here start gettin’ a little crazy like.

This year was Grayson’s 2nd Thanksgiving, but his 1st one to chow down on some turkey. Last year he was still on the boob. After his 1st taste of turkey the boy was hooked.

Before we sat down to eat Gray and my dad had way too much fun with the video camera. I think my parents now have 2+ hrs of just my son’s face on video.

And in typical 15 month old fashion, he thew a fit when we wouldn’t let him grab food from the table. The day isn’t complete without a lovely screaming throwyourselfonthefloor fit.

When we finally sat down to eat that frown turned into an ear to ear grin. My little turkey loves his turkey.

This year the turkey table was smallish. Since my brother had to work that morning my sister-in-law took the boys to Arkansas the 1st half of the day to eat with her family. And my sister’s boyfriend at with his family.

A few hours later my two other favorite boys arrived.

I mean really, how cute are the kids in this family? Now just imagine if one of us popped out a little girl. She would be a knock out.

STUD MUFFIN.

Game on!!!!!

The photo below explains why women are usually the ones who help children change clothes. Men just don’t have the coordination.

After a lot of turkey, a lot of laughs, and a bit of ping pong we headed home. But not without making the kids be cute one more time. We kept making Grayson give John kisses. It was too cute. We entertained ourselves with this adorable trick for 5-10 minutes. I have a feeling Christmas this year will be even cuter.

Since my SIL and nephews came later in the day; Thanksgiving kind of became the “Grayson Show”. No…seriously. Watch this video my dad made from Thanksgiving this year. It is literally 90% Grayson’s face. His cousins make an appearance towards the end of the video.

My apologies to those of you who are not interested in random videos of a toddler laughing into a video camera. He was just too funny in this video, not to post it.