Joe's Surprise Party

On the 19th, we went to a surprise birthday party for our friend Joe. While we were waiting for him to come home, the kids got to try on some party hats, play some foosball, and to ride on Daddy's shoulders through the streamers. They had a lot of fun and it was great helping to surprise Joe!

Cecilia's new hat

For our trip to the East Coast, I decided to make the kids new hats. So a while ago, we went to JoAnn Fabrics and they both got to choose 2 fabrics that they wanted for their hats.

Here is the hat that I made Cecilia. I think that it came out really well.

Cecilia and Grant stab the bushes and the "rats" in the backyard

Later on the 17th, we gave the kids part of an old cardboard tube that we had in the garage. They started using it to stab and poke the bushes in our backyard trying to get the "rats". Chad had seen a rat running along the fence between our yard and our neighbors' yard earlier and Cecilia heard him talking about it. So she decided that she wanted to help find them and stab them so they would run away. And like frequently happens anymore, Grant wanted to do just what his big sister was doing. So he joined in too.

Haircuts!

On July 17th, I took the kids to get some haircuts. I forgot to get "before" pictures, but here are some "after" pictures. Cecilia got a lot of the hair on the back of her head cut, so it is a lot more curly now and it looks really cute! The last time Grant got his hair cut, I thought it made him look so much older, so this time I asked them not to take as much off so that he would still look like a toddler, and not a big boy. I think his is really cute too!

Going to the carwash

Later on the 16th, we took the car to the car wash. The place we go has you get out of the car, then vacuums it, washes it, hand dries it, cleans all the windows and the inside surfaces... all for about $15. It is a good deal! The kids like watching the car go through the car wash and they also got to ride the horse ride this time.

She found a dandelion while we were waiting for the car to be finished.

So interested in ANYTHING that Cecilia is doing!

Grant, Cecilia and Shayla play trains

On July 16th, Shayla came over for a playdate. The kids all ended up playing with our newly enlarged train set for a long time. They were all really excited that there were 2 tracks and that they could all play at the same time. 

Grant, "The Joker"

Chad thought that Grant looked a little like "The Joker" after he was finished with his cake on his birthday, since he had red icing smeared all over his lower face. Here are some photos from the 15th with similar icing smears.

Eating cake

On the 14th, we let the kids have cake for dessert. I put Grant's piece of cake and his fork on the table and was wrapping up the cake. But I guess that he didn't want to wait for cake, because he climbed up onto the chair on his own (notice that he is standing on the cross brace of the chair) and started eating on his own. He LOVED his cake!

More Gymboree pictures

Grant LOVES Gymboree! He is always really excited to play, and he loves Gymbo the Clown!

Videos from Grant's birthday

Eric and Jo also sent Grant a bubble mower for his birthday. It is a big hit!

Grant "reads" his card from GG Osborn and then listens when I read it to him.

Later on Grant's Birthday

After the party, we let Grant open one of his presents. He got a GIANT stuffed shark from Eric and Jo. He loves it, but the thing is bigger than he is!

Here's a picture of the giant stuffed tiger that we got when Grant was born. Apparently for some reason, friends and family really like giving the kids GIANT stuffed animals. 

After his nap, I tried to get a better photo of Grant on his birthday, but he was too busy and didn't stop moving long enough to get a good photo. Oh well, he is a typical 2 year old in that, I guess.