Grandparents with Cameras

I honestly don't know what we did over the last few weeks, except I know that it was really busy and there wasn't much downtime.  There was work, and birthdays, and haircuts, and decks, and lost teeth, and gatherings with neighbors, and yoga, and little boy bite marks, and cake.  Oh so much cake.

Remember Ava's concert a few weeks ago?  Here's a pic of her leading the group saying "hello" in a plethora of languages!  

(Thanks, Grandpa Doug for the picture!)

And during my birthday weekend, the kiddos were with Grandma Deb and Grandpa Whitey, and they went to a park!

(Note, I "stole" these pictures off of Grandma Deb's Facebook page!)

And then my parents kidnapped Ava for dinner one night, and Ava and Grandma Karen got crafty.

(Hey, I wasn't there so clearly I didn't take this picture!)

So, I think the real question is, am I ever present behind the camera, or do we let the grandparents do everything with the kids, while we lay around eating bonbons all day?

Hmmm...


My workplace had a "spring break" party on my birthday, so I had the chance to celebrate with a hundred of my closest friends.  One of my work friends made me a cake, and brought it in to share while at the party. And then there was singing and candles, and the whole nine yards.  And it was very fun!

That very same evening, my parent came over for cake and ice cream (this was the 3rd cake in 3 days, mind you) to help me celebrate the kickoff of my last year in my 30's.  And there was more candles and singing, and gift openings, and cards that I never ever ever want to read out loud in front of my parents, ever again.

We didn't have the right candles, so we used Roman numerals...Happy XXXIX birthday to me!

A big thanks to my Aunt Stephanie for this card.  Let's just say that it states that the birthday is a celebration of how I came to be.  Literally.

My friend/neighbor Emily and I have been to a couple of yoga classes in town, and this one last week was intense.  We decided that we were never, ever going to go to that particular class again.  Ever.  And the next day I was stretching, and I pulled a muscle in my back, which I blame on yoga somehow, even though I was sitting on my couch while stretching, so I certainly wasn't doing any yoga moves!  Darn you, yoga!

Ava's had a wiggly loose tooth for a bit.  I forgot how funny loose teeth look before they fall out.  This one was just hanging out in her mouth, sitting at a funny angle, and causing her great angst while eating.  I took Lucky to the vet for a checkup on Thursday night, and when I came back, Ava's tooth had popped right out!  Of course the Tooth Fairy came to visit that evening, and left her a $1 gold coin, which she was pretty excited about.  And we can already see the new tooth poking its way through her gum!

Grandma Karen and I took little G to get his hair cut, and you would have thought we were torturing him horrendously.  There were tears and fears, and everything else that you would except when approaching a small child with sharp scissors and blades.  However, in the end, it turned out great.  And now he looks like quite the little man.  (Just in time for us to get his 18-month photos taken today!)

I'm not sure what he had on his hands when he did this, but check out this 'do - it was sticky!

We can consider this a "before photo"...

 

And here's my little G with a big boy haircut - such a difference!

Outside of all of this, Scott and my dad have been working very hard on the deck, but it seems like at every corner, there have been challenges to face.  We haven't had good luck with materials, and have made several trips back to Lowe's to get new parts.  The latest "fun thing" is that yesterday, after pouring the concrete for the base of the steps, it never actually cured.  Hours later, after the forms were removed, the concrete crumbled into dust.  What??  Little things like this keeping adding to the frustration...but it WILL look great when it's done!!

Enough rambling for today...I need to get back to my life of doing whoknowswhat!