Happy Birthday To Me!

Okay so I have really been slacking on the blogging thing. My excuse....my computer died and was getting fixed, luckily nothing was lost this time so that makes me extremely happy!

Lots has been going on - well lots of stuff but really just everyday ordinary stuff that keeps us busy. Now that Grayson is older we get to go out more and do fun stuff. We've been going swimming, jack's sports class (grayson in babysitting which he loves!), play places at the mall (jack's favorite). We listen to the Polar Express music all day whether we are at home or in the car! Jack loves it. Grayson puts up with it...ha ha!

October has been fun since we had no photobooth events. We have had weekends to be free and do anything which Dave has LOVED and so have the kids! Grayson is now 9 months old and a child who WILL NOT sit still. When changing his diaper you have not seen such a squiggly kid. He thinks its funny too! I tell him to sit still and he'll slide away and laugh. It takes me forever just to get the diaper on cause he is just moving. I need a belted changetable for him (menatl note**!) But he is a good kid. Loves to hang out and watch Jack and MUST be in bed by 8. Its an internal clock for him....he is cranky and tired by 8. He is kinda sleeping through the night. He wakes up a couple times but just needs his soother and is back to sleep so I can pretty much sleep walk into his room, put in a soother and walk out! Still I feel unrested in the a.m.

Sidenote***They are both napping right now! AHHHH! So nice to get them down for a nap together - that doesn't happen too much anymore I love these days!

As for my birthday - it started out playing a dirty trick on me as I woke up thinking well I am only 31 today - not bad - I still have 4 years until I am 35 I can still squeeze in a couple more kids (I know what I am thinking!). Then a few moments later I realized Dave is 37 this year, I am not 31, I am 32. Not funny! I guess I can't squeeze in anymore kids!!!haha

For my b-day we went to Butterfield Acres a petting zoo in Calgary. We had tickets for a pumpkin hunt. It was lots of fun - Jack LOVED it! Especially the pumpkin hunting. We got to ride on a wagon pulled by a tractor. Jack loves tractors. Then we headed into the trees and Jack got to get out and go search for a pumpkin to bring home. He was like "I see one, I see a pumpkin" and ran to it. After we got back we decorated the pumpkin and then played for the next little while. They had lots of playgrounds and lots of petting animals to see. Jack was fascinated, I mean really fascinated by the goats poo. They pooed alot in front of him. He still talks about it today! Funny kid! After we got home, we were so stinky and dirty from the Farm that we bathed the kids, and got them ready for bed. I picked up our babysitter - YAAA! (our first YW babysitter) and Dave and I headed out to a movie and dinner! It was fun although I did stress about the babysitter getting the kids to bed. After all the stressing she said it was so easy, Grayson fell asleep drinking his bottle and Jack fell asleep reading books. This never happens for me and Dave. We must have tired them out all day! So it was a pretty fun day! Fun to go somewhere we haven't been before.

Now we are gearing up for Halloween. Jack and I (and grayson although he is usually sleeping) drive around alot and look at all the houses and their Haloween decorations. I think Friday we are going to decorate our window and porch. He'll like that. Jack has 3 Halloween parties to go to. So he will get some good use out of his Batman costume which he loves. So cute! Although I think he will be overloaded on candy! Grayson sadly will have to wear Jack's first costume a penguin suit(the downfalls of being a second child - hand-me-downs - no new costume this year....when he is bigger!)

I think that is it for now - too much to do while the kids are sleeping....enjoy the pics.

R.

What a Boy!

Grayson is now 6 1/2 months old! What a boy he is! He is all over the place and even sitting up by himself. A whole new world to him which makes him very happy! One morning last week, I just sat him on the floor and to my amazement he sat there for like 3 minutes playing without falling. I was amazed! I took the video below in excitement. Me and jack just sat there watching him - how long could he sit up for?!

AND he is also somewhat crawling. Not up on all fours but army crawling everywhere! Which isn't surprising jack never crawled at all he just army crawled until he walked. But if Grayson gets his eye on a toy he can make his way over to it.

The boys play so well togther. Although now that Grayson is crawling he wants to eat everything jack is playing with. So jack has resorted to playing on the stairs (his new favorite coloring place or on the couch). You can hear jack saying "no, no, grayson, that is my toy - here is yours" so nice - jack doesn't often freak out at grayson - and if grayson ever cries he is so quick to give him a kiss and say "its okay grayson". Jack is such a good big brother! And it is so fun to see them play together!

So much to do this weekend, Dave is off to Canmore and Edmonton doing events and I am home packing to get ready for the Lake! Jack everyday says "are we going to the lake today" and so we count down the days until we go. He will LOVE playing with his cousins ALL DAY EVERYDAY! I am so excited for the sun, boating, swimming, relaxing, eating, Target, movies, etc....fun fun!

Off I go to start some laundry and pack....I'll leave you with these pics and video!

(date night - mommy and jack)

(August 1 - Swimming at Sikome - right near our house)

Always a Smile!

Sweet Brothers (and the day jack got his haircut!)

A Post By Dave - Father's Day

Robin has actually let me give blogging a try. Luckily I have something really good to talk about since I had an amazing Fathers day. With all the work to do with a new house Jack has been helping out a lot. With our little garden Jack helped me build the wooden frame and plant, he loves to hammer and of course water the plants so it was very appropriate that he made me a little tool box with a hammer, saw, wrench and screwdriver each with a little message on them.

It said,

"Although you are as big as can be, you still need lots of help from me. Just pick a tool with a job to do and you will see how much I love you. Happy Fathers Day '09"

He even signed his name.

Robin made me breakfast, forget egg Mcmuffins homemade is the way to go. So we all had breakfast and then we went on a scavenger hunt for another gift. The fun just didn't stop. Jack and I followed the clues all over the house.

I asked Jack to read one of the clues. It was a big heart that asked where Mommy puts the pots and pans. I asked him what it said and he said,

"I love Daddy." That was so cool. That's what a big heart means, so he was right.

We had so much fun running from clue to clue. We found my fathers gift when Jack found the pots and pans. Food is always good on fathers day and in the cupboard were cupcakes with the most icing I have ever seen. When Robin ate them she shaved half of it off, not me, I love the icing, almost as much as whipped cream. We often got our cupcakes at Crave, but with all the icing these ones were so good.

Then we found the panini maker. Robin always comes up with the best ideas. I don't know how she knew that I would love it, but it's the coolest gift. We couldn't use it though because it was time for church.

Check the video of Jack and I searching for my other fathers day gifts.

I was a little distracted during church just waiting to get home and try that baby out and I wasn't disappointed. Robin had prosciutto, basil and mozzarella ready as well as nutella and bananas for desert. The prosciutto was so good we didn't even have room for the desert panini's. The sandwiches were awesome and what we found out later was that you could put anything into the panini maker and it was better. We haven't tried anything crazy like peanut butter and pickles but so far we haven't gone wrong. I ended up having the nutella and bananas for supper a few weeks later when I was left all alone and I absolutely recommend them as a main course.

All in all it was a great Fathers day. It lived up to all the hype. Robin had been priming me for the last few days about how good the food was going to be. I'm not one to get my hopes up but I was pretty excited. The panini maker and cupcakes were really good but what really made it special was my gift from Jack and to actually hear Jack wish me Happy Fathers day. Considering I just had Jack colour Robin a Mothers day card and that was it, I was pretty lucky, it's supposed to be the Mom that gets pampered. I better make up for it next year.

Brotherly Love!

It is so adorable and cute and amazing to me how much jack and grayson love each other and love to play with each other. Or rather jack playing with Grayson (which sometime involves jack lying on him) and Grayson watching so intently at jack. This morning jack was jumping on my bed. Grayson just sat there watching him and laughing hysterically. Everytime Jack took and jump - Grayson would smile and laugh. Jack thought that was hilarious so he just kept on jumping. I love how even though Grayson is still so young - they really interact with each other. It really does amaze me. Grayson is pretty tough too whenever Jack gets a little crazy with grayson - grayson just smiles - he loves it. And if Jack is watching cartoons, he'll go find the bumbo chair and tell me to put Grayson in it beside him so they can watch together. Jack will sit there holding Grayson's hand. So cute. They are going to be best buds!

Dave and I have also been discussing how funny it is that our idea of sleeping in has changed so much in just the last few years. Sleeping in with no kids is like sleeping until 10 a.m. or later. Then when jack arrived sleeping in until 8 a.m. was a highlight if it happened and now with Grayson who is such an early bird. He awakes at 5:30 or 6. So now I say if I sleep until 7 a.m. I am sleeping in! If I sleep until 7 a.m. I am so happy!

We are loving summer here. Hopefully, we get some grass put down in our yard in the next few weeks! We go to the park by our house everyday. Our friends have a little motorized quad that they bring to the park so jack and his friend share playing on that. And while Dave was at a photobooth event last Saturday, I took the boys to the splash park near our house. So awesome. I am so glad it is so close. Lots of playgrounds, splash pool, lots of grass - it was so fun since it was so hot!

Last weekend we also went out to Okotoks to this big rock - jack had fun although he did want to climb to the top which we would not let him. After we went for ice cream cones. Jack got a cute baby cone! I think that was his first ice cream. Poor Grayson just got to watch us eat ice cream.

Here are some recent pics!

PS - Mom Jack loves that stereo - he has memorized so many songs off of it. We sing them all the time. He always has to have it near him (as you can see in the last 2 pics). What a great gift!

Grayson On the Move!

Okay, well he's not moving far - but here he is rolling over. He is constantly rolling over now. If you put him on his back - seconds later he is on his tummy! Funny though he doesn't like to roll back over so he will just sit there on his tummy until he is tired and then will cry for help. Such a cute kid. More pics of him below.

He did an amazing thing on Friday night - slept through the night (7:30 p.m. - 6:30 a.m.), I woke up at about 6:15 a.m. and asked dave if he had gone to feed grayson that night and he said no and we just sat there - like should we go check on him?? But minutes later, we heard him cooing in his crib. I love waking up to hearing grayson coo and talk to himself - it just means he had a great sleep and is a happy boy. Compared to waking up screaming and won't go back to sleep, which has been the story for the past 3 months. I had to do a little sleep training with him - crying it out - he was waking up at least 5 times at night and would only be settled by a bottle - he was eating as much at night as during the day - and he is a big boy so there is no need for that. Anyway, he is awesome now - I mean he still cries, but at least I am not spending a hour trying to get him to sleep and then having him sleep for 20 minutes and that would happen 3 times a day - I started to dread nap times. He's doing really welll and only waking up once usually between 3 and 5. I am a happy momma when I get my sleep. But really its just way less crying and fussing around this house because he is actually getting sleep.

Dave is off to Seattle this weekend to learn about a new business idea he wants to get into....more about it later - if it actually goes through.

Anyway, it is nap time around here so I better get some actual work done here.

Robin.

(jack helping dave make our row garden)

(our beautiful dirt pile beside our house!)

(jack's new shoes thanks to Target and new church outfit, thanks to grandma)

Mexican Hat Dance!

Poor Jack - learns his dance moves from his parents!

Target Here We Come!!

So its been a while since I have posted -All is good at the Kearl house. We are trying to get out and enjoy the nice weather. It is very handy to have a park across from your house when you don't have any grass on your yard. Although with all the dirt Dave did create a sandbox (dirtbox) for Jack - which he loved driving his cars through - but then this week some workers came to do some work on our yard and they dug up the sandbox.....jack wasn't too impressed to see his sandbox gone. Oh well, we'll have to make another one. We have enough dirt on our yard to make many.

Grayson is 3 1/2 months old - almost 4 months. He loves to smile. Anyone can look at him and he will just smile away forever. That is a nice change from screaming all the time. He is not the best sleeper during the day - he doesn't sleep for long which makes him a little cranky but he is pretty good at night. We have been battling his eczema for 2 months now. Finally, we got referred to a dermatologist who gave us some medicine as he had an infection in his eczema. It cleared up perfectly for a couples days and then wouldn't you know it - it came back. Now we are trying to clear it up again. At a follow up with the dermatologist she just he'll probably have it for a while. Oh thank goodness for genes!!!

Grayson's Milestones:
- coos and talks all the time for long periods; people thinks its so funny - he just talks away!
- lots of smiling;
- face recognition;
- can hold rattle or little things in his hand if handed to;

- holds both hands up in the air and stares at them;
- can sit in his jolly jumper, just doesn't jump yet!
- is trying to roll over onto his tummy;
- can change his own diaper...ha ha, I wish!

Jack is as always Mr. Happy! I just can't believe what a little man he is growing into.

What Jack is up to:
- He is now in his own big boy bed;

- soothers are gone as of the last few days. He finally chewed through the 2 he had - and he showed me them with the rip in them and I said - okay - they aren't safe anymore - we have to throw them out and he watched as we threw them away. Now he knows he doesn't have any soothers as they are in the garbage. Pretty easy - only took a while to chew threw them!
- loves to play in his room with all his toys, especially his train track (he'll even close the door and tell everyone to get out - he loves his quiet time);
- no more scheduled naps per se, he just has quiet time in mom's bed and watches cartoons and usually falls asleep;
- loves, I mean loves letters. He reads letters on on all signs and books, etc.
- loves books. Last night he was up til almost 11 p.m. reading his airplane book over and over to himself (11 p.m. bed time that is another story - since moving him to a big bed he doesn't go to sleep until super late...i don't know what it is...well its probably all the toys in his room - very distracting but at least he doesn't come out - but he'll be in there from 8 until 10 or later until he falls asleep....)
-plays well with grayson - today I heard him say "Its okay" and patted him on the head when Grayson was crying.
- loves nursery - can't get him in fast enough and he is the last to leave. Dave and I both have such a hard time getting him to leave - the nursery teacher has to nicely tell him to go home and he is not happy to leave!

We are gearing up for a busy photobooth season. We are pretty much booked up until October and then we'll be busy with Christmas parties....exciting but very busy.

So we are taking advantage of the weekend off and going to Lethbridge/Magrath. We are going to stay at a hotel with a waterpark (for Jack!) and then drop the kids off with their grandparents and Dave and I will continue on to Montana or shall I say directly to TARGET! We have a routine down pack when we take our road trips there. We always hit the Mexican restaurant beside Target before so we can fuel up plus its so good - then we go to Target and we first must get a fountain pop to keep us replenished as we are usually in there for a good 3 or more hours....its just so fun to wander. We fill our carts with everything we see we like and then at the end we go through our carts and usually just buy a few things but that's our tradition to fill the carts up with all the cool things we see and show each other what we find. I am sure the Target workers love to find our cart we abandon with stuff we don't buy.

That is about all that is going on with us!

Check out the recent pics below!