Christmas Parade:
We took Grey to the parade in downtown this weekend. He had a blast! He got to see several of his favorite characters including Bob the Builder, Jay Jay the Jetplane, Clifford, and Dora the Exporer. Santa was there too, but his float went by so fast Grey barely saw him. The parade was a lot of fun and its on the list for next year already!!

Ice Day:
Dallas had an Ice Storm come through, the news stations were calling the ARTIC BLAST 2006. It wasn't much, but it did allow for most people to get out of work and school. Here are a few pictures of Grey with the "snow". He basically thought it was cold and wanted to go back inside!

O Christmas Tree...

We put up our Christmas tree after the Thanksgiving weekend. Grey did really well with helping, but he still thinks the ornaments are toys. So, we're working on not touching them!

Thanksgiving:
This year we went up to Kansas and had Thanksgiving with Billy's family. We were able to see both sets of Billy's Grandparents, several aunts and uncles, and some cousins. Grey got to spend a lot of time with his most favorite cousins - Shaelin and Alaina. He loves them so much, it is just too cute!! And they are so good with him! Anyway, we had a great trip and everyone had a great time. The feast on Thanksgiving day was wonderful and we ate ourselves silly. The boys watched football, and the kiddos played, and the ladies got to visit. It was a great holiday weekend! We also did our Christmas gift exchange with the family. Grey got several neat toys and he is really into opening presents this year. We brought one gift home to be opened on Christmas, and Grey apparently found it and opened it right away!! So, we're going to wait to put out Greys presents this year!!

Blog Slacker:
Well, you may have wondered why we don't have many blogs lately. After my really awesome birthday, we have lost our digital camera. It is either lost or stolen, or just laying somewhere out of sight. So, I have not been able to add pictures, and with out pictures, I don't have much enthusiasm to blog. So, maybe a new digital camera will be on my list for Santa Claus.

My 30th Birthday!!!

Cool Slideshows

Potty Training Update #3:

We're still doing good. Grey seemed to get the hang of this pretty quickly, so I'm very excited! My diaper budget has gone down drastically and that's another fun part of this. So, keep your fingers crossed for us and hopefully we won't have any "relapses".

Potty Training Update:

Grey is doing well with the potty training. I think this might be the calm before the storm. Last week, about mid-week, Grey finally "got it" and he has done really well since then. He got some big boy undies and has only had a few accidents. He can stay in one pull-up or undies all day long, so we are really excited. I don't know if it will last. I've heard that a lot of boys go through a great period and then fall off back to the diaper days. So, I'm trying to not get too excited and dream of days without diapers, but... Well, wish me luck!!!

Potty Training????

I'm not sure how this goes exactly. I don't know if I am starting it too early, too late, or what. We are going to try going to the potty for a few days and see how it goes. I got Grey some Bob the Builder pull-ups, which Grey loves because they have a tractor on them. He adamantly does not want to wear diapers, and he isn't fighting me with going to the potty chair every 30 min. So far, no success, but it's only been 3 hours! Grey stays dry for a few hours at a time, and he's coming and telling me when he needs to be changed, so I think it's time to try. Right now I am taking him to the potty chair every 30 min, and I think he's getting the idea. So, for all you moms out there... Any potty training advice? I'm all ears...

Tractor Boy:
Grey loves his John Deere Tractor. We took off the guard that allows him to go into second gear, and Grey loves going fast!!






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Vacation:

Going to look at the elephant with Mimi.

On the elephant hunt.

Riding Grammas scooter with Blake. A big "no-no" until Blake came around!

End of the week. He was so tired he couldn't even put his arm down!

Dinner at the cookshed.

Vacation Pictures:

Muddy Boy.

Waiting for the rain to stop.

Wheres Grey?

He had so much fun in the mud.

All cleaned up for dinner.

This weekend we had a very laid back, low-key weekend. Billy got to play golf on Saturday with some friends while Grey and I ran errands and then had a lunch date at Chick-fil-A. Grey did great while running errands, so he and I went out to lunch and he got to play on the playground at Chick-fil-A. On Sunday Grey didn't feel too great, so it was just church and home for us. Billy did the yardwork and I tried to do the housework.

It rained!! Not enough to be measurable, but it was definitely moisture falling from the sky. My Gramma has this incredible love of the weather. She instilled that in her two daughters and they, in turn, in their kids. This weekend when it was raining I had this flashback of my mom and my aunt, both with their respective cameras, standing outside in this massive rainstorm. The kind that when it thunders you can feel the ground shake. Anyway, we were out in West Texas and there they are, standing outside, each with a camera and somehow an umbrella propped up between them, just waiting for a great shot with the lightening and the mountains. This is the stock I come from. I don't know whether to be proud or baffled.

This week Grey had a great time with his cousins. He got to spend Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday with them. On Thursday they got to go on a train ride in Grapevine. Grey is seriously into trains, so this was a great experience for him. Gramma Dee said it was really, really hot, but other than that everyone seemed like it was a fun day. Grey really got to spend some good, quality time with his cousins. He loves them so much, and they love him too. We're so glad they came down for the week!

This weekend Greys cousins, Shaelin and Alaina are in town. We spent most of the weekend at Gramma Dees house playing with the girls. Grey had a blast spending time with them. Gramma Dee lives in Lantana, TX and they have awesome,resort-like pools in the neighborhood. So we spent a lot of time in the water. Grey is totally fearless. If you're ever at a pool with Grey and you hear "1...,2...,3..." you better be ready because he's coming in! He jumps in and likes to go completely under. The pool area has a spray park where Grey can just run around and he loved that, but they also have a "beach" section. It's not sandy, but it slopes in so Grey can run through the water. Grey likes to stand at the edge of the water, run until it's about a foot deep, then dive in head first, then go completely underwater and float on his tummy. He floats just long enough to get everyone nervous that he's not going to come up, then comes up laughing! What a crazy boy.
This week Grey is going to spend the days with Gramma Dee and his cousins. They will have so much fun. Sorry I don't have any pictures. We forgot the camera!

My Dream Job

It's Sunday night and I'm sitting here lamenting that I have to work tomorrow. Poor, poor Amber. I always hear that you should find something you love and find a way to make money doing it. Well, I have a lot of hobbies that I love, but I have always been an avid reader. So I've decided my dream job would be one where I get free books, get paid to read them, and then write a review for them. And I would do all of this from the comfort of my home. Anyone have any ideas for this??? I've read close to 40 books already this year, so I'm well on my way to making a fortune! Now if I can just find a way to get paid for it! :)

It's a bird, It's a plane, It's..... SUPER GREY!!!!

I don't know if it's because of the new Superman movie, but all the old Superman movies have been on TV. Grey has gone completely nuts for them. Now, he has a "cape" (a towel tied around his neck) and he runs around the house going "Super Grey". So incredibly cute!!!!


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4th of July Weekend:

We had a great holiday weekend full of friends, family, spending time outside, and lots of good BBQ and summer foods. On Friday night, we had Sean and Dee over for games and fireworks. They brought Grey some fun surprised - sunglass (which he loved), balloons (which he loved), and silly string (which completely freaked him out!!!). Who ever heard of a kid being scared of silly string? Especially Grey. He's so fearless, that it was really surprising to see him scared of such a fun toy! Anyway, we had a great time and watched the Wylie Fireworks from our backyard. Then on Saturday Gramma Dee, Grandpa Mark, and Uncle Mark came over for a cook-out and more fun play time. Grey had a blast showing off and playing. Then on Sunday was church and fantastic weather. I think my favorite summer memory was this night. The weather was just wonderful and we spent a lot of time outside. Before Greys bedtime, a storm was rolling in, and we were outside. You could smell the rain, and there was a nice breeze, and Billy was blowing bubbles and Grey was running around with his great giggle and popping the bubbles. So, that is my favorite summer memory so far. My favorite sound is Greys giggle, my favorite smell is Rain, my favorite time of day is sunset, so all of those combined was great. Anyway, on Monday Billy had to work, so Grey and I had a day to ourselves. After Billy got home we went to Kaboom Town, which was a huge disappointment. We sat in traffic for over an hour and it was for about 10-15 min of fireworks. Not great at all. On Tuesday Billy wasn't feeling well, so we stayed home and I made BBQ chicken and some standard 4th of July fare. Over all it was a GREAT weekend. Sorry, no pictures. It was just one of those weekends where you sit back and relax - not run for the camera. Hope you all had a great 4th!!!!

Last weekend we had lots of company! My Mom, Stacey, Gramma, Melanie, Tomi, and two of Greys cousins, Jackson and Maddie came for the weekend. We had a great time shopping and the kids hung around the house and played in the backyard as much as we would let them. It was so hot that we couldn't stay out all the time, but we filled up the pool and they had a blast! The kiddos played so well together, and we adults played tons of games (my family's favorite gathering activity). It was so nice to see my family and have some good quality time. It did my heart good to watch the boys, who are so close in age, play so nicely together. Poor Maddie, the only girl, is out-numbered, but tries so hard to keep up with the boys! It was a great weekend and we look forward to seeing everyone again soon at Camp Meeting! Here are a few pictures of the weekend.

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Here is a quick video of Grey in his little pool. You can tell he's having a blast. Thanks to Jamie for the tip on adding videos to the blog!!

Here are some pictures of our Saturday afternoon. Most of the weekend was spent around the house doing chores that have been put off until the weekend. I sewed more curtains, Billy worked on the yard, Grey played. Billy had a good Fathers Day, I think. We grilled out yummy fajitas. Grey made him a gift at school, so that was fun to watch Billy open, because I had no idea what it was going to be. And I got him some much needed garage stuff. Overall, he seemed pleased with his special day. And we went to JoAnns Fabrics on Fathers Day. Nothing a dad enjoys more than hanging out in a craft store on his special day!! But, he was a great sport about it!! We had a busy weekend and got alot done. I just wish we would have gotten more rain from the storm Dallas had. Lots of thunder and lightening, but very little rain!

Family Photos:
Our church did family pictures for our directory. Grey did great and we got such cute pictures. They did a good job with getting Grey to smile. He's getting to be such a big boy!!

No new pictures this weekend. Billy has been busy with work the past week and weekend, so it's been me and Grey just hanging out. On Saturday I went to Joanns and got the fabric to start my curtains. I got the curtains done for my kitchen and will start on the ones for my living room next week. I also got to pick two peppers off my pepper plant Saturday, so I am excited about that. For those of you that have known me longest - yes I am sewing and gardening ( I know you had to re-read that just to make sure!). I'm becoming quite the Suzy Homemaker. :) Anyway, sewing and gardening on Saturday. On Sunday, I'm back to teaching Grey's class at church and that is fun. I really like being involved in what he is doing and learning. Then after church we went to Greys Grammas house for lunch and fun time in the pool. It was a fun afternoon to wrap up a light, easy, fun weekend! Sorry, I've become a blog slacker! I'll add more pictures sometime soon.

This weekend we took the camper out on its "inaugural" trip. We met Anna, Craig, Shaelin, and Alaina on Lake Eafaula in Oklahoma. We had a great trip, and it was the best camping experience I've had! We had a restroom, shower, A/C, beds.... It was great. We went out on the boat all day Saturday and skied. Everyone forgot the cameras, so we have no pictures, but we all had a blast. Grey loved playing with his cousins and had a great time on the boat. Over all it was a great weekend and we really appreciate Anna and Craig for meeting us!

This memorial weekend we spent the whole weekend working on the camper. But, we got it done and it looks great!! I'll post some "after" pictures later. Grey was a big help, too. He especially likes his Daddy's power tools!

Has anyone else ever been cornered in the back yard by a two year old with a water hose??? Sorry, no pictures to follow....

Here are a few of Grey's 2yr pictures. What a cutie!!!