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happy birthday grey.

This past week we celebrated Grey’s 3rd birthday. I’d like to say that I can’t believe it’s been 3 whole years, but trust me, with this child it feels like at least 16. He’s our crazy little trouble maker, but despite his endless supply of energy we love him something fierce.

The theme I picked this year was a pirate party, and my original idea was to do a Jake and the Never Land Pirate theme (a new Disney cartoon for kids). But like most things in my life I’m ahead of the crowd and there is no party supplies out there to support that party. I really didn’t want to use skulls and dark colors, but it ended up that way anyway. Grey of course didn’t mind, and I think it turned out cute despite it being a little more mature than I wanted it to be.

Timbits (or donut hole) cannon balls.

I found this adorable little treasure chest at Hobby Lobby and filled it with some inexpensive “gold doubloons”.

I found an old piece of wood in the basement cut it in half, made the kids paint it red and I hammered it together to use as our “X marks the spot” cupcake stand.

I strung a net in the back window with a little pirate flag banner that matched the plates and napkins.

Darren got so tired of me taking pictures, that he actually expired before the party even started.

The kids each had their own hook, pirate eye patch, fun foam sword and telescope. (all from birthdayexpress.com)

Pirate gold cheese cubes.

I love using scrapbook paper as placemats, so cheap and easy!

I bought these little red cups in Australia, and it made me think of my sister and her family. Sigh, I miss them terribly.

Twix bar, pirate planks.

Hot dog pirate ships for supper. (Grey LOVES hotdogs!)

I had these little plastic swords and I wanted to use them so bad, so I stuck them in our strawberries last minute.

The whole table put together. Some other little details, like a little cup with chocolate gold coins and a glass bottle with a rolled up piece of paper I burned to make it look old, you can kind of see it at the back of the table. And that was it. Super fun!

I’m happy to say that he did much better this year blowing out his candles than last.

After dinner we headed outside to this little pirate play area I made on the back deck. The sandbox was full of pirate treasures for them to dig out, like necklaces, rings, marbles, bones and rubber bouncy balls.

The water table was a birthday surprise, and he loved it!

I made a little walk the plank board for the kids to walk across. Picked up an old piece of wood at the Habitat for Humanity for $3 and painted, ‘walk the plank’ across it. Paving stones borrowed from my awesome neighbor worked perfectly to hold it up.

Digging for gold!

We have been having beautiful weather here, and it was so nice to just play outside and do some fun stuff with the kids.

After we were done, it was inside to open presents!

And with the magic of the internet here they are all unwrapped before your very eyes.

Thanks so much for the card Grandma Workman, I have video of him dancing his little heart out. He loved it! ♥

art walk.

We live in a pretty awesome location in our town. We are walking distance to a lot of really great places. The library, schools, parks, the water and some funky downtown stores that are just bursting with character and charm.

This year we headed down to art walk, they block off a whole street and local artists come to display and sell their art. There wasn’t a whole lot of interest in the art stuff from the kids, but I packed along some bread to take to the water (which is a stones throw away) to feed the ducks.

{Lily log rolling down the hill}

Grey was so adorable, he loved feeding the ducks. He would grab a chunk of bread and call out “here ducky, ducky” and throw it to them.

We stopped to get some slurpies on the way home.

But the best surprise of the whole day was waiting for me when I got home… a chocolate basket from my sister in Australia, for my 30th birthday! (Out in the hot sun I might add… who leaves a chocolate basket outside on a hot summer day?!)

Thanks Amanda! It was SOOO yummy!!

grey’s 2nd birthday {part 1}

Finally! A month later and 290 pictures picked through to showcase only the best, Grey’s birthday post is ready to share.

As you know, we picked a truck theme and our color palette was orange, yellow, black and brown. Like any good plan some things turned out really cute, and others completely flopped. I loved the overall look and it was simple enough for a 2 year olds party in my opinion. The best part, Grey loved it, and that’s all that matters. Okay, are you ready for picture overload? Here we go!

I did some simple décor inspired by a yellow dump truck that we already owned. But this isn’t just an ordinary truck, this one delivers peanut butter cups.

The plates were black plastic, and the little food dividers made them look just like tires.  I made napkin bands with little paper trucks, and tucked an orange fork in place.

The cups were probably the biggest, saddest disappointment of the whole party. Originally I had ordered cups in the shape of pylons (traffic cones) they were adorable. But in my haste I accidently ordered the wrong thing, so out of necessity last minute cups were created.

I bought plastic orange cups from the Dollar Store and found some leftover black straws from Halloween. I printed tire images from the internet and stuck them to the straw. Not as cute as what I had in mind, but they worked just fine.

Other little details were things like a bowl of Reece's Pieces, a perfect color match.

And some yellow paper lanterns. Which I had intended to make paper tires and stick them to the sides so they would look like trucks, but it looked really funny, so instead I just strung them up and it looked alright.

Food décor is the best part of parties, because you get to be really creative and eat it afterwards (who doesn’t like that!)

We had some spare tires (chocolate donuts)

And some chocolate truck pops. (If you’re looking for a last minute “lolly-pop” holder, peel the label off a can of formula and stick them in. Worked for someone I know…)

And one of my favorite parts of the party, was our gas station drink.

I printed a fuel label from the internet and stuck it to our “gas pump”.

Fill ‘er up!

I also made some adorable little orange slice race cars, with grapes for the wheels.

And the last decorative detail was the road table runner. The only thing, I didn’t end up sewing the street lines, I used iron on adhesive tape. (What, lazy my time is precious, no?)

Which leads nicely into the next part, the biggest, longest most painful part of any party (for me), the cake.

I’ll start with the base of the cake, see those cute little pylons (traffic cones) well, those were suppose to be drinking cups with straws, instead I ordered real life, miniature sized pylons, 6 of them to be exact. So I used them for my cake stand instead. Turned out pretty good, although I’m still bitter… those cups were SOOOOOO cute!

The top tier of the cake is suppose to be a tire. (even if it doesn’t look like it, humor me, my tears are mixed in with that fondant)

I made all the little street signs and the rocks out of gum paste. I drew the numbers and arrows on with an eatable marker.

For supper we had pizza (Grey’s favorite!!) and of course all the other goodies at the table.

Grey was so obsessed with the chocolate truck pops that he just kept eating them and putting them back, then taking another bite and putting it back.

Another adorable find was these kid utensils. Perfect hey!! (I thought so too.)

I found this shirt at Carters for him to wear on the party day. He matched the theme perfectly.

After dinner, we got all ready for Grey to blow out his candles. He was having a really hard time getting them to go out. He kept at it though…

When he finally got them both blown out, he was so excited!

The unfortunate part of trying to blow your candles out over and over and over again, is that you start getting a little bit desperate, and well, sloppy.

For example, I would like to show you one of his candle blowing pictures up close… see those little white flecks?

That would be spit and food.

Cake anyone?

Happy Birthday Buddy!

grey’s 2nd birthday {part 2}

I know, I know, I can’t post part 2 when I haven’t even done part 1. But usually I do the whole table, dinner, cake thing and the presents pictures get forgotten. So I decided to start with that and work my way backwards.

Now before I post, I have to give a little back story about Grey’s gift from us. I saw this adorable toy online (couldn’t find it in stores anywhere) and decided that it would be the most perfect gift for Grey’s birthday.

So as usual, I procrastinated and when I finally got around to ordering it, I found out it was discontinued. I was so upset with myself. Well, not to be deterred I checked E-bay and found one on there. I ordered it 2 weeks before Grey’s birthday and was confident that it would arrive on time. Well, 2 days before his birthday, nothing. I contacted the seller and she informed me that the toy had been damaged in transport and returned to her. I was beginning to think that this wasn’t meant to be. So we ended up postponing his birthday by a week. I ordered another toy (different seller) on the Tuesday, it was here by Friday. So the party was set for Saturday.

So curious to know what’s in the box?

The most adorable little black pick-up truck!

He was SO excited when he came downstairs and saw this.

We filled the back of the pick-up with the other presents that the Grandma’s had sent for him.

The older kids were just as excited as Grey. In fact we had to tell them a billion times to get out and let Grey play with his new toy.

He was so excited about the truck that he wouldn’t even get out to open up his other presents. We had to slide them through the “windshield” and he opened them in the drivers seat.

Grandma Coates found this perfect tool set, personalized just for Grey.

The best part about this truck, you can ride in the back too.

It was such a fun day and I couldn’t be happier about the truck, even though it was a huge headache.

happy birthday grey.

My rough and tumble, my naughty trouble maker, my constant companion and biggest fan turned 2 today. I want to say I can’t believe it, but trust me, I’m reminded every day of how much work he is, and 2 years has felt like 10. All I can say is, you better be kind to me in your teenage years Grey.

♥ Mom.

get the party started.

I’ve started preparations for Grey’s 2nd birthday, which is 2 weeks away, but I will admit, I’m doing it pretty begrudgingly.

Why, you might ask.

Well, because the theme is just so uninspiring to me. Grey loves trucks. Me, not so much. I really wanted to do a monkey party, or a puppy party, or a carnival party, or an airplane party, or an anything but a truck party.

So, I’m dragging my heels, complaining a lot, but keeping in mind that it’s not my party, it’s Grey’s. And if trucks are what he loves, than trucks is what he’ll get.

I ordered his gift online this year, I’m having it shipped, we’ll assemble it beforehand, and put a big fat bow on top. Done. It’s so adorable, but I’m going to make you wait to see what it is. I’m cruel like that.

My color theme is yellow, black, orange and brown. Like the CAT trucks, that sort of idea.

I’ve got plates, napkins and some fun little trucks to decorate the table with. But I really wanted something unique and boyish as the table runner, so I came up with this super original idea, all by myself. ;)

I bought some really, really cheap fabric, like less than $3 a meter/yard. It’s a really heavy suiting fabric, heavier than denim. I cut it to the size I wanted and then simply serged the edges.

Next I took some white carpet binding (that’s what it was labeled as at the store)

and cut it into 4” pieces. Totally get where I’m going with this yet? Well Lily didn’t understand, so I drew on a scrap of paper what I was making. She added the adorable cars.

A ta-da my road table runner.

It’s not all sewn together yet, cause Grey woke up from his nap, and as we all know, free time is over when nap time is over. And by free time I mean my life.

So probably 1/2 hour worth of sewing those little white rectangles, a good press and done. And all for less than $5. Love me a deal.

14 pounds.

If you’ve read any baby books or did much internet research, then you would know that by 6 months, your baby should have doubled their birth weight. So for Finn, he should weigh around 14 pounds by the time he’s 6 months old.

Well, how about doubling your birth weight by 7 weeks?

Yup, my big, squishy baby weighs a whopping 14 pounds 6 ounces, at 7 weeks old. That’s a steady growth of a pound a week.

I love it! I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, chubby babies are the best!

Know what else is awesome…

Matching outfits.

grey- halloween {2010}

I was SO excited to get a costume for Grey this year, in fact I bought it in August. ☺ (Mostly because he doesn’t care what he wore and I got to pick it, yes!)

So here he is our little robot baby.

Doesn’t he look adorable!!

 

He doesn’t like to look at me when I’m taking his picture, ever… so these ones are rare to see.

He kept playing with the chin strap for these pictures and I was worried he wouldn’t want to keep it on, but he surprised us all and kept it on the whole night.

It was hilarious to watch him walk in this! I loved it!

grey’s leg.

I've had a few people ask me how Grey is doing and even worse, most of my family doesn’t even know what happened. So if you're not on Facebook, then you won't know that last week we spent some quality time in the Hospital with Grey and I figured I should record this so I can remember what happened.

It all started on Monday afternoon. My Mom and I went out grocery shopping, and when she lifted Grey out of his car-seat and set him down on the ground he started limping away. I thought it was strange, but figured his leg had probably just fallen asleep or something from the car ride. As the week went on, I noticed it getting worse and worse. It seemed to be the worst right after he had just been resting, so like sitting for awhile or right after a nap. He would hobble around and as he started walking, it would start warming up so to say and his limp wasn't as bad.

On Friday after his nap, I picked him up out of his crib and set him on the ground and he collapsed. He couldn't even stand on his leg. He grabbed onto the side of the bed to lift himself up and started hobbling around the edge of the bed. At this point I was really concerned. So I called his doctor and they couldn't get me in for an appointment until the end of October. It was then we decided this couldn't wait and we needed to take him to the Hospital.

After dinner on Friday we gave Grey a bath, popped him into his pj’s and Darren took him up to the hospital. A couple hours later, Darren called me to give me an update and I headed down to pick them up. When I got there I realized that they hadn't even been SEEN by a doctor yet. This was about 9:00 at night. They were still in the waiting room. My poor baby... and poor Darren. That's a really long time to wait with an extremely active 18 month old. So about an hour later we finally got called back to see the doctor.

Grey was exhausted at this point (and so was I) When the doctor came into the room, she had Grey walk around for her. She just sat on the edge of the bed and watched him walk, for like 10 minutes. She seemed stumped, really had no idea what was wrong with him. The only thing she could think of was Juvenile arthritis because it warmed up when he walked. She sent us for x-rays of his hip and leg. And after a marathon screaming match and having to pin him down on the x-ray table they finally got the pictures they needed. We were sent to another waiting room to wait for the results of his x-rays. By now it's almost 11:00.

So the doctor came and told us that his x-rays came back fine and she was going to go and talk to the pediatrician on call and see what they thought. More waiting. Great.

By now, Grey is so done. Darren is so done, and I am really needing to go home and feed Finn. Finally I decided that there is nothing more they are going to be able to do that night and I was going to take Grey home and they could call us in the morning if we needed to come back for more tests or whatever. Right at the moment, the doctor reappeared and told us the pediatrician wanted to do some blood work on Grey. We asked if we could come back tomorrow to have it done, she said they would call us to book an appointment later that week. Fine by me.

So when we got home we jumped online to Dr. Google and basically self diagnosed Grey's leg ourselves. It was an infection of the his hip joint. It's a viral infection that goes away after about 10 days. He had every symptom and true to form, it eventually went away.

And now he's back to his destructive ways, without even so much as a limp to speak of. All I can say is thank goodness it wasn't juvenile arthritis. And thank goodness my little guy is back to his healthy little self.

messy boy.

On a recent road trip to Niagara Falls, I had the pleasure of entertaining Grey for an impossible 2.5 hours. So when his crying carried on for longer than 10 minutes, I thought a good choice would be to give him chocolate, I mean when I’m crying it always makes me feel better… well guess what, turned out to be not such a great idea after all.

 

Yup, that’s chocolate smushed between his toes.