Happy Birthday, Jack!

Happy Birthday, Jack!  The video was too big for email so I'm posting it here instead.  :-)

More from Grandma's Visit

Here are some more pictures from Grandma's visit:

 Grant requested that we do another tea party when Grandma was here. 

 Grandma and Kate were on the hammock and Grant decided to fan them with a palm frond.  Unfortunately, it kept hitting Kate in the face.  Not exactly the desired effect.

 Later, the kids sat on the edge and pretended they were on a boat.

 The kids and Grandma working on the iPad

Helping with dishes

 Grandma taught Kate to catch the ball...she was so proud of herself.  Later on, they played on the floor, rolling the ball back and forth.  Kate thought that was great!

Grandma read "The Little Engine that Could" as a bedtime story. 

Thanks for visiting us, Grandma!  We love you!

Visiting with Family

 Grant and Jared played lots of Minecraft together

 Kate, Jill, and Lili hanging out

 We went to lunch at Wolf Creek

 Posing beauties

 The kids ate dinner together outside.  We missed seeing Timmy!

 Lili really liked Nate. They got to be good pals!

 Kate and Auntie Jill...one of her favorite people in the whole world.  She cried and cried when everyone left.  She wanted to go home with Jill.

 Grandma helped my kids make tea from things they found in the yard.

Kate loved having Grandma here!  Well, we all did.

Beautiful Weather

The weather has been so wonderful lately--we're trying to enjoy it as much as we can before it gets too hot.

Visit at Jill's House

The kids had a great time playing together.

 Jill let Kate play with her iPad.

Jared is so good with the little ones!   

I love this one of the girls each playing on an iPad. 

All the cousins together--and they're all smiling!

Secret Reading Spot

This is Grant's secret reading spot.  He sits in there and works in his readers and when he's confident that he can read it, he comes out and reads to me.  The pillows are a new addition.  He said he wanted to decorate his space. :-)

"Date Night"

Last month, we took advantage of Parents' Night Out at Grant's gym.  It went really well, and Kate didn't want to leave when we came back for her.  So when there was another PNO planned, I was super excited to have another night out with Nate.  Both kids were excited to go--Grant kept asking all day how much longer it was until we could go to the gym.  Kate was waiting by the door for me to be ready to take them. When we got there, Kate started whimpering that she didn't want me to leave.  After a few minutes, she was better and ran off to play in the gym while I watched.  I snuck out the door a few minutes later.  Nate and I decided to stop by the gym on the way to dinner to see if she was okay, and we saw that she was not.  She was crying and poor Gian at the gym was holding her.  So it clearly wasn't going to work....we were going to have a 3rd wheel on our date. 

After dinner, we stopped by Staples to grab something.  Kate found this shoe-shaped pencil case and suddenly her shoes were off and she was determined to try it on.  Nate could not convince her that it was not in fact a real shoe, so he let her try it on.  Some poor soul is going to buy that pencil case some day, totally unaware that someone actually put it on their foot.

At 8:30, we went back for Grant.  He was playing happily, but as soon as he saw me he dissolved into tears saying how it was such a horrible night (if you know Grant, you can imagine his dramatics).  Apparently, some girl sat on his finger when they were playing Blast Off.  He could not be consoled and when we were back in the car he said that not only did someone sit on his finger, he also got his ears stuck.  The best we could tell, he was squeezing between two slides and his ears got stuck.  It was so pathetic and dramatic and over the top...and the night had been so far from what we had planned, Nate and I just burst into a fit of hysterical laughter.  It turned out nothing like we had envisioned, but it was fun to be in it together.

Haircut

 Grandma let Kate cut her hair after dinner.  After she finished, Grandma asked how it looked and Kate said, "It looks funky."

Fun Day with Grandma

We went to Bridgeport today to feed the ducks and have lunch with Grandma.  It was a beautiful day!  The kids are SO excited to have Grandma visiting.  You can see the pure joy on their faces.

Grandma helped Grant figure out the coded message on his menu.

Kate took a self-portrait with my phone.  

Visiting Grandma at Auntie Jill's House

These two kiddos and I headed down to Torrance to have lunch with Auntie Jill, Lili, and Grandma.

 Grandma showed Kate how to ride on the scooter.  She caught on and exclaimed, "I can do it!"

Grandma and Lili at Mimi's 

We love it when Grandma visits! 

 Somehow Grant convinced Grandma to give him a piggy back ride.  She's a very good sport.