The Big Baseball Bash

Saturday was Grady's first birthday party.  We had a big crowd coming so we were very thankful that the weather was beautiful.  I become very tight with weather.com during party weeks.  Grady actually did really well at the party.  There were lots of people but he was passed around a pretty good amount and I think everyone got to see a little bit of the birthday boy.

I love making all of the projects for birthday parties.  It is a nice and necessary creative outlet for me since I am not currently teaching.  I added tips for the crafts in this post because I love seeing those in blogs I read.  Enjoy the party...get ready for A LOT of pictures!

  

 

Baseball wreath, inspired from Pinterest.  The soft baseballs for the wreath came in packs from the Dollar Tree.  The wreath form is also from the Dollar Tree.  I wrapped the wreath foam in fabric and hot glued on a lot of baseballs.

Layla helped me grow all of the grass in the pots.  She moved them constantly in the sun for me so that they would grow quickly.  I would recommend starting grass projects at least three weeks in advance.  I made the flags, pinwheels and pennants out of fabric.

Signature bat for a memory for Grady.  I think by the end of the night, it actually got signed by most people!

Scoreboard decoration for the food table.  For the home and away scores, I used Grady's birth date, time of birth and weight and height.   This was my first attempt at homemade chalkboard paint.  It actually works!

Lemon shake-ups, as seen on Pinterest

Grady's monthly photos were all strung on our big tree in the backyard.  I, of course, saw this idea on Pinterest!

Craft table

Games!  Ryan planned the games and the kids seemed to enjoy them.  The kids played "Strike 'Em Out" (throw a ball in a bucket), "Home Run Derby" (the kids hit balls off a tee over a tiny landscaping fence) and the kids ran bases.

No helium required!  Just blow up the balloon and string them upside down with a needle and baker's twine.  (Pinterest!)
They sell the polka dot balloons at Party City.

My amazing friend (and Grady's Godmother) Stephanie made these cake pops.  Aren't they wonderful?  They were the hit of the party.  Stephanie, thank you so so much for making these!  I wouldn't recommend putting cake pops in real grass and dirt.  Actually dry dirt would probably be fine.  These pots were freshly watered and the water made the sticks floppy.  They were still delicious!

The green indoor/outdoor carpet for the food and dessert table came from Menards.  It was very inexpensive.  They were so nice at Menards and didn't even mind cutting only a small piece for us.  I price matched and Menards had the best deal.  I have a feeling the carpet will get lots of use.  You may see it at future football, golf and garden parties :)

Here is Grady's smash cake on Ryan's family highchair.  Ryan and his siblings ate in this chair growing up.  Thanks to Ryan's parents for letting me borrow it for the party!

Uncle Frank and Grady

Layla.  She was so excited.  She directed people to the craft table, to sign the bat and even was getting juice pouches for the kids.  She was actually a pretty crazy little girl for the day and did a lot of fast talking and running!

My friend Jessie made Grady this banner while I was pregnant.  I love it and it typically hangs in his nursery.

Cake time!  Several months ago I decided I wanted to serve ice cream out of mini baseball helmets.  I remembered having them at Baskin Robbins when I was little kid.  Do you remember them?  I found the very best deal on eBay.  They were brand new and food safe!

Grady enjoyed the cake!  I was shocked to see chocolate cake (it was supposed to be white because he has never had chocolate before) but we just went with it.

Layla loves fondant!

Present time!  I wasn't even going to do a present opening at the party but Grady started climbing on the presents....so we went for it!  Everyone was so generous and Layla and Grady have been having a blast with all of the new toys.

Grady finally got his hands on the truck that he had his eye on in the present pile :)

Layla was a huge help during the opening!

Ann and Joan with the birthday boy!

Little kid favors- The bats and balls are also from the Dollar Tree.  Did you know I love that place?

For the adults!  I opted to do treat bags instead of a sweet table.  I haven't had good luck with people actually eating food off the sweet table.  I included chocolate baseballs, gummy hot dogs and Baby Ruths.  Layla actually stuffed all of the bags for me!  She really is becoming a good party helper.

Happy 1st birthday, Grady!! 

Happy 1 Year, Grady!

As of 12:26 p.m., our little Grady is one year old today.  Right now he is a sweet boy and fairly easy going.  He is also one busy boy.  He likes to find an open drawer and empty it in a hurry, throwing things over both shoulders.  Grady also loves to give himself daily showers with Howie's water bowl.  He has found his voice this month and is babbling constantly.  He is definitely saying momma, hi and Layla but I think many more words are coming soon.  Everyone comments on his size, how big he is.  I honestly don't think he looks that big, but I know my opinion is a bit skewed.  The only time I notice is when the safety belts won't go around his waist in shopping carts.  Busy or calm, wet or dry, chatty or quiet, big or small....we don't mind either way.  We are just so thankful we have this little guy in our family.  Happy 1st birthday, Grady!!

Grady at 12 months:

Weight: 25lb 4oz (90 percentile)

Height: 29 1/2 inches (25 percentile)

Clothes: Mix of 18 month and 24 month clothes

Diapers: Mix of cloth and disposable. He is in a 5 disposable at night.

Sleep: Grady is getting up around one time a night.  Actually, it is the early morning.  He then goes back down until about 8 a.m.  Sometimes he gets up throughout the night but typically (knock on wood!!!!) he will go back down with a little rocking.

Eating: Grady is still nursing a couple times per day but we introduced whole milk a little more than a week ago.  My milk supply plummeted right at about 11 1/2 months and Grady was not getting enough to drink.  Grady has taken well to the bottle and whole milk.  Nursing both babies, I rarely gave bottles.  I think for this reason, I love, love, love giving bottles.  I also love, love, love not having to pump the milk to put into the bottles :)  He is still doing well with solids.  Grady is still at the stage where he will try anything.  Sometimes he even makes a strange face, but he will just keep on eating.  I have a feeling he will start to get an opinion soon.  He loves avocado, cheese, peas, pancakes, green beans, carrots, baked potato, macaroni and cheese, pizza, pasta, waffles, oatmeal, applesauce, yogurt and rice.


Likes: Shooting hoops in the bathtub, splashing in water (liking baths again), climbing stairs, getting put in the high chair, swinging at the park, holding the phone to his ear and saying hi, going for walks in the stroller and watching Layla be silly

Dislikes: This boy likes to eat and eat often.  He is not a happy camper if he is stretched for too long.  I would also have to say that the shopping cart is not his favorite place to be.

New tricks: Standing for longer periods, saying hi, saying Layla (LaLa)

Using the football as a phone

 

 

 Happy big O-N-E, Grady!!

Quick update

5.  Grady is almost one!    We celebrated with a big baseball party on Saturday.  Many, many pictures to come soon. 

Big boy!

The invites.  They were created on the Silhouette with the print and cut feature.  I just added the yarn to the front.

Backside of the invite!

4.  I had a wonderful Mother's Day this year.  Maybe we could start celebrating this one a couple times of year!?!

3.  Layla is almost finished with preschool.  I cannot believe this one.  We take a break from most classes during the summer too so I am excited to be off an activity schedule for a couple months.

Shea and Lay.  They are such good buddies.  I cannot believe how big they are getting.

2.  Layla and I almost made the cover of a local magazine this month but not quite.  There are still pictures in the magazine of our family but the picture of me is not my favorite :) so I will not be posting it on here!  Anyway, our family was featured in a story about refinancing.  Refinancing our home worked out very nicely because it has allowed us....

1.  To move!  As many of you know, we had zero luck selling our house.  Prices had plummeted in our area and we literally couldn't afford to sell our house.  We tried posting our house for rent which turned out to be a good choice.  E-mails and phone calls came in (we posted it on craigslist.com and a local renting website) very steadily.  Our tenants will move in later this summer.  We will be moving to....we have no idea!  We have not found our house yet but we are working with a realtor and all over realtor.com.  We have looked at just about everything in our price range and even met with a builder.  We are open to anything that will allow space for our mass amounts of toys!  As the time to move gets closer, the idea of moving will get harder for me.  We came to this house the day after we were married and brought both Layla and Grady home here.  It will be hard to walk away, but we know our main goal for moving is a good school district for our kids.  Packing will begin very soon.

This has nothing to do with moving, but I love this picture of Grady!

The B's of Spring

Our butterflies hatched last week.  Layla kept a close eye on the chrysalides

 and we actually got to see one come out.  It was a very fun process but I may have become a little obsessed with our caterpillars/butterflies :)

 

We got to visit with our favorite buddies, Liam and Shea, last week.  

Grady has started to join right in with the pack!

 

Grady is big enough to ride in the bike trailer now.  He liked the bike ride but wasn't too sure about the helmet.  Maybe because last time we put him in a helmet it didn't come off for six weeks!

Yesterday, we released the butterflies.  The rain had stopped and the temperature was right so we decided it was the perfect day.

The butterflies disagreed.  Only one flew out of the net.  After waiting for quite awhile, I had to take them out with a stick while Layla cheered, "Go lay some eggs, butterflies!"

Two hours later, this poor guy was still on the leaf I put him on.  He finally flew away or got eaten by a bird when I checked on him later! 

Now...bring on the nice weather, spring!  We are so ready for you!!

Caterpillars

Layla received caterpillars in her Easter basket this year.  Well, she actually received a caterpillar certificate and butterfly net but the caterpillars arrived in the mail a couple days later.

The caterpillars at about a week old. 

  

Layla, the scientist.  The magnifying glass came in handy at the beginning, the caterpillars were teeny!

Layla was so excited when they came in the mail.  We had to drive right to Ryan's school to show him.

From caterpillar to chrysalis!  Layla and I actually saw one transforming, very neat. 

Counting the chrysalides....four.  One more to go!

When I taught kindergarten, Ryan was my go to "transfer the chrysalides from the jar to net" guy. 
Four years later, he is still dealing with my caterpillars :)

Layla has really gotten into this little project and loves rattling off the life cycle to you, especially when she gets to the "beautiful butterfly" stage.  I will update when we (hopefully) have butterflies!

In case you are interested, the butterflies came from Amazon.  I also love the book From Caterpillar to Butterfly.



Grady- 11 Months

Grady is 11 months.  He is one busy bee.  He loves to wave.  He loves puffs.  He still likes to put his head on our shoulders which we love.  He is starting to resist rocking at night.  He prefers to be put in his crib.  What?!?  Hopefully the rocking returns.  I personally love, love, love a sleeping baby in my arms.  Happy 11 months to our sweet Grady.

Grady at 11 months: 

Weight: Weighed in at 23lb 8oz right around 3 weeks ago

Height: 28 inches last I measured...I will measure again and update. 

Clothes: 12 month clothes are getting tight.  18 month clothes fit him pretty well.

Diapers: Mix of cloth and disposable.  I have found that cloth has gotten even easier as Grady gets older.    He is in a 5 disposable at night.

Sleep:  Two new teeth popped through this week so sleep was a bit sketchy but nights are still a mix of good and not so good.  Typically, Grady will go down to sleep around 7:30.  On a good night, he just gets up around 5:00 a.m. to eat.  Grady will typically go back down until 7:30-8 in the morning.  On not so great nights, Grady is up often.  After rough nights, I am lucky enough to nap when the kids take their afternoon naps (quiet time for Layla).  During the day, Grady takes two naps.  His first nap is about two hours after he wakes for the day.  He sleeps for 1-2 hours and then is up for about 3 hours playing and eating.  Grady then typically sleeps for 2 hours in the afternoon and then is up until bedtime.


Eating: Grady is still nursing (about 4 times a day) and eats solids for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks.  Currently he is loving macaroni and cheese, peas, baked potato, sweet potato, avocado, cheese, puffs, cheerios, yogurt and applesauce.

Likes: Getting into his high chair, following Layla around, flipping Howie's water bowl, taking the carbon monoxide detector out of the wall, music, his blue lovie, balls, loving his pacifier more by the day, pulling the toilet paper off the roll, playing peek-a-book and seeing Ryan when he gets home from work

Dislikes: Baths (not loving these lately!), being read to (how can this be?!?  I have to read to him across the room!) and standing on his own

New tricks: clapping, hugging, dancing, standing for brief periods on his own

Someone does not like standing on his own!!

Grady loves walking with the chairs

Layla and Grady having a snack together

Grady loves to do whatever Layla does.  Well, kind of.  Layla loves to color.  Grady is quickly becoming a crayon eater.