Grady is 4!

Oh my.  How can he already be 4 years old???

Oh Gradyn Joseph.  Such a crazy, huge personality you have!  You are most definately our 'strong willed child'.  We spend so much time, energy, and thought on you. The doctor told us that 4 years  can be very 'pre-adolescent', we thought 3 was pretty 'pre-adolescent' already!  haha!  You are so much work, but we wouldn't have it any other way because that makes you who you are.  :) 

A few of your 4 year old stats:
Height:  40.25 in. - 50%tile
Weight:  35.4 lbs - 45%tile
Blood Pressure:  86/40
Pulse:  92

Loves:  preschool, movies (especially toy story and despicable me), tv (especially bubble guppies, anything on nick jr., anything on sprout), applesauce, hamburgers, peanut butter and jelly, mac & cheese, books, games, puzzles, transformers, isaac & luke, going to gma and gpas to the farm, talking, yelling, never stopping talking, playing with brynlee, taking things away from brynlee, pushing/hitting/squeezing brynlee, cuddling with mommy, going to husker games, dinosaurs, airplanes, trains, runza, arbys!!, cereal for a snack.

Doesn't Love:  going to bed (still...since you were 1....typically bedtime is still around 10), getting up in the mornings on daycare/preschool days (gets up just fine by 6:30 on stay home days...), getting dressed  in the morning (screaming/kicking match every day), going potty in the morning, if brynlee gets to push the button on mommy's blender, eating any type of fruit except applesauce, the dark, getting dressed by yourself...ever. 

We are so blessed to have you in our lives and are so looking forward to watching you grow!  We love our sweet and loving you are to Bryns.  You love to be the 'teacher' and explain to her how everything works.  She hangs on every word you say and follows everything you do or tell her to do.  We are also looking forward to watch your relationship grow and get close to each other! 

We celebrated your birthday on your actual birthday (Jan 27) by going to eat at Cheeseburger in Paradise in Omaha with Gma and Gpa Guenther, Joey, Cassie, & Ashley.  You and Daddy came to pick Brynlee and I up from the airport because we had been in California at a wedding!  You got a chocolate ice cream dessert, but of course you didn't eat it because it had sprinkles on it.  Then the next night we went to eat at Red Robin with Shari.  You really really wanted them to sing to you, but then were super shy when they came.  You got another ice cream sundae that you didn't eat.  :) 
Your party is going to be on Sat, Feb 2 with a train theme. 

God Bless you Lovey!

Her faves

Caught B with her fave things eva...
Shoes and babies. Babies in shoes.
What more could she want??

Piggies

Brynlee looked so cute in her pigtails this day that I just had to do a little photo shoot!

Our family day off

Paul and I both have today off!! (MLK day)
I started off the day at the Y, which is always a great thing! I had skipped the last 3 days since we were gone and busy, so it was much needed! And it was awesome to sleep in and not go until 7.
Then the kids had dentist appointments. They were both SO brave! Grady does everything all by himself, goes back and sits all by himself! Brynlee sat on my lap but only whimpered an squeezed her eyes shut, didn't cry at all! Last time he screamed the whole time. It was so great! And, they love it there because there are so many cool train things. Both had a+ report cards on their checkup!
After the dentist we went to the Joyo theater for a showing of The Little Mermaid! It was great! And, only $16 for all 4 of us for admission, popcorn, and pop! It was Brynlee's first movie!
After that we headed to Olive Garden for lunch! It was amazingly good! And I don't really like Olive Garden that much normally. I'm too picky... :)
Now we are back home for naps and blog updating. Obviously. Next we are going to do a test run on Grady's train cake for his bday. He is taking treats tomorrow to Kellans and on Thursday to preschool. His actually bday is on Sunday, so we will go out to eat in Omaha that night when Brynlee and I get back from California!! (Yes, her first plane ride! We are just going for the weekend to my friends wedding. )
Then his party is Feb 2nd. Lots of celebrating coming up!
Loved this family day and extra time at home to get things done and get organized for our Cali trip! Stay tuned for more on those festivities!

January wedding and it was 68 degrees!

My cousin got married on Saturday by Wichita. It was a warm and sunny 68 degrees! What an awesome gift for a January wedding! Couldn't have planned that better. It was so nice to get to play outside at the park without coats even! The kids were actually sweaty and hot and Grady wanted his vest off. Crazy! Today it is -1 and snowy. I want Saturday back...
The wedding was at 2 so we had plenty of time to play on the playground during the reception. The reception was in the school that is right next to the church so it was perfect locations of everything with the playground right in the middle and outside the school. I'm pretty sure the kids played outside for about 3 hours.
Paul, Brynlee, and I even got to sneak over to mass during the reception since it was so close and convenient! It was great! Kind of a long day, we left by 8 on Sat morning and drove home that night so we for back around 1:00 am. But, we were so glad we had all day yesterday at home! Well, Paul and the kids were home all day. I got to go shop and to lunch with Ashley before she headed back home!

Royals were in our neighborhood!!

The Royals caravan was at Scheels last week! We got to go get a few autographs and mingle with them! Aside from waiting in line over an hour since they were late, it was fun! And my kids LOVE Scheels, so it was just exciting to be there and get to ride the escalator!

New experiences...

We branched out and went to a Japanese/Sushi place next to our house last week. I really liked it! The kids liked their 'chicken nugget' aka chicken tempura....but that was about it. So we went home and had turkey sandwiches. Paul was gone in KC for work, so it was a fun outing while he was out of town...and we had a Groupon to use! :)

Madison's 4th Birthday

iPad love

This is what these kids would do 98% of the time if they were allowed to...especially Brynlee! She calls it 'my pad' and she believes with her whole heart that it is hers and hers alone. I am amazed that she knows exactly what to do on all the apps and exactly what she wants on each one. They actually play really well together on it too, occasional fighting over it, but not much! It's great most of the time, although I do hide it some so they can't have access to it. And it is a great punishment for Grady when he has had a timeout during the day he is not allowed to watch tv or play the iPad.

Battle wounds...

A little boy at Kellan's is in a biting stage...

Where's Paul??