guenther journey

2.07.2010

We have a WALKER!!!

It occurred to me that I might not have mentioned in my previous posts that Grady is WALKING now! He pretty much started walking on his own consistently 4 days after his birthday. And, of course it was right after all of our family left from his birthday party weekend. So, nobody got to see it except for us, but it was awesome! He all of a sudden decided he wants to walk everywhere and now there is NO stopping him! I find things drug all over the house that he picks up and carries all over. The most popular items are: my hair dryer, the remotes, my cell phone, his birthday balloons, candles (that are too heavy for him), and everything he can pull out of his drawer in the bathroom.

We also had a rude awakening in church this morning now that we have a walker. And, not only do we have a walker, we have a walker with an attitude. Most people who know Grady know he is very dramatic and when he is excited he gets VERY excited and freaks out squealing, laughing, and now running. But, when he is mad, he gets mad at the snap of a finger and his temper flares. Which, yes he gets his temper from his dad and his excitedness from his mom! :)
Anyway, when he doesn't get to walk around like he wants to in church he throws one of his tantrums, arches his back so he falls on the ground and screams. Paul and I both took him out of church and spent time chasing him around. It's going to be quite the adventure in the coming weeks! We are already planning on sitting in the nursery room, which at our church, has a pew and a window to look into the church. This might be our permanent pew for the next year or so....

2.02.2010

The Birthday Party Pictures

These are some pictures of the big Birthday Party! I still have quite a few to get from my sister and other people who took way more than I did, but this gives you an idea! Gradyn went crazy for his cake and ended up destroying the whole baseball and yelling with excitement about it! He would throw his arms up in the air because he was so excited for it! I don't think he really liked the taste, it was mostly about the destruction. He is pretty much all about destruction.....

The 5 0ne-year-olds at the party!

Gradyn, Patrick, Luke, Jackson, Madison

Obviously, doesn't really work to get a good pic of all 5 together!

Gradyn with the 2 two-year-olds at the party!

Isaac & Dominic

Waiting patiently to open the presents!

The games!

The awesome cake my Aunt Shari made! She also made my first birthday cake....and many other birthdays too! :)

The baseball cupcakes we made!

The "Birthday" table!

Some of the decorations! And, of course we had peanuts & cracker jacks. And popcorn!

Such a great day! 30+ people came to celebrate with us! Can't wait to do it again next year! I'll be taking suggestions for themes for next year! :) I think we all know how much I love to throw a good party! Paul has already warned me that I can't go overboard for the super bowl....hmm.....I wonder if I can handle that!

More pics to come as soon as I get people to give them to me!

P.S. those of you who have pictures of the party, please email them to me!! :)

Birthday Pictures!

These are pictures of Gradyn's actual birthday, January 27th. He got to open a present in the morning before going to daycare (a puzzle). And then he took a group picture with the kids at daycare and Doreen. The balloon is from Doreen and he Loved it!

The Birthday Boy!

Katelyn, Sidney, Jordan, Doreen, Gradyn, & Addilyn

The girls were already playing dress up at 7:30 in the morning! And, YES, his daycare pretty much has all girls! There are a few that weren't there yet!

The Birthday Balloon!

Present time!

1.31.2010

Party Weekend!

We had Gradyn's first birthday party this weekend! It was a lot of fun! We hosted about 30 people, including 5 one-year-olds and 2 two-year-olds. The kids were the most fun to watch!
We had a baseball theme and everything matched the theme. All "ballpark food", hotdogs, brats, chili cheese fries, chili dogs, nachos, peanuts, cracker jacks, popcorn. And, of course a baseball cake and baseball cupcakes! We played several baseball games too, a Trivia game on Gradyn's baseball history, relay races holding a baseball on a spoon, and Pin the Ball on the Field. Gradyn got lots of great gifts that he will have fun playing with or wearing! We also played lots of card games and Catch Phrase! Quite a busy day! I will post pictures soon! Unfortunately I was too busy to take many pictures and then my memory card filled up, so I didn't get a chance to take many pictures on my own camera. I need to get some pictures from other family members!

In other news: Gradyn is walking all over the place!!!! All of a sudden tonight he decided he can walk and walks all over the house!
Also, he has been loving his new slide toy. He goes crazy for it and it was also a very big hit this weekend with all of the kids! It was a great alternative to not being able to go outside because it was too cold.

We are looking forward to the next birthday party in 2 weeks for our nephew Luke who will be 1. Birthday season is definately in full swing! :)

1.27.2010

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Gradyn Joseph! We had a fun day with Gradyn on his birthday! I was able to take him to daycare (Paul usually does) because I had meetings in Ogallala, so we had fun with our extra time in the morning opening a present (a puzzle) and playing with it for a little bit. Then when we got to daycare the girls there were waiting at the door to yell Happy Birthday to him because they were so excited for it! They were also excited for the treats we brought! :)

We went to Applebees for a birthday dinner and Gradyn had mac and cheese and really liked it. We then went home and his other birthday present from us was on our door step waiting for us! We got him a slide/gym type thing because he loves to climb and he loves slides. And, YES, he definately loves it! I couldn't believe how fast he figured it all out! It took him 1 time of climbing up the rock climbing part to figure out how to do that. Then he gets to the top of the slide and turns himself around so he can go down backwards, feet first. We are always so shocked that he turns himself around to go down stairs and get down from tall things. He figured that out about a month ago and is awesome at it. We are so glad we have a safety conscious baby! :)

This is a video of him on his new toy. He isn't wearing pants because I wanted to make it not as slick for him because I was afraid he wouldn't be able to climb up the climbing part with his pajama pants on, but don't worry he can, he did it numerous times after we put his pants on! ha!

I have more pictures I'll post soon! :)