Bryan & Lauren's BBQ for Oma's Birthday

Bryan and Lauren had a BBQ at their house to celebrate my mom's birthday.  We drove down to Normal for the day and had a great time hanging out with them.  Grayson thought Aidan was pretty cool and was in awe of everything he did.  He even thought his popsicle was better.  

It's so nice to have wonderful family that live so close.  They cooked a wonderful dinner of ribeye steak, homemade guacamole and rice and lots of other delicious appetizers and sides.  They also had cilantro margaritas and used all fresh herbs from their garden.  

Grayson decided today that he didn't want me to hold him like a baby anymore and would not let me rock him that way (horizontally) so he would not take an afternoon nap.  It ended up causing problems on our drive home as he freaked out after only sleeping for 45 minutes and freaked out again when we got close to home.  Overall it was so nice seeing family and celebrating my mom's birthday.  Hopefully we will continue this tradition for many more years to come.

Grayson Videos ~ 9 Months

Grayson is turning into such a big boy!  He can put the treasure chest pieces into the chest all by himself.  He finally started doing the real crawl instead of the army crawl, and he started walking with the help of the walker toy.  I will be doing his 10 month blog post on July 5th, but thought I would do a short one now because he is doing so many things.  We are so proud of our big boy!

Happy Father's Day, Daddy!

Happy Father's Day to the best Daddy in the world!

This year was very special as it was Craig's first Father's Day as Grayson's Daddy.  Craig has been such an amazing dad to Julia and Ethan and I know they have many great memories with him.  This last year we have created so many more with our family of 5.

We decided to do a little photo op with a special sign we made for Daddy.  Oma helped me put this together and although it was not easy we ended up getting a few great shots.  To celebrate what a special daddy Craig is to the kids we bought him a David Yurman ring and made him a photo book.  He loved it and we love what a wonderful Daddy he is to Julia, Ethan and Grayson.  They are so very lucky!

We love you Daddy!

Poems to Daddy:

Walk beside me, Daddy.  Though I am little, I understand All the love you give to me.  That you will take my hand to show me the wonders of life.  To teach  me the things I need to know.  Your loving way will guide me through each year as I grow.  The years will go by quickly.  One day I will be grown.  I know I'll always have your love.  And never walk alone.

Daddy, You are my INSPIRATION and MY HERO.  I am SO BLESSED to call You "my father".  THE memories WE SHARE are the ones I will CHERISH always.  I will FOREVER be your little BOY.

Inside of Card to Daddy:

Thanks for being the best DAD I could have ever hoped for.  I"m so lucky to have such a caring, funny, strong, loving father.  I know you and Mommy waited a very long time for me, but I am forever grateful you never gave up.  I hope to grow up just like you and can't wait for all the fun memories we will create.  I love you so much! Love, Grayson

Grandpa & Grandma Visit Chicago

Grandpa and Grandma Braham visited us from Las Vegas for the week.  They got in town Friday around 2pm and we went to the park to show them how Grayson loves to swing.  Both Julia and Ethan had friends in town for Spring Awakening (concert of DJs) for the weekend so we ordered pizza and stayed in on Friday.  Saturday we went to Grayson's first swim lesson.  He did great and loved the water.  It was nice that Grandpa and Grandma were able to watch him.  That night we went to dinner at Quartino and then headed over to Red Head Piano Bar to listen to live music.  We got front row seats at the piano and had the best time listening to the music.  I got a great video of Craig and his mom signing their hearts out to I've Got Friends In Low Places by Garth Brooks.  Sunday we celebrated Father's Day with the kids and their friends making breakfast for everyone.  For dinner we grilled steaks and had potatoes, mushrooms, caprese and corn on the cob.  Monday we went to the park for a picnic.  Ethan decided to climb a big tree while Grandpa and Julia threw the football around and Daddy and Grayson went over to the water sprayers.  Grayson had cherries for the first time and loved them.  Monday night we all went to dinner at Tuscany in Little Italy.  Grayson had pasta and marinara sauce and loved it.  Tuesday Julia had her friend Marcello come over and Grandma, Julia, Marcello and I had chipotle shrimp tacos, guacamole and chips and brownies for dinner.  Grandpa, Craig and Ethan thought they were going to a navy seal event, but it was actually Wed night.

We had such a fun time with Grandpa and Grandma and can't wait to see them again in August when we visit for a Counting Crows concert.  Grayson loves his Grandpa and Grandma and had a blast with them.  He gives them the best smiles and lights up when he sees them.  Of course Julia and Ethan were very happy to see them too.       

 

 

 

 

Grayson's First Swim Lesson

Grayson had his first swim lesson today and he loved it.  They did all kinds of activities and even played humpy dumpty sat on a wall and when they say he had a great fall they had you put your child in the under water.  The instructor commented about how Grayson was the youngest one, but the happiest one and didn't get upset at all like most of the other kids.