Lots of fun with Grandpa

During Grandpa's visit over Tucker's birthday week, he kindly told me that I didn't need to run him around to go see stuff, he just wanted to spend time with us and hang out at home. I gladly took him up on his offer however I couldn't resist finding a few fun things to do.

In addition to all of Tucker's birthday preparations and celebrations previously mentioned, we also took a thirty minute drive north to a blueberry farm. After enjoying a picnic lunch, we trekked to the back of the rows of blueberry bushes and started filling our buckets. At first, grandpa didn't see the fun of the activity but once we found some good, full bushes and got going everyone seemed to have a good time. Harrison probably ate more than he put in the buckets but he was a great helper, reaching all the awesome pockets of berries that were way down low. I had Tucker on my back in a metal frame backpack and the one time I sat down I had a very hard time standing up again so Harrison was invaluable!

Seven pounds of berries later, I eventually made two blueberry pies and eight blueberry hand pies and all of them were delicious. The farm had a great picnic area, some animals, a play structure, sand box and a "fishing" pond in a kiddie wading pool that Harrison loved.

Before catching an afternoon flight out of town, the kids and I took grandpa to the Evergreen State Fair on opening day. We were able to enjoy a couple hours of farm animals, prize chickens and week old piglets. Harrison was very intrigued by the children we saw entering animals into the 4H competitions, probably because he is intrigued to have a pet other than a fish.

Now that he is well over four and a half years old, he is quite accomplished at begging to play carnival games and asking to ride the many rides. I allowed him to choose three things so he and I rode a dragon roller coaster (he thought it was awesome) and played two fishing type games where he caught a rubber duck with a prize value marked on the under side. He choose a little Care Bear with the "small prize" he won and he choose a Batman plush doll from the "medium" size prize, both of which he loves.

We always have a lot of fun when grandpa comes to visit. After he left, Harrison wanted to know when he would be back again!

Walking

A couple weeks before his birthday great grandpa Peggy took us to Nordstrom's to pick out Tucker's first pair of walking shoes for his birthday present. She choose a gray and blue pair of Striderites that look like an updated version of Harrison's first pair of shoes. Nordstroms takes a photo of the kid with his first pair of shoes but Tucker didn't want to have anything to do with it!

While at the mall Grandmama and Great Papa came with us to the kid's play place to let their wiggles out. This was Tucker's first time out and about in a play center like this and he loved it, crawling back and forth in the "car deck" of the ferry boat.

At this point he was still cruising the furniture and standing in place with balance and sometimes he would take one step then fall. I had predicted he would walk on his first birthday and he came close. At 12 months and 3 days I officially announced he could walk. That day he took five steps before falling and did it multiple times. It took another three weeks before he made the conversion to walking more than crawling but he definitely enjoys his new mobility.

Four year old talk

Here are just a few funny things Harrison has said recently which I had the common sense to write down before I could forget it:

Today we were at the dinner table and I asked Harrison to do something with a "pretty please?" to which he replied, "mama you mean 'handsome please'.

During Grandpa dale's visit over Tucker's Birthday: 

Harrison: Grandpa is a "Grandpa Mister" yes, he is definitely a Grandpa Mister.
Me: Why is grandpa a "mister?"
Him: Because he is a MYSTERY
Me: Why is grandpa a mystery?
Him: It's a mystery why he is so funny. I just don't know why grandpa is so funny all the time...

Also Harrison has been very interested in learning new words lately. The other day our conversation was like an episode of Sesame Street. This is a reenactment of our conversation, the subject matter was probably different but here is the gist:

Him: Mama, I like Tucker's new robot sweater
Me: Yes, I bought it because it is a lot like the dinosaur sweater I got you. They aren't the same but look alike
Him: They are not the same, they are similar, right mama?

He even enunciated and elongated the word "similar" for me, almost as if he was teaching me the word.

The other day he asked me what "Burgermaster" meant (it is a drive in burger place he loves):

Me: Well, "master" means you are really good at something you do. So Burgermaster means that they make the best burgers.
Him: Ok. Mama, you are a cooking master, because you cook the best food.
me: Thank you Harrison! They have special names for those people, "Master Chef."
Him: Mama, you are a master chef!
(this was very surprising considering he usually moans and tells me daily that dinner "looks disgusting")

August 21st Birthday Dinner

The morning of Tucker's actual first birthday I was evidently bent on seeing him smash something so we Harrison and grandpa walked with us down to the doughnut shop for a little breakfast treat. He devoured his little cake doughnut without complaint.

Later that day went went to the local splash pad for a little water and swing set fun. Tuck loves the swing, I have several photos of him looking cute as can be swinging away.

Tucker's birthday party was three days before his actual birthday so we decided to schedule our customary first birthday dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory the big day. On Harrison's first birthday he wasn't feeling well and we brought him there to have him vomit everywhere. Luckily things went much better at Tucker's dinner and Grandpa, Grandmama, Zaidy and Great Papa were able to join us. Tucker was happier than the photos portray:

This looks like a good point to relate the results of Tucker's checkup taken three weeks after his birthday. Length: 31.9 inches (94th percentile!)
Weight: 23lbs, 9oz (57th percentile)
Head: 18.6 inches (71st percentile)
This kid is tall, which is evident by his pants floating at his ankles but when I go a size up, the waist is often too big and then he trips over the pant legs dragging on the floor!

Tucker Turns ONE!

Working as a Stay at Home Mom means I am on the clock most of the time but I do find that it affords me more time to obsess ponder over many things, such as how we will celebrate our little Tucker turning one year old. At first, we thought it would just be a little family affair, much like Harrison's first birthday however when I did a preliminary head count, several people would be missing and the party would be small indeed. So I decided to invite the families of a few close friends that have kids Tucker and Harrison's age. My dad also decided to fly up to celebrate with us (and thank goodness, I would have far fewer party pictures if it weren't for him!).

Now, where to have the party? Since I was pregnant I have been excited to know that we can have birthday parties outside since August is virtually guaranteed to have mild if not down right sunny and hot weather. The park across the street is awesome but since I wasn't inviting the neighborhood I rented a shelter at another awesome park nearby.

Next, how shall we theme the party? One day in June I walked into a craft store with my sister and stumbled upon really cute circus themed party supplies and, viola, a vintage inspired circus birthday party was born. I even downloaded a circus style font and got good use out of it, especially for this cute banner I made (the "y" tore so which is why it is hanging funny).

Sadly it was really windy, otherwise I had had wanted to hang some scanned images of vintage circus posters I found from the Library of Congress, one even advertised the amazing Houdini in 1914. I also had some striped popcorn filled popcorn boxes to go with the gift bags which had a deck of circus cards, circus style print pencils and bubbles for the kiddos. 

As I was trolling around etsy and pinterest for ideas, I found a cute little 1st birthday onesie that I could make at a small fraction of the asking price, so I did! I made this about a month in advance. Remember, I had lots of time to "ponder" over my ideas?

I also came across this adorable poster on Etsy and had to have it, a totally fun keepsake that is now in his bedroom, which also reminded me of a circus poster in a way.

I even had calliope music playing, which believe it or not I already owned having once used it for a carnival style work event a few years ago. Calliope music is what you might hear on a carousel and it is in parts of "Dumbo", it sounds a little like a pipe organ, but at a much higher tones and blows steam through what are basically whistles. But I digress...

The last piece of this puzzle was his birthday cake. Now, I might spend a lot of time and a bit of money on a one year old's birthday party (and let's face it, that birthday party was for ME to enjoy and remember), but I refuse to spend $100 on a professionally made fondant cake for my kid to smash and let me tell you, people all over the internet are doing this. Instead I bought a Wilton giant cupcake pan and planned to make a smash cake myself when I randomly realized I could turn the top upside and make it look like a circus tent. After some research on using candy melts to make a hardened candy shell to keep it stable and after one trial cake to see if I could pull it off, here is the finished product.

Considering I only used canned frosting, since I don't know how to work with fondant, I was pretty proud of my cake. I couldn't wait for Tucker to smash it, I used store bought cake mixes and frosting full of sugar so I was sure he would devour it (with Harrison I tried to make his healthy, which he loved but I couldn't make it so fancy).

One it came time to smash the cake, we set him on a little blanket in front of the cute birthday banner, put the cake in front of him and told him to have at it. Our little boy, who eats everything, who had even tasted birthday cake at a friend's birthday two months before, wouldn't have anything to do with this cake. At first it was clear he had some stage fright mixed with separation anxiety with so many people there and mom and dad wouldn't hold him. But even when mom and dad tried to put frosting and cake in his mouth he wouldn't eat it at all. I think the thing was too sweet. During the many hours I had spent thinking about and making this cake, it had never occurred to me that he wouldn't eat it because it was too sweet.

Then to add insult to injury, he wouldn't even play with it or smash the cake in any way, when we pushed his hands into it he just recoiled and whined. Any damage to the cake was forced upon it by us. Sigh. In the end the big kids were more than happy to take a stab at it.

I am my mother's daughter and love take pictures, it is one of the few ways to prop up my ever failing memory so I often can't help but visualize photo opportunities. I was disappointed that the sun moved so quickly and half-shaded Tucker's failed smash cake attempt. Even more disappointing was a planned birthday photo shoot I had planned on the boardwalk that runs through a nature preserve at the north end of this park. Great wood planks, seven foot tall grass, water, birds everywhere. I decided that I might not have time to do this the day of the party so we went the day before which turned out to be great idea. No one was stressed, it wasn't too sunny, no distractions... but when we got there the whole placed was fenced off for some sort of construction.

I was beyond disappointed, me and my stupid visualizing had set the bar too high in my mind. In the end I made due with some two foot tall grass and of course my super cute models and it turned out just great in the end. Notice the wardrobe change to the red shirt, doesn't it look circus inspired as well? That was just a lucky find, along with the cute striped shorts at GAP.

Of course the party was fun despite the non-smashed cake and my imperfect photos. Looking back at this I am pleased to have these memories and it's a great reminder that I just have to let things go sometimes, the fun will happen on it's own!

Racing!

Having kids, perhaps even more so with boys by necessity, you want them to be active and you hope that all that activity teaches them that the exercise is healthy. Harrison has always been very active riding his bike, playing at the park, participating in Little Gym as well as soccer and swim lessons. Harrison's parents haven't always been models of great health but after Tucker was born I finally found exercise that works for me and am excited to model this for my kids.

Taking the kids with me to Stroller Strides, I have lost all my baby weight plus a little extra and have gained muscle and increased my ability to participate in physical activities. This summer the kids and I participated in two of four Adventure Runs sponsored by the local running store, something totally new to me. We show up at the store where a map is posted at 6:00pm and we have an hour to hit a bunch of locations to pick up raffle tickets to win prizes at the end. You can't stroll this thing, I have to at minimum jog stretches of it while pushing 60 pounds of kids in a stroller filled with stuff in warm weather.

The first time we did it, Harrison thought "It... Was... AWESOME!!!" Just the racing around part was fun to him and he was allowed to get out and get additional tickets himself. Once the raffle got underway, he learned the concept of winning stuff with our tickets and was on pins and needles to find out when it would be our turn to win. Each time there were about 70 participants so the odds of winning are pretty good, especially as they have a kids only box to thrown raffle tickets into and I dumped a lot of ours in there in hopes he would win something.

At our first race he won a large maple doughnut (and I had to beg him to share!). At our second race I think he was the first kid to win a big frog cookie and I won an awesome Asics running shirt. The running store also sponsors a city Kids Fun Run and was raffling off a few free entries but in the end they offered them up to any kid that wanted to run it and Harrison agreed to take on the challenge!

The weekend before the run we walked over to the track at the local middle school where the race was to be held so Harrison could get a good idea what would be expected of him. Since he is four and his first race, we put him in the race that is one lap around the track, 400 meters or 1/4 mile. He rode his bike around the track and then we went home. 

The day of the race I took Tucker about 150 yards down the track to take photos of Harrison running. When the start bell sounded he was in the middle of maybe 80 kids and he ran so fast that I nearly missed him coming around as I was looking farther back. Tucker and I ran back to the finish line and waited for him to come around and almost missed him again! Dad ran around the inside of the track to cheer him on and said during the last 100 meters he definitely slowed down but when a kid started to pass him he turned on the jets, he was not going to be passed and let to eat their dust! 

Although there were no winners since it was really just a "fun run" Harrison probably finished 6th! We were so unbelievably proud of him! 

There were a lot of local business there giving away free stuff for the kids, including the local doughnut shop!

Do you remember this photo of Harrison? Ah, the boys with their dad. It's also a good reminder of how much they really look alike. Harrison is 9 months in his photo, Tucker is just shy of 12 month.