Grandpa Curry Turns 60

Tonight was a special night.

 Grandpa Curry turned 60 years old!!

(the highlight of the kids' night - blowing out grandpa's candles)

...and for a month now, I've been itchin' to present him with his 60th birthday gift.

I love giving gifts...

and I've surprised Kevin with a couple of favorite gifts that were perfect - gifts that neither he nor I will ever forget.

Flying lessons.

A surprise trip to Florida  for his birthday.

And, now, I can add another favorite gift to my list - 

a gift for my father-in-law on his 60th birthday.

A gift that I didn't come up with on my own, but one of which I read about on other blogs.

Something that grabbed my attention, something I was determined to follow through with, something that took a month to complete, something that was so fun and very exciting to create - 

60 memories for 60 years of life -

We filled 60 envelopes - each with a memory from people that have been a part of Greg's life (past and present). 

The first envelope was my letter to him - what I love about him...thanking him for opening his heart and home to me and for being the grandpa that he is...that he means 'the world' to my kids.

 Here, in the first envelope, is the last part of my letter:

We had memories beginning from the day he was born - 

...to today (pictures from his grand kids) 

...and everything in between:

All the way back to 6th grade through high school -

Words from co-workers (past and present): 

Words from his sons and family members:

We had fun memories written on toilet paper -

...and memories that made us laugh out loud -

So many pictures and kind words were shared -

 Tonight was a special night.

 60 envelopes and 2 hours later -

each envelope holding a special memory for Greg.

each envelope carrying kind, uplifting words.

it's good for the heart and soul.

Happy Birthday!

You mean so much to so many people and you deserve the best!

2013 Mud Run

Mud Run 2013

Ready or not, here we come!

"I have the power to believe in myself.  

To stand up for who I am.  

To say 'yes' to a challenge.  

To cheer on new friends.  

TO GROW UP STRONG."

Last weekend, we were able to be part of a fun mud run...a one mile obstacle for children put on by genHkids.  To learn more about this non-profit, volunteer-driven coalition, click HERE.

We had a wonderful time participating in this event with our cousins - Kyleigh and Kole.  

(and because Kyleigh and Kole are little speed demons, I don't have any pictures of them going through the obstacles)

army crawling through the sand...

Climbing over walls...

The first mud pit...

Mason was into it, Makayla was not.

Climbing over mud mountains... 

The last mud pit...

This picture cracks me up.  Makayla is thinking 'omg, are you serious?!'.  It took a loooot of convincing her to get down and crawl through, but she finally did it.   

Mason finishing up with the last obstacle - a slide down a dark, muddy tunnel...

Little Miss warming her hands up in her pants...

I think if it wasn't 40 degrees with a wind chill of 20, Makayla may have enjoyed it a lot more.  Through 75% percent of the run, all Makayla could talk about was how freezing cold she was.  Her hands were numb.  She couldn't feel her hands.  Feel my hands, mom.  My hands are freezing.  I'm so cold...

You get the picture.

Mason, on the other hand, was the complete opposite.
All I could hear from him through the whole run was "This is fun, daddy.  I love this.  I love this, daddy!".

Regardless of Makayla's numb hands falling off, we all had a very fun day!  GenHkids held a very organized event that was fun for the whole family - 

something that we are already looking forward to again next year!

Mia at 11 Months

Well, Miss Mia...

Today,

on this beautiful, warm, sunny, fall day,

you turned 11 months old.

11 months.

That means that I only have one month left with you until you are 1 year old.

This is one of those moments -

one of those moments that force me to draw my hand up to my chest and say 

'oh, my heart'.

Thankfully, because of this blog, I will never forget these days with you.

Your wispy blonde baby hair,

those cute bottom toofers (teeth),

that sweet, sweet, super contagious smile,

and the things you like to do and places you like to go.

This past month, you've been a busy little bee...

You went to St. Louis where you got to see the Arch and visit Grant's Farm...

...and then you went to Chicago, where you got to hang out at the beach and see the city for the first time!

You took your first ever trip to the pumpkin patch!  Mommy's favorite season is autumn and it has been so fun introducing you to some of my favorite things of the season.

You went to your first parade - the Homecoming parade where we watched for sissy to ride by on her Jake and Never Land Pirates float with her classmates.

You made an enjoyable discovery in the bathtub.  

You love to get up on your knees and have the water from the faucet beat down on your bottom lip.  You could sit like this for minutes...which is a long time for a baby like you to hang out under the water faucet.

You are such a pretty baby girl!!

You have reached the age where your feelings get hurt when I tell you "no" and you begin crying immediately with that bottom lip sticking out...and then you crawl to me as fast as you possibly can to get some lovin' from me.

Buuuut, if anybody else tells you "no" (including daddy), you get a little temper.  You pound the floor with your hands or throw anything that is in arms reach.

It is so much fun to watch you grow and see 'who' you are.

For example - you do not like green beans.  At all.  I still try to feed them to you, though, in hopes that maybe your taste buds will change their mind.  

Tonight, grandpa handed you a green bean.  After much spitting at and blowing the green bean away, you finally took it.  You sucked on it and began gagging.  Just the taste of green beans make you gag...and these were good green beans with onions and bacon!  

After gagging, you put it right back in your mouth to suck on again...just to gag again.  

We repeated this a few times until I finally got rid of the green bean. 

...maybe one day, you'll be able to eat a green bean.

 

It is so much fun to not only watch you grow, but to watch the relationship between you, Mason, and Makayla grow.

The three of you together make my heart skip a few beats.
I love the three of you.

I love what you three have together.

I love you, baby girl! 

Happy 11 months!!...and believe me when I say that I am going to enjoy every single second and savor every single moment with you during this next month...month 12...the last month of your first year.

Love,

Mommy

Cream & Underwear

Why do I have this tub of cream?
Because I think it reminds me of my childhood.

The smell reminds me of my mom, which makes me think that she used something like this back in the day... (i'm sure she'll deny it and tell me i'm dreaming again)

I hardly ever open this tub up, but when I do, it's just to get a whiff of the past.

But, anyway...

The other night, Makayla walked into the living room with her hair caked in greasy, greasy cream.

I asked her what she put in her hair.
She disappeared for a minute and came back proudly holding this tub of face cream in the air.
I asked her why she put this all over her hair...

and she looked at me like I was dumb, looked at the tub, and then looked back at me and said
"it says curls on it and she has curly hair (pointing to the girls on the tub)".

Nodding, because to Makayla, it made perfect sense.  The girls on the tub did have curls in their hair and I give her kudos for seeing the relationship between "C"ream and "C"urls.

It took 2 days for that grease to come out of her hair and if we weren't walking out the door 2 minutes after she presented with the grease-filled hair (she was getting "ready" and doing her hair to go out), I would have taken a picture.

...and the next day, following the cream incident, we had another incident.

A shocker.

One that left me speechless.

As Makayla was getting undressed to get in the bath at the end of the day, this is what she pulls off -

Seriously?

I don't know where she comes up with things like this.
These have been put up in the cabinet since before I was pregnant with Mia.  It's not like she's recently observed me putting these to use.

I finally muttered out the words to ask her why she had that in her underwear.
She grinned and shrugged her shoulders.
I just crinkled my nose, shook my head, and told her that I think she's too little to be playing with those right now.

A few years ago, it was cute - 

You can read that blog HERE.

But now...

(shaking my head and smiling)

I tell ya, there's never a dull moment in this house!