Grandma and Grandpa's Visit

Matt's birthday was on the 4th and his parents came out ostensibly to celebrate (although we all know the truth - it's all about the grand kids).

We had a fabulous visit.  Matt requested lasagna and pumpkin pie for his birthday, and Grady was a big help with both.

We didn't have too many adventures, but we did manage to get out to a pumpkin patch for some fall fun and photo opportunities.  Unfortunately, as discussed previously, our children do not like to take a decent photo together, so these will not be going on any holiday cards!

Ah well.  After the obligatory photo shoot, we moved on to the fun stuff.  Grady enjoyed running through a mini hay maze.

Clara enjoyed eating said hay maze. 

Me and my baby.

Grady also thoroughly enjoyed himself in the bouncy house!

The highlight was probably Grady's ride on the cow train with Grandma!

But it was also pretty special picking out our pumpkins.  Grady carefully tested out quite a few before finding one he could heft on his own.

We tried to cut open the pumpkin later but it proved to be indestructible.  So Grady colored it with marker instead.

It is proudly displayed in our dining room now.  The other pumpkin (seen in the foreground) ended up giving us enough pumpkin for 7 loaves of pumpkin bread.  3 down, 4 to go....

We had one amazing thing happen to us last week.  We were on the way to the supermarket when we noticed some construction vehicles down the street in the opposite direction.  We took a little detour and watched the back loader do some maneuvering.  After striking up a conversation with one of the construction workers, Grady was invited to come onto the truck (totally against the rules we were told!).  Grady was in such awe - this look on his face is priceless.  They let him sit in the driver's seat and also press the horn.

Pretty cool, huh?

Clara continues to be on the move.  Her biggest motivations are getting to my phone and to the cheerios.  Here's a shot of her on her cheerio quest.

Rice chex aren't bad either.

She has gotten even faster since then, and I had my first "where's Clara!" moment after leaving the room for a minute the other day.

She's also started to pull up to kneeling on objects - stools, my legs.  She cannot wait to be able to keep up with Grady!

We continue to struggle with sleep with her.  We tried sleep training in earnest for a full week before the stronger of us won.  So we are taking a break from sleep training for a bit and will resume efforts in a month or so.  It's hard to hold it against her when she wakes up looking like this.

Clara technically started school today, although I just stayed with her there for about 20 minutes before bringing her back home for nap.  I don't start work for a few weeks, so we are lucky to be able to have a very slow transition with her.  It makes it easier on me knowing that she is in amazing hands, but it will still be hard to lose this special one-on-one time with my baby girl.  It will also be hard for Grady, since he will lose his teacher Briana as she transitions to the infant house with Clara's group.  I'm prepared for a rocky few weeks, although the new teacher seems great.

Grady and Clara continue to be best buds.  Clara especially just adores Grady, although the other day Grady said to me (get ready for cuteness) "Mommy, I love you so much.  And I love Clara so much."  The photographic proof.

And one last picture before I sign off - see any of Grady in her?