Happy Birthday, Grady!

Grady turned three on April 8.  We had a fabulous time celebrating our favorite boy for a very prolonged birthday celebration.  

For the first time, we had a birthday party for Grady.  We invited his oldest friend Rose, Marshall, and some friends from school.  12 kids all together.  Of course, it was Cars movie themed.  It was surprisingly easy and a lot of fun.

All dressed up for the big party! 

Party time! 

Raspberry birthday cupcakes

As if one party wasn't enough, we also had a joint birthday party with Grady's friends from our baby prep group.  It's been fun to grow up with these families, and it was really cool to see our three year olds all together.  We've known them all since they were in the bellies!  We all went to the Inflatable Kingdom, which is a room of bounce houses basically.  Grady was a bit shy at first, but soon got his bounce on. 

Goofy boy

Grady and Rose 

Birthday king

Of course, birthday parties are all fine and good, but for Grady the real point of birthdays is the presents.  One of the things I love about Grady is how excited he gets every time he gets a present.  Here he is when we told him he had a present from Grandma and Grandpa.

From Legos to Cars to more Cars to Cars paraphernalia, Grady was well taken care of this birthday.  He has thoroughly enjoyed everything.  

The kid loves his cars

First lego tower (why yes, it is a car)

Every lego used!

Grady would be happy playing with his "cars with faces" on them every minute of the day.  He knows all their names and has memorized many of the lines from the Cars movie (it's one of three movies he has ever seen, and he absorbs it like a sponge!). This morning as I was cleaning up breakfast I overheard him say to Clara in the other room: "Clara, you are a lucky girl.  You get to be Fillmore." 

We have continued to battle one thing after another over here - stomach issues, a tooth knocked loose, strep.  It has been an exhausting winter to say the least.  However, even through all the stress, there have been so many lovely moments during the past few weeks. 

Since taking her first step a few weeks ago, Clara has learned to stand up by herself from the floor - 

And is now doing her best to speed walk.

She also has quite the dancing routine down. 

Of course, sometimes she gets distracted from the task at hand.  

Clara continues to work on her words.  Cat is a clear favorite.  Duck is up there too.  And today, no joke, she said "I love you Grady."  She said it twice, and I swear she said it.  Matt is my witness.  She knows more than she can say too.  Yesterday Matt was talking about getting shoes on, and Clara crawled into the other room, grabbed her shoe, came back and held them out to me to put on her. 

Her personality continues to emerge.  The girl just cracks me up.  She is very feisty and opinionated.  For instance- hair bows, not so much.

She is old enough now to know when she is doing something she's not supposed to do.  Her current trick is to yank a toy away from Grady in a broad stroke across her chest, crawl away as fast as she possibly can, and then find me for safety.  I try so hard not to laugh, especially because Grady is understandably upset by the routine, but man is it funny.  

Grady and Clara continue to have some very sweet moments together.  Grady is really trying to engage her in play.  For instance, this is the scene I found a week or so ago. 

They've also been having fun walking around the block together on "shopping trips."

And lots of fun times at the playground. 

This is turning into a very long post, but I'm also going to throw in some pictures from our trip to the Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival today.  After a quiet weekend, we all (read: I) desperately needed to get out of the house, so we decided to try the tulip festival out.  We weren't really sure what to expect, but it was so fun!  Fields covered in tulips, bounce houses for the kids, a cow train, lots of big puddles and photo opportunities.  It was a great trip.  Here is the highlight reel.

ready for the cow train! (aka, the bumpiest ride of our lives)

Clara's mouth was open in a huge smile the whole time she was in the bounce house!

Tuckered

And before I close, a few words about our boy.  Whenever I put Grady to bed, I ask if he wants to talk about anything before he goes to sleep.  Recently, he's started to say yes - he wants me to tell him how much I love him.  I don't mind one bit, because it is so easy to think of reasons why I love this kid.  He is brave.  He has had to go through a lot of procedures in his short life, and he handles them all with aplomb, even when scared.  He is so darn funny.  He makes us laugh every day with his silly songs, word play, and his imagination.  He is kind.  He has been so sweet to his little sister.  Today we were playing on the floor with all the couch cushions down, and I was pretending to chase after Clara to take a bite of her.  Grady, clearly distressed, yelled "Don't eat my little sister!"  He sings songs to Clara when she is sad in the car.  He feels everything deeply, for good and for bad.  He gives great hugs.  He loves his books and can read them all back to you as good as any child actor.  He is my helper in the kitchen.  He is a very special boy.  We are so very lucky to have him.