Memorial Day

Every year on Memorial Day, Chris and I try to make it to the cemetery where his brother Clayton, Grandma Holeman, and Grandpa Dangerfield are buried. Last year we weren't able to make it, so I made it a priority for us to go this year. I made the bouquet of pink, yellow, and purple(fake)flowers in the middle. Figured they would last longer. Plus the colors were so vibrant, I loved how they complimented each other.

My boys at Clayton William's grave.

Karen's dad's grave. Clarense Dangerfield.

Grandma Marie Holeman. (Chris's favorite Grandma-His dad's mom)

Love this pic of Chris and Cody walking together. Not only do they look a lot alike, but their walking stance is the same. I think it's so cute.

Karen (Grandma Ruddy) with Chris and the boys.

My mother in law and I.

It was such a beautiful day. So glad we made the time to stop by and pay a visit.

Clayton is 5!!

I went into labor with Clay on Memorial Day, 2007. I didn't end up having him until Tuesday the 29th, but that still means that every year his birthday falls on or just after Memorial Day. We decided to have Clayton's birthday on Saturday May 26th. The weather was bad-really windy and rainy. I was so bummed out. We had rented a bounce house and a huge blow-up slide and invited EVERY single kid in his 5's class at daycare; 32 to be exact. Funny story about that, I had filled out all the invitations and put them in a bag for Clay to take to daycare. I gave instructions to Chris-to give to the teacher-that not all of them needed to be passed out, to just give them to Clay's friend's or the kids he got along with; then when I picked him up from school we would go around the neighborhood and he could invite the kids from church. Well that didn't go as planned-the daycare teacher passed out every single last invitation. I was sweating bullets that I was going to have 32 screaming 5 year olds, not to mention Clay's cousins AND the neighborhood kids. Chris reminded me that it was Memorial weekend so a lot of people would be out of town and that I had asked everyone to RSVP. So that eased my mind a little. After all was said and done, there were 13 kids there including his cousin Carter and Declan....but not including the 9 kids from next door. 22 kids TOTAL. Whew! Needless to say, it was CRAZY at our house.This is about half the group. Hey you try getting 22 kids to sit still!

As the kids arrived, we ate pizza and let them play in the playroom while we waited for the weather to clear up. I was afraid I was going to have to rely on my last minute party games (hot potato, musical chairs, and pin the tail on the donkey) to entertain the kids. Thank goodness I didn't. The kids got stir crazy super fast and wanted to go outside; so we let them. I pulled a bunch of Clay's sweaters out and bundled everyone up and let them loose. They had a blast even though it was super windy and rainy. The trampoline was a hit too. I'm so glad little kids don't care about bad weather-it didn't slow them down one bit. At first the kids were really careful and went one at a time....

Then it started getting rowdy and everyone wanted to go at once. It made for a huge dog pile at the bottom.

After awhile we brought all the kids in for presents, cake and ice cream. Clay got spoiled, ROTTEN. Seriously, the thought crossed my mind to take some of the toys and wrap them up and save them for Christmas! I know that's horrible of me to think. But Clay got so many toys he was on sensory overload. He still doesn't know what to do with them all! Looks like we may be donating a lot of his old toys to make room for the new ones. He got lots of Spiderman and Transformer stuff-his favorite.

He also got a bat and ball-one of his favorite things to do outside. Erin and Steve and Jayde got him a Super Mario Brothers game for the DS. He loves that game. I haven't been able to pull him away from it since he got it! Chris and I got him a new bike with a bell. He HAD to have a bell.

We've been wanting to teach him to ride without training wheels-but his bike was so small that his little knees kept hitting the handle bars even with the seat all the way down. So he needed a new one. We take him outside everyday after work and practice with him. He's getting the hang of it, slowly but surely. He can't turn on his own though and when he realizes you've let go, he freaks out and lets go of the handle bars. (I know we're in for a real treat when he starts driving-YIKES!)I'm hoping he gets it down by the end of the summer.

After presents we did the cake and ice cream.

Chris and Jerad did the cake-as usual. Didn't they do a great job on the Spiderman symbol? They are soo particular about it, it's funny. I love that they "worry" about the cake, instead of me.

Clay got some "hulk fists" from Uncle Brian.

Cody had to try them out.

Parents started showing up around that time, and soon after everyone left. It was a stressful/busy 2 hours but we pulled it off. Thank goodness. We got to meet a lot of his friends parents too, so that was good. But I'm thinking, big parties like this will only happen once every 5 years. :) Happy Birthday Clayton! Mommy and Daddy love you to the moon and back!!

Done Painting For Awhile

One final room of painting-at least for awhile. (I still want to paint my master bedroom and bathroom, but I'm really undecided about the color right now.) I painted an accent wall in my salon what's called Lemon Grass Green-but in lamen terms Kermit the Frog Green. I love it! I was really nervous about it at first. I've always wanted a bright green wall and after seeing it on a commercial it only confirmed it. So here's the befores...

And the afters...

Did I mention I am IN LOVE with bright colors? So so happy with the way it turned out, and it really makes my Audrey Hepburn picture pop! In other news I had a great Mother's day. Beautiful flowers from my parents and my boys. Chris is letting me get my wedding ring remade for my mother's day gift-but I'll blog about that later when I can show the before and after pictures. The pale pink roses are from Clay (and Cody) and the mixture of flowers is from Chris. So so pretty.

And these are the flowers from my parents.

I'm so lucky to be a mommy, especially to these boys.

So very lucky.

Messy Dogs and the Laundromat

Three posts in one day? Holy Moly! I think I've said this before but it's amazing what you can get done without kids and lots of spare time at work. This post exists mainly because I didn't know how to work these pictures in with my last two posts. They are very random, but something I must share. Cody loves the squeezable fruit pouches. He seriously goes through them like diapers. He has one in the morning WITH his breakfast-be it a poptart, granola bar or cereal, and thhen one when he gets home from daycare to hold him over until dinner is ready. One day, not sure what I was doing, but I had given Cody one of his pouches. He was being extra quiet which is very unusual. (Cody screams all the time-no matter what emotion he is trying to convey-happy, sad, excited, mad, etc.) So I went looking for him, and this is what I found.

Cody had squeezed his fruit pouch all over the back of Molly. Molly thought she was in trouble so she kept moving and smearing it up against the wall and back door.

Cody was very amused and lucky Hurley got a free snack.

Then a few days later, I needed to go to the laundromat to wash the dog bed and some comforters. I decided to take Cody with me and I got some adorable pictures of him just passing the time.

He liked pushing around the chair,

and the basket/cart thingy.

He really liked the freedom of being able to just run everywhere.

And the dryers were low enough that he could crawl in.

Who knew there was so much to do at the laundromat?

Cody's 1 year old Pics

It took me awhile to get them done, and then even longer to post them. But here they are, Cody's one year old pics.

I think Cody might have allergys, cause he's always got this little tear in his eye. I think it's pretty darling though.

Love this one of the two of them.

They wanted single pics of Clay too...

...So that they could make a cute brothers collage.

I wasn't crazy about the "presents" pose. But whatever.

The color pop option, kinda cool.

But I'm a sepia kinda girl.