It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Hey Graham Fans!  We are only up to December of last year.  How pathetic is that?  Well it is what it is.  Hopefully we will get caught up one of these days!

I mentioned awhile back that we had a hail storm and got a new roof and some siding.  We also got a few new windows that Mommy had to stain and varnish.  Lucky me I got to help!  I love using the paint brush.  One time, I snuck into the basement, got some paint supplies, then painted in Mom's bathroom.  I thought it looked great!  Anyway, Mommy's project wasn't all that fun and took some time each day until done.  At least I did get to help some - Caroline didn't. 

I played basketball in the fall through the Y.  Some of my preschool friends were on my team as well.  I thought basketball was a lot of fun!  Like all new things, I was kind of nervous at first.  Soon I discovered how fun it is to shoot baskets, dribble, rebound!  Caroline seemed to have fun coming along.  She didn't like that she didn't get the treats and juice boxes passed out to the players at the end,   When she gets older, she can have her snacks at sports practice! 

Every year we go to a Christmas party at some of mommy's relatives - actually in their auto repair shop.  I love looking around at stuff and like to pretend I work there.  Caroline and I both like that it is easy to sneak treats off the table.  We also really like the dog that is there every year.  It is small and cute!  He really likes us!

Lucky us, we got plenty of snow!  I went out and started scooping!  I love the snow.  I like using the big shovel when we scoop!  Sometimes we scoop when Daddy is out of town or just to help out.

 

This year we started a new tradition at Christmas.  In the past, we always had to wait until we got back home from Grandma's or Nanny's house to see what Santa brought us.  This year, we told Santa that we would be headed out of town on Christmas Eve and asked him to come to our house a little early.  Sure enough, he did come early!  We got up Christmas Eve morning and he had been there!!!  We got come great presents!  I wanted this big garbage truck which I got and LOVE!    Caroline got a kitty, which she named Whiskers.  She loves that cat! It walks and purrs.  We also got a trampoline!  It is a great addition to the basement!  We had homemade sticky rolls for our special family breakfast!  Mommy and Daddy said we will do this every year.  I hope Santa can keep coming early to our house. 

With our family Christmas complete, we headed to Sigourney for Christmas at Grandma's.  Caroline and I helped pass out presents which was pretty fun.  Of course, playing with our new stuff was fun.  Caroline got some makeup and boy did she have fun with that!  I  got a book about a grandma driving a garbage truck.  How cool is it that I got a garbage truck from Santa and a book about a garbage truck!  On Christmas day Grammy came out and celebrated with her.  It was a great Christmas and I loved our new family tradition!





Still playing outside in November

Meow, Meow, Meow....  What do you think?  I love kitties so much maybe I should start my posts with meowing and purring?  Well maybe not.  I may never come up with a greeting.  Hummpf!

Guess I still need to do my part and try to update you, even though we are months behind.  We are up to November and despite how winter ended and spring has started, fall was pretty nice.  We could still play outside which is awesome for Graham and me!  We were able to help Mommy with yard work pretty late in the fall.  The wheel barrow and the Gator come in handy for helping out. 



Graham started spiking his hair in the fall.  He found some gel at Target one day and so started spiking his hair when it gets long.  He is pretty proud of it.  What a handsome boy!

 

One day when Daddy was traveling, Mommy loaded us up to meet Daddy at the airport as a surprise. We wanted to buy something at the gift shop, but Mommy said something about ten prices.  Daddy was surprised and glad we made the trip to see him.   

This year we spent Thanksgiving in Kansas City.  We were at Nanny's house on Thanksgiving.  We had so much fun playing with Benjamin and Joe.  We didn't really get into the eating part of Thanksgiving, other than dessert!  Graham was under the weather.  He slept and coughed. He took a nap with me which he never does!  Mommy ended up taking him to the doctor.  That medicine kicked in right away because he quit coughing and perked up.    We were at Grampa's too while in KC.  We love to play in his dog's cage! 



 

Well with Thanksgiving over, you know what that means?  Christmas time!! We got to help Mommy decorate the tree!  It was so much fun playing with the ornaments, I mean hanging the ornaments...  We also made our annual trip out to Bass Pro to see Santa.  Last year, Mommy and I had our picture taken with Santa.  This year Graham was determined to be in the photo with him!  As you can see from the picture, none of us enjoyed the photo shoot!  We also played all the games and rode the carousel.  Maybe next year sitting on Santa's lap will be easier.   

We love fall!

Hey Graham Fans!  Finally getting around to updating you on what we did in October.  We have so many pictures to choose from, it was hard to pick.  If nothing else, you should see that we had a LOT of fun in October.  Some of it was normal things we do, but definitely some special activities too (ahem, HALLOWEEN!).   One of our routine activities is to stop by Uncle Greg's.  Sometime we stop by during the day to play with his tractors and his cat, Odell.  Sometimes we go visit when he is there and play, maybe even have dinner.  Caroline loves Odell.  I like her too, just not as much as Caroline given that she is a cat lover.  I really like his tractors. 

We were able to take advantage of some nice weather and make one last trip to the zoo for the season.  We love the carousel.  Of course, Caroline picks the kitty to ride!  We also enjoy the tunnel viewing of the Macaques.  The monkeys will come right up to the glass but can't see us.  It is cool to see them that close!  Mom also caught a picture of us in the fake egg.  Do we look like we just hatched?!  

The family made our annual trip to the pumpkin patch.  The weather wasn't the best.  It had been rainy that day so we weren't going to go.  It cleared up so we went but as we were finishing picking out our pumpkins, it started to sprinkle.  We stood by the pumpkin measuring sign again, and always have to ride the pedal tractors.  I spent a little more time on the tractors this year, but then didn't get to explore the rest of the play area as much.  Oh well, I really like the tractors!  This was the first year we actually rode the wago out to the field to pick out our pumpkin.  We didn't know they had these awesome pedal go carts.  I rode with dad and also tried to make it go myself.  Can't wait to do that again!  Caroline liked it but not as much as me.  She did find a kittycat while we were out by the patch.  She LOVED that kitty!  We also sw a couple of cows on the other side of the fence.  They didn't seem bothered by us.

I believe it was mentioned in our last blog that I started playing football.   Our season ended in October.  We had some nice weather and some cold games too.  The picture below is me carrying the ball, but my flag was just pulled.  Bummer!



Caroline participated in a photoshoot for a magazine of sorts.  Apparently she was picked because a friend of Daddy's works at the publisher and this friend provided a bunch of pictures of kids she knew.  Caroline got picked to be the '2 year old'!  Mommy and I went along of course.  It was interesting if nothing else and we got some candy!  The magazine is "Lowe's Creative Designs".  Hopefully we will see her this fall when the issue is published. 

While there were some chilly days in October, we did have some fun outside.  We play with the neighbor girls frequently when the weather is nice.  In the picture below Carly is reading to some of the kids in the 'hood.  We also went to the park - sometimes on our own and sometimes with friends from preschool.  My favorite park is the digger park.  As you can see, it has a sandpit with its own excavator.  I could do it for hours!

Back in October, we had a Learning Partner day at preschool.  Mom was my partner for the day.  Besides doing everything with Mom at school, I had the rhyming bag.  You have to bring items that rhyme with two words the teachers provide.  Well I had some great things to rhyme with cake and rose like snowflake, snake, toes, bows, rake.  I reach in for the last item and pull out a DIAPER!  Everyone laughed!  Mommy accidentally stuck in a diaper for Caroline.  Mrs. Myers made the best of it and we all decided a stinky nose would rhyme with rose!



One of the highlights of October is Halloween!  We always go to Living History Farms to trick or treat the weekend before Halloween.  I was so happy to wear my awesome costume.  Caroline liked being a monkey even though it was a hand me down from me.

We don't decorate our pumpkins until a day or two before Beggar's Night.  Daddy does the carving with us and Mommy roasts the pumpkin seeds.  Yummy!  We went Trick or Treating with the neighbor girls.  Mommy stayed home to hand out candy.  After I had enough candy, Dad and I went home so I could pass out the candy and Mommy went out with Caroline and the neighbors.  I love to pass out candy.  I saved the good candy for the kids I know.  One boy stepped off the frontstep and fell in the bush.  He made a big scene because it was a prickly bush.  I made Dad tell the story over and over and over and over and over.  It was SO funny!

Back to School time

Hey Graham Fans! Happy New Year! It is the New Year but I am going to share with you what we did in September. Our editor is behind. We tell her she needs to get caught up. As you can see below we ate our first carmel apples! Grandma made them for us and sent them back with Uncle Greg. What a yummy treat!



September for me meant it was time to go back to school. It was much easier this year. I knew what to expect. One of my friends from last year, Michael, is in my class this year. He and I made friends with another boy, Lucas. We are the oldest in the class. I call us the silly boys. I don't think they know that. We have a lot of fun together. :)

Caroline mentioned we got a new roof. That actually happened in September. They started early one morning and had all the old shingles off before we went to the gym in the morning. Then as we were about to drive off the crane truck delivering the shingles arrived. The lady driving the truck had a remote control that operated the crane. She put the shingles on the roof. It was pretty cool. After everyone in the neighborhood also got new roofs, seeing the truck became an everyday occurrence, not even that interesting.

We all went to KC to celebrate Nanny's birthday. She had a party with cake and other yummy treats. I ate my share! She even got presents, though no toys. She didn't look disappointed. I would have been upset if I didn't get any toys! We also spent time with Grampa and Susan and played at Benjamin's house for awhile. Sometimes we get silly, but we have a good time playing.



After fun in KC, we had to hurry back on Sunday for football practice. Yep, that is right, I had football practice. We started practicing in the yard the week before practice started. That was fun. Practice on a field with other kids, some of whom I did not know with parents watching, was scarier than our front yard. During practice, some kid pulled my flag. Was I ever mad! I didn't want to play anymore. I didn't want Dad to coach anymore. I was really upset! I was so relieved when practice was over (and glad to get the treats). Dad and Mom made me practice at home again later in the week. Then Mom of all people pulled my flag. Boy was I mad! How could she do it?! We talked a lot about it and by the next practice it wasn't so bad. Once we started playing games I even scored . More about that in a later blog.

Speaking of football, we went to a Drake game. It was fun. We started at the bookstore to buy shirts for Caroline and me. We each got a sweatshirt, which I love and wear proudly. We went out to lunch, then went to the game. My favorite part is always seeing Spike, the mascot. I made Mom sit down in front waiting for Spike to come to our end. It took awhile but he FINALLY came our way. Caroline won't stick around when Spike shows up. She does like to get the bulldog tattoo and will pet the real bulldog when he makes an appearance. It was kind of cold that day. When we left, Caroline fell asleep in the car. It was her nap time anyway, but the cool weather really made her sleepy!

The end of the month we went to Grandma's. The weather was great for playing outside. I found a push tiller for the garden so helped Grandma get her garden tilled. I have pushed around the rototiller in the shed before but since I am not big enough to used motorized equipment, I was excited to find the push tiller. I worked really hard! 

I started thinking about my Halloween costume probably in August, but Mom made me wait to pick it out. Labor Day weekend we were at Costco and they had all the costumes on display. We found Captain America with a shield! I also got a Spiderman mask shortly after school started. How cool am I? I wore my Halloween costume so much that I got a hole in it so Mom said I couldn't wear it as much. :/

That brings us to the end of September so hopefully we get October published soon. Keep your fingers crossed. I know how you all love the blog!