The First Half of 2011

So...I am a horrible blogger!  I realize that this may not be my forte, but I must keep it up for our friends and family near and far and so that some day Grady will have snap shots of his life all in one place. Therefore, in true fashion, I am going to recap the last six months with some pictures and quick notes.

In the aquarium at the Arts and Science Museum in SF (Feb)

Daddy and GG slurping on spaghetti  (Feb)

I am glad to report that Grady is no longer a vegetarian! He has never liked meat, unless it was very descreetly hidden in some baby food concoction. But starting Easter weekend, he ate homemade fried chicken and actually liked it! (who wouldn't, right?!?!).  Ever since, he has been pretty open to trying some new things. Some of his favorite foods at the moment...peanut butter banana sandwiches, nectarines, smoothies, chips, crackers, tomato sauce, pancakes, ketchup, avocado and guacamole, and sometimes peas. 

Oakland Zoo (March)

Helping Mommy with the laundry...washa washa, wash! (March)

Grady is definitely Mommy's little helper...he loves to help water the flowers, cook, do the laundry, and especially vacuum! When can I start giving the boy chores??!?!?

Helping Mommy water (March)

Helping Mommy cook (with his vacuum, i.e. the popper, nearby!) (March)

St. Patrick's Day 2011

This is about when our good friend, Blaze, came in to the family. Tom and Diane's neighbor had this old, mechanical horse from the 50's in her garage and thought that since they now had grand babies around, they might like it. Well, little did she know how much they would like it! Grady loves Blaze! He asks for him every time we are at Nana and Papa's house. We have to cover him with a sheet and tell Grady that Blaze had to go to sleep so that he will stop wanting to ride him for the night. 

Grady on Blaze (March)

John's old cowboy hat that Nat and Char got him on an Aspen trip when he was a kid

Saturday in SF...hike around Golden Gate Bridge (April)

Silly, silly boy! Grady has a hat dance...it originated one day when he put one of John's hats on backwards...John started rapping and dancing, and GG followed! He has his own version of the rap and does what we now call the Hat Dance! 

So, when Johnny was a little boy, he had a red cape that he wore everywhere! Nana found one for Grady that she gave him when he was first born and he is now big enough to play in it...here he is running around the house after a bath one day.

Happy Feet, Happy Feet! I wish I had a good video of this to share...some day I will get it posted. Not sure how it started, but when we say, "Happy Feet!", Grady marches his little feet up and down as fast as he can, just like the penguins in the movie Happy Feet.

The Hat Dance (April)

Super GG! (April)

We spent Easter in Tulsa with my Grandma and Grandpa. They now have 10 great-grandchilden. Wow. I always thought that John's family was bigger than mine, but technically, the Kings win! We all just don't live in the same town. It was fun to be together and meet some of the newest additions to the family. I grew up with 2 girl cousins born the same year as me...we were called "Charlie's Angels". And Grady now has 2 boys cousins the same age as him. So fun to get them together! My family fills the Easter eggs with candy, coins, and even some with dollar bills...unfortunately G liked the eggs that jingled the most, so we didn't end up as rich as some of the other kiddos!    

Easter Egg Hunt at the 40 Acres

Owen, Grady, and Charlie

Grady and Daddy playing after work (April)

Annual Mother's Day Party at Tom and Diane's. It was too cold for the pool, but the babies still "swam" in the galvanized tub that Papa filled with warm water! Grady loves Nat's cane...here he is dancing with the cane. And taking Blaze for a serious ride!

We have a backyard! That was our big project this spring...we got grass put in, planting beds (some with plants!), and garden boxes put in. We love it! We spend alot of time out there playing, mowing, gardening, weeding, and laying in the hammock. 

Mowing (May)

Playing catch with Belle, one of G's favorite things to do! (May)

We took swim lessons in May to gear up for the summer...too bad it was very chili during our 2 week session. We all hated getting in the water and G's little teeth were chattering (mine too!). Still had fun with our buddies Malin, Mason, and Jake though!

1st Swim lessons (May)

We celebrated Nana's big birthday in Hawaii this May...it was a wonderful trip! Wish we could go back now! We stayed at a beautiful place, had perfect weather, lots of good beach time, fun bocce ball tournaments, great food, and fun hang out time together. Happy Birthday, Nana!

John and Meg surfing!

We got home from Hawaii and 3 days later John and I left for Brad and Lauren's wedding in Houston...we had a blast! Great time with old friends!

Kupers, Triggers, and Branaghs (June)

The next week we headed to Tulsa for my cousin Stan and Abigail's wedding...the whole fam was together...it was great. Here is a cousins pic...haven't had everyone together like this in a long time! And we are super excited to have Stan and Abigail living just down the road from us here in Cali!

King Cousins (June)

Future Brother-in-law Adam and Whit...Yea!

At Stan and Abigail's beautiful wedding

The Fort Worth Gang

After Tulsa, G and I got to go to Fort Worth and spend the week with our TX friends...we had such a great time! Look at all these kiddos! Miss and love you guys dearly!

Grady with Bieber hair (June)

Grady's hair is definitely one of his trademarks now...it is very curly and can sometimes be big! We think it is adorable...just hoping that some day we don't look back and say, "Why didn't we cut your hair?!?!?".

Fourth of July weekend we got a little plastic pool for the backyard...and we are finally having some warm enough days to use it! (I know you OK and TX people are cursing me now because of your ridiculously HOT summer!) Here's G when the water was probably a little chili playing catch with Belle. He has a great arm and can actually catch the ball sometimes too. Pretty fun to watch him learn and develop so quickly.

The Orinda Fire Station and Pancake breakfast (July 4)

Grady and Malin at Nana and Papa's...they love to swim in the galvanized tub, especially Malin! And they love getting bites from Papa...here they are bumming pie and ice cream!

G has the silliest smile right now...it started a few months ago and is now in full usage! Any time he sees the camera come out, this is what we get! He just got his 1 year molars in June, and still only has the 4 teeth up front = 8 total at 18 months!

March

In Mommy's socks (July)

After a smoothie! (July)

Bubble Bath Pool- Elyse, Grady, Malin, and Mason (July)

At the Funny Farm in Tilden (July)

I just look at Grady now a see a little boy...he has made the transition from baby to boy and it happened so fast! He runs, and climbs, plays catch, eats with a fork, and can understand pretty much everything. He is starting to talk, saying new things everyday I can hardly keep up! I tried to list everything he could say and it was impossible because he tries something new all the time. Some of his consistent things are...Daddy, Mommy, Baw (Belle), ba (drink), ba (ball), Bebe (blankie), Papa, Nana, WhiWhi (Whitney), catch, ous (outside), choo-choo, caw-cee (coffee), ka ka (cracker), cher (cherrios), ba-woon (balloon), bee, no, please, more, didi (dirty diaper), trash, shoes, brush, car, keys, and lots of body parts, lots of foods, and lots of animals and animal noises. He will say something with such certainty and I will have no idea what he means, sometimes thinking he is imagining, and then I will see whatever he sees and realize how smart he is, if I only understood what he was saying from the beginning!

He loves trains right now and all things cars and balls. He loves tickling and being tickled. He loves the water, loves playing catch, loves dancing and music, and loves wrestling.

Thanks for reading this super long post...I PROMISE, I will be more frequent with my updates in the future!