mom and dad graf came down the last weekend in july so we could all celebrate dad's birthday. chelsae & spencer, shawnae & baby brielle came too! it was fun having some company. mom and dad stayed at a hotel so we enjoyed several hours in the evening and the next morning swimming at the pool.
we had a pool-side pizza and birthday party with cake and ice cream for dad. don't ask me why i didn't take pictures....? shawnae if you have any....
i got to hold this chubby cuteness while everyone swam!
chelsae and spencer entertained the kids for hours in the pool and grammie got in on a game of marco polo too!
the next day, on sunday we took a walk around temple square and visited the exhibits there. unfortunately later on in the evening both zach and grammie got really sick. i think we had a combination of a stomach bug and some dehydration going on. we had a long, hot weekend combined with not drinking enough water and swimming in the steamy pool room.
this year on february 5th, brady turned 9, can you believe it?!
he requested birthday cake pancakes and a sleepover with some of his buddies. he has so many friends that we had to limit him to four friends for the sleepover. they had a ton of fun staying up {most} of the night! they started our watching movies with popcorn and orange julius, playing pokemon, and then when bedtime hit they talked and bounced around for hours!
pancake breakfast-
friends ethan and cameron
friends ethan, daeson and cameron opening gifts
a few weeks before (or maybe it was after?!) we had family up and celebrated with a birthday cake from grammie and grandpa graf. (don't mind the messy hair!)
opening a "traditional" package of "kisses" from auntie chelsae and uncle spencer
from grammie and grandpa graf he got a metal detector,
which is probably one of the coolest gifts ever!!!
he also received gifts in the mail from auntie nickie, uncle nick and fam, as well as grammie and grandpa morgan, and GG & papa morgan. i can't remember what we got him....
in february Brady also advanced from a WOLF cubscout to a BEAR cubscout. he had received all of the badges, as well as extra gold and silver arrow points. he worked hard to acheive all of the badges he got and also earned 29 extra-curricular belt loops! we are very proud of him!
for the Blue & Gold Banquet, every scout needs to make a cake ON THEIR OWN. he chose a campfire cake, and although we had some issues with some thick frosting it came out pretty cute.
this post is all about my zachy over the past year. the random pictures that i've been saving for a post just like this!
i found this picture that had gotten overlooked somehow. it's of zach at around 7 months with auntie shawnae!!! look at his bald little head and chubby cheeks!!!
1 year (things he can say...)
no, no
ball ball (he says it twice in a row)
mamma
these pictures were taken a few months after moving into our house in idaho falls. zach took a tub in the kitchen sink one day, can't remember why. when we got our piano he absolutely loved to sit and gingerly play on the keys, especially with auntie shanwnae!
sometimes we find zach wearing the funniest get-ups! like all of our kids he loves to dress-up.
uncle bryce got zach "ernie" for christmas. we often find him snuggled up in bed like this, and sometimes telling zach that it's time to get ernie to sleep is the only way to get zach asleep!
zach missed a nap on the day that we went to our friends' baby blessing and we caught it on tape that he was falling asleep in chris' lap!
21 months+
no way!
mine
no, now!
hat
car
wuter (water)
cup
schwin (swing)
nigh-nigh (night night)
hi
bye-bye
wivy (livy)
bady (brady)
just in the past few weeks Zach has really started talking and understanding so much more. He responds to questions with "I do!" or "mm, hmmm." It's so cute.
we got this ball for zach one saturday afternoon because brady and olivia frequently earn new toys when they cash in their fake dollars from our token system. we thought zach deserved some fun things as well so he got this and a new basketball hoop and baby basketball. he loves to throw and he loves balls. he carried this ball around for days, everywhere he went until somehow it got punctured and died a slow death in our backyard
in may zach learned how to get out of his crib! enter big boy bed earlier than i had planned!
a few random pictures from this past summmer:
zach's first ice cream cone
super messy face after a BBQ and eating tomato soup and grilled cheese
silly zach sometimes falls asleep in the "DARNDEST" places!!!
getting down and dirty with friend, max
zach and his cousin audrey enjoyed making music together!
when we (meaning me) were refinishing the kitchen cabinets there were several days without cupboard doors. the upper cabinets were off for several weeks but i got the bottoms done as quickly as i could to avoid zach doing this and getting poisoned!
uh-oh! one sunday afternoon zach woke up from his nap before mommy and daddy did and while bug brother and sister were "watching" him he found a sharpie and not only used his artistic skills on himself but also on our family room- he didn't miss the couch, the ottomon or the carpet. after several attempts at getting it removed from the carpet via every pinterest and google search i could find, we were still left with a dark/off-colored ring. so, i got the area rug i've been eyeing for several months! (new couches hopefully in the future...maybe in a year? would LOVE dark leather...and thank goodness i hadn't gotten around to recovering my ottoman yet!) after a lot of scrubbing, one clean baby set to go!
always getting into trouble!
yeah, i gotta say, we made a cute baby...crusty nose and all!!!
eating ice at brady's baseball game!
2 years old!!! some of his favorite sayings are:
"I know mom"
"Hi mom!"
"I jumped!" (or "Can I jump?"- he stand and wait for you to tell him yes)
"I did it!"
"leave me alone!"
"I didn't do it....Brady did (or Daddy did it)"
he can pretty much say anything, it's just whether or not you understand what he's saying!!
HaPpY BiRtHdAy ZACH!!!
we love having you in our family! you make everyday bright, happy and silly. you are developing such a fun personality that is all your own. you love to jump, sing, hear daddy make "elmo" voices, run around and laugh.
*disclaimer: if you missed the previous post i am in the process of updating! continue scrolling down to see all new posts!*
my baby's birthday was waaaaaaay back at the end of october. sadly he has not had his share of the limelight that he so deserves! he wasn't quite walking yet on his birthday, but began walking about within the first few weeks after he turned 1. he is adventurous and brave, full of spunk, laughter and cuddles. he is learning words but does not like to use them!
zach LOVED to play with this kitchen set but it was ALWAYS a mess and underfoot. when we found out we were moving i packed it all up and sold the kitchen. i have wicked plans to make an new one for olivia under the built-in bunkbed in the playroom!
he also spent many hours back and forth, back and forth, in this swing. he absolutely loved it and would chill there for hours without hardly a peep. he loved to watch me mow the lawn, or weed or sweep or clean or watch everyone eat at the patio table...let's just hope that maybe he loves it as much this year? i have a TON of yard work to do!!!
he is often found dumping out drawers, stealing the tupperware, biting the lids and being altogether cute and rascally at the same time!!!
Birthday Party
i promised myself that i was going to keep things simple for zach's party. i have a tendency to go over-the-top. yeah, it's a confession. in lieu of wiping myself out in exhaustion like i usually do as the party-prepping queen of madness, i made a simple banner, strung up some balloons, and pulled out my trusty chalkboards for decor. the cake was even simple, two-tiered with rainbow chip frosting and a tiny little bunting.
i also "went a little over-the-top" by making a "first birthday" onesie. well....he had to have SOMETHING special to wear!
zach got his own cupcake. i'm not into giving a baby a whole cake...that's a bit, ummm, ridiculous to me.
starting out cautious, "you mean i can eat a whole cupcake mom?!" ...then, "Mmmmmm, this is tasty!"
to sheer delight....
to a thoughtful stage of wondering, "where has my cupcake gone?"....followed by the rage of knowing that there is no more!
we had quite a few good friends and family over to celebrate zach's milestone with us. earlier in the day we got a visit from grammie and grandpa graf, and aunties shawnae and chelsae. we opened our special delivery from aunt nickie, uncle nick and the girls. out popped a bunch of balloons! best. idea. ever! there was also a cute ball popper hidden amongst the colorful orbs!
he also got a big ball popper from grammie and grandpa graf. (like my facial expression?!)
picture for zach from cousin, Lexi and from friend, Lily
i also spent a little (ok, waaaay to much time) making these cute bean bags. they weren't hard, but i played around with with fabric color scraps i wanted to use and then had to cut out all of the numbers in black felt and i hand stitched them on with a blanket stitch. z
zach didn't really get the concept of throwing them into the bucket, but hopefully before too long he'll like to play with them and we practice colors and numbers together.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY LITTLE MAN!
you have made our family so much happier with your cheesy smile, contagious giggles, rascally ways, chubby cuteness and snuggle buggles!
.JPG)
