So Graedy really likes cats. One of the first recognizable sounds he made was a "meow". His Gram found him the best Halloween present! Some of Josh's friends were setting this up in his yard and he didn't want it so she brought it over to us. Graedy thought it was pretty cool! Check out the static hair!

Finally...the birthday pics!

Graedy has been into "Handy Manny" from the Disney channel so we picked a cake with tools. I had to watch him as the flame on the candle was very tempting! (He had already tried to grab it once!)

He just couldn't figure out why no one else was sitting down with him and why we were all watching him intently...

He figured it out pretty quickly!

We all had to watch out for flying frosting, Uncle Mitch nearly got hit.


We all had fun watching him and he had a great time getting covered in frosting.Of course, mom was elected to carry the green goblin outside for the hosedown...


Then it was time to open presents...

He thought the ribbon looked better wrapped around him!

Such a cool book...it's part of a series called Jeepers Peepers. You can stick you fingers through the back of the book and wiggle the eyes around. Graedy loves it!


One of his favorite toys...it's from cousin Deanne and family.


Some of the friends and family that made it to the party.


Super Graedy! Gram got him a cute bag that had a detachable cape. He loves it and looks too cute in it!


Hanging out in the wagon Grandma and Grandpa got him that was put together by Uncle Russ and Dad. (It hasn't come apart yet, much to my surprise-thanks Uncle Russ and Dad!)
Uncle Josh and Aunt Sarah came by before the party to drop off his presents. Graedy gets a lesson from his drum teacher, Uncle Josh. I am all for anything musical, I don't know if I can say the same for Matt!

It didn't take him long to figure things out!

And last, but not least....



The aftermath!

Graedy crashed out with Uncle Mitch.

It was such a fun day and so great to share it with so many friends and family members.

So I started doing this thinking it would help me keep up with noting everything that was going on...HA!

Anyway, every year our fire department has an open house right before fire prevention week and this year I had someone to go with! It was about two weeks ago and was a great Saturday activity.

At first Graedy wasn't too sure about being in the fire truck, but as you can see from this picture he eventually thought it was pretty cool! They had a small fire hose that they let the kids try and he REALLY liked that, in fact, that's how he earned his junior firefighter hat : ).

There's so much that I haven't added, so hopefully not that I'm settled back into a routine and getting more sleep (he started sleeping through the night a few weeks ago) I'll keep up with this a bit more.

On a funny side note, a clip from a day in my life as a first grade teacher! Let me set the scene...we are participating in the annual Great California Shake Out, a disaster drill. It is warm, but not hot. We duck under our desks for about 7 minutes and then evacuate to the field. As students begin to sit, two boys raise their hands and say "Mrs. Malcomb, we smell poop!" I told them to check around them, we couldn't see anything and I couldn't smell anything so I left my class with my buddy teacher and headed off to fulfill my search and rescue responsibilities.

When I returned, one of the boys who had told me earlier that he had smelled poop had his hand up. I asked him what was going on and he said "We got poop!" I didn't understand and asked him again what happened. "We got poop!" Again I said "What?" This time he pointed to his knee where it was clear that there was some sort of animal poop on his knee. He quickly explained that another student had also gotten into the poo and it was on his shorts. I have no idea how they ended up in it, as it was a good two feet away from where they were sitting, and my buddy teacher had no idea how it had happened. I sent them to go wash up with soap and water and we went on with our day.

Ahhh, first graders!