Grayson Lately

Grayson had his 2 year check-up with his doctor today. He is just over 28 lbs (in the 53%), and is just over 34 inches tall (43%). So he's just about exactly average! It's good to hear that he's healthy and growing as he should! Especially with his picky eating habits :)
Gray has a very limited amount of foods he will eat. No matter how much I try to make him branch out, he sticks to the same things! He'll eat pizza, spaghetti, chicken nuggets(sometimes), pb & honey sandwiches, cereal, and yogurt. And anything sweet, of course -- he is constantly asking for cookies, treats, 'nums' (M&Ms), and ice cream (he says 'ice keem' now instead of just 'ice'). So I have resorted to sneaking healthy things in with his favorites -- spinach/carrots/squash etc pureed and mixed in with his pasta/pizza sauce, etc. And since he asks for ice cream every morning for breakfast, I freeze his baby yogurt, and call it ice cream when I give it to him :) And the list of what he'll eat is getting smaller! He all the sudden won't touch a few things that he USED to LOVE! So frustrating. For example: He used to LOVE peaches and bananas. Now, he won't eat a single bite. And FORGET about trying to get him to eat veggies -- which he also used to love! (well, green beans, corn, and peas at least).
Grayson is well in the midst of his terrible-twos. He thinks he has to SCREAM every time he needs something/doesn't get what he wants/gets frustrated/he blinks......etc. We are working on it, and I am trying to be strong and not give in to him. I think he is just starting to grasp that I really am serious about the time-out thing :) and will sometimes stop screaming/whining the first time I warn him (he gets two warnings before a time-out).
He really is a very very sweet child, and is very tender-hearted. Where most kids laugh at physical comedy on TV (a character getting hit, falling down, etc), Grayson gets concerned and has to ask if they're okay. It's cute, but you have to be careful what you watch -- he can get VERY upset if he thinks someone actually got hurt.
Gray is also very affectionate -- loves to give hugs and kisses, which I LOVE :) That is, if you can capture him in the midst of all the running amok. He loves running, jumping, and climbing, and barely ever pauses for anything (I have to chase him around shoving food in his mouth most meals).
He still loves everything animals, and everything cars. He can count to 12 by himself, knows all the colors of the rainbow, knows most the letters of the alphabet (just not in order quite yet), and talks in sentences. It totally baffles me how big he is all the sudden :) I'm sad he's not my baby anymore!!! But I think this age is the most FUN of all!!! Even with the tantrums :) It is SO much fun to see him learn new things every day -- and hear the new words he can say, or the old words he can say more clearly now.
I love every day I get to spend with this little stinker. Which is literally every single day :)
Love you, buddy!!

Latest Creations

Here are some of my latest crocheted creations! You can find these and more at the Simple Gifts Boutique!
3660 Lincoln (behind Costco in Ogden)
Mondays - Thursdays:
3:30 - 7:30 pm
Fridays & Saturdays:
12:00 noon - 5:00 pm
Closed: Sundays

Tic-Tac-Toe game $10 (the board is a pouch -- the pieces fit inside -- and the pieces have velcro on the back, so they stay on the game board) Perfect for church, the car, doctor's offices, etc etc etc!


Cupcakes -- sold in a set of 4 for $7, or individually for $2 apiece
They're weighted with beans on the bottom, and the bottom is flat, so they stand up by themselves really well. I use one as a pincushion, but they're also great as play food -- how cute would these be with a little girl's tea set?!!!


Robots -- $10 each. I actually gave the green/blue robot away, but the navy/red one is at the shop. There's also a WAY cute girl one in pink/green, but for some reason I didn't get a picture of her before she went to the shop. She also has a pink heart button sewn on her.



Booties -- I also gave these away, and there aren't any in the shop, but I wanted to share :) Cute, huh!


Little plane -- I think I will keep this one and give it to my nephew for his 1st birthday (Shh, Sarah, don't tell Row!); but I'm thinking of making more.


A bunny and matching hat I made for my friend's baby girl. I will be making lots of these bunnies in various sizes/colors for Easter!



So there ya go -- my most recent creations! :)

Favorite Deal Sites

Ok, so I keep telling people about these awesome websites, and I thought I should put them all in one place. I check all of them every day :) So here they are, in no particular order: (click on the words in CAPS to go to the website)

PEACHY CHEAP -- a new scrapbook-related deal every day (changes at midnight)
BABY STEALS -- a new baby-related deal every day (changes at 9 am -- and if you're in the Murray, UT area, you can even go pick it up yourself and not pay for shipping!! ditto for all three of the "Steals" sites -- babysteals, kidsteals, and scrapbooksteals)
KID STEALS
SCRAPBOOK STEALS
WOOT -- a new deal every day -- can be anything really -- I've gotten a Dyson vacuum, a screaming monkey toy, a humidifier, etc etc -- no real theme to this one -- just great deals! Lately, they've had mostly electronics like laptops and cameras. But I check it every day just because when you find a great deal, it's a GREAT deal! (My vacuum was $200 cheaper than retail) -- new deal every day at 11 pm
KIDS.WOOT same as Woot -- just kids themed. Usually toys, but sometimes great gear (car seats, high chairs, etc), or educational material (baby signing time DVDs, language books, etc)
FREEBIES 2 DEALS This may be my favorite site of all. It's not a store -- it's a blog about current deals going on -- where to find free samples, where there are super-good sales, how to make the most of coupons, etc. I have this site on my google reader, so I get updates as soon as they're posted :) You can also sign up for email updates.

Ok, so there are my favorite "deals" sites! I hope they're helpful to someone else :D



***************ALSO: The gal that runs the Freebies 2 Deals website is having a Coupon Conference in a few weeks (read all about it HERE) which I am super excited about! I'm new to the whole couponing thing, and I feel like I need some help -- she's got tons of tips and tricks she's going to be sharing. And it's not just the clipping kind of couponing -- it's how to get the best deals on EVERYTHING you buy/how to get things for free -- in stores and online! It's March 20th from 11am-1pm at the SLCC campus. It's completely sold out, but *I* got 2 tickets! Two, because I HATE going to these kind of things alone. SO! My question is: WHO WANTS TO COME WITH ME?!?!??! I bought them early, and with a coupon code, so your ticket would only be $5! Wa HOO!! Anyway, if you're interested, send me an email!!*****************

Happy 2nd Birthday, Grayson!

Today is Grayson's 2nd Birthday! I can't believe it! HE'S TWO!! Blows my mind. I can't call him my baby anymore -- he is officially a toddler now. Anyway, we had a great day, filled with lots of fun and excitement!
Gray woke up early this morning (6am), so we got quite the early jump on the day. Steve and I decorated while he was asleep -- I made him a "Happy Birthday" banner:



Steve went out and bought him some balloons:


We also blew up a bunch of balloons and snuck them into his room while he was asleep, so he would wake up to them in the morning (this didn't quite happen like we planned, though, because he woke up so early, and I was so DEAD TIRED that I just brought him into bed with us for another 1/2 hr [he had woken up every 1-2 hrs throughout the night -- I think I got a total of about 2 hrs of sleep]
Here are the balloons (he kept calling them "pears" -- I guess because he thinks balloons should float, so obviously these aren't balloons!):


Here are his presents from us:


And here's a shot of the banner AND the presents:


And the "Happy Birthday" decoration:


Here is Gray once he noticed that there were new cars on the table:



Yeah. We stayed there for a while. They entertained him for at least a 1/2 hour!

He also got a big Sprig off-roader car that has a push handle, and once he got that off the table, he pushed it around for another 1/2 hour or so :)



(He put his Ele in the car so he could push her around, too :) -- I thought it was cute!)

Then we opened more presents -- this was the first time I've ever seen him really rip into a present -- he is so careful and never wants to tear the paper!

A new Elmo book! Yay!

Then tonight we had our family over for a little party! Gray gets really anxious around a lot of people, so we kept the party small -- just our immediate families.
Gray got spoiled as always :) He got a Nerf ball and hoop from Uncle Jordan, and Dinosaur magnets from Nana and Pop:
The rest of the pictures didn't really turn out that great, but he also got some new animal toys, puppets, books, car racing tracks, an activity book, a humidifier shaped like an elephant, and some new matchbox cars! He was in heaven :D

Grayson's current obsession is the movie Madagascar. He calls it the "Hippo, Lion, Move it Move it" movie. We watch it almost every day. And always have to re-watch the "Move it Move it" part like 20 times. *sigh*. It makes him happy :) So I made him a Madagascar cake! I am by NO means a professional cake decorator -- I'm not even really competent at it -- but I gave it a good go, and I think it turned out pretty cute! Here is the final product:
I was trying to make it look like the animals were on an island. I tried to make "waves", but it kind of just looks like I can't frost right. I had to stick the hippo into the 'water', because she didn't stand up by herself. There are candy rocks around the edge of the water, and crushed graham cracker for the 'beach'. I made Melman (the giraffe) look down at one of the rocks, because he looks exactly like he does in the movie when he taps on a rock he thinks is fake and says "Wow, that looks real!" -- can you tell I have seen this movie WAAAY too many times?!? I made the palm trees out of Oreo sticks and green-tinted white chocolate, with cocoa puffs for coconuts. Here's a close-up of the trees so you can see the coconuts:

This is how I made the trees:

And this is a picture of me while I was decorating the cake (cute, I know :P):
--as a side note -- I was talking on the phone with one of my best friends in the world, Jessica! She had just had her baby!!!! So our little boys have the same birthday! How much does that ROCK?!?! Congrats again, Jess and Adam!

Here is Gray with the cake:
He threw a FIT when he first saw the cake right after I decorated it, and I wouldn't let him have the hippo right away. So as soon as I set it in front of him, the first thing he did was grab the hippo. So fast I didn't even get a picture in before he grabbed it :) The boy loves hippos, what can I say?!


He loved the tree :)

Yummm! Oh, the inside of the cake was white cake with oreos in it, with vanilla frosting between the layers! :) And we had cake batter ice cream with it (ohh so good)



I love this one, such a good action shot! :

I got him to wear a party hat for all of about 2 seconds. Cute while it lasted, though!



We watched "Monsters vs Aliens", and Jeanne set up the race track she got Gray:

Ollie had as much fun with the track as Gray did! It shoots the cars along the track really fast, and he was trying to chase them :)


And here are some random pictures of people!
Gray and his Uncle JD playing "dump truck" -- always a favorite


Uncle Jordan -- recently back from a mission in Ohio:

Momma and Grandpa Scott:

Gray snugglin with Gram and the rest of the Wayments, watching the movie! (Gray STILL eating his tree -- he carried it around and just nibbled on it the rest of the night!)

Thank you Mom, Dad, JD, Malissa, Kailee, Scott, Jeanne, and Jordan for coming over to celebrate with us!! It was so much fun! And we missed you, Sarah, Trent and Rowan! (oo, and PS Gray hasn't opened your gift yet -- he was a little gift-ed out, so he'll open it tomorrow! But thanks in advance!!)

Happy Birthday, Gray! You are the sweetest, smartest, most energetic little guy I've ever seen, and you are the best part of my day -- all day, every day. I love you, little mister!

Help me choose!

So last week I won a gift certificate to Cap Creations jewelry (from a giveaway on the Idea Room blog! Wa hoooooo!!! I never win ANYTHING!) I am having a hard time deciding how to use it! I really like these items : The Tiny Initial necklace:
And the "I Am" necklace:
Which do you think I should get?? And what should I put on them?? You can customize the initial ones with any letter, obviously, and you can put any word up to 9 letters on the I Am necklace. What are your ideas???

IN. SANE.

Holy crap. Did everyone see the men's snowboarding halfpipe competition tonight?! Shaun White was freakin' CRAZY! I STILL can't believe the things he can do on a board. Amazing! He won the gold, scoring over three points higher than the silver medalist! I can't believe how high he got on those jumps, and that last trick he did his last run was IN. SANE. wowwwwwww!! Bravo, dude. Bravo.

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Happy Love Day :) We had a good day. I made Grayson a bear with a heart button on it -- he kept saying "bear! red! hahrt!". I didn't really get him a lot of Valentines treats, so we also made some heart-shaped sugar cookies! Gray is so funny -- he always scoops off all the frosting and eats it first, then nibbles slowly on the cookie. :) Steve-o spoiled me, and got me beautiful pink roses, and J'Adore perfume by Dior (I've wanted it forever, but it's expensive!) I was so excited! AND he also made dinner tonight -- tilapia (pretty much the only fish I like), herb butter rice, and roasted red peppers. Yum, yum, yum! Better than any restaurant, I think!! :) Thanks, baby!! You know I love you with all my heart.
Here are some pictures from the day: