July birthdays

The last few weeks have been busy with ......well, life I guess. We had Hayes' 1st birthday party a couple of weeks ago and it was so much fun to get together with all the people we love and celebrate her big day. She was such a big girl and didn't fuss once! Even though we had a major wardrobe malfunction (her custom-made bird dress and bloomers didn't fit!), everything else seemed to go off without a hitch. She loved all of the attention and proved to be a complete chocaholic...definitely Adam's daughter.

She has absolutely LOVED playing with all of her girly toys since she has grown so accustomed to playing with trucks and bugs this past year. We had so much fun planning our first girly party and were so happy to have such a great turnout. Thanks to everyone who was a part of her big day!

Gray has been such a big boy lately too, and it's really making me realize how much he has grown up. I miss my baby boy sometimes, but it's so nice to see him morph into this wonderful little man. The 2's are so much fun! He loves to tell me what Hayes is feeling and what she needs (not sure if he's a good translator or a great guesser, but he's always right!) and he's such a good big brother to her....most of the time. He has done so well with the crib farewell and has been sleeping better than ever in his big boy bed, which he promoted himself to on his own after the first week. He fell out once and reverted back to his toddler bed, but seems to have overcome his fears over the last few weeks, which is a good thing because we're leaving tomorrow for the family reunion and he'll be sleeping in a double bed next to P and Pop. Yikes!

It's also been a big couple of weeks for Mommy. I just accepted a part-time position as a freelance grant writer for a nonprofit called The Visible School.It's all from home and on my own schedule, so it's absolutely perfect and I am loving it so far! They threw me in head first with my first grant due about 3 days after I started, but I rose to the challenge and have written 3 more since.  It's fun to be working on a new project again, but I'm still loving being a stay-at-home-mom. The best of both worlds, if you ask me!!!!

We celebrated Adam's 31st birthday this week and it was small and simple but fun. We had Adam's parents over and I bought and fixed all of his favorites....Gus's fried chicken, Pancho's cheese dip, and asiago mac n cheese. Linda made Adam's birthday ritual, chocolate sheet cake, and we are still enjoying it! Happy birthday to my silly, loving, handsome, humble, wonderful husband. Here's to your next 31 years!

Love,
The Pattersons