Category: Grayson

Posted on by John

It’s been waaaaaay too long since I’ve updated the photos section of the site, or written about what has been posted…

Back in early November, Christine and I took Jack and Grayson to the OU game. We didn’t win (which was normal for the Aggies this year) but we had a blast.

Grayson got to see his first Aggie game. The boys loved the band, and we all had a great time… especially running down the ramps at the end of the game:

Not sure if we’ll get season tickets again next year…

Photos here.

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Posted on by John

Today I was changing Grayson’s diaper, and the little tab broke, and I said “shit” really softly, while trying to make it another word, and immediately after I said it Grayson says “Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shiiiiit!” … all I could think to say was “Don’t tell your mother I taught you that word.”

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Posted on by John

Love these boys:

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Posted on by John

Something tells me Jack knows what he did wrong today, after getting this email from Christine:

From: Christine
Subject: day from hell at 10am
Date: January 5, 2009 10:26:00 AM CST
To: John

Let me recap what has taken place since you left.

While I was in the bathroom with Grayson, Jack went upstairs and made a HUGE mess.

1) Food, water, litter, and cat poop all over the floor
2) Sweet Peas dishes in the litter box that was half dumped out because Jack wanted to get him out of there WHILE HE WAS POOPING
3) Toothpaste all over the cat kennel and bathroom
4) Bed from cat kennel in sink with water running and spilling over.
5) Did I mention cat poop all over the floor.
and best of all…
6) Sweet Pea was covered in toothpaste.
Oh, and your tooth brush was on the floor in the middle of all.

Needless to say, I was pissed.

Jack got yelled at, a spanking, and sent to his room crying for about 30 minutes while I cleaned up. Sweet Pea got a bath. When I was finally finished with everything, Grayson peed on the carpet in front of the stairs as I was coming down. I hadn’t had a chance to get a diaper on him yet.

I told Jack that Rowan would not be coming over and he has to give up Optimus Prime until after you get home and have a talk with him about what happened. I also told him that he is not allowed upstairs without our permission. If he goes up without are permission, he will be in BIG trouble. After today I think he knows what BIG trouble looks like.

I love my wife.

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Posted on by John

We went to see the luminaries tonight at the Texas Wildflower Center in South Austin tonight. It was a lot of fun. We saw Blue Santa and Frosty the snowman and lots of lights. Joan and Ted, Leo and Lydia joined us after we had dinner at their house – pulled pork sandwiches and Carolina cole slaw. Mmmm. Fun times.

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Posted on by John

We had a very good Thanksgiving this year, out at the lakehouse with Debbie and Raymond. Cheri, Greg, Paige, Patrick, and Matthew were there too, and our friends Joan, Ted, Lydia and Leo joined us as well. I took a bunch of photos but haven’t downloaded them to the computer yet. So here are a few that Peggy took:

Like I said, Thanksgiving was very good this year 😉

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Posted on by John

Today was Jack’s fourth birthday. I can’t believe he’s four already.

Just five years ago Christine and I were getting ready to buy our first house in Austin, with a five year plan before we had kids. Then two weeks after we closed on the house, we found out Christine was pregnant. “Life is what happens when you’re making plans” my mom told me.

It’s been an awesome four years. More fun than I thought it would be. And soooo rewarding.

We took Jack and Grayson to Chuck E. Cheese’s tonight to celebrate. The kids had a blast and we did too.

Here’s a photo of the boys paying air hockey:

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Posted on by John

This past weekend, Christine and I took the boys to the Circus. To the Circus!

Talk about a blast. We saw a huge elephant perform, tight rope walkers from Columbia, a jumping troupe from Russia, clowns, dogs, ponies, little elephants that people could ride on, the human cannonball, and more.

The boys had a blast. Jack was glued to his seat the whole time, watching and taking every thing in… with lots of “whoa” and “wow” thrown in for good measure. Grayson wanted to walk around and play with his monster truck that he brought with him, so we did that while Christine and Jack watched the show.

At intermission we went down on the circus floor and jumped on a big bouncy thing, and got close to the ponies and little elephants (they aren’t that little, btw).

Grayson and I left after intermission, while Jack and Christine stayed and finished the whole thing. Jack stayed up until 10:00 that night… way past his bed time, but boy did he have stories for me when he got home.

What a good family event. We had a blast.

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Posted on by John

This year, we went over the Cyndi and Marc’s house for Halloween to trick-or-treat in their neighborhood.

Jack was Optimus Prime:

Grayson was Mickey Mouse:

Christine had to hem Jack’s pants, because they were too long, so I had to find the sewing machine for her… and I guess that she figured since she had the sewing machine out, she’d just make Grayson’s outfit from scratch. And he loved it!

Rowan was Bumblebee, Kaelyn was Minny Mouse. Chris and Tonya’s kids were there too, and they had a blast too, and were really cute in their outfits.

Grayson was sick, and didn’t feel well, so after I took this last photo of the night:

Grayson and I jumped in the car, and headed home so he could sleep, while Christine and Jack stayed out until 10:00 p.m. collecting candy.

Lots of photos here.

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Posted on by John

Grayson was playing in the bath the other day, taking a bucket of water and dumping it on his head, and then laughing really hard. So I grabbed the camera, and took a few photos.

He was sick that week, so seeing him happy was a nice change of pace. After bath, he crashed hard and fast… and I was able to grab a few moments with Christine reading to Jack before Jack went to bed:

Bathtime and bedtime are lots of fun, and one of my favorite parts of the day.

More photos here.

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Posted on by John

On 10/21, the boys and I were in the backyard, just hanging out… no big deal, but lots of fun. I took a few photos:

More here.

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Posted on by John

We went to Dallas a few weekends ago, on our way home from Tulsa, and spent a few days. I had to speak at a DFWIMA meeting on Tuesday evening, and we wanted to spend some more time with the family, so we just stayed over for a few days on our way home.

We did lots of fun things while we were there:

1. Frank set up a tent in the back-yard for the boys to play in… and Jack and I spent the night in it the first night in Dallas. Who knew that my kid tossed and turned so much? I woke up at one point with toes digging into my neck. We slept inside the rest of our trip. heh.

2. We celebrated two birthdays. Steven turned 30, and Grayson turned 2. They were both good sports about sharing a party, though afterwards Grayson pulled me aside and said “Next year, remember I’m the one that’s most important, and while I love my Uncle Steven, he has to get his own party… oh, and I’m not wearing a damned hat again. One last thing: that cake was good. Do that cake again, please, Daddy.”

More photos of the party here.

3. We opened presents. Woohoo! Presents!!!!

4. I spoke at DFWIMA, and Christine got to come with me and see what I do when I’m speaking at industry events. It’s always fun to speak to peers with other peers.

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“… I’m too young to marry…” – or at least that’s what I remember hearing about Tulsa from some country song…

Christine and the boys and I headed to Tulsa the weekend of October 11th for, Christine’s cousin, Christopher’s wedding.

Talk about fun!

First we flew to Tulsa (on Southwest of course), rented a car, and then drove to the Embassy Suites. We were experimenting with staying in a hotel room that actually has two rooms and a door between the two with the kids. It worked, although, sleeping on a pull out couch isn’t ideal.

We went to dinner with Uncle Ben, Aunt Gayle, and Angela on Friday night (at Luby’s) and had a lot of fun (the boys running around) and great conversation.

Then on Saturday we got up and went to a wedding.

It was great to see all of the Kamps in one place. Everyone looked fabulous:

The wedding was a lot of fun, and we were really glad we went.

That evening we drove out to their land just outside of Tulsa, and had fun getting to know more of the couple’s friends, listening to good music, eating good food, and drinking good beer.

On Sunday we flew to Dallas for a few days…

More photos here.

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Posted on by John

This year, we took the boys to the Austin County Fair, but only on Thursday and Friday, because we flew to Tulsa on Friday for a wedding.

On Thursday, we drove to Bellville earlier than we’d planned so that we could see Ella compete in the Little Miss Austin County competition:

Her outfit was adorable, and she told the judge she wanted to be a singer when she grew up. When the judge asked who her favorite singer was she said “My daddy.” I turned to Evan and said “I didn’t know you sang?” He replied “I didn’t either” and we all laughed a little. It was pretty cute.

In between the contest and the awards, Ella, Jack and Grayson shared juice boxes and candy confections.

Afterwards, we went and got dinner. While I was chomping down on a humungous turkey leg, Christine took this photo of Momo and the kids:

Then it was time to ride rides. And boy did we ever. Momo sprung for about $60 worth of carnival ride tickets, and the kids used them all up in the course of about an hour or so. Grayson and Ella were cute as they watched the other kids ride, while they took a moment to say “I love you” to each other:

The rode a train ride, and a truck ride, and a motorcycle ride, and a helicopter ride, and an airplane ride. Jack went way up in the air on the burlap sack slippy slidey ride. Twice. All by himself. It was pretty cool to see him having that much fun on something that high, all by himself.

Then, for the last ride, Jack and Grayson and I rode the big ferris wheel. Here we are before the ride, looking up at it:

After the rides, we moseyed over to the cars. On the way, we rode a few tractors.

On Friday morning, we got up and ate breakfast at Momos house, and then headed to the fair. We got there early enough to claim our premium seating, next to the little house with a dirt drive way (okay, I know, most houses in Bellville are like that, but you know the one I’m talking about, right there on that corner).

From our premium seats, we sat, and waited, and then watched:

The ambulances and fire trucks that passed by us were really loud. Again (they are loud every year). The kids got to meet the fire dog that was driving down the road too… he came right up to them and said hi. We also saw bands and big tractors.

Towards the end of the parade, the kids decided to lay down on a blanket to watch. It was a great trip:

Movie coming when I have time to edit it a little. It’s got some fun footage of Jack driving a jeep after dark. The rest of the photos are here.

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Posted on by John

August 28th was Grayson first day of school ever. It was Jack’s first day of school this year too. They were pretty adorable, dressed in their shorts and t-shirts and their own backpacks:

More photos here.

And the next day, we all discovered how absolutely goofy their dad is.

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