The Veldmans: A weekend of celebrating

This past weekend Grant had his "Thomas party". There was nothing Thomas about his party except for his cake. He wanted the Thomas cake, and napkins, hats, and plates with balls on them. He called it his Thomas party and he was so excited about it. So excited that he fell asleep 30 minutes before it started. It was good though, he was in a much better mood after I woke him up to have lunch. There were about 20 people here to celebrate, which was perfect and low key. The weather was great so Nate got to grill for lunch. Grant couldn't have been more excited to hear everybody sing to him and to blow his candles out. He was pretty excited about his presents as well.  A huge thank you to everybody who came to celebrate our little man, especially those in my family who drove 4 and 5 hours. We are so blessed to have such a supportive family.

The fun actually started on Friday evening. Aunt Lori and David came Friday afternoon just before Grant woke up from him nap. They read stories, played lots of catch, played games, and had dinner with us. We were so happy that they could come and spend some time with us that evening. After dinner Aunt Lisa, Zacky, & Reece arrived. Needless to say, the kids were up late playing and having a great time. Grandma & Grandpa Becker, as well as Grandma Great didn't arrive until around 11:30. We didn't stay up for them.

Sunday morning we had breakfast, said good bye to Aunt Lisa and the boys, and got ready to carve pumpkins.  By we I mean Nate, David, and myself. The kids watched us clean them out (ok, Aunt Lori, David, and Nate cleaned them out) and lost interest very quickly. They played with Grandma & Grandpa while Nate, David, and I carved pumpkins. Nate did the kids's names, and did a great job at them once again this year. David carved one free hand, making sure that every detail was perfect (and it was). I on the other hand cheated and used a pattern from one of those books that you buy. They all turned out great, as you can see below.

This week has been very busy.  I worked Monday through Wednesday, and every night I have rushed home to get ready to leave again. Monday evening Uncle Wes came over to watch the kids so that Nate and I could go out for dinner to celebrate our anniversary. It was so nice to get away, just the two of us. We arrived home 20 minutes after bedtime to find Grant running through the house with a football and Ava playing in the living room with the TV on. She told me that she "tricked Uncle Wes" into letting her watch TV. They were having a great time.  We finally corralled them into bed. Uncle Wes stayed to read Ava her bedtime stories. Thanks Uncle Wes for the babysitting. It was very much appreciated!

As I mentioned in my last post, swim lessons have begun, so we're doing those on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. Ava's instructor told me after Tuesday's class that Ava had improved so much and was doing good. That made me feel so much better.  Ava informed me that it's because she was wearing her goggles. I guess she'll be wearing them again tonight.

Last night Ava had dance, which she continues to absolutely love. They got measured for their recital costumes. The recital isn't until next spring, but I can only imagine how cute it is going to be.

Tomorrow is a busy day. We have errands to run in the morning before Grant's 2 yr well child check, which will include immunizations for him, and a flu shot for both kids. He's going to once again hate going to the dr. We then have a big fun errand (will update on that next blog post) to run after our appointment. Then it's back home for naps, snack, and getting ready to go trick-or-treating in the frigid cold. Mema & Boppa are planning on coming down for dinner and will then hand out candy so that we can both take the kids trick-or-treating. Should be a fun day!

Wishing you all a wonderful and safe Halloween. Don't forget to turn your clocks back this weekend!