We had such a fun Halloween this year!  We all got together for Chili, and to carve pumpkins.  Then we all went to our church’s annual “Trunk-or-Treat”!  We had a blast, but today we’re all dragging a bit…it will probably be an early night to bed at the Gray house tonight!  Here are some pictures of our afternoon and evening!

NOTE: Harrison dressed up as a surfer (Bethany’s idea, thank you), although he would not pose for a picture with his surf board!?!?  Oh well, what are you going to do?

Digging the guts out of those pumpkins!

 

Ewwwww!

 

 

Such a big helper!

 

 

Ready to carve!

 

 

Nathaniel tracing his pattern

 

 

Hannah waiting for Grammy to tape on her pattern!

 

 

Harrison's finished pumpkin - Big Bird!

 

 

Nathaniel's Happy Jack Jack-o-lantern

 

 

Hannah's pumpkin!

 

 

Michael's pumpkin (for my dad - it's the Church logo)

 

 

Catching the waves!

 

 

Surfs up!

 

 

Dad used the CPC pumpkin to decorate his trunk for "Trunk or Treat"

 

 

Harrison hung out with Grammy most of the night because Michael and I worked the Wii booth at the party...he loved being with Grammy and got LOTS more candy that way too!

 

 

This past Saturday, Michael, Harrison, and I went to the Tolmachoff Farm.  We were able to pet farm animals, do a corn maze, play in all kinds of fun houses and play areas, and most importantly, pick a pumpkin!  Here are some pictures from our super-fun day!

 

 

 

His favorite thing to do was play in this little "Melon Hut" (it looked like a big watermelon house), and peek out the seed-shaped windows.

 

 

Talking to a goat!

 

 

LOVING the animals!

 

 

In the petting zoo

 

 

 

Finally, I get to pick a pumpkin!

 

 

 

Which one...which one?

 

 

 

This one looks good!

 

 

 

Hmm, this one makes a good seat!

 

 

 

Oh man, it's hard to pick just one!

 

 

 

We have a winner!

 

 

 

I’ve done a horrible job of blogging lately, and I don’t really know why, but I wanted to do some catching up, so you all can see my beautiful boy!  Can you believe he is 16 months old already… the months just fly by, but Michael and I are having the time of our lives.  We are so thankful to have Harrison, he brings me joy that I’m unable to describe!  Here are some random pictures and a video of this past month!  Enjoy!

Head-to-toe whip cream!

Mommy's big helper! He LOVES to Swiffer...and I love letting him!

Walking around the house with his backpack on!

Waving "bye bye" to daddy!

Still playing with his backpack on!

NOTE:  If you noticed the deodorant in the background of this picture, and are thinking “man, these guys are slobs”…we’re not quite THAT bad.  Harrison always wants Michael to put deodorant on him (because he sees us do it, I guess), and so he’ll run in the bathroom and bring it out to us.  We don’t normally make a habit of keeping our toiletries in our living room…the toys all over the floor is another story entirely!

Touring the Cardinal's Stadium

NOTE: There is no grass on the field because they roll it outside for sunlight when they are not playing on it!

Future Defensive Lineman, Wide Receiver, and Cheerleader.

There's the grass!

In the visiting team's locker rooms...needing to get "taped up"!

Still in the visitor's locker room...he was dreaming about which Steeler's player used this locker!

We had so much fun going through the locker room!

Not a big fan of the helmet!

The tour, of course, ended in the souvenir shop, and since it was a few days before Michael’s birthday, I told him “why don’t you find something for your birthday”.  HA!  Well, the joke was on me, because a plain t-shirt with the Cardinal’s logo was $60 – and I’m talking like a t-shirt you could get at Wal-Mart for $14.99 – I’m not exaggerating!  I won’t even tell you how much the nicer shirts were.  Needless to say, he didn’t get anything from that store for his birthday!

I don’t even know how to begin this post…I guess it begins with a chair!  A kitchen chair to be exact.  You see Harrison was standing on a kitchen chair so he could watch my dad hose off the back patio.  I was sitting directly behind him, but he still managed to slip off and cut his eye on the back of my chair!  Although the cut was not long, it was very deep, so we headed to the Emergency Room!  Harrison left the ER two hours later with 3 stitches!  He was a trooper, and did as well as any 16 month old would do, but it was hard on all of us.

As we were sitting in the ER, I couldn’t help but think of parents who have children with diseases and illnesses that cause them to be in the hospital on a regular basis!  My heart honestly went out to them, and we said a few prayers for some special people in our lives that we know go through ER visits often!

Getting Ready to squirt someone!

This is fun!

One very wet little boy!

He couldn't get enough....

Loving his new swing in our backyard!

Weeeee

Harrison and I just got back from his 15 month Well Child Check Up at the Doctor.  He is doing great, and developing perfectly…he’s even got some words (which we’ve been working on for the past 3 months)!  He has slowed WAY down in the growing department…which is a good thing, because I don’t think we would have been able to keep up at the rate he was growing in his first year of life!!

Here are his stats for 15 Months:

Weight: 27 lbs     75-90 percentile  (Weight at 12 Months – 26lbs)

Length: 32.5 inches     75-90 percentile   (Length at 12 Months – 30.5in)

Head: 19 inches     90-95 percentile   (Head at 12 Months – 19in)

He did have to get two shots, and did not make a PEEP for either one of them!!  I was so proud as we walked out of the examination room, and everyone was commenting on the fact that Harrison didn’t cry!  He is such a blessing to us, and we are so lucky to have him!  Michael and I would have felt blessed and overwhelmed regardless of the child God gave us, but we can’t describe how special Harrison is, and how lucky we are to be his parents!

Harrison’s first trip to Disneyland was a blast!  I would love to say that he loved every minute of it…but I’m not sure he quite understood what was happening there at the Happiest Place on Earth!  He never acted frightened or afraid of the rides, but he was very serious and contemplative on each of them!  His favorite thing to do was to honk the horn on his Grayma’s scooter, and he LOVED the fireworks!  We got to go 2 days in a row, and by the second day he even cracked a half-smile on King Triton’s Carousel!  I was the most horrible picture taker in all creation, so I just have a few to share…sorry about that, you can blame my mom for passing on that trait to me!!

Ready to get into the park and have some fun!

The first ride of the weekend!!! Dumbo!

Harrison with his buddy Drew at Dis!!

They made Harrison sit in an actual seat so you can't see him, but he's there!

This is pretty much the look he had on every ride! I guess he's not too impressed with the Disney Magic...can he even call himself a Gray?

My precious family!! It truly is a happy ending!

Michael’s really getting excited for the upcoming football season, and doing his best to pass on his love for the Cardinals to Harrison.  Today, we took Harrison up to Westgate to run  through the kids fountain, and while we were there Michael took some adorable pictures of our little man next to the football stadium!  I know you’re gonna love these…

Our camara batteries died while Harrison was running around in the water, but you can take my word for it…he loved it!

Harrison LOVES to swim, so this summer we put him in swim lessons (a Mommy and Me Class) at Teacher Lynda’s Swim School.  He loves swimming and splashing, but mostly he loves putting squirt toys in the skimmer (who doesn’t, really?).

Teacher Lynda’s Swim School