Grady's 1st Fiesta

I know I am a week late on this post, but it has seriously taken us about a week to recover!! 

Sign, Invitation, Cupcake toppers, and Banner were all made by Sweet Birdies Nest


Grady's 1st Fiesta was a huge hit!!  After stressing all week over what was going to happen weather wise, we couldn't have been luckier.  Someone was looking out for us up above. The sun was out in full force, the margarita machine was frosty and spinning, the Corona's were ice cold, the tacos and Chick fil a nuggets were disappearing quickly, and the bounce houses were packed with kids. Grady's party was a great way to kick off spring/summer AND to celebrate his first year in this world. We owe so much to our family and especially our friends who live in our neighborhood.  We were so happy and fortunate that so many people could help us celebrate!

I was pregnant with Grady when we moved to Mechanicsburg and into Walnut Point.  Some of my neighbors were one of the first people to know I was pregnant. My BUNKO group threw me a surprise baby shower, and several families brought us full course meals once G was born.  I don't think we cooked for an entire 2 weeks after Grady was born. So not only was G's party a celebration for him but also a "Thank You" to our wonderful neighbors!

My sweet SIL took some amazing pictures of the day.  Thank you Karolina! Of course I want to show off all of her pictures, but that is just not possible.  Here are my favorites!

Sara over at Sara Sweet & Small made Grady's adorable tuxedo onesie!

Uncle Alex and Grady

Fun times in the 'big kid' Bounce House!

Pinata Fun!!  I love the idea of the 'pull string' pinata!

Carter and his mustache!!

Margarita Cake Pops from Alexandria Cake Pop Company

Grady's smash cake.
Cupcakes and smash cake were from PA Bakery! SO Yummy!

While planning for the party, I started some wonderful new relationships with some vendors.  I love working with small stores/companies and building a relationship with them.  Granted I have never met some of these ladies, but I feel like I personally know them with all of the quick and cheery emails we have passed back and forth over the past weeks.
A BIG thank you to:

• Beverly and Heidi over at Sweet Birdie's Nest. They did the invitations, cupcake toppers, banner, and door sign! What a treat to work with!
• Sara at Sara Sweet & Small who designed Grady's onesie tux!
• The Alexandria Cake Pop Company!  They even included 2 special cake pops to match Grady's outfit for free! I also love that they give back:

Alexandria Cake Pop Company is dedicated to giving back.
Five percent of all sales are donated to Operation Second Chance, an organization which serves wounded, injured and ill combat veterans.

• My neighbor Geri who made the adorable gift tags to go on the party favors!

• If you want to rent a margarita machine and live in the Harrisburg area, I recommend A-1 Party Rental!
• If you are looking for FUN online site to order Fiesta favors/decorations/etc, I recommend amols.com-I found the best price for authentic maracas there AND adorable paper flowers!

Again, thank you to everyone who was able to come and help us celebrate Grady turning the BIG 1!! 

A letter to Grady

To my dearest Grady,

You are 1 today! WOW! For some reason, I am having a hard time writing this letter to you.  There are so many things I want to tell you, and right now I am feeling too many feelings to put down on paper.  I do know that I want you to remember that you are a little miracle that we never take for granted.  We are so lucky to have you in our lives. I watch you and your big brother play and it brings tears to my eyes.  You and Carter have only known each other for a short time, but there is already so much love between the two of you.  He already protects you and you already look to him for support and acceptance.  I hope this brotherly bond only grows stronger as the years pass.

You have learned so much this year, and I have learned so much from you.  You have learned how to be patient and how to trust.  Boy, are you a trusting baby.  All it takes is a trusting smile and hug to convince you that you are safe.

You have taught me to trust myself and my beliefs. Being a mom is hard, especially a mom to 2 boys!!  You taught me that everything doesn’t have to be perfect in order to survive the day to day stresses.  As long as we all have each other’s support and love, than we will be just fine.  Thank you for just going with the flow and giving me one of your famous hand waves to reassure me that everything is going to be just fine!

Let me tell you about that famous wave of yours! I cannot tell you how many people you have made smile with that wave.  It shows that it’s the little things that make people happy.  Sometimes, all someone needs is a smile and a wave from a 1 year old to brighten up their day.   You are so good at doing just that.  I guess that sums up you, Grady James Webb.  Your mission this past year has been to put a smile on people’s faces.  Thank you for that and for all the love and joy you have added to our family.

Happy 1^st Birthday Grady! Mommy loves you!

A Hard Decision

Jason and I had a very interesting conversation last night, and I thought I would share it with all of you.  It was the type of conversation that made me realize that I am a parent to two little boys and that I am going to be faced with decisions that could ultimately make a huge impact on their lives. 

I might be acting a little dramatic in this particular situation, but I feel like it's our hardest parenting decision yet!  I would love to hear what you think and what I should do. Has anyone with boys been in this situation?  Here we go........

Jason and I decided that Carter needs a proper bike. We figured that with some of our tax refund money, we would let Carter pick out a new bike. I kept asking him what color bike he wants and if he really wants a bike.  When I ask him about the bike, his little face lights up in excitement.  All he says is that he wants a bell on his bike like Peppa Pig.  We can do a bell, no problem! The weather was kind of yucky yesterday, so I brought the kids to our BRAND NEW BabiesRUs/ToysRUs that just opened.  I figured we could kill some time by wandering around and checking out the store.  I also wanted to show C the bikes and get an idea of which one he wanted.  Of course as soon as we walked into the store, Carter's eyes grew so big from the overload of toys greeting us at the door.  I told him he could pick out one thing that cost less than $5. Let me tell you that this was a VERY hard decision for him to make.

So we went back to the bikes.  WOW! When I was growing up, I remember having a plain red and white bike.  Maybe some tassels on the handle bars, but that is it.  Even I was overwhelmed by the array of bikes.  There were Mickey and Minnie bikes, Buzz Lightyear, Spiderman, Cars, you name it. There was a bike for every Disney/Pixar character ever made!  After checking them out for a good 2-3 minutes, Carter made his decision and never looked back. 

This is the bike he wants. He was almost in tears when he realized that we weren't buying it that very minute.  I kept asking him to keep looking at the other bikes. Was he sure he didn't want another one, like the Mickey Mouse one or Lightening McQueen one?  "No Mommy, I want Minnie!!!"

I kind of dropped the topic of bikes and we moved on to continue looking around the store.  I thought I would give him some time and revisit the topic later. Well, when I did bring back the topic of getting a new bike, it was Minnie, Minnie, Minnie for the rest of the day.  Hmmmm, what to do.  Do we buy our little boy the bike he wants or do we just buy him one that we 'think' he should ride like the Mickey Mouse bike? This so brings me back to the topic of pink can only be for girls and blue is only for boys.  I want Carter to know that he can like any color and/or character no matter what gender it's geared towards.  I don't want him thinking that girls can only like Dora and boys have to only like Diego.

I know that Carter will be happy with any bike we bring home for him, but I also like the idea of bringing him to the store to pick one out.  I want him to have ownership. BUT, what if he picks out the Minnie bike right then and there? How do we handle the situation? This is where Jason and I aren't comfortable with the situation.

I want him to be excited about learning to ride a bike, and I am trying to make this as positive experience as possible, but I just don't feel comfortable buying him a pink Minnie Mouse bike.  End of story. Am I a bad mom? What if Minnie is just a stage and in a month or so he is over her and onto superheros or something.  We do have to remember that this will be a bike he will have for a while.  I also wonder if we are doing him a disservice by allowing him to ride around the neighborhood on his pink Minnie Mouse bike.  What will the other kids think? Will they say something to hurt his feelings?

Ok gang, help me out here.  Jason and I have no idea what to do.  Would you let your 3yo little boy ride a Minnie Mouse bike? Or, is this the time in life when we have to make the decision for him? What does this say about the type of people Jason and I are.

While I have been going back and forth with this, all I can think about is a picture that was taken 2 summers ago right when we moved up to PA......Boy did he love this purse!!

BUSTED

Why are kids so obsessed with toilet paper? And, why haven't I learned to just shut the bathroom door?


HAPPY FRIDAY!