Smoke filled sky

Last Thursday, the blue sky began to fade and as the sun set, this was our view outside. Friday, we awoke to the horrible smell of smoke in the air. The Santa Ana winds died down, thank goodness for the firefighters, which enabled the smoke to come inland and invade our sky.

I can only imagine how terrible their air is in San Diego and the rest of So Cal. Her's praying the worst is over.

Lots of love,

The Grady's

Sacred Heart Fall Carnival

On Sunday afternoon we took Emerson and Brennan to Em's school carnival. They loved it! The school did a great job putting it all together. It was complete with a pumpkin patch, carnival games, food, and even real carnival rides.

Lots of love,

The Grady's

Another Parrothead Party

Yes, I know we are a bit crazy...but we like that about ourselves! We headed to Vegas this past weekend for our 2nd Buffett show in two months. Some people might find that a bit over-the-top or even weird, but if you have ever been to a Jimmy Buffett concert (including pre-party) then you will understand.

We made the drive Friday night after work and after the kiddos were safely taken care of. We met up with a group of friends from all over, at a great dueling piano bar in NYNY hotel. Had a great time there, and even stayed up way past my normal bedtime! Slept in on Saturday (yes, past 7am!) and relaxed most of the day. Saturday night was the concert at the MGM Grand. Being that that was my 5th concert, my first Jimmy concert indoors, I knew it was going to be great. But, I didn't realize it was going to be that great!!! He put on an awesome 2 1/2 hour show! The whole weekend was a lot of fun and my lack of voice today is certainly tribute to that.

Yes, People do dress this way!

Enjoy the silly pictures!!!

Lots of love,

The Grady's

Pumpkin Season

Tis, the season for the pumpkin patch. This past Saturday, I took our kiddos and The Black's little ladies, with Jeff's parents to the pumpkin patch. Phew! This is why I choose not to have anymore kids, I already have four of them on occasion and it reminds me each time, why two children are plenty!

We had a great time exploring the pumpkin patch, looking for pumpkins that were just right. We also went in the petting zoo, a couple jumpy houses, and of course bought some kettle corn. What a great way to start the season!

Lots of love,

The Grady's

Mom...SERIOUSLY!

So this is what has been happening in our house lately....a long process that is still in the making. This potty training business is NOT easy!

Lots of love,

The Grady's

p.s. don't mind the dorky hair, straight out of the bathtub here!

just a regular weekend...

Sometimes it is so nice to have just a regular weekend at home. Not having to go anywhere in particular, or run to meet someone, or attend some event, or anything else. Emma asked on Saturday morning "Where are we going today?" and for once I said, "No where." She replied, "Well, who is coming over?" and I said "No one"...and she was baffled. But for once it was so nice to be able to get some things done and accomplished around the house.

Saturday, Jeff and Tad went to the USC-Arizona game in LA. Our great neighbor gave us her two tickets, as she was unable to go. Tiffany and I got a sitter for the kiddos for a few hours, so we could get some painting done on their new house. So for a little over 6 hours we painted and painted. We accomplished a lot more than we thought we could and felt really great about the job we got done. My mom and Scott came over to relieve the sitter and give us a hand. They stayed and we all had a nice relaxing dinner.

Sunday Jeff and I did yard work, and more yard work, and more yard work! PHEW! I hate weeds more than anything! We were able to get the lawn scalped, the courtyard trimmed and weeded, the outside toys cleaned up, and everything hosed off!

All in all, a very productive weekend and one that provided quite a workout for me! I am still a little beat and sore from all the work! Now onto another week!

Lots of love,
The Grady's

Brennan's Post-Op

So today Brennan and I went to see Dr. Gebhart for his post-op appointment. After the usual wait we finally got in a room and saw the Dr. He looked in his ears and said the tubes look great. We can stop using the ear drops (hooray!) and we should notice a big improvement in speech in the months to follow. He already seems to be improving on what he says and how he says it. He also showed me a picture of his adenoids. Apparently, they are always sent in for a biopsy, to make sure there is no bacteria/infection/strange cells/etc. to be found. Brennan were clean, but extremely enlarged, so it is a good thing we removed them.
I talked to him about ear plugs for bath time and we are clear for those now. If the tubes are still in place come next summer, we can talk to him about special plugs for swimming.
But for now....we are all set!

Lots of love,
The Grady's

The Moak's (i love saying that!)

We had a great visit from Stacy and Scott this past weekend! They flew all the way down here from Sacramento, just to visit with us. It was so nice to see them and just hang out. Saturday, Stacy and I took Em, Bren, and Lauren, and Kaitlyn to the Living Desert. The weather was just beautiful and the kids loved being outside. Jeff and Scott were able to wnjoy the great weather too, they played 18 holes of golf. Saturday night we were able to get together with Tad and Tif and have a great dinner and a rousing game of Balderdash. Sunday came all too fast, and Stacy and Scott had to catch their flight back home.

I really hope we get to see them again soon....or the kids are going to kill me....("Mama...where's "tacy" and Scott?").

Lots of love,

The Grady's

Fins Up!

We are the people your parents warned you about...classic lyrics from a legend. This year's Jimmy Buffett concert was just as good as the 3 I have been to previously. We actually had a conversation on the way to the concert, wondering what # Buffett concert this was for each of us. Jeff ranked it at #3, myself #4, Tiffany #8, and Tad, the winner with 13! Seeing a Buffett concert is nothing short of a great time!

We travelled to Irvine, Saturday morning, met up with our friends Cindy and Stephen, picked up Tad's brother Eric and our good friend Amy. We had a nice relaxing lunch and then started our preparations for the tailgate party at Irvine Meadows.

We arrived in the parking lot about 4pm, set up "camp" and the fun began. I am not sure there is any other tailgate like this one in Irvine. Walking through the RV's is definitely something you have to see to believe. The outfits, the beach scenes, the games, the people...everything you see just shows Jimmy's huge fan base.

My friend Paige, met up with us a little before the concert began. It was SO great seeing her and hanging out during the whole concert. I haven't seen her since her wedding this past January, and what better place than a Buffett concert to see a great friend.

Jimmy started right on time and played, nonstop, for over two hours. He commented to the crowd (which was HUGE!), how he was so lucky to have this job. He thanked the crowd for letting him entertain us for the past 40 years...here's hoping he is singing and entertaining us for many more years ahead.

Lots of love,

The Grady's

Surgery Day

What a long, long day. I know that we will all be in bed early tonight! I am not sure how much Jeff and I slept last night, anticipating today. We finally just got up about 515am, got showered and dressed and were at the hospital at 630am this morning. We waited for a bit, then we were called in about 715am. We got Brennan dressed in this cute little pj outfit, with pants and a little shirt that tied in the back. I should have brought my camera for that one! We answered numerous questions from nurses, Drs., anesthesiologists, etc. regarding medical history and such. Then finally at 815 am we were able to walk him back to the operating room doors, they let you go right up to the doors. I remember doing this with him on his first heart surgery, although it was a much longer walk and much harder to leave him then. They told us it would be about 30-40 minutes until they were done. And of course at 30 minutes we were watching the clock, but it wasn't until an hour and 15 minutes later that they finally came to get us. The Dr. apologized for taking so long, but it turns out that poor Brennan has terrible veins for getting an IV started. They worked for over 30 minutes and had to poke him 20+ times to get the IV running, finally in his foot (poor baby!). Thank goodness he was mildly sedated at that point, thanks to the gas mask they give right when they come in the OR. Then after the IV was started they had to start the antibiotics he needs for his heart condition, and let those get running before they could start the procedure.

They ended up removing his adenoids and placing ear tubes in both ears. He had a fair amount of fluid that had built up in both ears and his adenoids were almost completely blocking his nasal passage. So I am glad that had both taken care of.

When we saw him afterwards he was thrashing around, coming out of the anesthesia. He had a difficult time with that, and they were ready to sedate him again, when he finally settled down in my arms. He rested on and off for about 45 minutes. Then they finally removed his IV and had him drink a bit of apple juice and we were finally able to head home.

The recovery time isn't bad, just today and possibly tomorrow, with him out of sorts. The hardest part of this whole process is that now we need to be extra cautious with him in any sort of water. He cannot get his ears wet at all, so bath time should be interesting!

Thank you for all the positive thoughts and prayers. It really keep us calm knowing that so many people were thinking of all of us today.

Lots of love,
The Grady's

Jimmy Buffett - Irvine - Can't Wait

Hello World - Here is my first try at "blogging".

We are preparing for a weekend that will be a party to write about. Yes, Jimmy Buffett is returning to the So Cal area for what will be an experience. We will be heading over to the coast, with a few fellow desert rats, to experience 5 hours of tailgating and 3 hours of music. Wish us luck as we break in quite a few virgin Parrot Heads. All I can hope is that it is half as fun as our experience two years ago with the Butiers... then we have reached our goal.
This is the setup party to an RV trip from La Quinta to Vegas in a RV road trip coming in October....Jimmy Buffett at the MGM.

Stay tuned for what I am sure will be some great pics to come.

By the way ----- part of what inspired me to partake in the blog experience has been reading Paige's blog (The Rober's). http://pkrobers.blogspot.com/
In line with how Paige ends her updates.........Grady's out!

Jeff

What a weekend!

So weekends are supposed to be restful, right? We were looking forward to a relaxing weekend and a fun visit with our friends Connie and Andrew and Hayden, visiting from Arizona. They arrived Friday night and we were able to visit a bit before heading to bed. About 4am Emerson wakes me up (totally not unusual for her), but this time she is crying and saying her leg hurts. I chalk it up to growing pains and lay with her for a bit rubbing her leg. We fall back asleep only to have Brennan to decide that he would like his morning to start at 515am. So I get up with him and hope that he will be quiet enough to not wake Em since she has fallen back to sleep. Well, she wakes at 6am screaming in pain. Her leg is hurting again, so I decide to give her some Motrin, rub her leg some more, then have her rest while watching cartoons. Meanwhile, Jeff is getting ready to go play golf with Andrew in a little golf tournament. So they leave about 730am. Emerson is still laying down and resting and by this time Connie and Hayden are up too.

Emerson starts complaining about her leg again and now she won't even move it. I truly think she is milking it, but as an hour of this continues and she won't even stand on, I begin to worry. My mom comes over and takes Brennan, Connie, and Hayden to her house, because I have decided to take Em to the Urgent Care. The next 3 hours were spent in the urgent care. Poor Em was in so much pain. The Dr. suggested we take some x-rays to see if we can see anything. And suggests that there is a possibility of some terrible bone disorder and if not that, then the pain could be caused by a mass of some sort (aka: tumor). NICE. Thanks for the freakin' reassurance. So we do the x-rays and Em is screaming in pain as they have to move the leg in a certain direction to take the picture. Then we sit, and sit, and sit. And finally the x-ray tech comes back to the exam room and says, "sorry it is taking so long, but we had to send the x-rays for a 2nd opinion at the hospital". Are you freaking kidding me????? So, I sat there trying to keep Em entertained and meanwhile my stomach is upside down in panic. Finally about 45 minutes of waiting the Dr. comes back to tell me they don't see anything that she suspected. And in fact they don't see anything abnormal at ALL! She seems to think, now, that Em must have really strained a muscle in her upper leg and that is what is causing the pain. She told me to keep the Motrin flowing and to just let her rest for the remainder of the weekend. Finally, after 3+ hours we finally left, at least knowing that it was most likely nothing to be super concerned about.

I finally made it back to visit with Connie and Hayden at my parent's house. I decided I should finally call Jeff to tell him about our morning, I hadn't called earlier, because I didn't wan to worry him unless something was truly wrong. Good thing I didn't because as it was, they cut their game short and came home. We had a nice dinner at home with the Black family joining us. Made for an exhausting day, starting that way, but at least we were able to end it on a mellow note.

Emerson is back on two feet today, a little limp and she seems to be cautious on putting too much of her weight on it, but all in all, the strained muscle diagnosis seems to be the correct one. Thank goodness!

So, onto our week ahead! Surgery for Brennan on Tuesday...let's pray that that is less eventful than our Saturday with Emerson!

Lots of love,
The Grady's

Busy Days

September has sure come in with a bang! The last two weeks really seem like a blur to me. We have all been really busy getting back into our routines.

I seem to have a nice class this year, a little lower academically than I would like coming into 3rd grade, but we will see what I can do about that. We have a lot to live up to this year, in terms of CST scores, so it should be quite a challenge.

Jeff is as busy as usual. Especially with the season starting back up again, business always gets busier too. And with his new daddy drop-off duties he is going to be really busy.

Emerson is doing SO much better at school....I should rephrase that...getting to school. She has never had trouble AT school, more like leaving mommy, then daddy to get into school. But we have had a few mornings now with NO tears. Yippee! She also started a dance class on Monday. It is a jazz and tap combo class, once a week. And of course our little dancer LOVES it.

Brennan has become quite his own little person the last few weeks. I really think he has matured worlds since going back to Patty's and doing it without his sister. He is so happy and willing to help at daycare, I LOVE it!

Well, just wanted to update everyone on all of us. In case you were wondering what happened to my weekly post...this is where we have been!

Lots of love,
The Grady's

Back to School

Well, it is that time of the year again. Emerson and Brennan have already headed back to school and now it is my turn. I have been working hard in my classroom for about two weeks now and I "think" I am all ready, although I am not sure I could ever be perfectly ready. Anyway, the little kiddos start with me at 8:15 am tomorrow, hopefully excited about starting the 3rd grade.
Wish me luck!

Lots of love,
The Grady's

Where does the time go?

Once upon a time, not so long ago, we were blessed with a beautiful little girl. After 9 months and an anxious wait, we saw her sweet little face.



Little did I know how quickly the time would go....learning to walk, learning to talk, and now here we are, her first day of preschool!



Emerson started Sacred Heart Preschool this morning, with a few tears from her (actually more like sobs) and some tears from mommy. Jeff took her to school, which will be their morning routine each day. She cried the whole way there and then walked in with her teacher to the playground. I picked her up this afternoon at 330pm and you would never have known that she was scared or nervous this morning. She had a huge smile on her face and actually asked if she could stay and play a bit more. So hopefully tomorrow morning there will be less tears from the both of us.

Lots of love,

The Grady's

Another Milestone

From this....

To THIS....

Brennan has been climbing out of his crib for about 2 months now. He has gotten so good at it that he can climb IN and OUT without us even hearing him do so, no crashing or falling at all. But even with that, we thought it was about time we got the little guy a real big boy bed. As you can see he loves it!

Lots of love,

The Grady's

One, Two, Three Strikes!

Nothing really beats watching a baseball game live. We had tickets to see the San Diego Padres play the Houston Astros this past Saturday night. We had been wanting to see the new ballpark in the Gaslamp area of downtown San Diego. Well, it surely did not disappoint! That park is really amazing!!! Tad, Tiffany, Eric, and Amy, joined Jeff and I for a fun filled day/night to just hang out, sans kids, and enjoy an all-American tradition. Our hotel was literally 2 blocks from the park and just blocks from all the restaurants and nightlife. The game was a blast, complete with hot dogs, beer, and popcorn. Too bad the Padre's didn't win...but we can't wait to go again!

Another surgery?

Yes, you read that right....our little man has to have another surgery in a couple of weeks. Two heart surgeries as a baby and now one to put tubes in his ears. Yeah, I know, it is minor, but hey it is still surgery. Stinks! But what can we do. Poor little guy can't hear like he should, has too much fluid on the backside of his eardrum. I spent over 2 hours with him at the ENT Dr. today, running different hearing tests, looking in his ears, and chatting with the Dr. This is after spending over 8 weeks on a high dose of antibiotics to try to clear the fluid. Jeff and I didn't want to jump right into surgery and neither did the Dr., until we tried everything else. But to no avail. Surgery it is. I will update when I know more when it will take place.

***UPDATE*** Surgery is scheduled for Tues., September 25th

Lots of love,
The Grady's

One more vacation!

Can you believe we just got back from another trip? That concludes all 9 of the plane flights I have taken this summer! WOW! My parents have a boat docked on Lake Union in Seattle. So we decided this would be a great time of year to escape the desert heat and head north for some cooler temperatures.

The kids and I left with my parents on Aug. 1st for Seattle. The flight up there was relatively easy, both kids slept. We got our rental car, and headed over to the boat. The kids were in heaven, they had their very own room with a bunk bed! We spent the next three days touring Seattle. We went to Pike's Place Market, The Aquarium, shopping downtown, and cruising around the historic area of Seattle. Such a cool city!

Saturday morning we set off through the famous locks that separate Lake Union from the Pacific Ocean. I have been through the locks a few times when I was younger, but it is always an interesting experience. Then we boated to Anacortes, WA to meet up with Jeff, who flew in that morning. We spent the night in Anacortes and then set off for Victoria, British Colombia. Victoria is a beautiful city with a lot to see. We went to the BC Museum, The Empress Hotel, on a carriage ride, and we were even treated to fireworks on our first night there in celebration of BC Day. On Wednesday, we set off for Friday Harbor, WA in the San Juan Islands. I used to spend most summers up in Friday Harbor at the condo that Mom and Scott used to have there. So it was so fun to see the cute, little town again. Not too much has changed:)

Thursday, we left for Rosario Resort, on Orcas Island. There is a small marina in front of a historic resort, which resembles something out of the movie Dirty Dancing. And finally, Friday night, we were back in Anacortes for our last night on the boat. We left early (4am!) Saturday morning for Seattle airport for our flight home.

I was so impressed with how the kids were for 10 days on a boat! They had a ball, playing games, watching movies, and actually driving the boat themselves.

We really enjoyed the beautiful scenery and cooler weather, we even had to wear our sweatshirts and long pants sometimes!!!

Lots of love,

The Grady's

Personality Test

Nothing really family related....just wanted to share this interesting personality test I found on another friend's blog site....pretty accurate I think..

You Are An ESFJ

The Caregiver You are sympathetic and caring, putting friends and family first.A creature of habit, you prefer routines and have trouble with change.You love being in groups - whether you're helping people or working on a project.You are good at listening, laughing, and bringing out the best in people. In love, you value harmony and mutual understanding.You will apologize or give someone the benefit of the doubt, if it means getting over a fight sooner. At work, you are good at building relationships and connecting with people.You would make a great nurse, social worker, or teacher. How you see yourself: Organized, dependable, co-operative When other people don't get you, they see you as: Opinionated, critical, and know-it-all

What's" Your Personality Type?