Finally a new post...

We can't believe it's been almost a month since out last post. Updates below and some photos and quotes as well.




Last weekend, Kathryn and the boys went to the zoo with Aunt Kerry. They had a great time:

The petting zoo



Dual driving of the green tractor


Dual driving of the red tractor


Funny Landon Quote #1:

To appreciate this quote, we recommend you say it out loud as you read it...

Kathryn got Landon down from his booster seat after dinner and said to him, "There you go, Landon, you're free."

Landon: "No I'm not, Mommy, I'm two!"

Rick was changing Keaton into his pajamas and told Hudson and Landon to brush their teeth for bedtime and that is they were efficient about it they would have time to have a pillow fight before bed (one of their favorite recent activities). Apparently Landon wasn't fast enough for Hudson, as Rick found that Hudson had finished brushing his own teeth and was doing this when Rick entered the bathroom:


Funny Landon quote #2

Keaton was crying and Landon walked over to him as said:

"Any blood, Keaton? Any broken bones, Keaton? OK, then move on!" (We don't know where he could have gotten that)

Two weeks ago, on a Sunday, Keaton threw up a few times. He spent the rest of the week spitting up more than usual and with a poor appetite. By this past Sunday, he was back to normal and since then he has made up for lost time by eating like a horse. No teeth yet, but he still wants our table food at dinner.

Last Sunday, on the day Keaton was back to normal, Hudson was up all night throwing up. He had a poor appetite on Monday, but said he felt back to normal (though Kathryn didn't think so). Kathryn was proved right when he said he wanted to go into the play room to play for a while and Kathryn went in a bit later to find this:

We close escrow on our new house on November 21st (the day before Thanksgiving). We still haven't sold our current home. We have a couple coming back this weekend for a sixth (yes, sixth) visit to see our house. The wife is bringing more of her family to see it (she brought her mother on the the fifth visit). Our realtor spoke with her and the potential buyer had a Freudian slip, saying she was bringing her family to see "our new house." Our realtor took it as a good sign, but they have seen slow to act because they aren't yet sure they want to sell their own home in this market. We'll see...We know God has the correct plan for us, and we're trusting Him as we look for His guidance.

And the answer is...

Sorry we didn't post the answers to the quiz by Wednesday as promised - we ran out of hours in the days. But here are the correct answers:

A. Hudson

B. Keaton

C. Landon

Congratulations to those that got all three correct:

Callie
Bonnie
Grandma
Caleb
Cassandra
The entire Harmon Gang (as a group)

Thanks to all who voted for the fun!

A house update...

We're scheduled to close on our new house on November 21st. You can see the recent progress in the photos below. We are praying for buyers for our current home this month, but are preparing for either circumstance. We have a couple coming back for a third showing this weekend and they've told our realtor that they've spoken to a mortgage lender, so we're praying that they may be the "ones." We're trusting God's plan regardless.

View from the street (Click photos to see larger version)


The entry


The kitchen


The family room

New Quiz

Who is it?

These are three different Gray boys...but which picture is who? Post your guesses by clicking the "Comments" below. We'll post the answers and the winners by Wednesday.

A.


B.


C.

October is here

We're doing well here. Still spending time working on items for our new house. Lots of fun stories and pictures.



Funny Hudson Quote
Hudson was showing Landon the auto section of the Sunday newspaper and teaching him the names of all the cars. There was also a section of motorhomes and Hudson started teaching Landon the difference between class "A" and class "C" motorhomes. Landon didn't find it as interesting as Hudson thought it should be and his attention wandered. That prompted the following statement from Hudson:
"Landon, now focus like a laser-beam!"



Funny Landon Quote
Two days later, Kathryn was feeding Keaton while they were watching Rick play basketball. Keaton was apparently distracted because Landon told him:
"Keaton, focus like laser-beam!"



Hudson seems to be part of a "love triangle" at his pre-K class at Scottsdale Christian Academy. He goes to school three afternoons per week and our neighbor's little girl, Bailee, is in his class. Kathryn and Bailee's mom share the driving duties: Christina takes them both to school and Kathryn brings them both home. Bailee and Hudson have, naturally become fast friends. Bailee went to DisneyLand with her family for a week and during that time a little girl named Hannah started spending a lot of time with Hudson. When Bailee came back, she wasn't the only girl around. Hudson's teacher, Mrs. Roper, even told Bailee's mom that "she's got some competition now." :)

The answer is...

C. They were riding a virtual reality roller coaster.

Hudson and Landon loved riding this thing. They rode it 5 times in a row and wanted to ride it more, but we cut them off.

Hudson's 5th Birthday

Here are some photos of Hudson's 5th birthday party. Some stories below:






Hudson's birthday was a lot of fun. He received some great gifts and we ate some great cake. Two of Hudson's gifts produced a lot of fun the day before his birthday. His gift from Daddy was $10 and Saturday afternoon to spend together and spend how he wanted. Then, Papa and Grandma sent him $20 (and made Daddy feel cheap) along with $5 to spend on Landon.

Rick and Hudson went to the Mall where there are two toy stores. Hudson had asked Landon what he wanted for his gift, and set out to find him a semi truck first. He didn't find anything satisfactory at the first store, so he and Rick moved to the second store. He found a tanker truck which he was sure Landon would love. He made sure that it was less than $5 and went up to pay for it first.

He then looked around for something for him. He found a set of trucks and construction signs, etc. that he liked. He held on to it and checked out all of the other options (to his father's delight) before deciding to buy that choice.

He had had his eye on a flatbed semi at Target and so when he and Rick left the store where he's bought the first gift, the conferred on what to do next. First, they reviewed the available remaining funds: $18. Rick asked what he wanted to do with it and he (again to his parent's delight) pulled out $10 and said he wanted to save it (see funny quote later that resulted from this). He decided to play next, then go to Target for the flatbed truck. The mall's play area was closed, so they proceeded to Target.

At Target, Hudson searched for the flatbed truck, but they didn't have it anymore. But then he found a packaged set of toys that included that flatbed semi along with several other trucks. He decided he wanted that (to his father's chagrin) and asked how much it cost. It was $20. He had $8. Rick carefully, and fearfully, explained that he only had $8 and that to get that he'd either have to spend the money he wanted to save or return the other toy he'd bought. Hudson quickly said, "No, I'll get something else," put it down, and looked around for something he could get with $8 and he was very happy with what he got.

Funny Hudson Quote
On the way home from the above trip, Rick asked Hudson about the money he was saving:
"What are you saving your money for, pal?"
"I'm saving up so I can buy a trash truck when I'm 18 and get my commercial driver's license."


Here is this week's photographic quiz: What are Hudson and Landon doing below?

a. Testing out new massage chairs
b. Showing off their new "side-by-side" bunks
c. Riding a virtual reality roller coaster
d. In time out chairs for fighting over a toy

Vote by clicking "comments."

And the answer is...

B. Hudson stood his ground and they kept him there as they should have. They thought he was part of the older age group. All but the obligatory contrarian, Brad, got it correct.

He sounds a little suspicious now, like his daddy was, that they might try that trick again. He told Rick that he didn't like the aftercare program. When asked why, he said, "What if they try to put me on a bus?" He seems to now be more confident that they won't.

Hope you all like the new format - we know it's a bit obnoxious but at least it's colorful. Note some new features: In the left-hand sidebar you'll now see a poll question and some links to other sites/blogs. If you have a blog, please give us the address in the comments and we'll add.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame...

Keaton likes his "Ultrasaucer"

Kathryn likes to keep the boys' hair longer, but when it's long they get wild bedhead:

Hudson loves to hold and play with his little brother:

At the Diamondbacks game:



Hudson and Keaton did a reading program at our local library and "read" enough books to each earn a ticket to an Arizona Diamondbacks game. We all went on Labor Day. We won't talk about the game itself, but the family had a good time.

Funny/Smart Hudson Quote:
Rick often does a "word of the day" with Hudson. He had just finished the word of the day (spry) when Hudson said:
"Daddy, I have a word of the day for you: Coalesce"

Hudson's remarkable memory
Hudson was talking about his upcoming birthday and Rick and Kathryn suggested that Landon would be giving him a gift. To this Hudson said:
"Landon, you'll be able to give me a present. You can go to the store and pick something out for me. Just like last year when you got me the drums and instruments." [And he remembered correctly]

Quiz
Hudson's pre-K school ends at 3:15 which is right in the middle of Landon's nap, so he stays for the aftercare program until 4:15. While at the aftercare program his second day of school, the supervising teachers [high school girls] announced, "OK, everyone line up to get on the bus." Hudson went up to the teacher and said, "I'm not supposed to go on a bus, my Mommy is coming to pick me up." The teacher said, "No, everyone is supposed to get on the bus now, so line up."

What did Hudson do?
a. Cried
b. Stood his ground and insisted that he not get on the bus
c. Ran to hide out of the teachers' view until they left
d. Got on the bus

Final Quiz Answers

OK - we don't think we can make it any easier, so we will simply congratulate those with the most correct answers:

Grandma
Papa
Heather
Bonnie
Cassandra
Brad Irving

All of you got exactly 33% (1 correct)!

It seems that nearly everyone thought Landon was the crier the first day of Hudson's school; only Heather, Bonnie, and Cassandra recognized that mothers always cry the first time they drop their child off at school. Kathryn even paged Rick at work right after the drop-off to report that "Hudson is fine, but his mother is crying and barely holding it together..."

Your guesses at Keaton's percentiles were pretty evenly split. It turns out he's a tall, skinny guy: 98th percentile for height and 19th percentile for weight. It makes for entertaining clothing as he either has to wear "flood pants" or ones that fall off of him. Oh well, we're used to pants falling off our boys by now.

We love you all and will have a new quiz and update coming this weekend.

Keaton and his Mommy


Why buy toys??? Hudson and Landon playing with boxes after a delivery:

Quiz Answers...

Congratulations to...NO ONE! Sorry, we have to admit the quiz was too hard. No one got all three correct. No one got two correct. Only two people got one correct.

OK - we're not really going to put up the answers, we're going to redo the questions but make it more realistic on the possible answers. But first a Hudson quote...

Landon's other parent:
Landon wanted to play with the toy Hudson was playing with. Hudson said:
"Landon, you need to learn that you'll only have a happy life if you are thankful for what you have instead of focusing on what you don't have."

1. On Hudson's first day of school on his own, only one member of our family cried. Who was it?
a. Hudson
b. Kathryn
c. Landon

2. Keaton had his 6-month check-up and had all his measurements. His length was in what percentile (meaning he's longer than what percentage of 6 month-old boys)?
a. 98th percentile
b. 73rd percentile
c. 44th percentile

3. Keaton's weight was in what percentile?
a. 77th percentile
b. 19th percentile

Back by popular interest...

Since there was such a big response to last week's quiz, we're bringing a new quiz this week (see below). But first, an update...

The house report: We continue to have a lot of traffic from potential buyers (we have about 2 showings per week) but no offers. One potential buyer from Chicago is coming back for a second visit when they return in a few weeks. There is apparently at least one other home on their "second look" list, so we'll just have to see. Our new house is coming along. They are working on interior paint this week. The doors and baseboards are in as well. The front doors are not stained yet. They anticipate starting to install cabinets the week after the holiday.

The kids: Hudson started pre-K at Scottsdale Christian Academy this week. He goes for three afternoons per week (Tuesday-Thursday). He seems to really like it so far and Thursday said he wanted to read some books to Rick because they got him excited to read. He sat down and read six books to Rick (only partially actually reading accurately but trying hard). Landon really wants to go to school too and tried to convince Kathryn to drop him off by saying, "Me four-and-a-half!" (referring to age) because she had previously told him he would start school when he was four-and-a-half. He's still quite a ham. Keaton is doing well and has started eating fruits, vegetables, and cereal. He seems to enjoy real food. He also turns out to have double ear infections this week. He had a cold and just hadn't seemed to get over it. Rick thought he was faking it for attention but it turns out he had a legit explanation.

Rick and Kathryn: We're getting old so nothing really new!

On Thursday, our recurring backyard visitor showed up again and came closer to the house than ever:


Yep, that's the bobcat and that's our patio that his feet are resting on. He spent most of the afternoon in the backyard, just hanging out. We didn't have any rabbits eating our landscaping at all that day.


Here's Hudson and Landon ready to head in for Hudson's first day of school (siblings and parents were invited for the first day):



Here's Hudson showing off his traffic pattern set up on his city-scape rug. If you look closely you may be able to notice that all of the cars are in their proper lanes:



Whenever Rick mows the lawn, Hudson always helps with his lawnmower and pushes it the whole time Rick is moving:



Here's Kathryn and her youngest boy:



When Landon eats brownies, he's not allowed to wear a shirt. Here he is showing off his muscles:


And now, this week's quiz (click on "comment" below to vote). We'll post the answers this weekend and congratulate whomever gets all the questions correct:

1. On Hudson's first day of school on his own, only one member of our family cried. Who was it?
a. Hudson
b. Kathryn
c. Landon
d. Rick
e. Keaton

2. Keaton had his 6-month check-up and had all his measurements. His length was in what percentile (meaning he's longer than what percentage of 6 month-old boys)?
a. 98th percentile
b. 90th percentile
c. 73rd percentile
d. 52nd percentile
e. 44th percentile

3. Keaton's weight was in what percentile?
a. 97th percentile
b. 77th percentile
c. 51st percentile
d. 36th percentile
e. 19th percentile

Good luck!!!

Answers to the kid-matching photos

And the answer is...

A. Hudson


B. Landon


C. Keaton


Congratulations to the following who got them all correct!!:
-Grandma
-Callie
-Cassandra
-Bonnie
-Rachel and Hannah
-Cara
-Eddie, Donnie, and Cathy


One new photo of what our kitchen counter looks like on Saturday mornings now when we're making waffles:

Quiz Time

Smart Hudson Quote:

The whole family was in the kitchen and Keaton, who was a little under the weather, had started babbling and kept going for quite a while.
Hudson: "Man, Keaton is verbose today."

Quiz: Identify which Gray boy is in each photo...

A.



B.



C.

Click on "Comment" to submit your answers. The correct answers will follow in a couple of days along with cudos for anyone who gets all three correct!