October Update

Lots going on over the past month here. Everyone is doing quite well.

Our Little Arsonist
A couple of weeks ago, Landon and Hudson were running around the house having fun chasing each other. At some point, Landon ran through his room and tripped over the electric cord for a reading lamp that was clamped over his bed. Unfortunately he had also turned the light on and it fell, landed on his bed and began smoldering through his sheets. Rick smelled something and found it face down on his bed and it had burned through his sheet and the cover of his mattress. No real harm but it was a bit of a scare.



Hudson the stickler for precision
At dinner Rick was wearing a shirt that had "2001" on it. He asked, "Was that shirt made in 2001?" Rick explained that that was the year the company had been founded in that year. Hudson replied, "And now it's 2008." Rick said that was right and asked him, "How many years are between 2001 and 2008?" Hudson thought for a while and just as Rick started feeling guilty about asking a kindergartner to do subtraction of numbers in the thousands, Hudson said, "Six!" Rick said that he was close but the correct answer was seven and counted through the years from 2001 to 2008. Hudson said, "But, Daddy you asked how many years are BETWEEN 2001 and 2008, and that's six." Touche.

Halloween
We took the boys to a Harvest Festival at a church near us. The boys had a great time. They played games, rode on bouncers, won candy, and generally had a ball.







Landon
Kathryn was bathing Landon and was scrubbing him pretty good. He suddenly said to her, "Stop it, Kathy!"






Don't they look like Brothers?
Hudson


Keaton


Hudson


Keaton

Happy Birthday Hudson

Hudson had a terrific 6th birthday party at Peter Piper Pizza on September 13th (the Saturday before his birthday on the 16th). He invited six friends: our twin 6 year-old neighbor girls Kaitlyn and Lauren; James, Bryce, and Sydney (friends from his current kindergarden class); and J.J. a friend from his pre-K class last year. Also there were his proud parents, Grandma and Papa Gray, Aunt Kerry, and his brothers. They had a great time playing games and eating pizza and cookie-cake.


Kaitlyn, Hudson, and Lauren


Bryce, Hudson, and Sydney


J.J. and Hudson


Hudson and James


Our serious 6 year old

Hudson was selected as one of two student council representatives for his kindergarten class. Putting aside the fact that it's a bit silly to have kindergardners as student council representatives, it was funny to see how seriously he took his duties. He came home from school the day after his first meeting bearing the paper on which he took notes. Written on the page were three neatly printed phrases:
"Mix it up"
"Canned food drive"
"Responsibility"


Landon the Entertainer
Landon continues to be our charmer. He's been coming up with new dances to do and enjoys having his new job of the big brother while Hudson is at school. He's memorized a couple of memory verses in the past two weeks and is showing he's more than just a pretty face.



Keaton the strong-hearted
Keaton continues to show he'll take a back seat to no one in this family. He's become quite forceful in expressing his opinions through pointing and sound-effects. He impressed Grandma by sitting down in front or her new 5-piece curler set in five interlocking different-sized pieces and assembling them without error. His favorite thing lately is brushing his teeth. He keeps running into his bathroom, climbing up on his stool, and getting out his toothbrush and toothpaste to run around the house with, scrubbing his six teeth.




Visitors
We had special visitors from Michigan the week of Hudson's birthday: Papa and Grandma Gray. They stayed with us in the casita and we all loved having them around, especially their spoiled grandchildren!

Michigan Trip

Rick and the boys went to Michigan at the end of July for a family get-together centered around Rick's father's birthday and his parent's anniversary. They had a great time. Here are some of the highlights:

We were able to gather most of the cousins that were there...


And add the Aunts, Uncles, and (of course) the Grandparents

Plenty of mud to play in...

Grnadma provided plenty of toys:

Rick and five of his sisters:

Swimming at Heart Lake:



Hudson pulled Keaton around in the little red wagon


Cousins Callie and Caleb reading at bedtime to Hudson and Landon

Grandma helped Hudson paint a special rock for her


Landon feeding Elk at the Gaylord Elk park

Hudson and Papa watching TV together

Deep thoughts

Hudson's deep thoughts within the last week:

After being in bed for about 30 minutes one night (with no conversation about this subject for about 2 weeks), Hudson came out of his bedroom and asked:

Is the summer solstice the longest day of sunshine and the winter solstice the shortest day of sunshine for the whole Earth?*

While picking up toys before bed, Hudson asked Rick:

Daddy, does everything have weight?**

And after getting the answer prefaced by "This is a little complicated," he said:

OK, that wasn't that complicated.

And out of the blue, Hudson asked Kathryn:

Mommy, I know it takes a mommy and a daddy to have a baby, and I know that the mommy has to carry the baby in her tummy, but what does the daddy have to do?***

After a brief, age-appropriate answer, he said:

Hmmm...the next time you and daddy have a baby, I'd like to see that.

Landon's deep thought (about his age) this past week

Mommy, why does it take sooooo long to become four???

*No - that is true for the Northern Hemisphere, for the Southern Hemisphere it is reversed

**No - everything has mass, but only has weight if it is in the presence of something with gravitational force, like planet earth.

***Come on now, this is a family blog...

Independance Day

We had a fun Independence Day. We joined some friends for fireworks after letting Keaton and Landon have LONG afternoon naps. The fireworks started about 9 p.m. (we start getting ready for bed most nights at 7:30 and lights are out by 8:30) but the adrenaline was definitely keeping the children going.

We had no idea if the fireworks would be a great experience or a disaster of fearful children. Hudson is not a fan of loud noises, Landon is pretty fearless but hates thunder, and Keaton was a total black box. But they loved it. It actually got a bit embarrassing with our friends and their acquaintances because Hudson yelled "Whoa" with every single firework. Landon and Keaton were mesmerized. It ended up being quite a fun night. An interesting side point: one of the acqaintances of our friends that went to the fireworks with us was Joe Smith of the Cleveland Cavaliers.




All is well otherwise. Everyone is healthy; still own two homes.

Rick went to an event with Mayo Clinic "legacy" donors at a retreat in Colorado. It was a beautiful setting and the owners of Bootjack Ranch, where it occured, are a wonderful Christian couple. They happen to have the ranch for sale (they are moving to Paradise Valley, AZ) so you can see how beautiful it is by clicking the link to their video presentation.

Hudson recently set up a car dealership in our family room:



Landon likes to "hold" Keaton:



Hudson became interested in volcanos recently, so of course he and Daddy had to make a home model for he and Landon to watch erupt:

June in the Desert

For those of you outside of Arizona, we've had some wild swings in weather. Within 24 hours, we went from 110 degrees to 58 degrees. But then we had a beautiful stretch of days in the 70's - unseasonably cool for an Arizona May. But now we're back to normal, about 95-105 for highs and lows around 70.

We're doing well. Still paying for two homes and praying to get down to one! The boys are doing great and keep playing together more and more.



Here are two conversations that occured in just one night at our dinner table:

#1
Landon: Daddy, we were at Chick-Fil-A today and when we went to the play area, a lady said someone had pee-peed on the slide.

Hudson: There was a wet area near the top - we couldn't tell what it was. I went around it but Landon put his foot right in it.

Rick: Landon, did you do that?

Landon: Yes

Hudson: Sometimes he just tries to test my limits

#2
After Landon declined to let Hudson use one of his toys...

Hudson (for once, not in a know-it-all tone): Landon, you're still pretty selfish, but all you have to do is ask Jesus into your heart and you won't be as selfish.

Landon: O.K.

Landon hitting a T-ball (notice the ball flying away in mid-air)


Our next-door neighbors have two girls with a pink Corvette that they drive with Hudson and Landon's red Mustang


Hudson and Landon emptied a storage ottoman and got inside

And then managed to get Keaton into it with them...


Hudson at his Pre-K "graduation" program at Scottsdale Christian Academy


His teacher, Mrs. Roper

Some Photos to Share

Our frinds David and Heidi Anderson came out to have dinner a couple of nights ago. David is a photographer and took some photos of the boys that can be seen by going to his website clicking "enter," then clicking "client proofs" at the top of the page, and entering "grayboys" (all lower case) into the password. Enjoy - he did a great job...

Update

Here's the real Funny Landon Quote

Landon has a bear blanket (a small baby blanket with a teddy bear head on it) that goes everywhere with him. Recently, Kathryn caught Landon looking bear blankie in the eyes and saying...

I'm going to beat you like a rented mule!