Tulsa Run - Another run for Daddy!

Bobby ran in another 5K this past weekend. There were a lot more people in this run compared to the Zoo Run last month. And gosh, it was a lot colder too!
Just before the race, it was getting quite crowded.
Daddy had his game-face on for his race!
Graham was able to keep his mittens and hat on for a while but eventually, he wanted them off. I was at least able to wrap a blanket around his shoulders and he didn't mind that too much.
Unfortunately, the trip to the Hyatt nearby for a diaper change took too long and we missed Daddy at the finish line (again!).
Bobby did post a time quicker than last - 33:21... and looks like I now owe him a "double-crusted" apple pie!

Graham's new language

Graham started to talk in some funny language about a week ago. Bobby is accusing me of trying to teach him German. Ha ha!


It's funny how he makes those guttural noises! And since watching a lot of the Disney channel lately, Graham has learned the crocodile motion from one of the music videos. Too cute!

We're also trying to teach Graham some Chinese as well. "Xia yu" actually means "it's raining". He started saying that in the car last Saturday when it was pouring down rain and it was actually hailing! We had to park under the roof at a bank's ATM machine while the storm rolled through!

We haven't done too much lately. We have been fixing up the yard for the most part - pulling out dead plants (from this past summer), planting new ones - more rose bushes by the back deck, and Mommy finally got her rain barrel! We are doing some work to the side of the house today. A couple of the siding is rotting out and hopefully the damage does not go any further than that! Anyhow, we are putting in a small new gutter and downspout. It's too bad that winter is coming. I'll just have to wait till next Spring to watch my rain barrel in action!
It was a little tricky to try and level out the ground. Hopefully I did a good job and when the barrel is full, hopefully it won't tip over! But look at that, it's like the barrel was meant to fit in that little corner all this time! Yes, Daddy... it was meant to be :-)

Cushion + Cover for wagon

Since the base of Graham's new wagon is metal, we figured it would be more comfortable for Graham if he had a cushion. So, it was another new sewing project for Mommy!
Thankfully, the foams were on sale. I didn't realize how expensive it was to begin with! I probably could have gone with a 2" foam but went with the 3" instead. The store did not have any outdoor fabric but there was this other fancy baby fabric that's waterproof and breathable too - perfect for the cushion cover! It was also my first attempt at a zipper. I think I did okay!
So happy that Graham now has a soft and comfy cushy for his tushy! It should be a great time at the zoo later this week :-)

New garden bench

I got the idea of a garden bench while watching HGTV this past weekend. It was actually in a yard that they were going to tear up! Anyhow, when I saw the bench, I figured... "I can do that"! And I did have all the materials available to me in the backyard. Daddy was worried that I'd be spending more money on my projects again!

Planks of wood from under the deck: $0

Logs from the "to-burn" pile: $0
Hand-saw and chain-saw from the garage: $0
Happy Mommy and Graham: Priceless!

I still have to powerspray the wood to clean it up a little and stain it. Bobby said that I will probably start spending some money on it once I decide to put rhinestones on it. Haha...! Not a bad idea! :-)

"Yes", "No", and more..!

Graham caught me by surprise when he imitated what I said!


He's such a cheeky little fella!

It's been so difficult to keep Graham still. I was on the phone with Bobby's mom the other day and he wanted to grab the phone. So I decided to distract him by taking a picture of him while I was talking to Grandma.

He didn't know what was going on at first...
But by the second shot, he figured out how to smile!
And then, for whatever reason, he would shut his eyes while smiling!
My camera aim wasn't very good, but check out those teeth!

Graham surprises me every day. Just the other day, I told him to put his teddy bear on the window sill and he actually understood what I said!
And then I told him to read his book to teddy bear and here's what he did:
He put teddy's head on the book! I guess it's reading by osmosis :-)

More sewing projects

I decided to stitch a few more designs on some onesies for my sister's little boy. The "C" is for Caden and the pattern for the dinosaur was actually taken from one of Graham's bib.
It looked quite plain with just the dinosaur so Bobby suggested putting a sun on the onesie as well. The design of the sun was actually his idea as well. I guess Bobby is sort of my "design consultant"!

I also made a cloth plastic bag holder/dispenser. I hope it will work out okay as it was my first attempt at it!
And if the fabric looks familiar, it's actually the leftover fabric from our summer family shorts. I was able to sew together almost all of the scrap fabric to put the bag together.

Do you love daddy?

Well, the answer comes at the end of this video! I was going to edit/shorten the video but I had already deleted it from the camera. It was taken to show Graham dipping his meatballs into the ketchup. Graham LOVES ketchup and actually, he recently discovered Ranch dressing too!


Graham has learned to say "Yes" a lot. Do you want to go to school? "Yes!" Do you want to go for a walk? "Yes!" Are you Mommy's good boy? "Yes!"
And then, of course, there are still a lot of no's or "Na" as he still puts it. He is now able to shake his head as well when he says no!

Graham walking to class

Graham started his new daycare about a month ago. He's so comfortable with the place now that he walks to his classroom all by himself!
When I pick him up, it takes us forever to get to the exit and also to the car because there's so much to see along the way. We are still struggling with holding hands while walking in the parking lot. I guess it would help if Mommy parked her car closer to the exit!

Leaky toilet fixed! (again!)

For whatever reason, the toilet downstairs started leaking again! And even after a few tweaks with the refill valve, it still wouldn't stop leaking. I ended up breaking the water supply line, which now meant that I had to replace the entire shut-off valve! I told Bobby that I would save him a few bucks by fixing it ourselves, but look at all the tools that I needed!
Once I had Bobby turn off the water main, I tried to take the shut-off valve off, but it wouldn't even nudge! But leave it to this rust release spray. It worked really well!
So once I had Bobby turn off the water main the second time, I was able to replace the shut-off valve in no time at all!
Hopefully this will be the last time I'll have to fix this toilet!

New toy for Graham - T-ball

Since Graham has been walking a lot more these days, we figured we would encourage that. And so we bought him a new outdoor toy this week - T-ball! Graham figured out how to put the ball on the tee pretty quickly.
The bat is a little bit heavy for Graham:
But he still manages at times to get the ball!
I suppose a video would summarize it all :-)



I can't wait for Graham to get a real putter next so we can all go out to the golf course and practice/play together!

Tulsa Zoo Run

We are so proud of Daddy for runnning in the 5K Tulsa Zoo Run yesterday!
Graham and Mommy didn't get a chance to see Daddy at the finish line as there were a lot of people! There were so many people that we didn't even get a chance to park at the zoo! Okay... we were a little late leaving the house and got stuck in traffic! I don't think neither one of us were expecting that much traffic. Anyhow, we ended up dropping Daddy off first by the zoo entrance and then parking by an old gas station quite a ways away. I'm glad we had the wagon!
Once the crowd subsided a little, we eventually did find Daddy by the finish line.
Daddy finished 19th in his age group and probably would have finished better if we had arrived in time for the race. And Daddy didn't get his haircut on Friday which according to him, would have made him even more streamlined!

We walked around the zoo a little to see some animals and by the end of the day, we had a tired little guy!

Graham at 16 months

It seems that I had forgotten to write about Graham's 16-month update! Well, for the most part, he has been struggling with a cough a lot this past September. Hopefully he will get better soon! Poor fella! And yes,... he still has a great pout!
When we are indoors, we have been practicing on our golf swing a little more: And while outdoors, Graham practices on his walking. He has been walking a lot more these days - even walking backwards and in circles!

As you can see, he does get dizzy by about his second circle!

We have been spending a lot of time outside these days since the weather has been so nice. He loves playing with his truck (I'm not sure if it's actually big enough to be sat on but somehow he manages to do so!).
Graham has learned to help Mommy water the flowers:
But of course, who wants to water with a little watering can when he can have the big one!
And when the day is done, we would just hang out on the patio chair, sipping on our favorite beverage (ok, it's just water :-)
Graham has learned to say "dark" when I turn off his lamp in his bedroom when it's time to sleep, "please", and also "bye-bye" while waving. He just continues to be our cutie pie ;-)