The Grass Family Chronicles

For those of you that don't know, the Steenson's our one of our favorite families. In fact, our Andy is sort of named after Andy, the Steenson dad! Cindy was one of our college professors and I later went on to nanny her three boys. Sort of prepared me for the future, although her boys are all five years apart and I had all of mine within four. :) Anyways, David, her oldest, had a soccer game in Battle Ground today so we went out there to watch the game and hang out with them. What a great time we had! After the game, we went to Burgerville and took over the place. Remember, we were all there so that's SIX boys! I have to say that they were very well behaved, funny faces and all. It's such a wonder to Paul and I that these little boys that we used to watch all the time are growing up so quickly! David, who was our ring bearer, is now sixteen years old and a junior in high school. Sheesh! We all can't wait to see them again. Caleb and Andy are so excited to go to "Big Andy"'s house! Guess we'll have to make that trip soon...

Posted in: on Sunday, October 28, 2007 at at 9:08 PM 1 comments  

Paul took his first business trip in a long time - to San Diego. I know, what great timing to go while the fires are raging, right? Fortunately, Paul was safe and said all he noticed was a little smoke. He was gone from Tuesday until Friday, and poor Caleb really missed his Daddy. He had a hard time going to preschool this week; he needed lots of extra hugs from Mrs. Wooding. Other than that, we did pretty well while he was gone. The boys are always so good when Daddy is on his business trips. Grandma and Grandpa were tons of help; I even got to go scrapbooking one evening! Nothing, however, can replace the awesome presence that is our one and only Paul Grass, Super Daddy and Husband extraordinaire. Hopefully he won't go on another trip for a long time!

Posted in: on Saturday, October 27, 2007 at at 8:36 PM 0 comments  

Well, they finally figured it out. Uncle Joshua had tried teaching Caleb and Andy the "rock, paper, scissors!" game the last time he was here. Caleb caught on pretty quickly but Andy had a hard time figuring out how to change it up. He kept on doing rock until Joshua would tell him he had to do something different. Then he'd keep doing scissors. Needless to say, he didn't win very often. Even so, he always wants to play it and Caleb is a patient, willing participant. Now that he's figured it out, this is how we do it: Andy will say "rock, paper, scissors!" and they'll both put out their choices. Then they both look to me to find out who wins; and repeat. Over and over. Sounds fun, doesn't it? ;)

Posted in: on Tuesday, October 23, 2007 at at 9:25 PM 2 comments  

This year we have two fire fighters and a monkey. Caleb and Andy especially like their costumes because their fire extinguishers actually spray water! They've been saving all the plants outside from fires. Better than trying to save Mommy (I don't really like getting surprised with water spray!). Jakey is a monkey, because, well, because I saw this costume and it was cute and cheap. So there. How do you think they look?

Posted in: on at at 9:20 PM 1 comments  

Jakey officially has five teeth. He's currently cutting his sixth; the fourth on top. It's a relief, because it was bothering me that he had an uneven number of teeth on the top! :)

Posted in: on at at 9:17 PM 1 comments  

Today Caleb and Andy had their first dental check up. I cannot tell you how amazed I am by my children. Caleb just climbed up into the chair and opened his mouth like there was nothing to it! Dr. Tom had a cool camera wand that he used to show the boys what the inside of their mouth looked like and they thought that was so cool. They got their teeth checked and cleaned and then got a nice little toy for all their hard work. Andy saw how much fun Caleb was having and couldn't wait for his turn! Hopefully every dental visit will be that easy. Dr. Tom is truly our family dentist; he has been Paul's dentist since he was just a small boy as well. Pretty cool!

Posted in: on Monday, October 15, 2007 at at 9:23 PM 1 comments  

The doorway jumper has become Jakey's new favorite toy. He can really go to town in that thing. I get nervous sometimes that he's going to jump his way right out of it! We didn't have it for Caleb, but I have fond memories of Andy using it. I think I even have an old video of it. *sigh* They grow up so fast!

Posted in: on Thursday, October 11, 2007 at at 9:28 PM 1 comments  

Today was Caleb's class field trip to the pumpkin patch. They always invite family to come along, so the five of us headed off to spend a great morning at this wonderful farm. Caleb and Andy had so much fun learning how to make apple cider, holding the baby chicks, taking a hayride out to the pumpkin patch, and playing in the haymaze. Caleb says his favorite part was the hayride and while I didn't get a chance to ask Andy today, I'm pretty sure his favorite part was eating the fresh apple cider doughnuts. Boy, were they good!

Posted in: on at at 9:20 PM 1 comments  

Paul recently accepted a job (within his same company, Applied Biosystems) as a Strategic Marketing Manager. It is a big promotion for him and we are so proud! What the actual job consists of, we really have no idea, but at least he gets a cool new job title. :) Alas, the sad part of this story is that we will have to give the company car back. Yes, the days of driving around in a free car with free gas are over. Never fear, though, we will be getting another minivan very shortly! Like we would get any other kind of car. :P

Posted in: on at at 9:16 PM 0 comments