Grusy Reunion 2011 Day 2

Day 2 of the Grusy weekend started with a gigantic breakfast at Uncle Brad & Aunt Vera's, a day at Fort Wayne zoo, and lunch at Coney Island. Literally I took about 200 pictures from this day, so bear with me. I tried to narrow them down for all of you :)

Selah loved the zoo. She loved following her cousins around. I don't think she was in the stroller for more than 20 minutes tops and that was about it. Highlights: the REAL pony rides, bongo drums, feeding the giraffe, and the carousel ride.

Love all these girls! We are blessed!

Selah got to feed the giraffe a piece of lettuce. She loved it although I don't have a picture to show the experience, too many little bodies around. Just use your imagine :)

Then it was on to the bongo drums. After the kids had their fun, Adam showed them how it was really done.


The pony rides were quite fun. Selah rode on Cookie. Her pony was a little slow and got lapped a few times, but she didn't seem to notice. All the kids looked like they enjoyed it. Addy and Brooks got on the larger horses. The younger kids all rode the ponies and Bay even rode without any hands for a while :)
Grandma got some snuggling time in with Finn during the pony rides. He was fighting off sleep for a while. The poor buddy was so tired half the time. Full days mean no or little naps. He ended up falling asleep in the stroller for quite a while so that was nice.

Great day filled with cousins. Not for sure which are the real monkeys in the picture, you can decide for yourself :)

Lastly we went on the carousel ride. Finn rode with Grandma and loved every minute!

I used this picture because about half way through Selah started telling me she was done. Ha! I told her we couldn't get off yet, secretly worried that she was going to throw up on me or something. No, she has never done that but she looked a little aprehensive for a while. She ended up being completely fine and smiled a little more during the rest of the ride!

That evening we went back to Brad and Vera's for dinner followed by a sneek peak of Troy's new pad - awesome! After putting the kids down about 11:30 or so, we were up the next morning for church and then after saying our goodbyes headed back to Illinois. Finn slept for about a half hour, yep that is all for the 5 hour ride home..a measly 1/2 hour! And Selah, not a wink. We stopped at Monicals for dinner and during the last 10 minutes of our ride home, this is what I look back to see. Aaahhh! All the mothers out there know what I am talking about. Selah couldn't even hold her head up and Finn couldn't even get his thumb to his mouth he was so exhausted. I guess the full bellies finally did them in. Needless to say, they got woken up after we had unpacked the car and after bathes and playing for a little were in bed by 6:30pm.


The end of a wonderful weekend of memories. Time with family is precious and treasured around this house. Thanks to Uncle Brad and Aunt Vera for all their time and effort they put into making this year's reunion fun filled. We love you all!

Grusy Reunion 2011 Day 1

For Memorial Day Weekend we went to Fort Wayne, IN with Tadd's mom's side of the family, a big reunion of sorts. We got there in the evening and had a pizza party at the hotel followed by dessert at Traever and Jen's.

The kids enjoyed playing with bubbles, ring toss, and balloons together. Bay, Brooks, Addy, & Jacey.


My little man

Finn plays shy with his cousin Jacey.

We were told we were going to the Wieland's house for cookies and bars...what an understatement. Here is dessert Grusy-style!

Bits and pieces

This post is just a few sweet extras. My sweet little nephew Colt turned one 12 days after Finn on the 14th of May! Isn't his shirt so cute, yep I made it :) Personalized shirts available to buy just message me! Nothing like a little plug in there. Back to Colt. His birthday party was lots of fun. His mama has done very well not to give him any sugar, ice cream, etc.. yet so he was a little hesitant about his cake. He ended up eating it very politely. It was too cute!

Such a cutie!

Then my cousin Holly came a week later with her hubby Joey and this little man Lee. We got to have a mini photo session while they were here. He turned one this month too!

And after we got back from the marriage conference my brother's family was here for a family reunion so we got to spend an evening with them before they headed home. Here is the grandkid shot we so faithfully try to get. It is always quite comical! 9 grandbabies!

The little things

So between busy weekends, life around here has been good. Spring has sprung and summer seems right around the corner. The flowers are blooming, mulch has been spread, and outside toys pulled out. I have to confess, it sometimes takes a lot for me to pull out the camera and catch the 'little things' I was so good when Selah was little in capturing every moment on camera, but with two littles running around it takes a little more preparation and effort. Nonetheless, the kids LOVE being outside. And if I can stand it long enough with my allergies, that is where you will find us.

Our swingset was the best investment we ever made. I love watching Selah push Finn now. It is never prompted, Selah just decides she wants to push Finn. And most of all I love that whenever you put Selah on her swing it automatically prompts her to start singing in her sing-songy voice made up songs that you can barely make out the words to or her repetoire of songs she knows by heart. And if I start to sing with her she says, "No mommy! I sing it by myself!" Of course there are days when she says, "Mommy, you sing with me?" and then my heart melts. Those little moments I try to hold onto forever. They are growing up to fast and with it their childhood innocence.

Finn...what can I say. He is still all boy. I have given up trying to contain him and have instead decided to let him free! He pushes things all over the driveway. Eats anything he can get into his mouth without me seeing, grass, rocks, dirts...you name it, he has probably eaten it at some point.

And even though he can sit in the car himself, he would much rather push Selah around which of course she loves and encourages most of the time informing him to push her whenever she is in something that moves.

And then there is his new crawl. He is taking around 7 steps at a time now, but would much rather crawl still because he is so speedy. He has adapted this new crawl to the outdoors since he doesn't like his knees touching the concrete or grass. So hopefully soon we will be to the all walking stage.



And we play and play until the kiddos are worn out. To which Selah protests "I not tired mommy!" as her whining and full blown fit follows.

And last but not least, Finn's new game. Peakaboo between his legs. Along with his new crawl he discovered he can see between his legs. So he crawls for a while, stops and peeks through to see if he can see any faces and if he finds you, your reward is his sweet belly laugh! Priceless.

And because she is so sweet...a few more pics of Selah. She still enjoys having her picture taken when it is her idea of course. If she does something sweet or is hugging someone she will say, "Take my picture mom!" Oh my, what have I created :)


And for all my fellow hair experimenters...Here are the bantu knots I have started at night when Selah sleeps. After detangling and moisturizing her hair I put it up like this.

After she wakes up the 'knots' are removed and you get nice, non-tangled, non-frizzed, run-your-hand-through-your-hair hair that is wonderful. Of course it takes lots of effort to do something every time, but it definately helps. We are slowly but surely getting there and learning how to manage Selah's hair because we are trying to grow it out.

A weekend to Remember 2011

The weekend of the 20th we got to head to Indy for Family Life's weekend to remember. This was our second time of going so we were considered 'alumni'. It was great to get away without the kiddos. Thanks to Joyce and Barry and Grandma G for watching them for us.

It started out with staying at the amazing JW Marriott hotel. It was a brand new hotel made in February.

Our bellhop explained where everything was around the city. This was out our window overlooking downtown Indy.

This is the incredible cute couple, Ryan and Liz that we shared the weekend with :) They are going to hate that I put this picture in here, but I thought it was a good one!

The weekend didn't quite go as planned. We both ended up sick over the weekend. Tadd barely had a voice and we were both run down, so the energy level wasn't quite there. But, since this was our second time around we skipped a session one day and took a long nap in the hotel room. Overall we got more rest than we would have at home, got our focus back centered on our marriage and each other, and spent some good quality time with each other = mission accomplished! Another great year, we would definately suggest this event for anyone who hasn't gone. Just because you go does not mean you are having issues in your marriage (a common misconception). It just helps you to refocus on the purpose of your marriage, priorities, and serving God and each other to your fullest! This was a peek at room service I got late one night for dessert...mmmm mmmmm!