The Gray Family!

You can see the whole series of the pumpkin patch here. But here are my favorites!

You can see the whole series of Alex’s birthday hat and smash cake photos here. But here are my favorites!

We have had a busy month … it seems to have flown by, which is fine with me because we are less than 2 weeks from Dennis being home! Please keep him in your thoughts as he travels all over creation to get back to us. We want him home ASAP but as safely as possible too!

Ok so I am not going to post ALL the photos from the last month and a half but let me highlight some things…

Thing #1: Sammie’s pirate bowling birthday party and 4 year photoshoot!

She is doing really well! Such a big girl! So smart and adorable of course. Loving having grandpa around to play with and to talk into all sorts of treats! She starts school next week with a home visit on Monday, a visit to her school with me on Wednesday and then starts half days the following Monday! Yeah! She wears a uniform and photos will be coming She had her 4 year appointment and did really well with 3 shots! She was roughly 40″ and 41 pounds. Big girl!

Thing #2: Some photos of Alex:

First of all, check out the little chunky monkey!!!

And some other random photos:

Sammie learning to make a PB Sandwich!

And I saved the best for last haha! We went to London Zoo yesterday and was able to find something special Look below!

If you want to see all the JULY and AUGUST photos, click on each month!

What a fun time we had this Saturday! British friends of ours invited us to their neighboring town’s summer fete. Basically it is like a small village carnival back in the states. We had a really nice time and a BEAUTIFUL day! The local church was just so quaint and beautiful. It was decorated for the festival and the theme of each design was gardens. There were so many creative entries.

Sammie and her birthday buddy Hermione had so much fun… face painting, rides, games, puppet shows, music from the local school and so much more! We ended the day with a meal of fish and chips!

Here are some snapshots from the day and please go look at the photographs of the church as well as some new macro shots on the photography blog.

Hey everyone. Been a bit since I posted new videos and photos, so will add a bunch at the end of the post! Big news is that Grandpa W got here late Monday night! We’ve had a busy week already! Lots of errands, running around, etc etc … Sammie is loving having him here! He now gets to see just how busy she actually is! Every other sentence is “Grandpa can we….” fill it in with: jump on the trampoline (video to come!), read to me, play with me, lets do tea party, lets play catch and so on and so on … I keep telling her to give Grandpa a break haha! It is very nice having some company now! We are lucky he got to come for a few months!!!

Everyone here is good … Alex is 8 months old today! He is such a sweet boy. He just learned to give kisses… the wonderful open mouth sloppy ones! He is in a headbutting stage (OUCH!)! He has three teeth now with one more on its way. He is still scooting around in a circle and some backwards. He is eating like a true linebacker, too. Since my dad is here I have been cooking more, so I have been pureering our dinner up for Alex too. He has now tried meats and beans and likes them both. He is not picky as of right now. He is just a happy guy!

Sammie is doing so well too! She will be 4 years old 3 weeks from today! WOW! Where did the last 4 years go???? We are well into party planning … she chose a pink pirate theme and we will have 4 little friends go bowling with her. Should be fun! She is almost done with her first year of school, too. She gets out July 22nd. She had such a wonderful year… her teacher was wonderful! She learned so much and had fun every single day. She is all registered for reception next year at her new school and we just need to get her uniforms! She will start in September. She got to visit the school once already, and I went to the parent meeting. Such a small, well managed school. I know it will be another great year for her.

Me— I am doing well! Over halfway through this deployment. Feels good to say that! Been staying SUPER busy with the kids, playdates, my clubs on base, and my photography business… Makes the time go by. Now that my dad is here, I can get out some more all alone! Which is very nice. I plan to start doing the gym at night after Alex is in bed.

Dennis is doing well too. We are able to email, talk on the phone and also on Skype quite a bit. He is ready to come home of course! But he is hanging in there. Send him an email now and then, he enjoys that

Ok well that is it for updates! Here are a whole bunch of videos!