A Little Catch-up

It's been awhile since we've last posted and so I feel the need to highlight a few things that have happened in the last month and a half. And going back to the end of October brings us the fun of an am at the Red Barn Pumpkin Patch and a great Halloween night with friends.

Grant was ambitious and set out to help the workers get the pumpkins out of the boxes. We also saw some farm animals and went for a hay rack ride. Halloween night was spent at the Pelton's with yummy food, a warm fire pit, and a neighborhood where we have never seen more trick or treaters. We borrowed a Tigger costume from Grant's cousins, but he was having nothing to do with it...until he saw his friend Noah in his Buzz Lightyear costume. From that point on he was a Halloween champ, going from door to door, saying trick or treat and thank you, and of course getting lots of candy.

November brought Nick's annual deer hunt with his dad and brother and a weekend with family and friends in Omaha for Grant and I. To Nick's dismay he did not bring home the big one...but his brother did and I think Nick was just as excited about that. We did hit up the zoo that weekend and I had to laugh because Grant was most exited about the butterfly area. As soon as he saw the butterfly statues he started yelling "fly" and running towards that area. I believe he may of been influenced by the ride to Omaha watching Elmo and bugs (which included lots of talk about butterflies). We were also able to spend Thanksgiving in Omaha. It was a quick trip, including a little barf fest by Grant (not fun), but nice to spend some time with family.

A couple other highlights from the end of October and November. First, Nick completed his PE Exam (Professional Engineering Exam). I am told this is the real deal of Nick's career. It requires multiple years of work and if (when :) he passes he will finally get to put his stamp on his projects. After months of studying, this was a huge relief for our whole family to have behind us. Now if only those results did not take so long to come back.

And lastly, we recently found out Grant is going to be a BIG BROTHER! We are due the end of July and could not feel more blessed as this holiday season approaches us. It's crazy and exciting to think we will soon have 2 little ones! This morning we asked Grant if he wanted a baby brother or sister and he immediately responded sister. I am not sure if he even knows what a "sister" is but it was pretty cute all the same. :)

The Things They Say and Do...

Grant has so many different words, comments, and actions that he is doing right now and I've been meaning to get a few of them posted. They make us laugh every time we hear them now, I can't imagine the smile they will produce to read them at a later time.

What he's saying:
-"upper"-what he tells us as his crawling and jumping all over us at 6:30 every morning and is his version of "get up".
-"two"-for a long time we only heard the number one (or his version of the number one) when counting...now all we hear is two...I guess he is gearing up to tell people how old he will be in January.
-"tee-dah"-somehow we started saying ta-dah to Grant but he can't quite seem to get that ta part of it so he always mimics back tee-dah!
-"no way"-we don't just get a simple no from Grant when we ask or want him to do things, we get a demanding no way!
-"amen"-when we say our prayers he loves to chime in with the amen...it's adorable.

What he's doing:
-Grant loves to give pounds...and following every pound is a high five. Sometimes we won't even be paying attention and we'll look down and he is standing there with his fist ready. Nick got a pound in the communion line the other Sunday...he said that he couldn't leave him hanging.
-Not only does Grant love to say amen at the end of prayers but he loves to initiate them. We started holding hands at mealtime to pray and now he wants to do this 2 or 3 times a meal. It doesn't seem right to tell him we don't need to pray again, so we go ahead and pray another prayer.
-I love winking at Grant because he will give his best effort to to do it back, which consists of multiple attempts at squeezing his eyes shut tight in hopes that he has winked back.
-If Grant is out the door prior to us getting the garage door open you can guarantee he will be jumping on for a ride. He will grab hold of the bottom of the door as it's opening and ride it up as far as he can.

And Then There Was Fall

It's that time of year and our family's favorite time of year! We've brought out the fall decorations, the fall candle's, and already made a few batches of soup. October started out pretty warm but the mornings and evenings are starting to get that cooler. We've begun raking our crazy amounts of leaves. I say we but really I mean Nick...but this year he has found a willing helper.

We've been taking walks to the park about every night. Grant loves this and we know soon it will be too dark to do so. These walks started out as us pushing Grant in the stroller, then him riding his tricycle (which has a handle for us to push him), then him pushing the tricycle, to now him just walking along side us. This kind of sums up Grant right now...getting big, doing a lot more on his own, and definitely expressing his want for independence. Gotta love it!

September

We had a very relaxing Labor Day Weekend hanging out at home and getting some things done around here. We spent most of the weekend outside especially since Grant was having so much fun on his little outdoor toy we found for him.

We spent a fun weekend back in Kearney for my 10 year class reunion. We saw a lot of friends and I think had even more fun seeing all their kiddos. We also had a fun morning at the band day parade with my Mom, Dad, and Michaela. Grant was mesmerized by all the bands, firetrucks, and motorcycles. Then the next weekend we did the whole parade thing again at the Overland Park Fall Festival. However, this parade Grant was all about getting all the candy. I don't know that he has ever had that much candy in his life.

Grant's also been doing a lot of reading...or at least loving looking through all his books. At least once a day we'll find him going through all his books in his room or the basket of books in the family room. Going off of Grant's current interests, Nick believes he is either going to be a Librarian or a Nascar driver.

I had to get this last picture because it just makes me smile...I have so many pictures over Grant's life on this changing table and it's always funny to see how much he has grown with each one. Our little guy is getting quite big!

Where did August and September Go?

Well here we are in October and I'm wondering what the world happened to August and September. The end of our summer blew by and obviously we have kept busy. So here's a little recap of our August...next update we'll tackle September.

The start of August took Nick and I on a little trip to Chicago. This was intended to celebrate our 5 year anniversary and we could not of asked for a better way to do it. We met some good friends there, visited Navy Pier, had an afternoon on Miracle Mile, hit up a great comedy club, and spent a day in Wrigleyville. It went fast but was a great weekend in the Windy City. Here's a pic of the crew outside Wrigley Field.

Another thing we did a lot over the past two months was hit up the Overland Park Farmer's Market. I could go on and on about how much we love this experience, whether it's the Wednesday or Saturday market, we always enjoy our morning there. The fountains and music are Grant's favorite part.


Grant's craze over trucks, tractors, and cars continues and this is quite evident every Thursday when the trash trucks roar up and down our street. We usually see about 3 to 4 trucks and every time Grant hears them he dashes for the couch and watches intently as they take our trash.

We spent a great am with friends at the KC Zoo. Grant loved seeing all the animals but I think the Polar Bear was his favorite. He loved watching him swim, flip around in the water, and most importantly yell "whoa" with all the other kids as the bear came up to the glass.

Catching up with Friends and Fam

Over the summer, Grant's been having a lot of fun seeing family and friends. Back in June Grant was fortunate to get a few days at his Grandma Diane's and Grandpa Mark's, then a few more days with his Mimi and Papa. We were also fortunate to get to meet up with Hayden Howard for a little picnic and park playdate.




At the start of July Grant had a fun day with the Hellbusch boys and Will and Caroline Gutz (I also had fun with their Mama's :). We all went to the Deanna Rose Farm and then had lunch and some backyard pool time at our home. The boys were a hoot to see all together!




One of Grant's (and our) biggest adventures this summer was when his cousins (the Nachtigal girls) came to stay with us. My sister and her husband needed to be down in Rogers, AK for a few days and asked if we could watch the girls. So of course we said yes and our small family of three, quickly became a family of six. We kept busy and did lots while the girls were here. Grant had a blast having "friends" to play with everyday and Nick and I really enjoyed getting some quality time with our nieces.

Hot Dog! He's One and a Half!

On July 23rd Grant turned 18 months and since I'm using this blog as a great record of Grant's life, I thought I'd make note of all the fun things he is up to. Each day we are learning that Grant is quite the character. He loves to make people smile and we see him hamming it up pretty frequently. His number one audience would probably be his grandparents! He loves to make them smile!
Each week Grant seems to have a few new words to add to his list. Currently we hear a lot of Mama, Dada, no, Elmo, adog (apparently we say "a dog" more than just "dog", so we think Grant figures it's just one word), tractor, truck, choo choo, Amen, please, thank you, teeth, bye bye, and night night.

He also continues to sign "more" and "all done". These have been a great help with our communication considering he uses these two signs in many contexts..."more" play, "more" tickle, "more" outside. And his most recent sign it "toothbrush". He continues to love to brush his teeth (the brushing part is still negotiable, there is still a lot of sucking going on :). He has even become quite good at getting a drink from the faucet, just like Dad does. We recently got him a little step stool, so this has added another level of independence and fun to this activity.

Some other favorite things to do for Grant include playing with his cars, trucks, trains, and tractors. For whatever reason he loves to line them up all over the house. Yesterday they were lined up on the table, then on the tv stand, then on our bed, then his rocking chair...I think there were about five other places as well. He will also line them up all over his train tracks-under one bridge, then another-and this usually keeps him busy for quite some time.

Another love...music and dancing! He will come into our room, turn the radio up full blast and dance away. His dancing usually includes moving in a circle but he more recently has started moving his arms and head as well. It's quite entertaining. Recently we've found the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse song "Hot Dog" at the end of the show, which has become quite catchy and usually gets Grant up on his feet and moving. :) Other songs he likes to hear/sing are Old McDonald, where he chimes in with "E"; Five Green and Speckled Frogs, adding the "yum, yum"; Five Little Monkeys, he likes to shake his finger; The Wheels on the Bus, and the ABC's.

Grant still loves the outdoors, swimming, and riding in the van. He is constantly asking to go "bye bye". He loves to wrestle, be tickled, and help out around the house. His little giggle and mannerisms just brighten our day. He continues to be a very tall, at his 18 month check-up he was 33 1/2 in (95th percentile) and 26 lbs (50 percentile). It's been a fun year and 1/2, excited to see what the next holds! :)

Grant's First Camping Adventure

Last weekend we were bound and determined to go camping. However, we woke up Saturday to clouds and a gloomy weekend forecast. We were hesitant to commit to camping with the forecast so decided to head out for a coffee and enjoy the Overland Park Farmer's Market. On our stroll home it started to pour so we ended up running home and getting soaked (Grant thought this was hilarious, he was giggling all the way). Once we did make it home Nick and I decided we were not spending our weekend indoors and went to weather.com to find a camping destination where the sun was shining. We were successful and by mid afternoon were on our way to Perry Lake.


This was our first time to Perry Lake and we were very impressed! We found a great little shaded camping site that had a beautiful view of the lake. To no surprise Grant had a blast. He was enjoying the freedom of the outdoors, playing in the tent, and eating marshmallows (Nick and I were unaware how many each of us had given him till later that night).


Our evening turned out great and we thought we were going to make it through the night rain free. But about 3am we did get hit with a good amount of thunder, lightning, and rain. We loaded the van with the few things we had outside then sat back and listened to the storm come through. We thought for sure Grant would be waking up any minute with all the racket but he slept through the entire thing! So after the thunder and lightning calmed down and I was assured we were going to stay dry, we went back to sleep.

We were really looking forward to having coffee made from on our campfire Sunday morning, but we awoke to a very muddy campsite. So we ended up getting a great breakfast from a little saloon which that wasn't far from the campgrounds. It was a nice end to a our 24 hour camping adventure and I think we all enjoyed getting out of the city for a bit. And now that we know Grant is such a good camper we are already planning our next outing!

Thomas the Train!

Last Friday a friend invited Grant and I to go see Thomas the train in Baldwin, KS. So off we went for a fun little morning. We thought we were just headed out to have a nice little train ride but little did we know that this is quite the event. They had multiple tents set up with activities including a petting zoo. Grant decided he just liked to look at the animals and not get too close, so that is just what we did. He also thought it was fun to have his first train ride (probably the best part being that he did not have to be in a carseat to travel). Our morning ended with some hungry kids eating very well at Wheatstate Pizza in the cute downtown Baldwin. Here's a few pictures of the morning and Grant with his good buddy Ali.

May

I can't believe it's already June! I'm wondering what happened to May but remembering back, it was a pretty eventful month. This would also be my excuse for not keeping up on our blog the entire month. So here's a quick recap of the Sutko's May...
We kicked off the month with Nick and I running our 1st 1/2 marathon. We did it in Lincoln and could not of had a better experience. The day was beautiful, the course was flat, and the entire 13 miles were lined with people cheering us on. And yes we did survive it with a grand finish on the Husker 50 yard line!

Kansas City had some pretty nice weather in May and this was when we quickly learned that Grant could spend everyday-all day outdoors. He loves being outside and is constantly bringing us he shoes (which means I want to go outside). So we spent a lot of time at the park, where we did a lot of swinging and going down slides. Grant is a big fan of going head first down the slides. We also went for a lot of walks/runs, rode tricycles, had picnics, and played ball.

We did get hit with about a week straight of rain and then we were thankful that we had found this train table steal on Craig's list. Grant loves running his trains and cars all over the table...and has found it's even more fun to get up on the table. Nick and I put a great track together, only to have that destroyed in about 5 min by Grant the next morning...I think the tracks may be more fun for him at a later age :)

We've also been brushing our teeth a lot. Grant has decided that brushing his teeth is one of his favorite things to do. Or maybe I should say sitting in the sink sucking all the toothpaste and water out of his brush is a favorite thing to do.

The end of the month brought a surprise 60th birthday for my mom. We pulled off the surprise and my mom's excitement to see all the grandkids come running out yelling "Happy Birthday" was priceless.

The day after the party we left Grant to spend a fun weekend with his Mimi and Papa while Nick and I took off for our first weekend getaway. We headed out to Boulder for the Bolder Boulder race and a fun Memorial weekend. It was very relaxing and nice to finish a meal, sleep in, and just do as we wish. It also made it easy for us to enjoy knowing Grant was having a blast in Kearney. I don't even think he noticed when we left Saturday he was so excited to enjoy everything my Mom and Dad had set up and planned for him.
May was a nice kickoff to our summer and only has us looking forward to what the rest of the summer has in store! Hope you are all enjoying your start to summer as well!

Springtime Beauty

After a wonderful Easter weekend in Omaha, Grant, Nick, and I got on the road to make our way back to KC. However, before we even made it out of Omaha our car started having problems. So after an extra night in Omaha (as you can see in the pics from Heidi's backyard-Grant was not one bit sad we had to stay), finding out our transmission was gone, debating to fix or not fix it, and some very quick vehicle shopping- we purchased a mini van. Yes, I did say mini van... a Sienna to be exact...and we love it! Nick asked me if I ever thought I'd be heading back to my 10 year class reunion in a mini van and I have to say I sure did not.
Between traveling, work, a few road races, and just life- Grant and I finally had a day that we could just piddle around and enjoy all the beautiful sights and colors that KC's springtime has to offer. This was also our first day to really see how functional the Sienna is with our day to day grind. So off we went on our day making our first stop at Corinth, which holds our favorite coffee shop and has Grant's favorite cinnamon roll. This is the area Nick and I lived in right when we moved to KC in the Spring of 07, so it was fun to see our old apartment street lined with the white blossoming trees, just as they were when we pulled in on our first day.
Then we headed over to the Waldo/Brookside area and enjoyed their trees and flowers of all colors. Grant was enjoying every minute of our ride because in the van he sits so high that he can see out all the windows. (I also must mention if a Zac Brown Band song comes on he'll start clapping his hands, swinging his legs, and smile from ear to ear.) Then we were off to the Plaza. Here we enjoyed the park and Grant especially liked the fountain. We brought a few of his cars (most days he has one in each hand and rarely lets them go) and he played and played with these. His face was priceless when he let one of them go into the fountain, I think he thought he would never see that car again. Then he was so excited when I fished it out for him...pretty sure if he could say more he would of said I was the best Mom ever. :)
After the park we made a stop at Barnes and Noble so Grant could play with the Thomas Train Set. This is yet another one of his loves. He runs those trains all over. This last picture is of Grant walking...yes he is finally walking! He started taking steps the week after Easter and each day has gotten better and better with it. It's about the most adorable thing to see because he spreads his legs a little too wide, has his chest out, and arms just kind of everywhere. And even if there is a tumble hear and there he just keeps getting up and trying to go as fast as he can... I am sure he will be running before we know it! I also have to laugh at this picture because he happens to have his Husker shirt on and the John Deer hat that his cousins are letting us borrow...if you didn't know better you would think he was a little Nebraska farm kid. :)