grandpa's birthday

this weekend was fantastic! my brother and his family from texas was up here this weekend for our grandpa's 80th birthday. if you follow me on instagram then you saw my overload of pictures. they came in thursday night so it was great to get to see them when i was done babysitting. and my sweet niece said i was her sister for most of the weekend.

sweet claire and her bear

claire and grandma at crown center

checking out the lego girl

grandpa and angie talking to griffin

telling steve something

getting ready to go to lego land

checking out what's in lego land

love this face

griffin and ethan

almost as tall as 80 legos

she was trying to sing but got bashful

he decided to start dancing

kansas city in legos

my cousin matthew painting his hand

he's kind of a cheeser, i love it.

friday we met up with my aunt and uncle from california and went to crown center and lego land. that place is great! they have this part where you have a laser tag gun and you have to rescue the princess and save the dragon eggs, and poor little claire was scared in that part. lucky for her dad was there to protect her. i'm not sure griffin even realized what was going on. the rest of it was just a ton of fun stuff for the kids to do. there was one place where you can build something and then push a button and it shakes like it's in an earthquake. griffin was all about pushing the button to make it shake. the last room is called miniland. it had a mini version of the skyline of kc, the stadiums, the speedway, starlight theatre, and even dorothy's house, munchkin land, the emerald city, and the witches castle from wizard of oz. the kids really seemed to enjoy it and the adults for sure had a good time.

friday night my parents and i got to babysit the kids while ethan and kristen went to dinner with some friends. they were so excited to see our cat. (i think she hated me for bringing her inside so they could pet her) griffin tried to use her as a pillow and they were both in her face loving her. we watched lady and the tramp, and claire kept rearranging her blanket and the babydoll mattress. griffin just cuddled with grandma.

talking to uncle joel, way past our bedtime

he was ready to leave

grandpa made the mistake of laying on the floor

playing piano

eating dinner while sissy takes his picture

looking at pictures with grandma

she was a kitty and scaring grandpa. 

saturday we all went to mound city to celebrate grandpa's birthday. he didn't know that we flew ethan and his family up here, so it was a great surprise for him. i think grandma even said it was a dream come true to have the great grandkids all in the house. so it was us, ethan and his family, aunt and uncle from california, aunt and uncle from iowa, and jamie and her little family from chicago. jack and griffin are only about 2 weeks apart so it was so sweet to see them playing together. we had dinner at a little place in down town mound city. it was decorated with bears, deer heads, and long horn skulls around. i thought it was cool. claire even did her "hook 'em horn". we are still working on "rock, chalk, jayhawk". then we went to a park near grandpa's house to get some family pictures. the kids loved the big slides. jack just loved walking around in the leaves. when we got home, julie got out some stickers to decorate pumpkins with. it kept claires attention, but jack was more concerned with sticking them on pop-pop and his dad. griffin was too busy with everything else to do it. claire loved playing with tony. she also gave everyone some mustache stickers.

my grandparents house. so many memories here

greg trying to help griffin put his shoes on. and claire just talking. 

during family pictures i became the camera lady =]

checking out the cars on the road

picture with grandpa and the great grandkids

g-man sitting with me. 

singing happy birthday to grandpa

helping blow out the candles

decorating pumpkins

her finished pumpkin

hey look, there's a piano at great grandpa's house too! with pictures of all the grand kids and great grandkids on it. i think goph called it the holland hall of fame. 

jack giving claire a hug

decorating his pumpkin

sunday was our last full day together. my dad got some new swings for them, so we were able to spend the afternoon outside playing in the back yard. the kids seemed to like running to the fence and the running around the trees near it. griffin also enjoyed climbing up the steps and jumping off to have mom and grandpa catch him. we had dinner at a kinda 50's themed diner, then went to the play place in zona rosa. they loved it there. claire even made a new friend, and did not want to leave her. sadly that night she told me i was her aunt instead of her sister. ethan joked that i got demoted.

trying to catch up with daddy and claire. 

griffin and uncle joel 

dad and his cheesy smile

finally figured out how to climb it himself

grandpa being a zombie

there's a smile behind that binki

"hey look at me up here!"

getting the cookie dough off her hands

precious boy

helping make brownies

yesterday we took them to the airport and she said i can go on the airplane to her house and play with her toys and i can pet darby. (her dog) i'm so ready to go down there in a few weeks and see them again.