Grahammer Time

Better late than never, I guess. Graham had a birthday back on Aug. 31st. We had a great day! We went to Disneyland a couple days before and called it his "special day". On the day of his actual birthday, we had a little celebration at our house.

We invited some friends to meet us at McDonalds for dinner and some play time. Here's the Ray kiddos enjoying some fast food grub. Notice Graham's Darth Vader mask. I bought a couple masks to use for his cake and I didn't need to use one of them. He wore it all day.

Here's the Kimmell kids: Stanley, Lina, and Cassa

Graham, like Lucy, didn't want a cake either. So, here's my pathetic attempt to decorate his brownies with a Star Wars theme as he requested. Yikes, I know.

Cute boy.....love that you can see his smile even when he's trying to blow out his candles.

Graham has the best smile, just like his Dad. We were able to skype with Jason so he could sing with us.

Here's Graham with his best buddy, Grant.

On Graham's birthday, he went to Grant's house for a little while so I could go buy his gift (super mom, I know.....always planning ahead). Anyway, I was packing a special birthday picnic lunch for them to share when they got to Grant's house. Graham said to me, "Get some apples for Grant. He likes them! I remember that from when I was four."

That night I asked him if he liked his new Pillow Pet and he said, "LOVE it!" It sounded very grown up. Hard to describe in words.

The whole week after his birthday every once in a while he'd stop what he was doing and say, "I miss being four." I'd ask why and he'd say, "It was just my favorite number."

Today at church someone said, "Graham, you seem taller to me today." He said, "Well, it's just because I'm five now."

Some funny things I want to remember about Graham at age 5:

• The first few weeks after we started horseback riding lessons, Graham wanted to change his name to Jose (his "cowboy teacher's" name). He would tell me that he wasn't going to answer to Graham anymore. He then proceeded to pretend to talk Spanish for a few minutes. Hilarious! Imagine crazy jibberish with a normal word thrown in every once in a while, like "hot dog" or something. Goofy kid. We were driving to school one morning when he informed me that he was Jose now. Lucy said she was going to be Crystal. So, they had a long conversation calling each other Crystal and Jose.
• He always says, "You betcha!"
• I'll ask him if he wants something like a drink or breakfast. He says, "I don't mind if I do!" (instead of "don't mind if I do".)
• He gets asked about his "brown tooth" a lot. About 18 months ago, he was running in the house and tripped and knocked his tooth against the tile. A couple days later, Jason noticed it was changing color. For a while it really bothered me and I was ticked that it happened, but now I feel like it just reminds me how crazy and fun he is. He explains what happened when people ask him.
• He LOVES playing on the computer. His buddy, Grant, has a Wii and he loves that, too. We've had to limit his techno time over the last couple weeks. He's what you might call, obsessed. Our new system is working really well and I've been proud of how grown up he acts when his time is up. Disney Junior is his favorite.
• Graham still loves his waffle with peanut butter and syrup for breakfast. If we're out of waffles, he'll settle for an egg and cold cereal minus the milk.
• Graham loves to help me make stuff. He can make his own PB and honey sandwich for lunch and he's a great helper on waffle night.
• Whenever we meet someone new at the park or at the store or whatever, Graham always introduces me and then says, "That's my baby brother, Ben. I don't like him very much, but I play with him." Nice. Real nice.
• He's VERY social and loves to meet people everywhere we go. He introduces himself right away to everyone and wants to play.
• Graham loves to tell me stories and have me tell him stories while we're driving in the car. He remembers a lot of his dreams and tells us all about them at breakfast.
• Since Jason left, Graham has come into my room most nights because he has "bad dreams". During our bedtime family prayer, we ask that Graham won't have bad dreams. The other night he came into bed with me and then a few minutes later woke me up again and asked me to say a prayer so his dream won't come back.
• When Graham prays, he always uses "thank you" instead of "please bless". For example, he'll say, "Thank you for Lucy. Thank you for Ben. Thank you for our house. Thank you that my knee will stop hurting. Thank you that Dad will be safe and happy. Thank you that we'll have a nice day." I love it. I'll be sad when that stops.

Graham is such a special, fun kid. He has sooo much personality and spunk. I've said it many times and I'll say it again, he keeps me on my toes. I love that with Graham you never have to wonder what's going on in his mind. We always know! What you see is what you get. Since he was a tiny baby it's been "all or nothing" with Grambo. All happy or all sad or all ticked off. I love my crazy boy and I have to stop thinking about him growing up so fast or I get way too sad.