1st Birthday Parties

Happy first birthday, Greyson!

We enjoyed two wonderful parties for our one-year-old boy. The first party was a Superbowl/birthday party with Grey's girlfriend, Raeana. Krysta hosted, and we both provided the cakes and two types of chilli, and everyone else brought chilli fixin's and appetizers. It was such a great time celebrating with friends, though I don't think we watched much football!

The second party was a Thomas the train party at our house. Mary had so much fun planning the decorations for the party, and Grey had fun playing with all the trains and party go-ers. The Thomas party was a little more chill and relaxing than the Superbowl party, with the focus being just on Grey.

Thanks for all who helped us celebrate Grey's birthday, both far and near! He loved all the presents, but, more importantly, we love the fact that Grey has so many wonderful people in his life. Enjoy the pics!

 

Superbowl party- Grey's individual cake at the Superbowl party, made by the same person who made Krysta's wedding cake!

 

 

Thomas party- the almost-complete party table, minus the wonderful birthday cake. On the left are individual seven layer dip cups, and on the right are two different kinds of truffles for the adults to snack on.

 

 

Superbowl party- Raeana's individual birthday cake

 

 

 

Thomas party- more decorations.

Grey and Rae's joint cake- lemon flavored.

 

 

Thomas party- Mary had fun getting Thomas-themed decorations!

 

 

Thomas party- truffle train up close. Mary made mint chocolate truffles and peanut butter pretzel truffles. Yummmmm!

 

 

Thomas party- Grey loves his Aunt Jen!

 

Thomas party- individual seven layer dips up close.

 

 

Thomas party- Opening a present, thanks Uncle Tim and Auntie Krista!

 

 

Superbowl party- before the crying

 

Thomas party- everyone watching Grey open up presents.

 

Superbowl party again- Grey tried to grab the "one" candle, and everyone went, "oh, no!" at the same time, causing Grey to burst into tears. Poor Grey!

 

Thomas party- singing to the birthday boy. Thanks again to Aunt Steph (Uncle Joe's gf) for making the cake- healthly zucchini, banana, and applesauce cake! Yummy!

 

 

Superbowl party- "why are you making me eat this cake?" Neither kid was that interested in the cake.

 

 

Thomas party- also not that into the second birthday cake, Grey decided to step in it instead of eat it.

 

 

Thomas party- "I guess this cake isn't that bad..." says Grey, right before he runs away from the cake (see Joe's blog for video).

 

Thomas party- happy birthday boy.

 

Thomas party- Grey doing baby work, pushing the present from Grandma and Grandpa Christensen back and forth in the front room (notice the frosting pants are gone. The true sign of a good birthday party- pantless birthday boy).

 

Thomas party- "What a funny card!"

 

Thomas party- Grey loves his Uncle George!

 

Thomas party- is this how we do it, Uncle George?

 

We love our birthday boy!!

 

 

 

Lastest Artwork

Every now and again I get to work on some of my own artwork (in between things for Grey, and when Mary makes me an art machine). I have decided to start a new theme where I associate people I know, or places that have influenced me with objects or textures. The first (of hopefully many) is very obviously MI, and I have created it using tree branches or driftwood. When I was younger I would always collect items from trips that we would make in Michigan, and more often than not those would be twigs, sticks, or pieces of driftwood that washed up on shore. This idea influenced my drawing...hope you like it!

I only took 2 pictures of it...here it is partially done

Finished product. Colored Pencil for the branches, Marker for the water.

Just like Joe

 

 

Birthday email

Happy birthday, Greyson! Thank you for all your kind phone calls, cards, and presents. Why don't you send Grey a birthday email? Greysoncc@yahoo.com

Grey's New Play Table

Since before Christmas, Justin has been planning on making a play/train table for Greyman. Well the table is finally done, and in the nursery now! It's nice to have another play area in our house for Grey, instead of just the sunroom. He loves playing in there now, and loves to stand at his table and play with his new train set from Grandpa Christensen. We opted to go with oak for the table frame so we could stain it, and the top is a coated board that Justin painted (thanks for the tip Grandpa Christensen!). Below are a few in progress pics, as well as Grey playing with it! Justin is very happy with how it turned out!

When construction was completed, just needed painting and staining

Working on table top

Finishing Painting

Finished top! We decided on a map, so when Grey gets older we can tell/show him where all of his relatives and friends live!

Finished table! Rounded all the edges of the table, stained it, then put on a coat of polyurethane.

Greyson went quickly to work

I think he likes it

AHHHHHHH....TRAINS!

Busy, busy, busy...

Breckenridge Snow Sculptures!

A couple of weekends ago we decided to head up to Breck to see the famous Snow Sculpture Contest. We have always heard about it but haven't made it up there until this weekend. We didn't really know what to expect...then when we got there we were amazed! They were all set up in one area, and you were able to vote on your favorite sculpture. The winner doesn't get any money, just bragging rights. There were 15 total sculptures done by teams from 8 different countries. We had a great time taking Grey up to the mountains, especially when we found out they had a whole snow play area for kids! He loved watching all the other kids, and playing in his snowsuit!

Scenic overlook just off I-70, here's a look at The 14ers Grays and Torrey's ...the ones we climbed with the Kennedys this past summer!

First sculpture you see as you walk into the sculpture garden

It's amazing how smooth they can get the surface of the snow!

This one is Mary's favorite

Koi Fish

This one was called "Revenge of the Calamari"

You can see how big these were next to people

It was a beautiful day up in Breck....the sun was very cool shining and creating shadows on the sculptures

NASA space shuttle lift off

This dragon was on the other side of the koi fish sculpture

Look closely in the middle!

This one took 2nd place...very impressive especially since the figure was free standing and not attached to any other part of the sculpture

An almost perfect sphere...this one was very smooth!

Another one of Mary's favorites

Houston we have a problem....only 5 hours after it was completed the space shuttle snapped on half....but we got to see it before it happened!

There was also a uncarved block of snow to show what the teams had to start off with

This is Justins favorite, and happened to be the 1st place winner..this is just the back side though

There was even a kids play area which Grey LOVED! He was a little snow baby and played and played! They had a snow version of his chair at home...hehe. He knew exactly what to do with it.

Peek a boo!

Playing in a giant pile of snow

This is the rare snow raptor...native only to the Colorado mountains

We think Grey liked this one

Beautiful sky before the sun went down

At nigh they put LED lights on all the sculptures that changed color....completely changed the look of the sculptures!

Here was the front of the 1st place winner...well placed light in the window!

It was such a cool experience to see the giant sculptures...cant wait til next year!