Graham had a fun day at home with Mawmaw and Pawpaw on Monday and was feeling much better than on Sunday and the fever pretty much disappeared as fast as it appeared, so it seemed to just be a quick little virus, so that was good. He headed back to school on Monday and was still coughing a little, but who isn't????

Our big goal for the week was to head out of town on Friday for a weekend getaway to Richmond. Graham went to school on Friday morning and we went in to work for a half day. Graham had music class, which he loves so very much, and lunch and then we got on the road and he took a good nap on the way there. We did a little shopping and then met up with Christen for dinner at Dean's fave place, PF Changs. We were in a big round booth which Graham loved (booths work best since he is totally beyond high chairs now). Christen had a birthday gift for him and a baby gift for me, so that was fun.

We headed to Seung and Steve's house next. Kierson was anxiously waiting up for us to arrive and he and Graham had the very special treat of getting to stay up way past their bedtimes to play and play they did! Kierson has a big playroom and Graham managed to find every train and every piece of track that was in it. Baby Hana was already asleep so we had to wait to meet her until Saturday. We finally got the boys settled on to pallets on the floor in Kierson's room about 10pm! And, Graham came wandering out at 645am Saturday morning! Short night for him for sure!

The playing resumed and then Dean and Graham went with Steve and Kierson to his Tae Kwan Do class. He had just started it a few weeks ago and really likes it and we have been thinking about checking in to it for Graham in the future. So, it was neat for him to get to see it. After that, we got some lunch and headed to the Richmond Children's Museum and what a treat that was! It was so big and full of neat activity after activity. Graham and Kierson had a blast! It took a couple hours to get all the way through it and they never slowed down for a second. It was too rainy and cold outside to do anything else, so it was really a great treat for the afternoon! Graham managed to slip in about a 30 minute nap in the car, but that was it!!!!

Next, we met Kelly and Bryan and Christopher and Delaney and Sibyl for dinner at California Pizza. Graham had fun coloring and hanging out with Christopher and Delaney and it is always good to catch up for us adults! We left there and headed back to "Kierson's house," and we did manage to get them in bed a little bit earlier, about 930pm, but Graham was whining to keep playing! They were having sooooo much fun!

On Sunday morning, they slept a tad later til about 715am! Graham really enjoyed baby Hana, she is about the same age and size as Baby Lillian, so he could totally relate to her and wanted to help teach her to crawl faster and to walk. And, of course, he wanted to love on her! Kierson was really sad to see us go, so we promised we will have to get the boys together more often!!!!

We made one more stop before we headed home to meet up with another friend, Val and her little girl Shaia, who is Graham's age from my mom's group. They had fun playing under the table in Panera and chasing each other around and when we headed out, full blown exhasution seemed to settle in and Graham fell asleep and slept for the next two hours solid as we headed home. He only woke when we stopped to get something to eat! We got home about 4pm Sunday evening and we were all glad to be home and we were happy to see Madison and her see us!

Here are a couple pics of Graham and his "friends," it was so neat seeing all the kids together! It is a shame we dont all live closer together!!!!

We spent the week dealing with some more sickies. My sinus infection eased up but I had one of those annoying coughs that just kept lingering all week. I actually coughed so much that by the end of the week, I even think I had a pulled muscle in my side! I called my doctor's office and they felt sure that was all it was and that the baby was fine. Towards the end of the week, Graham seemed to be picking up a little cough and congestion, but no fever and it didnt seem to be slowing him down any.

On Saturday, we spent a rare day at home, the first in a very long time. It was a cold icky day and just a good day to stay in. Graham enjoyed our home day as well and we worked lots of puzzles and played his new Chutes and Ladders game (which he won!) and played and played all day. It was lots of fun and he didnt even slow down one minute to nap. Just before bedtime though, he started to have a little bit of fever, so we gave him some medicine and he went right on to sleep.

He woke up a couple times during the night at then woke up at 5am, with a high fever, 105. We got him out of bed and came downstairs and turned on some TV and laid on the couch and got him to drink some water and waited for the meds to kick in. The fever came down slowly, but I went ahead and called the doctor office when they opened at 8am. They said for me to bring him on and so Graham and I headed to the doctor and Dean headed to church.

The doctor checked everything out and confirmed there were no infections and that whatever he has is just viral and to keep doing what we were doing and sent us on our way. As it turns out, we were supposed to go to a birthday party for one of Graham's classmates, so we had to cancel going to that. Mama and daddy had already planned on coming down on Sunday evening for a visit and to spend Monday with Graham. So, since he probably should stay home from school on Monday, that worked out pretty good. His temp was up and down the rest of the day and he was still coughing and congested off and on. We all three took a good afternoon nap, which was nice since we had been up since 5am! Hopefully, it will be a quickie virus and he will be good for going back to school on Tuesday.

Graham talked about visit to the pumpkin patch alot this week, especiaqlly the tractors, they were definitely the highlight for him. So, I thought these pics were just too cute !

We have entered our first round of sickies, Dean's allergies flared up the first of the week and Graham had a touch of runny nose, but they both seemed to clear up fairly quickly. Towards the end of the week, mine started to hit me. We planned to go see another one of Adam's football games that was close to us on Friday night. We grabbed some chinese for dinner after work and headed to the game and joined Al, Michelle and Dean's parents. We had a good time and Graham loves cheering on Adam. He thinks Adam has the ball every time that we cheer, so that is really cute. And, he had a fun noisy clapper that Dean's had for him, which he loved! We headed out at halftime, part because I didn't feel well, part because it was getting late and part because they were loosing pretty bad. Graham fell asleep on the way home, of course, and Dean carried him to bed and he slept straight through until morning!

I woke up feeling really sicky, and was pretty sure the drainage had moved right in to a sinus infection, so rather than fight it, I headed on the doc and got a script for some antiobotics. Graham was very very sweet about me being sick and would ask me if I was feeling better and bring me tissues. He wanted to lay down on the couch with me under the blanket and watch tv, and sure enough we both feel asleep like that, and it was even around nap time for him! So, that was great! We just took it easy the rest of the day and I tried to rest.

On Sunday, I was feeling a good bit better, but Graham and I stayed home from church so I didn't have to sneeze and sniff my way through service. When Dean got home from church, we decided to take advantage of me feeling better and the gorgeous weather and head to Christiansburg to the pumpkin patch. Graham has been very aware of pumpkins all season and has been asking about going, so he was most excited when we told him we were going. We met up with Brad, Kelly, Grey and Reed and had a great time. We got to go on a hay ride, play in the pumpkin patch, run around in a hay bale maze, see the petting zoo, buy some pumpkins, go on a pony ride and sit on some ole timey tractors. So, all in all a fun afternoon!!!

The pumpkin patch is only a mile from Dean's parents house, so we stopped by for dinner and a visit when we left, so that was fun. Graham devoured an entire hamburger, bun and all, so he had worked up quite the appetite! We visited a bit more and then put Graham in his PJs and hit the road. He had not napped all day and we figured it was late enough that if he fell asleep, he could sleep all night, since it was getting close to his regular bedtime and sure enough that worked! He slept all the way home and then went right in to bed!

So, the birthday week is officially complete! Graham was still enjoying all his new goodies that he got at his party and was very excited when his actual birthday came on Tuesday. Dean and I went in his room that morning and sang to him and he was very tickled. He wore his Thomas Birthday shirt from his party and was very happy to announce it was his birthday! I arrived at school just after naptime with cupcakes, animal crackers and all the Thomas party hats, plates, napkins and stickers and Graham was very excited to help me pass out all the goodies to his friends. Everyone enjoyed all the fun and they sang and sang to Graham. They even all posed for a class picture for me, which was rather amazing, all 15 of them!!!!

The class headed to the playground and I headed back to work for a bit. Dean picked up Graham and then I met them at Graham's favorite place for dinner......IHOP! He again was telling everyone it was his birthday and sure enough here came the waitresses singing to him and brought him a bowl of ice cream! Very sweet! We got home and looked at all his cards again and then officially called an end to the birthday.

We had another busy weekend! On Saturday, Dean, Graham and I went over to Lynchburg to do some shopping and had a nice lunch at Olive Garden and a visit to Barnes and Noble to spend a birthday gift card that he got. He loves playing on the train table in the kid's section, but it is ALWAYS an ordeal to leave it! Luckily, he settled down and napped all the way home! On Sunday, we headed to church to start a busy day. Graham was an absolutely an angel at church, probably the best he has ever been, so that was wonderful! Now, if we can just replicate that over and over again!!!!!

We ate a quick lunch at church and then headed downtown to the Transportation Museum for the annual JDRF walk with my co-workers. Graham has fallen asleep in the stroller the last two years during the walk, but we were pretty sure that would not happen today, plus, we had the added excitement of viewing all the trains in the railyard after the walk! Graham was very excited about the whole event! A real train passed by us for the first stretch of the walk and Graham could not have been more excited. After a 20 minute walk / stroller ride through downtown, we arrived back at the museum. Graham loved every second of the trains and talked non-stop and said things like - "That is a narrow gauge engine because it has a tall funnel." He is definitely in to his train lingo! After checking out all the trains, we had a picnic lunch and called it a day. Graham was asleep in no time after we headed out and slept another nearly two hours after we got home!!!!! He woke up talking about trains of course. He was a bit confused though because we didn't get to ride the big train like we did in Pennslyvania! He certainly remembers that train ride.

Graham is also so very into his music these days. He literally falls asleep singing and wakes up singing every day! Sometimes it is about Thomas and sometimes it is about Jesus, but always a song. He is really enjoying his music class at school too and is always doing new songs and dances for us. He will also be starting a spanish class soon, so that will be interesting! I am betting he will enjoy it as well!