My Reminder

Have you reminded yourself of your miracles today?

Cute, Petite Female...

Too tired for much more than this....

(Thanks for the new duds Uncle Jeff and Aunt Kim) :)

Playing Catch Up

We had a few fun activities over the last few weeks...

The 18th of Sept. we hit the Disney On Ice Show. It was pretty cool. Grace was on the edge of her seat the entire time. The story was based around "The Incredibles" and their adventures at Disney World. Grace's new #1 goal this winter is to learn to ice skate.

I thought I just might be crazy dragging a 9 wk old baby to a 2+ hour program, but she did great!! Slept through the first half and sat watching the lights the second!! Couldn't believe my luck...and let me tell you, that's all that was...luck.


Saturday, the 20th found us at the zoo. Our first visit of the year...darn that bed rest.

(Grow legs, grow!)

(Grace's favorite...what she wouldn't give to cuddle w/ that big guy)

(Mike,the bird whisperer)

(Spider girl)

('So, a gorilla walks into a bar...')

(Grace, Emerson and friends)


Thursday, the 25th was Grace's open house at school. Daddy, Grandma Cramer and Grandma Oberle came to see where Grace spends her MWF mornings. She did an okay job showing everyone around until Tanner showed up! Then she couldn't speak and she just wanted to quietly stalk him while he took his family around. The girl has it bad for that boy!!!



Friday was Western Day at preschool...yee-haw! (shhh...I told her cowgirls wear crocs...)

Go Diego Go

Before

During

After
We took 6 inches off Grace's hair today! Her primary request was to have her hair cut like Diego from Go Diego Go!, but I talked her out of that(google him if you aren't familiar w/ the hairdo and you'll see why I talked her out of it). Second choice...hair like mine. Second to Diego....hmmm...well, it could be worse!!

Wednesday

Wednesday....good day.

After preschool for Grace and errands for me & Emerson(where E decided to throw an absolute fit at the check out. Good Lord!!! She was putting on her best for the people around us(see previous post regarding her less than human sounds)...people were looking at me like I was torturing her...I wanted to say 'hey, don't look at me, I don't know why she's doing this...talk to her'. I swear, the way some people glare you would think I was dragging her around by her toes. Either I pick her up and console her or get out of there by continuing the check-out process....I chose to keep moving and get outta there! Geesh.) Anyway.....

Played a game of figure out which smoke detector needs new batteries...follow the beep...

Artwork on the driveway...photos courtesy of Grace...

(Love note to Grace)
(The above photo is of Grace's love message to me...a J and a heart)
(Bubbles)
(Grace's interpretation of a person)

Grace took a couple of choice pics of Emerson...

(My eye! My eye!)

(Seriously...do you have nothing better to do?)



I stumbled onto one of the best ways to get Emerson to calm down...put a pic of Grace in front of her. I posted a pic of Grace on the wall by her changing table and her bouncy seat(she also loves the painting of the cows by Uncle Jay)...she will sit and stare for hours....okay, maybe not hours, but a few minutes at least(you take what you can get at this age). Here's proof:



She loves her sister!!! These two are going to be something else...Mike and I are in trouble!!! :)

Grace and Jay

Thanks for the fun afternoon, Uncle Jay!!!!! Yesterday, these two shared a trip to the library and spent some time at Jay's house w/ his two dogs. I'm not sure who Grace was more excited about spending time with Jay or his dogs. :)

(Grace loves to tell me how 'dreamy' Uncle Jay is....hee hee!)

What's Up, People?

Two For One

It's Two For One Day!!! Two blogs in one day...how lucky are you guys? Hello?... anyone?...(crickets chirping)...okay, well, if anyone decides to stop by you are very, very lucky. :)



Speaking of bittersweet(see previous post from today), we are in the process of cleaning out and selling my Grandma's house(thankfully, she's still with us). Tough stuff, let me tell you. Luckily, we have each other to lean on as we slowly say good-bye to the house. At any rate, this weekend we moved some stuff out and around from my grandma's house to my parent's house. Not much to say about it except it was a good excuse to get my brothers and niece & nephews together to help.


Grace had her second dance lesson that day as well, so Josie(Grace's cousin) tagged along and watched. Grace was tickled to have Josie there as she turned around a couple of times, grinning and acting goofy(Josie and I had to remove ourselves from sight as a result).

Later, while waiting for the big guys to bring the truck over, Josie and Grace busied themselves by playing house on the front porch of my parent's house. Seems like just yesterday that I was doing the same thing!!!

Pinch Me

Somebody pinch me....my oldest child is like a real kid now. Seriously, when did this happen? Last I checked, she was just a toddler hiding behind my leg.

Get this: Grace's friend from next door, Clara, was outside playing this afternoon, saw Grace in the window and asked her to come outside. I told Grace that was fine, so off she went. Time goes by...all of a sudden, the front door opens and Grace runs upstairs, w/out a second glance at me, yelling in explanation that "Clara had to go in". Whoa...that just freaks me out!!! I love it, but it FREAKS ME OUT! :) When on earth did she get so independent? Granted, Clara's mom, Sarah, was outside with them, but still...there was a day not too long ago when Grace would never have even entertained the thought of doing that!!

I'm so proud of how much she has grown up!! It's, as always, a bittersweet thing, but I wouldn't trade it for anything!!

The above photo is of Grace and Clara at a previous play date. Aren't they cuties? :) We are so blessed to have Clara and her family as our neighbors!!

Yesterday Was a Good Day

A little time in the rain...

A game of 'Scary Big Sister is Gonna Get You'....followed by 'Baby Sister is Gonna Deck You if You Do'...

A nice visit with GG(Great Grandma)...

...and GG's 'never know when she is going to turn on you' cat, Penny...'think I'll just sit waaaay over here'...

Pool, anyone?

Ahh, well, the chalk is more fun...

Good times at the ice cream social at GG's place...

'If only I had wings'...

Life is good.

Shhhhh......

Shhhhh....I think I'm in the wrong house.

The two little girls that live here are both sleeping.... at the same time! YES, it's true!! The eldest, who has never been one for naps, is out like a light...the tiny one, who lately has been fussy and not sleeping much, is out as well!!! We have been dealing w/ the sniffles around here, so this is a MUCH needed break....and here I am using my precious time to snap photos and blog!!!

Dancing Queen

There is nothing, nothing I tell you, cuter than little girls in leotards and tights. SO CUTE!!! Grace had her first dance class today and she loved it! She hopped, skipped, crawled like a bear, practiced pointing her toes. Priceless. I only watched for a little bit, but what I saw was just SO CUTE(just can't help myself...it's just SO CUTE!). :) Brings back a lot of memories for me, being in a dance studio again. It's fun to see Grace so excited about it.

Before dance class, I snapped some shots of Emerson...look at those cheeks! Look at those chins!!! We celebrate the chunkiness as she was such a tiny one when she was born!! Grace took the second photo...the girl is good, I have to say. I will have to post more of her photography efforts out here.

Never Let It End

Never let it end, God,
never—please—
all this growing loveliness,
all of these
brief moments of
fresh pleasure—
never let it end.
Let us always
be a little breathless
at love’s beauty;
never let us pause to reason
from a sense of duty;
never let us
stop to measure
just how much to give;
never let us
stop to weigh love;
let us live—
and live!
Please, God,
let our hearts kneel always,
Love their only Master,
knowing the warm impulsiveness
of shattered alabaster;
I know You can see things
the way a new bride sees,
so
never let it end, God,
never—please.

The above poem was written by Ruth Bell Graham and I felt compelled to share it. It speaks for itself.

Happy Birthday!!!

It's Mike's birthday!!!

We won't go into how old he is...how he's now only a couple of years away from a landmark birthday...no, that would be mean and we love him too much to be mean to him on his birthday!!

Grace and I picked out balloons to greet him this morning. Each balloon was selected based on favorite colors. Surprised that a newborn and a Golden Retriever have favorite colors? Me too, but apparently Grace knows what they are...can you guess? Grace is pink, Emerson is yellow, Maggie is green and I am purple. What's w/ the extra white balloon, you might ask(or perhaps you did not even notice)? Grace's stuffed lion was along for the ride, so she is represented by the white balloon. :) Needless to say, they did their job as Mike had a big grin on his face before leaving for work.

Grace wanted me to be sure to say that her favorite thing about Daddy is when they play 'rahrahrah'(a game of tickling and wrestling). She quickly added that he is nice and kind about stuff. I then decided to pose the question to Emerson and myself. Emerson grunted....I am certain that is code for the way he holds her every evening and rubs her back.

Alright, alright...enough ego boosting for the birthday boy!!!!!