Out of the Mouths of Not-So-Much-Babes

Scene: Mommy is happily congratulating Rachael on being a big girl

because she's going on the potty and wearing big girl panties all the time.

Mommy: Rachael, do you know what makes you special?

Rachael: Jesus!  Jesus makes me special!

Scene: Mommy is in the kitchen doing dishes,

Grace has taken a shower and gotten herself ready for bed. 

Grace enters the kitchen in tears.

Mommy: What's wrong, honey?

Grace: I was just thinking that I'm starting to do more on my own,

and I was afraid you were gonna think that I don't need you anymore!

Easter, Mother's Day & Summer, OH MY!

It's been over a month!!  So... what has happened?

I ran another 5K!

My actual time was under 36 minutes, so I did better than the Disney one back in March.  This one was over a bridge and back for part of it, too, so that has to count for something!!

Here are the girls on Easter Sunday --

Grace was able to wear the same beautiful dress as last year,

made for her by Chris' Aunt Carol!

Gracie loves our hibiscus trees and wanted her picture in front of one that morning!

Here's Rachael, "goin' shoppin'" with her baby!

The highlight of April was a visit from

Aunt Kiki, Uncle Jerry, Blake, Savannah & Veronica!

Grace & Savannah on our playdate with them!

Rachael & Veronica were sharing a banana.

Grace's kindergarten class had a Mother's Day Tea last week.  The moms waited outside the classroom, and one by one the children came out and presented his or her mommy with a flower and escorted her inside.  It was so sweet!  It was a good thing there were tissue boxes at each table, because they were definitely pulling out all the emotional stops!  After they serenaded us, the teacher read a couple of heartwarming stories, and then we were served snacks by our little hosts and hostesses!

Rachael had her last week of preschool, and we were wondering how she was going to do at the program they had, considering she'd cried through most of the Christmas one!  She had a rough start coming to her classroom and I thought we were in trouble, but once she got up on stage, she was fine!  Yay!  She sang, she smiled, she did hand motions, she tapped sticks -- she was great!  We were very proud of her!  I don't know if she understands that preschool is over for a little bit, but hopefully I'll be able to keep her entertained!

Gracie has one more week of school left!  We're already looking forward to Vacation Bible School and some playdates with friends throughout the time off!  I learned last year that summer "vacation" is kind of misleading -- it's going to be work to keep these girls busy while they're out of school!  I'm really blessed because both girls are really amazing at finding things to keep busy, and they (usually) play very well together too!

Hope our family and friends reading this are doing well!  We're hoping that we might get to see some of Chris' family in Connecticut this summer -- keep your fingers crossed!

Spring has sprung! FINALLY!

What has happened in the last month...

That's me (standing, third from the left) with a bunch of friends after we ran the Disney Royal Family 5K at Epcot the first weekend in March.  This was my first 5K, and even though I didn't get bit by the running bug, I did have a lot of fun!  It probably helped that we were all wearing tutus and boas!

And even though I let the cold weather we had and the time change (too dark in the early morning!) further disrupt my "training," I signed up for another 5K in April.  No tutus this time!

That's the girls just this past Sunday, wearing dresses they got for Christmas from their GG -- the weather was finally spring-y enough for them! 

Gracie is doing great in school, her teacher has started her in the Accelerated Reader program and she seems to be loving it, and doing well!  She hasn't shown an interest in any kind of after-school activity so far (soccer, ballet, etc.), but when I told her about her school's Young Authors Celebration and that she could write a book for it, she was all over it!  She wrote three little books in one weekend!  We picked one to turn in -- she dictated her words to me since she was having trouble fitting them on the page, and she did all the illustrations and the cover page!  She was so excited to turn it in!

Rachael has turned into a total Chatty Cathy!  I love listening to her talk, and she's getting much more conversational with the moms and dads of her friends!  I've been told she's pretty much the teacher's little assistant in her preschool class, and that just tickles me!  She's also started to sing songs in the car and during movies -- I'm already looking forward to the fall when she starts choir!  Of course, we'll see how she does at the end of the year program for preschool in May! 

This is our Spring Break, so I've been trying to keep the girls busy -- and we had our 2nd Annual Pajama Day on Tuesday!  The girls loved going to the mall in their pajamas with their friends, and I have to admit, it was pretty comfy!  Three other moms and their kids joined us this year, it was a lot of fun!  We have a big playdate and picnic coming up, then a movie morning, and by next Monday I'll probably need another week to recover!

Now, for your viewing pleasure... Recently Chris got me a new game for the Wii, Just Dance, and Grace decided she was going to get in on the action.  She's already topped my score at a couple of the songs!  So here we are "dancing" to Wannabe by The Spice Girls:

Now that I've sufficiently made a fool of myself, I'll go!  :-)  Hope things are warming up where you're at!

We are here! we are here! we are here!

Shame on me!  I can't believe it's been so long since I last posted here!  I could say that I've been really busy, which is pretty true, but it's also because a lot of my time has been spent writing at my other blog, Much More Than Mommy, and also at Mom With A Pen.  And while I know that I'm not passig along earth-shattering information here, it is definitely a good way for ME to be able to come back and see how the girls have grown, etc.! 

To be honest, though, not much has happened in the past month!  We are all still trucking along our merry ways!  I did have a birthday and had a great time celebrating with my family!  Here's a picture of the girls before we went out:

I know many of you are dealing with weather conditions that are way more severe than what we've had, but I can tell you that all of us are definitely over this weather!   I don't think my thin Florida blood can handle too much more!

I do have a good story, though, courtesy of Grace!  The other night I took the girls to McDonald's for dinner as a treat, and when we walked it all three of us were immediately shivering!  It was one of the warmest days we'd had in a while, and apparently those inside decided to crank up the A/C to celebrate!  We got our food and sat down, and Gracie and I were especially chilly -- we kept sitting closer and closer and hugging to try to warm up!  We started eating, then Grace suddenly stopped and said matter-of-factly,

"I'm going to go tell them it's too cold in here."

I looked at her and smiled because I thought she was just joking, but she was dead serious!  And that's exactly what she did.  She walked up to the counter, said "Excuse me" to the cashier, and then explained that she was very cold and asked if it could be warmer.  WOW!  I don't even know if I would have had the courage to do that at 16-years-old, let alone 6!  Gracie came back to the table and we watched as a manager headed straight to the thermostat.  She was very happy!

That's all for now!  Hope you're managing to stay warm!!

Brrrrthday!

Just after Christmas we took the girls to Sea World to see their Christmas stuff.  They got to visit Santa -- we told him he was taking his vacation in Orlando.  ;-)  They told him what their favorite gifts were, and we had a great, albeit COLD, time!  We were definitely bundled up as we watched their ice show!

Chris was busy over his "vacation" -- his biggest task was painting the girls' bedroom.  We had picked a pink that I thought would look less Pepto Bismol and more dusty rose.  I was out while Chris painted, and he called to let me know that he thought it might be a little darker than I expected.  I told him to go ahead, there wasn't much we could do about it now!  I came home and was greeted by the pinkest pink I'd ever seen!  We also put up the toddler bed for Rachael.  The girls were SO excited about their room!  Here are a couple of pictures of them as they first came in, and you can catch a glimpse of the pink:

Gracie pretends to sleep for her photo op...

Rachael pretends to stretch and yawn...

January came and brought along MUCH colder weather, so we learned a lot about hats, scarves and gloves!  These were taken when the girls were helping their daddy with some work on the back porch early one evening!  This was before they had their scarves, which I may have run out to get that very night.  I had no idea how much a scarf could help in the cool weather -- but why would I, being a native Floridian??  I was very thankful we were able to get all wrapped up every morning for school!  So were the girls!  (If you notice in the picture with Rachael, Chris is wearing shorts!!  Even on the coldest day we had, he went outside and ran errands in shorts, it's like he never gets cold!!

January also brought Miss Rachael's 3rd birthday!  We celebrated with family, and she picked the main dish -- pizza!  When asked what kind of cake, without hesitation she replied, "Strawberry!"  So strawberry she got!  Rachael had a big week -- even though she started off under the weather, she managed to fit in a haircut, a little lunch after moms' group with her friends, her birthday party, bringing cake to school the following day, and then after we picked Gracie up from school on Friday, we headed over to the zoo.  WHEW!  We did manage to wear the girls out enough that Rachael told us she was ready to go to bed!

Gracie brought home her second report card -- that's still a little wild!  She's doing great in school, and she's really impressing us with how well she's reading!  There is no point in spelling out words in front of her anymore, she'll figure it out!  Chris and I are going to have to figure out a new kind of code!  Grace loves coming home and telling us what she's learned, and I LOVE that!

Rachael is also still a huge fan of school!  For a little while there, she was acting like she was going to bolt after me when I dropped her off, but all it took was her sweet teacher offering to let her paint, and usually she'd be fine!  :-)  After the break, she was back to walking herself in and barely sparing me a wave!  She is definitely talking clear enough for strangers to understand, and the funniest thing is when she gets her hands going!  We are still working on the potty training thing -- and I do mean WE, it definitely takes parental involvement!  She knows what to do, I think it's just going to take me being willing to give up the diapers and Pull-Ups during the day altogether, and I'm not there yet!  Soon, though!

The girls are so much fun, especially when they play together, which they do fairly well!  Lately Rachael has become a little bit more affectionate with Grace, coming over and sitting in her lap or randomly giving her hugs.  Gracie will usually holler out, "Mama!  Look!" so I don't miss it.  Love them!

Things are warming up here, hope that you and your family are staying warm as well!

An Adorable Christmas

After the decorating was done, we started the rest of our Christmas festivities with Rachael's preschool Christmas concert.  As you can see, she got a little case of stage fright!  She was quickly rescued by her teacher and thankfully her tears dried up!  She stayed in her teacher's lap for the rest of the concert, and afterwards was just fine and dandy! 

The very next day, the kindergarten classes at Gracie's school had their Christmas concert, and each class had their own song to sing.  Gracie's group sang "Santa Bingo" -- that's Gracie proudly holding up the second 'A'.  If you aren't familiar with this tune, think B-I-N-G-O, only with S-A-N-T-A.  There was a man with a long white beard, and Santa was his name-o!  All of the music was very cute!

Daddy got to come home early on Christmas Eve, and not long after he got in we had a visit from Papa.  Later, after the church services were over, we spent the rest of Christmas Eve with Chris' parents, and Christmas morning we got to experience the joy of the girls waking up and making their run to the tree to see what Santa brought!  (My favorite part was after all the gifts had been opened, Rachael pulled out a tub of blocks that they've had forever and started playing with them!)  After that, we went to Grandma and Grandpa's for a delicious Christmas dinner, made it home for naptime, and then had a visit from Nana and Grandpa Ken!

This was the first year we actually really did Santa with the girls (even Grace), so we're still learning!  Santa forgot batteries for the little Dirt Devil that Rachael got, and Grace is wondering how I'm going to be able to go to Target and exchange the princess tent that Santa brought them... What can I say?  I'm a novice!

We have been blessed every year as a family, but this year did feel a little extra special as we celebrated in our home! 

We hope you enjoyed your Christmas, especially those of you who were able to have a white one!! 

Home for the Holidays

See that? It's our first Christmas tree in our new home! The day after he got back from his latest trip to Texas, Chris put it up with Rachael while I was at a doctor's appointment! Before we picked up Gracie at school, we took a trip with Rachael to get some decorations, then after getting Grace, we had the girls pick out which star we would put on top. (They picked the same one!) Then while Rachael was napping, Chris and Grace did some decorating!

Today, after the rain finally stopped, Chris was busy outside. Not mowing this time, though! We have deer courtesy of his parents, and Gracie and her friend, Noah, named them all...

Meet Princess, Austin, Rudolph and Kiki!

The girls are big fans of their Frosty, greeting folks as they come to our door!

Earlier this week, the girls cooperated just long enough for one of our friends to take some amazing pictures of them! He did an excellent job with them, and I can't wait to put these up, give them to Chris to put up at work, use them for gifts, etc., etc.!

Hope your holidays are starting out happy!

Turkey Time 2009

Thanksgiving is no longer something we celebrate for just one day, it's an EVENT! With Katrina and her family spending the entire week with us, it is filled with family -- and we love every minute of it! This year we had a very special treat in going to Disney World on the first day of the week -- it was Mommy, Gracie, Rachael, Aunt Kiki, Uncle Jerry, Blake, Savannah, Veronica, Nana and Papa! The little ones had a wonderful time, meeting fairies, riding rides, and being pushed or carried all the livelong day!

It was so good to spend that much time with everyone, and we definitely have to get those girls together more!

Here are some pictures of our time together...

Savannah & Gracie ready for their Disney Day!

Aunt Neener & Veronica in line to meet the fairies!

All the girls together, getting ready to watch a movie!

Rachael with her cousin, Blake at Nana's house.

Rachael, Gracie & Savannah, playing while Veronica was sleeping on Uncle Chris, then Nana.

One of my absolute favorite pictures ever!

Incognito

Halloween isn't a huge deal to us, but this year Chris and I got into it a little more than usual thanks to a costume night that our friends had on the 30th! If you ever watch NCIS, you might recognize...

Abby & McGee!

We braved the heat for a really fun fall festival today. Gracie was originally supposed to be Belle from Beauty and the Beast, but she said the dress was just "too itchy." (That's Mommy's fault for not trying it on earlier -- it was a dress-up outfit that she's worn several times at a friend's house, but she always has her regular clothes on underneath!) She was bothered enough by it that she was willing to not dress up at all, but thankfully we had a quick fix, so she was...

Country Girl!

Rachael was the prettiest little pirate! She wasn't as cooperative in front of the camera, but she held still long enough for this one after getting her face painted!

Earlier this week, Gracie made a little card for Rachael, and she told me it was for Rachael's birthday in January -- but she wanted to give it to her right then! Of course they have their times when they fuss and fight with each other, but I cherish moments like these!!

Steady as she goes...

The Adorables have hit a lull. A lovely, lovely lull. It's kind of nice to just go with the flow for a little while! Between the house hunt and the girls both starting school, I think it's safe to say that there was a little stress floating around the household. Now that we've all found our little grooves, the breathing is a little easier.

To the left you see the girls playing in the yard one evening a few weeks ago. They had the best time just chasing each other around, sometimes even daring to go barefoot. :-) We've had some interesting weather the past few days -- last Friday we spent a good part of the day at a friend's pool, and by Sunday I was scrambling to find the girls some long sleeves and TIGHTS! And today, Grace wore a sweater to school but by the end of the day she was very comfortable in her t-shirt and shorts!

Gracie and kindergarten are like peas and carrots. :-) Today she brought home her library book and her Book-It book, and she read her Book-It book to me without any help at all. I will admit that I was a little relieved that she still needed me to read her library book to her! Report cards come out on Thursday, and we have our first parent-teacher conference next week. So far, the only difficulty I've found with kindergarten is figuring out what to pack for her lunch -- she confessed to me this morning that often much of her lunch ends up in the trash. ACK! Although, I helped in her classroom today and then stuck around for lunch, and it was obvious that I'm not the only parent with this issue! Those kids threw out SO MUCH FOOD! So if you have mastered the art of packing a lunch that your kids do not waste, clue me in!

Gracie's favorite activities during the week at school are P.E. and art, and her favorite daily activity is coloring at the literacy center.

Right now the big deal with Rachael is potty training. After the (mostly self-inflicted) fiasco I had with Grace and potty training, I made the very honest statement that I would rather go through labor and delivery with BOTH GIRLS than have another potty training experience like that. But Rachael, of course, is a do-it-yourselfer. Not long after we moved, she initiated the training. She was doing very, very well, but then I think we may have had a setback after everyone got sick (Gracie came down with the flu and Rachael had bronchitis, then all of us -- Grace included -- picked up the bronchitis). Now it's hit or miss -- but I have learned from my mistakes, and I'm not pushing. She's still showing interest and doing it on her own, and I think soon we'll institute a rewards system and that might give her the extra encouragement she needs!

Rachael is still loving school, she loves any and all art that she gets to do, and she is happy to talk about what she did during the day. She talks about her friends and her teacher the rest of the week. I love how much she loves it! We have no problems getting her up and ready on her school days, that's for sure!

Nothing really new under the sun for Mommy and Daddy. :-) Well, Chris just had to do a little traveling for work -- they sent him on a very brief trip to California... first class. I could not even try to hide my jealousy! But truthfully, he works so hard, and I think he's more than earned a little upgrade like that!! They are going to be sending him out a couple more times for longer trips, but it's a good thing -- he learned their new software well and trained those in his department, and they're sending him off to do the same elsewhere! As for me, I've started walking regularly, and soon I am going to attempt running. Please note I said attempt. :-) I am still teaching Sunday school every other week at church (3-year-olds), I work in childcare, and I'm beginning to think that having a house may be bringing out the housewife in me -- and I like it! :-)

Hope you're enjoying some beautiful fall weather where you are!

Florida Fall

I know some people scoff, but I think Floridians appreciate our autumn as much as anyone else. I think we might appreciate it more, considering we don't have as many leaves to rake. ;-) Anyway, today was our first day of cooler weather! Before the girls even went outside, they were asking for their sweaters! So there they are, my little Florida Girls, ready to brave the icy temperature of SEVENTY DEGREES!!!

And just over the weekend we were in tank tops and shorts at Sea World!

A couple of weeks ago, Gracie celebrated her 6th birthday. Early that week, we had a few friends over for a birthday playdate. Gracie and I worked together that afternoon to put the stage up for her friends:

The girls had a great time dressing up, and a few times the runway got some use! (It's got a sensor so that when they head out on the runway, you hear music and applause! Thanks, Papa!) One friend brought over a particular dress that Gracie tends to wear when she goes over to their house to play. We will label this "Daddy's Worst Nightmare":

Rachael found another use for the stage when the rest of the girls were back in the bedroom being different variations of princesses...

On her actual birthday, we just had family over at the house (it's so nice to be able to fit everyone!), and Gracie got to celebrate again! Publix made the cake for the gathering with friends, but since I'd bought two packages of Funfetti mix, we were able to have a cake that night as well!

Rachael loved it too!

The girls are still enjoying school, Gracie got the Student of the Week honor last week so we were proud of her for that! (Each child gets a chance to be it, but I was still pleased!) When Rachael gets to her preschool class now, she barely spares me a wave! She just puts her little bag in her cubby, and off she goes! So far, I haven't cried over this! :-) It's actually kind of fun to see her so comfortable and enjoying herself like that, and definitely better than the alternative!

The house is ALMOST done! I am hoping that when Rachael is at preschool, I can come home and tackle the office -- maybe not get it entirely done, but at least make a decent dent! We still have a few boxes that I'm ready to sort through and get rid of -- it'll be nice to not have to keep the door closed when we have company! ;-)

All in all, things are going well! Hope you're enjoying the beginning of fall where you are!