Two Days and Counting

Well I finally did it (knock on wood) night before last I moved Gracie's bed right next to mine. I told her she was a big girl and it was time for her to sleep in her big girl bed. She did ok, we read stories, we drank our water, and she asked once for mommy's bed, but was ok, and soon was sound asleep.

This is night number two. Notice the foot of her bed.

Yep, there is Neli (on Peanuts bed). PaulPaul is not home so this is where I found her.
How sweet is she?
No need to try and cover her up. She will not keep covers on at all.

I took Gracie is a baby shower yesterday and only stayed about 30 minutes. She had her arms locked tight around my neck and wasn't letting go.

We took her to Church last night and try to see if she would go to her class, but that wasn't happening either. I guess its time to try and start leaving her a little at a time.

She really enjoys the singing at Church, she claps and really likes it. It was the 4of July service, and they said the Pledge of allegiance. I found myself in tears as I put Gracie's hand over her heart for her first one. It was a very nice service. Paul and I are going to start going and staying in her class until she is ok with being there by herself.

At this very moment she is dancing with the doodlebops. Life is good.

Where ever you find Gracie, usually not too far behind you'll find at least one dog. She has really come around to Neli and Peanut. This was the outfit she put on early one morning while I was working.

And did I say, how much she loves Make up. I have explained that we can never go outside the house with makeup on.
She loves bubbles. Notice she is on the porch with no shoes.

She loves making brownies, and has learned that licking the bowl is fun. Her PaulPaul has showed her how to get the most out of the bowl.
The boys came over last Sunday.
Gracie is not happy because there are a few pics of dirt in her water.
Not sure what he is teaching her. We really need a big pool.
And dear sweet Hunter. No pool for him, he prefers the water on the ground.

Yep, the dirtier the better. He is just too cute for words, but yuck Hunter Boy.

And here is Noah baby, or as I call him Fat Boy. Look at that smile.

More brownies.

SHARP TA

My friend Penny from Summerville just got her TA! Wont be long now and she'll be on her way to get sweet Norah. She is a beautiful little girl.

Congrats Penny, we are so happy for you. Gracie cant wait to meet her little friend. She'll be wanting to take care of her for you.

Just a quick laugh

I have to tell you all a very funny story (well kinda embarrassing for mommy). Gracie and I have our routine down for getting our baths and getting dressed. Well this morning, after lotion and brushing teeth, I slipped her dress on and told her I would get her some undies in just a minute, all the white ones were in the dryer. Well I went on to do her hair and finish some other things. I didn't think any more of her undies. We got to my office, and she never sits like a lady so who knows who all noticed. She told me she had to go potty, can you image my horror to discover I took my princess out without them. I had to laugh, it was that or cry. Needless to say we left and got her properly dressed.

I thought you could all use a laugh.

Happy Birthday Gracie

We celebrated Gracie (and PaulPaul) birthday on Saturday. It was our usual family and extended family. We didn't want to do anything too big since she has only been home two months. She can still be shy around new people and surroundings. She seem to enjoy it. As my daughter blew out her candles I couldn't help but think of the first 3 birthdays that we have missed, it is hard to think of the things that I've missed with her. It is something I guess you learn to live with. I'm sure that her birth mother and foster mother thought of her on her birthday. I wish they could see how beautiful she is and how happy she is and much she is truly loved. My biggest wish is that my baby girl never has to question how loved she is.

I have discovered she does not like to share. I'm not sure if that comes from being a four year old, or just everything that she has been through. We are working on that.

We started enforcing all kinds of things lately. We put her to bed (yes our bed) by herself and she is good at going to sleep there by herself. So were hoping to start getting her in her bed soon. She has started to really push the NO thing and not want to listen, so I've had to explain to her that she has to listen to Mommy and she is usually pretty good about saying she is sorry and doing what she is told. She has also picked up the Pretty Please, "where did she get that".

Never a dull moment here!


I sent Paul Paul to pick up her cake and to get some balloons, now I was pretty clear on what I wanted. A princess balloon with some pink ones.

I guess I should have stated " NO CAMO" BALLOONS.

How Beautiful is my baby girl!
Her castle cake
Playing pin the tail on the donkey didnt really work very well, we'll try again in a year or so.
Cool shades #1
Do I even need to tell you who the guitar is from. Yes, her oldest brother, Brandon who by the way, cut his hair! I was so happy to see his new hair.

Cool Shades #2 Liz, Bill & the kids got her these camo glasses, they will look great when she goes hunting with her daddy. No I dont really think she will go hunting.

We must thank Aunt Erin for the doodlebops tape, now we rotate the two. REPEATLY. I'm slowly cutting her time back from the tv, its just when I need to work, it is so easy to turn it on. Bad habit.

Gracie got so many nice things, we want to thank everyone for coming and sharing this special day with us.

How cute is this, Brandon and David were outside playing guitars, so Grace went and got hers.

Here ya go Aunt Bonny, the bottoms are a little big, but she loves it.

Happy Birthday to my baby boy PaulPaul. He is now 19. He is taking his Senior Pics on Friday. He is so excited to finally be a senior.

Making Friends With Neli. She wants to ride Neli like a horse, it is too funny. She is too heavy for her so we have to hold her weight up off her back. I told her to give Neli a kiss and she was "Slowly" making her way to her when Neli lifted her head, I've never seen Grace move so fast. She yells at Neli all the time and the poor thing just takes it and keeps coming back. I bet they'll be best friends before the summer is out.

I doubt she'll be making friends with Peanut Ever, he actually bit her last night. I think she stepped on him by accident and she is ok, but it did scare her. He's old and crazy.
Meet Indiana Jones!!!!!

That's right, little man is now Indiana Jones, notice he even has a whip!We went to meet Randy & Christy's baby girl. Isn't she too cute?

Triple Crown Mania!!!!!!!

What I wouldn't do to be at this horse race!!!!!! This is one good looking horse, and if he shows up like he did in his last two races we'll have a Triple Crown Winner. You can bet Gracie and I will be watching come this Saturday afternoon.

We live a simple life but, however, there are lots of places I would love to visit and things I would like to do, but the 2 at the top of my must do are: 1. Cruise the Queen Mary (for my 50th birthday) and 2. Attend the Kentucky Derby. And lets not forget since we have a little one again, we have to go to Disney World, and some how I'm sure we'll get there before I get to the other two.

Go Big Brown