It's Offical

As of Monday, I am going back to work. Last week when we went to dinner with Tom and his wife, we were not there long before they asked if I was ready to come back to the office. I must say upfront, I do have the best boss ever, and I am truly blessed. After he mentioned it a few times, I asked if he were serious, and he said yes. I told him I'd come to the office and we would talk. The girl we hired to replace me wasn't working out as well as we had hoped and he was going to have to do something different.

Gracie and I have bonded very well, she is the light of my life, but I have learned over the last four months being home that I'm really not the stay at home soccer mom type person. Now maybe if I didn't need the money and we had lots of it, it might be different. But life being life, I think I'm just made to work. I really miss it.

Gracie will always come first, but for us, I think this is it, maybe we'll have more quality time together now. I know you are wondering what we'll do with her, WELL the great boss that he is, has set up a play room (bigger than my office) I hear it is complete with a doll house (that comes to my waist Paul Ray said) a baby crib, a tv, dvd's, toy box, dolls and who knows what else. His daughter KelliAnn just started high school and thought it was time she let these things go, I think it was so sweet of her. So my little princess will be coming to the office with me at least for the next 3 months, then I'm going to find her a nice daycare/preschool or babysitter close to the office.

I'm really excited, and looking forward to seeing how this goes. He has promised me that if it doesnt work I can go back to working at home.

More Pics

More pictures from the Meeting Street Opening.


These came in yesterday. I think they are cool. Our Halloween tickets for the Magic Kingdom.

Just another day in Grace's life.....

We got up this morning and went and got Ashlee Gail, and then headed to

the Social Security office. Wow, its alot like going to the Highway department. Who makes the system with the numbers, how do you know who is next?????? We were there just a little over an hour. So her SS card is applied for, all I have to do now is the state or re adoption to get her a state birth certificate. Her immunizations will be caught up in Sept. We have our first of two social worker visits in October, things are just falling into place.

From there we headed downtown to the newest Dunkin Donuts, which is on Meeting Street. They had their grand opening today. I got to meet Mayor Joe Riley. This was Gracie's third opening since coming home in April. There will be at least one maybe two more this year. Bonny (my best friend) son, Mikey was Perky today (coffee cup). After the ceremony, we met Bonny at Bubba Gumps for lunch. So all in all, it was a very nice day.

This picture below shows what Gracie loves LOVES to do. I think she needs her own camera. It was funny, she had no problem telling anyone to stand still and point where she wanted them to be.

We made brownies the other night, I'd say she has the hang of what to do with the bowl.

My future daughter in law has started a blog so that we can all follow along on their engagement, so I thought I would share it with you!

http://lyndseylouandpanda.blogspot.com/

And She Said Yes

Happy Birthday Lyndsey!!!!! Lyndsey is my oldest son's girlfriend, for her birthday he took her to her favorite restaurant in Mt Pleasant and then on to the Isle of Palms where he proposed! Yes my baby has asked Lyndsey to be his wife. (Wow, where did the time go? Seems like yesterday he was just in high school) I'm so proud of him. He actually asked for her fathers permission first. We all love Lyndsey, especially Grace and Little Man. She is just perfect for Brandon. They are young, but so was I when I met Paul Ray. I cant wait to talk Weddings, I'm excited about having a daughter in law. Congratulations to both of you, I love you and am so happy for you!!!!!

First Day of Dance

Well the teacher, Ms Veronica, said to just wear something comfortable, she didn't have to wear any tights and no real dress code. I got her a few things anyway. Most of the girls (oh so cute) were wearing really cute skirts and some just wore the leotard (which I don't find very attractive). Guess my baby will wear her skirt next week.

I was very unsure how she would do, we've been talking about every day trying to get her excited, which she was. I explained over and over, I would wait right there and would not leave until she was done, and it was time to go home. She seemed very content with that. We got there 15 minutes early. She was doing fine, she sat next to me very quiet. The other little girls started arriving and still she was ok. Ms Veronica said we would do tap first, which is good, because she likes her tap shoes much better than her ballet shoes. When it came time to go, I could feel the tears (mine not hers, I've waited such a long time for this moment) she said, you be here, I promised her I would wait right here, and off she went. She did wonderfully, by that I mean, she had no problem leaving me. She also did very well for her first class. I could tell she still has problem understanding what words mean. Tiptoes, backwards, in general there were alot, but she picked them all up (except the tiptoes and the jumping over the little bean bag). She was SO CUTE! She enjoyed her class and is excited to go back. She has been running around the house showing us all her moves! I just love it.

Is she not just BEAUTIFUL beyond words. By the way, her hair is just long enough for a ponytail! (She does not like me to put ponytails in her hair, so I've told her she must put her hair up for class)

Have I told you lately how much I love my husband and how wonderful he can be (he can be alot of things and wonderful CAN be rare)!

As I told you earlier he wanted to take Gracie to see MICKEY! And I wanted to wait, well he finally got me all excited, and then he started to change his mind ( I guess after figuring up how many dimes it would take - I just watched How to do Disney on a Dime, (YEAH RIGHT) while flipping channels - that is actually where Gracie realized that MICKEY is more than a cartoon). Back to my original comment, he finally got me excited, so there was really no turning back, I mean seriously.

So Guess where Miss Grace will be spending her very first Halloween!!!!! Not that she has a clue what that is. That's right, we're taking our Princess to the Happiest Place on Earth. I was on the phone with the nicest rep for 49 minutes, but its booked. 3 days in the parks, four nights there, Breakfast with MICKEY and Trick or Treating in the Park! (She will be Minnie Mouse- do you think I could Paul Ray is dress as Prince Charming) I don't think Life could get any better, well maybe, I might have more good news to share soon so stay tuned! Carrie, I will get with you to see if we can meet up for dinner or something while we are there. I know we could do Thur night, maybe Sat night or Sun Morning.

Our Hotel: The Contemporary Resort

Well Dance Class starts tomorrow, she will only go once a week. She seems to be excited, I sure hope she likes it, and will continue on with it.

Her Mama bought her shoes and this bag, which Gracie just loves.

There are her size 8 PJ's that we got in China, she found them in the back of her drawer and needless to say, had to put them on.
We went to dinner with Tom and Ann Friday night. I was painting my nails getting ready, when Gracie saw me painting my toes, you know she was right there. I made her ask her Daddy (who says he does NOT give her everything she wants) b/c he does not like nail polish at all. Of course he told her yes! Her very first painted toes! Have I said lately how very blessed I am. I love having a daughter. She brings so much joy into our lives.

Dinner: We were invited to go to Grill 225

All I can say is nice, VERY nice. It is a steak house downtown, again, NICE! Paul called me on Wednesday, I think, to inform me we were going to dinner. I'm like, uh what about Gracie, I haven't talked to Lynsey to see if she is busy. Gracie LOVES her to death! So after checking to see if she could watch her, I then had to stress over what to wear, besides the fact that I don't have alot of clothes, and really nothing fancy anymore, what I do have really does not fit anymore!!!! We arrived at the restaurant, with valet (did I spell that right) parking. Met them at the bar for drinks, I'm not a big drinker. I asked for a white wine, who knew there were so many choices behind a white wine, Ann was gracious enough to tell the guy what to give me. I really enjoyed her choice. We then went to our table for dinner (we were there for 3 hours). It was EXCELLENT. However my wine glass never got empty, (and yes I was drinking it) so I figured I'd better switch to water. The food was excellent, the dessert was great, and we all had a good time (at least I hope they did).

Our Faithful Companions.

Here is Peanut, who is getting old. He usually is laying somewhere near where ever Gracie is during the day. He seems to have adjusted to having a little one in the house again. I think he has figured out she is not going anywhere.

Here is the worlds sweetest dog. She is ALWAYS under my feet. While I work during the day, she is under the table, right next to me. Such a sweet thing.

As of this weekend, I will become again, a Hunting Season Widow!

So between his work and hunting, I guess it'll just be Gracie and I. I wonder if he'll try and take Gracie this year. The guys at the hunting club finally fixed up the club house from what I understand. I'm looking forward to seeing that.

I got PaulPauls senior pics back. I wish I could have gotten more, they were so nice! I really love the ones of him and Gracie. I got the proofs, so I'll scan them in later. PaulPaul starts his SENIOR year on Monday. He finally made it, I sure hope he has a good year!!!!!

Have I told everyone it is amazing how much Gracie is like her Daddy. She has also gotten her daddy's unique dressing style. It does not matter what I put on her, she is going to change it several times more that day.

2008 Beijing Olympics Song

This is really neat! Watch and enjoy and make sure your speakers are on!

It is "Welcome to Beijing"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoSt7B57uWQ

It must be so exciting to be in Beijing right now, I wish we were there. I would have loved for Grace to be in her birth country for this.

Well I signed my baby girl up for dance class. She'll be taking pre tap/ballet classes on Wednesday at "United We Dance". She seems pretty excited. I explained the situation to the director (she will also be Gracie's teacher). Parents are allowed to stay, and she knows it may take Grace awhile, so we are good. Now I just need to get her 2 pair of shoes. I'm hoping that really enjoy it and go on to join the competition teams as she gets older.

On another note, My baby girl, just discovered there is a Real Mickey Mouse and he has a big house and a place you can visit. Oh how I wish I had the video camera going at the moment. We were flipping channels when "How to do Disney on a dime" (Yeah Right) was on. Mickey was in a parade waving, she was squealing, and then she saw him give a child a hug and take a picture. She was over the top. Needless to say, she wants to go see Mickey!

Ouch!

I don't have a clue what caused my daughter to put a band aid on her eye brows, but that is exactly what she did. She has had a fascination with band aids since arriving home. I have to keep them put up or she will use them all. She came to me this morning looking for help. Ouch!!!!! I tried lotion and water. I was afraid it would peel her eye brows off, luckily it didn't. I bet she wont do that again. She is no longer afraid of the dogs. She stills give Peanut respect for the most part because he will snap at her. But poor Neli is so sweet to her, and she continues to YELL demands at her all day long. Neli is usually under my feet all day until PaulPaul comes home. Gracie decided she would lay down with her under the table. I guess her fear is over.
Yes, Neli does make a nice soft pillow!
Since our trip to Florida, Gracie has been back in our bed. This child is all over the place. I went to go to bed last night, when I walked in, she was actually sitting up leaning on her daddy's back, and before I could get the camera and get back, she had moved again. Shhh, we don't have to tell her daddy I took this picture.