Giving Thanks

Grandma's house for Thanksgiving Day!

(Unfortunately my camera battery died right after this picture)

Thanksgiving play at School

This year we found ourselves giving thanks for many things. We were so grateful to our wonderful friends who helped us through a difficult miscarriage. We are so grateful for Papa's who paint seven year old girls bedrooms blindingly pink. We are thankful for Grandma's who love and hug on our snotty nosed children. We are thankful to Poppop's turning 70 and putting together a wonderful reunion at the beach in celebration thereof. We are grateful to Grandma's who love to talk to seven year old girls on the phone every Friday, even when Skype isn't working so well. We are thankful for Aunts and cousins who travel with Grandma's 8 or so hours to an American Girl party. We are even thankful for boy cousins who pull our hair and know which of our buttons to push to make us squeal. We are thankful for sisters who buy us early Christmas presents that thanks to the cold weather we have worn every day for a week. (thanks for the boots Aunt Anna) We are thankful for the family it feels we never truly get to see, but we hope they know we love them. We are thankful for wonderful teachers who put up with us annoying and confusing parental types who only want what is best for our children.

We are mostly thankful to God for our health, our home and each other. We are so lucky to have two beautiful, smart girls that make each day a joy(even when we are not sleeping at night.)

Happy Halloween, 19 days late

So I have finally found the cord and downloaded the pictures from Halloween. I know huge sigh of relief. I am hoping to get lots of posting done this upcoming holiday week.(Not enough hours in the day with painting, rearranging furniture, decorating for Christmas, girls both being home.....) Anyway back to Halloween.

Every year our street has a pot luck party before the trick or treating. The past few years it has been a chili/soup pot luck and sides. I brought baked potato soup and there was about 4 other crock pots on the table. Lots of yummy foods and treats before the adventure began. Also lots of children running around in their cute costumes and picture taking.

Then the mommies line the street while the daddies take the kiddos on the foray around the neighborhood. The cul de sac is a little long and has a steep hill so the moms sit towards the top to allow for all the children not to have to hike up the hill again. It also makes the evening pass quickly and lots of fun to be had. Lily stayed behind this year and only trick or treated to the mommies of the street. She had a ball going up and down the line of the street taking candy. She would then redistribute the candy between my bucket and my neighbors and ate a few too.

Grace had a great time with her purple rhinestone princess costume and her two best friends. Then she fell and fun time was over. She got upset that she broke her glow wand and lost some of her candy. She had also been sick the previous week with Strep throat and I think she got tired and was not fully recovered. Needless to say it was time for bed and we all slept well that night.

Neglected

So I feel like a bad blogger. I have neglected to update in about two weeks. I have pictures of Halloween, still on my camera. I have a ton of complaining about the week we spent out of our house, sleeping at Grandma's and living in the car between work and picking up Grace off the bus and activities. I have a ton of TV to catch up on and I only watch a select few shows. I have Christmas lists to send, cards to decide on, a birthday party to plan, a room to paint, furniture to pick out and purchase, furniture to move, goodwill junk to get out of my house and other everyday mundane things to do. So unfortunately there may be some more neglect until I get a chance to sit down, relax and do some fun things. I hope you all are good and I will write more soon.

Just Say NO!

So it is red ribbon week at the elementary school. Grace has learned all sorts of things about alcohol, drugs, caffeine and other things that are bad for her body. Unfortunately she also got Strep Throat and missed 3 of the 5 days. It also means she has to take medicine, which she hates to do.
So after visiting the doctor and then the drug store we had to have a huge discussion on the differences between drugs and medicine. How the medicine is not bad for her body and will help her feel better. She can't wait for the feel better part, she hopes in time for trick or treat on Sunday. Luckily(?) she is allergic to penicillin so they put her on a med that is once a day for 5 days. Only four more to go, hopefully it will get easier to get her not to gag on it everyday. The doctor mistakenly told her the medicine doesn't taste bad. It is all bad to her unless it is a chocolate chip cookie.
As for now she constantly reminds us that we shouldn't kiss her or touch her so that we and especially her little sister don't get sick. We are pumping the fluids and trying to get her to eat food. She started this illness as usual with an upset stomach and vomiting. Now if we could get her to just say No to getting sick.........

Pickin' Pumpkins

So this past weekend we finally ventured to the Pumpkin Patch. The weather was perfect, sunny and warm, no rain in sight. Unfortunately it was the week before Halloween, so everyone was there and the pumpkins were well picked over. Our timing was a little off too. Lily has not been sleeping well at night, so therefore neither have mommy or daddy. We slept later than we should have making us arrive at the pumpkin patch later than planned and too close to lunch. There were a ton of people there and we had to wait for the hay ride to the patch. As we arrived at the big pumpkins Lily was very excited. Grace on the other hand took one step off of the trailer, pointed to her pumpkin and announced "I want this one, let's go!" Mommy decided that no it was not time to go and we were going to look around some. 10 minutes later we were on the trailer to purchase our pumpkin. We waited in line to pay, bought a fresh from the fryer fried pie and got Grace a hot dog. We took a quick peek at the farm animals and then we were on our way home.

We didn't get to ride the ponies, get our faces painted, play on the playground or get our pictures taken with the huge pumpkin or take very many pictures of anything. I am already planning next year for much earlier in the month and in the day. We will be there when they open and hopefully have better luck.

Oh well, we got what we went for and a little more.

50 days

In first Grade they celebrate the 50th day of school by having a fifties day. Coke floats, hula hooping, Mr. Potato Head, Old Maid, a sock hop, and lots of other cool activities marked the day. Grace had a blast. She said she ate the ice cream not the coke float, but that everything else was super fun.

The Poodle skirt was borrowed from Granma that was left over from Aunt Anna's elementary days. She picked out the shirt and "allowed" me to put her hair into a ponytail. Unfortunately I was unable to attend and take more pictures.

She was super excited too!

Nudge, Nudge

So yesterday while sitting at lunch, making our plans for the Sunday afternoon a funny thing happened.

"Grace needs to clean and dust her room. I will clean and dust Lily's and our bedroom" I said.

"I will vacuum them all when that is done, but while Lily is napping I will try to put together the toddler bed." said daddy.

"I will help daddy put together the bed while mommy cleans. Right Daddy, nudge, nudge." Grace states.

She is already trying to get out of cleaning her room. She actually said nudge, nudge and did the whole elbow motion and everything. Graceisms, they aren't as frequent any more but still hilarious. Unfortunately for her she ended up doing both, helping with the bed and cleaning her own room. We do help pick up the toys and strip and remake the bed, but she is getting bigger every week.