First day of kindergarten

Our family has entered a new phase: the school years.  Grace started kindergarten on August 26, 2013.  She attends James Poole Elementary School in the Harmony ISD.  She has been more than ready for this day.  I truly believe she could have gone to kindergarten last year and been just fine.  She's such a bright little girl and follows directions so well.  She LOVES learning and has great social skills. 

The Thursday before school started we went to "meet the teacher" night.  Grace met her teacher, Mrs. Ward and was able to walk around the classroom, find her seat, put her school supplies in her cubby, etc.  It was a great night.  Grace is so tender hearted and always wants to please people and do the right thing.  I think Mrs. Ward's personality suits Grace perfectly.  We are into the second week and She is still loving it every day. 

So excited to get to work!

meet the teacher night

Justin took the day off of work so he could go with me to take Grace to school and pick her up at the end of the day.  I'm so grateful he did.  While she was at school we kept busy with "house" stuff.  We picked out and ordered all of our counter tops and the stone for the fireplace.  We looked at light fixtures and tile.  The distraction was nice.  While Grace has been looking forward to this day for a long time, I had been dreading it.  I certainly shed a few tears.  It's hard for me to watch my babies grow up.  I feel like I waited so long to be a mom, and my time at home with them is going by way too fast.  I definitely miss her during the day and find myself checking the clock A LOT until I can pick her up.  I'm proud of her and who she is becoming, and I'm excited for her to experience all the wonderful things that this year has in store!   

Grace's Artwork

Today while Claire was napping and I was making potato salad for our ward Christmas party I pulled out the (washable) markers and paper for Grace to keep herself entertained.  She did a fantastic job.  She colored for about 30 minutes, relating stories as she went.  My favorite is shown below.  She told me she was going to draw me a picture of the zoo.  That she did!  I think I have a pretty talented (almost) four year old. 

(click on the picture to enlarge so you can read my labels. 

I doubt anyone besides me would be able to make out what she drew)



A Thanksgiving Prayer

I'm thankful for a lot of things.  My family and I are blessed in so many ways.  Tonight I am especially thankful for this little girl and the sweet prayers that she offers at bedtime when we kneel together as a family.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year.  It was pretty relaxed and low-key, which was fine with me.  We slept in, had cold cereal for breakfast (per Grace's request!), then enjoyed a yummy Thanksgiving meal with the Dodd/Austin family.  The girls and I came home for naps and movies while Justin drove to College Station to watch the Texas A&M game.  His friend, who we went to the World Series with, was able to get tickets for the (possibly last) game against UT.

At bedtime tonight, Grace declared that it was her turn to say the prayer.  Fine with me!  She's been stubborn and refusing lately when it's been her turn.  I just had to document the words of her prayer because it was hilarious.

Grace: "Dear Heavenly Father, we thank thee for this wonderful day and the good food.  Thank thee for mommy being nice.  Please bless us to be good.  Please bless Grandma Erlenbusch because her back hurts really bad.  Please bless daddy to be safe and he's gone a long time.  Please bless Kenzie because she's my friend and she can come to my house to play.  Please bless Dolphin to be good and play nice with Cinderella.  Please bless Kenzie's daddy to be the king of the monkeys.  In the name of Jesus Christ, amen. Oh, and please bless me and mommy and Claire to sleep good."

WHAT???  I have no idea where she got the 'king of the monkeys' idea or why she wants Kenzie's daddy to take the throne. 

Also, she has an imaginary pet dolphin named Polkadots who goes with us everywhere.  She buckles Polkadots in the car seat between she and Claire every time we get in the car.  It's pretty funny to listen to her 'play' with Polkadots.  I love her vast imagination and that she's not afraid/embarrassed to show it to us.  Also, Cinderella is her friend and usually plays at our house, but lately she's been spending a lot of time at Kenzie's house.

Just An Ordinary Day

I blog a lot about what we do when we have a special outing, holiday, or visitor.  I thought it would be a good idea to blog about the ordinary, every day things that go on around here too.  Now, these pictures weren't all taken on the same day, but it's a good depiction of what happens in our home on ordinary days.

 Justin fell asleep one afternoon while I was out and about.  This is what he woke up to.  Grace did an awesome job of putting my make-up on the right parts of her face.  It took me two days and a full bottle of eye make-up remover to get the mascara off her eyelashes. 

I hope these two will grow up to be best friends.  For now, these sweet moments where they show love for one another don't come around too often.  There's a lot of screaming in our house. 

Claire laid on the floor coloring for about 30 minutes one evening.  I love that she's getting to the age where some things can keep her attention for decent amounts of time. 

This girl loves the bath tub.  I find her like this at least once a day.  She just climbs right in and yells at me, "I WANT TO TAKE A TUBBY!"

One day I turned on the TV in my room while I was getting ready so Claire could watch Micky Mouse Clubhouse (her ALL TIME favorite right now.  This girl is crazy for Mickey!)  I had a laundry basket on the floor full of clean clothes and she just climbed right in and laid down like it was a little bed just for her.  When I saw her she looked at me and said, "Hi mommy, I'm laying down."  She was quite proud of herself.

Like I said before, Claire is crazy for Mickey.  All day long I hear her saying, "I wanna watch Mickey Mouse!"  She sat on the step stool holding her Minnie Mouse doll and watched the entire 1 hour episode of Mickey's Space Adventure.

So there it is.  Ordinary days at home with the kids.

Grandma and Grandpa Came to Visit

My parents came for a visit at the first of the month.  It had been since Claire was born that my mom came to visit, and for my dad it had been over 3 years!  We were so happy to have them here.  We didn't do a whole lot (really, what is there to do in Gilmer?).  We spent a lot of time at home just hanging out and playing.  We missed them as soon as they left.  Claire really took a liking to my dad (finally) and was so happy to just sit in the chair with him and watch TV.

We drove up to Pittsburg one day to Efurds Orchards for some homemade peach ice cream

(that's Grace playing peek-a-boo behind the tree)

We ate some yummy bbq

Grace was LOVING those ribs!

Justin and I left the girls at home with my parents for a couple hours and when we returned they said the girls had been so good.  Yeah.  SO good.  This is what the back of Grace's bedroom door looked like.  The front wasn't quite so bad.

Luckily, it was Canton weekend while my parents were here.  We spent most of the day at the flea market.  Grace begged us for hours to ride the "ferris wheel." We finally gave in and she loved it.

All in all, it was a great week.  It was certainly too short, but still great.  We can't wait for their next visit.