A look back at 2008’s FUNNIEST moments!

1. Tuesday, December 30, 2008 "Boogers... yuck! "

2. Wednesday, October 29, 2008 "I kind of think I might have... "

3. Wednesday, November 12, 2008 "So what did you learn at school today? "

4. Thursday, August 28, 2008 "You calling a police man?? "

5. Thursday, December 25, 2008 "A doll diaper... Eva was right! "

6. Tuesday, October 28, 2008 "Please let my Mommy's head be okay the next time she drinks! "

7. Wednesday, December 10, 2008 "But I want a crate too! "

8. Sunday, May 25, 2008 "When I get bigger I'm going to have RED hair... "

9. Monday, September 1, 2008 "You bow, I bow... "

10. Wednesday, January 23, 2008 "Pina-colada's "

11. Thursday, November 27, 2008 "Almost doesn't count... "

12. Friday, January 18, 2008 "Where did the cow-go? "

13. Thursday, January 10, 2008 "Yes you can, go use the alligator "

14. Thursday, November 13, 2008 "Drive by's.... "

15. Wednesday, January 9, 2008 "Where is the fun at??? "

New Years Eve

For New Years Eve we had the Grigg's over (Shane, Jess & Ella), Josh & Erin joined later too... the girls had fun playing and did a relatively good job getting along most of the time. I can't figure it out but Ella likes Eva one minute and can't stand her the next. I think she just wants Grace all to herself, but who knows the mind of a three year old;-) The girls played upstairs while we grilled and sat around talking.

After dinner they spent most of their time running around coloring, riding Eva's train and playing on Eva's rocking horse. I can't get over how much fun Grace has riding the little train around - Nanni got it for Eva for Christmas but honestly Grace spends more time on it than Eva does! Which in general Eva is okay with, but she got a little mad when Grace & Ella would get on it and leave her out. I'd then have to intervene and remind them that the train is Eva's and she's sharing it. For the most part they then worked things out.

Jess brought sparkling white grape juice for the girls to drink to, crazy me let them drink out of big girl cups - I think Ella was the only one who DIDN'T spill hers. Eva wanted to "cheers" w/ everyone, it was too cute! Uncle Rob taught Grace how to do this, so either he started teaching Eva already or she's picked it up from Grace. Eva's first big drink on her own and she spilled it on her shirt - we laughed b/c one drink in her and she was taking off her clothes:-)

During a quiet moment I got pics of the three girls on the stairs - it was cute b/c I'd say "make a funny face" and Eva would try and make the same face I was making, Grace would make her own funny face and Ella would turn to see what Grace was doing and try to make the face Grace was making. They are the perfect ages to just observe - just nicer to observe when they all get along;-)

When it came time to leave Eva's left standing at the alter waiting for a kiss & a hug from Ella. Hopefully they will all grow out of it since we spend a good deal of time together.

Auto accident

Okay so Matt was headed out to go play cards w/ Tommy in Columbus, so I thought the girls and I might run to Target @ Southport and then run by Nanni's house to see her new bedroom furniture. But, and it's a huge but - on the way to Southport we ran into a huge hold up...

We were on St. Rd. 44 headed SW when - thank goodness I wasn't speeding, I saw a a red truck who rocked like he was going to pull out but then didn't. I thought for sure he had to see me, but unfortunately he didn't and pulled out crossing my lane of traffic. I hit the horn, the brake and swerved all at the same time. I almost missed him, but luckily we didn't hit him head on, it makes me sick to think what might have happened if we had. The left front of my car was damaged, I called 911 to report the accident and called Matt & my dad - everyone arrived about the same time.

When the police officer got to my window Grace was in the backseat interrupting so much I could barely talk - especially being so shaken up. I finally had to tell the officer that she wasn't going to be quiet until she got to ask her question, Grace needed to know "is he a NICE police officer???" Not sure why this was such an urgent question, but I guess that is four year old logic. He politely responded, "I think so, but not everyone I've dealt with would say that." I thought that was a petty good response.

After filling out all of the paperwork I drove my car back to Nanni's house w/ Poppy following me - Matt offered to come home, but I said he could go back and enjoy playing cards. I didn't think my car drove quite right but the police officer said it was okay so I drove on. Matt drove my car later and said it was NOT drivable. Guess I was right. I was a little proud of my driving skills, both Matt and Dad went on and on saying what a good job I did avoiding the accident. I know it still occurred but it could have been so much worse, and I managed to avoid hitting the electric pole too.

I feel so grateful knowing what could have happened - looking in the backseat after the accident and seeing both girls shaken up but okay was all that mattered.

Boogers... yuck!

Okay so I hate to even out this in writing but Grace was in trouble for picking her nose and leaving, well, let's say the "remains" on the seat of my car. Yes I know - G R O S S! I informed her that if this happened again, there would be no DVD/TV in the car... she didn't want this to happen so she's been on her best behavior. Nanni also reinforced my threat w/ some more patient advice telling Grace that rather than pick her nose she should request a Kleenex.

So after I had cleaned my car, I went to Brenda's to pick the girls up. Grace got in the car and immediately commented on how nice my car looked. Nice. Then she says, "Mommy I need a Kleenex please." W/ the move, I didn't have any in my car yet - yikes! So I said, "Honey I don't have any in here right now... but DON'T PICK YOUR NOSE." Grace then says, "Oh, I'm not picking my nose (like duh, why would you even think I was doing that) I'm just trying to put this booger that fell out back in."

I mean don't you always have random boogers falling out of your nose??? :-)

Marley & Me

Grace has been asking to go to the movies ever since Sarah said that maybe she would take Grace & Ally to the movies... so after Nanni saw Marley & Me and thought it would be okay for Grace to see it, I told her we could go. We hit the 4:00 p.m. show, right after Grace got up from her nap (which it's still questionable as to whether she actually slept at all, but that's another story). When we got there the line was to the door! We were 15 minutes early but I was afraid we weren't going to make it in there in time. Of course after getting our tickets we HAD to get "yellow" popcorn, I think Grace wanted that as much as she wanted to see the movie. So tickets and popcorn in hand we head into the movies, the previews had already started but we found a seat. Grace was so cute, she didn't weigh enough to keep her seat down so every time she moved at all the seat would flip up - it was pretty funny!

Not sure how much of the movie Grace actually watched, she was too busy talking, eating popcorn, wanting something to drink... moving to my lap (which I loved), wondering who else was watching the movie. But when the movie was over all she could do was talk about how much FUN it was, and wanting to go again... so that made it all worth it. Plus the movie was very good, it actually worked well that Grace didn't watch it too closely b/c the end was soooo sad... nearly everyone was in tears. Thankfully not Grace - whew!

A doll diaper... Eva was right!

We were over at Pop-pop & Gram's for Christmas (aka: Matt's mom & dad) when Eva needed her diaper changed... I figured it would be me changing it again when Pop-pop said, "give it to me, I'll do it." So I handed Tom the travel diaper pack and off he and Eva go to the bathroom.

Eva is playing in the living room when I notice at least an inch of her little crack sticking out the top of her diaper... we teased her, Matt said "like mother like daughter". When Tom came in we teased him too! He said, "tell them Eva, I did a good job!" Eva proceeded to shake her head no, and say "No, no, no!" Tommy then said, "Yes I did." And Eva walked over to him and said, "bad". Which was just too funny b/c she doesn't say much - but she was clear on the no and bad... hmm...

After leaving Pat and Tom's and we're home Matt takes Eva upstairs to change her (she was stinky). He then comes down and says, the diaper Eva was wearing wasn't her diaper it was a DOLL's diaper! No wonder Eva said that Pop-pop didn't do a good job, as little as the diaper was I can't believe he was able to get it on her -- it had to be smaller than a preemie diaper! Who knows how, but it held everything.

Oh, have to give Tom some credit, not sure how he got the doll diaper, but Grace and Emma were playing w/ their dolls right where Eva was when he picked her up to go change her... and Matt is certain that had to be the first diaper he's ever changed! Nice job Pop-pop:-)

Christmas at Gram's

Christmas morning...

Our first Christmas in the new house - and what a Christmas!!! I woke up at 5:00 a.m. to go to the bathroom and couldn't go back to sleep. Every little noise in the house and I thought it was Grace coming down... I was just so excited! I'd finally fallen back to sleep around 8:00 a.m., when at 8:10 a.m. Grace came running in yelling, "Daddy, Mommy, get out of bed!!! Santa was here! Santa was here!" So I went up to get Eva who was still asleep:-) Eva saw her little black dress shoes from church by the stairs and instead I put them on, well dress shoes don't go on bare feet easily, so I only had one shoe on when we hit the landing and Eva saw the kitchen set. Of course after that she wanted down! It was so cute too b/c here she was tired, wearing only one shoe (a dress shoe at that) stumbling around their new kitchen set cooking:-) She looked like a little drunk old lady, but the most important thing - she was so HAPPY! I was in heaven.

Grace of course loved everything, the kitchen set, her dogs and all their accessories, and she was very into opening presents... where Eva, half the time when you gave her a present she thought it was for someone else and passed it on... they don't stay at this stage long, I know. But both girls were great, loved what they got but weren't too spoiled about it. What a wonderful morning!

If that wasn't enough, after we'd opened everything Nanni, Poppy and Uncle Rob came over to visit - they'd actually skipped going to Bloomington this year so they could come see the girls... sweet, huh? Eva loved showing off everything, and cooked meals for everyone. Grace my little drama queen, who is always singing and dancing non-stop, I seriously can't get her to stop, was too shy to do the High School Musical wii game she'd gotten in front of everyone (basically singing w/ a microphone to HSM songs). But makes me think - is she feeling okay?? Can't be my Grace??

Note from Santa...

I wish I could get a do-over...

Okay so here goes, I'm not trying to avoid writing about it but it was a TRAUMATIC event for me... but in needs to go on record so that some day when Grace looks back she will know how very much her original snowman ornament meant to me. Yes, I did say "meant" as in past tense.

I had been so worried about the ornament making it from Nanni's house to our new house w/out getting broken - and I cleared that hurdle w/ flying colors. The ornament did not have a hook to place it on the tree so I was working to tie a ribbon on it when it slipped off the ribbon and onto the T I L E floor.... SCATTERING into millions of pieces. After everything that had been going on, Nanni's surgeries, moving, just the exhaustion of everything I burst into tears, sadly w/ Grace watching. She saw the whole tragic event - the breaking of the ornament and the devastation that occurred afterwards. I was truly heartbroken. Matt was yelling at me to pull it together and stop crying, saying I was going to upset Grace (which he was right) but for me was only making it worse. Grace is trying to pat me on the back saying, "It's okay Mommy, I'll tell Miss Rhonda you broke it and we need to make another one" between sobs. Oh it was just awful!
So I went out to get Christmas ornaments and paint, and paint pens, and anything else I could think of... both girls and I tried to make new snowman ornaments. The single snowmen are courtesy of Grace and the smaller grouping of three snowmen are Eva's:-)

Clearly not as good as the original, but you've gotta make lemonade out of lemons, right;-)

First night in the NEW house!!!

Our first night in the new house - wow, this has been a log wait. We thought about trying to make it in on Saturday the 20th but we just weren't ready yet, and Sunday I was at the Celine Dion concert w/ Mom so that would have meant Matt had both girls by himself - not to mention I want to be here for our first night all together;-)

I thought Grace might want to sleep in the same room w/ Eva (Eva is in the other bedroom b/c she's still in her crib and isn't ready to make the jump to a big girl bed). We went a head and put Grace's old bedroom furniture in the other bedroom, Eva's crib is in there just in case Grace wanted to sleep there; but shockingly she wanted to sleep in her bedroom. She made no mention of sleeping in there along - crazy, huh? Both girls did a great job going to bed... this can't last!

Grace's Christmas Preschool Party

Today was Grace's preschool Christmas Party, I hadn't signed up to bring anything w/ the move and all but was hoping we'd be settled enough that I'd be able to go... so I took pics:-) It was so cute, everyone is dressed in their little Christmas shirts made from their foot print -- I LOVED Grace's shirt the best:-)

They decorated Christmas cookies - Grace had like 2 inches of icing piled on top... as did most of the others. After decorating (and eating) their cookies they exchanged their gifts. Miss Rhonda had the child who was opening sit in a chair while the others sat on the floor so everyone could see. Grace drew Nathan, and got him a package of Match Box Cars (the limit on the gift was supposed to be $5). Charlie drew Grace and who knows how he knew she LOVES dogs, but he got her a little black dog that has a little jacket - Grace loved it! He even wrote out his card, too sweet - Charlie's a cutie too!

Santa was "supposed" to make a visit but apparently he wasn't able to make it - behind on getting all those Christmas presents ready for delivery I guess. So Father Chris and Joan stopped by for a visit. Then all of the kids (parents too) headed to the gym for some singing:-)

After school I took Grace to Brenda's where they were having their Christmas party there too!

The Snowman Ornament

Okay so I know as a Mom I'm supposed to according to the "Mom manual" gush about all of the handmade presents my children make... you know acting like they are the best thing ever, when you know honestly diamonds and other jewels were really what you were dreaming of. Well in this case I wouldn't have traded it for anything - seriously. I'm lucky it wasn't broken in Grace's backpack since I had no clue she was making it, so to my surprise I opened her backpack and in a little brown bag is this little jewel (see below)...

The snowman is made from white finger prints from Grace's little hand - everything about it is so perfect. She was so proud of it, I was truly in awe it was BEAUTIFUL. I carried it around carefully waiting until the tree at the new house was ready to have it placed on the tree.

This has to be one of the best gifts Grace has ever made for me.

Wrapping presents...

Okay so I know I haven't blogged much but between prepping for the move & Christmas things have just been CRAZY! I know, and during one of the most important moments for "documenting" all those cute little things you guys do... but what can I say, I'm trying:-)

Tonight I was working on getting all of the last minute presents wrapped - which included presents for Brenda's (the big Christmas party is tomorrow) so of course Grace wanted to help wrap, and you know what that means if Grace is doing it Eva wants to do it too:-) Anymore that is a total "duh" of course Eva wants to do EVERYTHING and ANYTHING Grace is doing;-) So I figured Brenda would appreciate a wrap job and let the girls wrap her present.

Eva got more tap on her than on the package, and Grace well all she did is put tape EVERYWHERE. I don't think there was a single seam that wasn't taped, she must get that from Poppy - he loves duck tape;-)

Attached is a pick of the final product, looks pretty good to me!

Grace's gymnastics exhibition...

Grace's gymnastics exhibition at the Girls Club - she's really getting good!

Note from Miss Rhonda...

Eva's Magic Trick!

Eva's so cute. Her latest thing is a magic trick... she takes her hand and pulls it up into the sleeve of her shirt. She then wants you to say, "Where is Eva's hand???" And then w/ a HUGE smile she will pop her hand out! Sometimes she even adds to the act, and while her hand is hidden in the sleeve she will shrug her shoulders and say "where it go?".

But I want a crate too!

Okay so Eva's had to take a bath first b/c she can't be in the same bath water w/ Grace b/c of the skin tag on her leg... have to wait till it falls off. So we've been doing back to back baths which takes forever! At first Eva didn't like it but I think she's starting to enjoy having the entire bathtub to herself. She loves to have control of the faucet... generally they fight over who gets to sit there while the water comes out... but when it's just her she wins:-) And she likes to lay on her belly and stretch out. It's so cute. So when Eva's bath is finished, then it's Grace's turn - but I have to make sure Eva stays out of the bathroom b/c she's in her p.j.'s but she's still tempted w/ the water, so what happens is she reaches in the bathtub and gets her p.j.'s all wet. Sometimes I get Poppy to hold her... b/c Matt's usually working at the house. Well tonight I made the comment that I needed to put Eva in a crate. Grace got SO upset... you would think b/c I was going to put her in a crate - but no she was upset b/c she wanted to be in a crate too! Is that not too funny!

Last day in the office!!!

Today is my last day in the office - yippie!!! I am so loving knowing I'll be off for nearly the next month:-) I feel bad though b/c Grace is dying to stay home w/ me - but in order to work on moving they have to go to Brenda's. It breaks my heart when Grace says, "but I want to stay home w/ you... I never get to see you" I just have to remember it's so we can move in sooner.

Decorating the Christmas tree...

Today Nanni, Grace & Eva decorated the Christmas tree... Grace has been waiting FOREVER to do it. They were so cute! Dancing all around, Grace would hand Nanni ornaments for the taller branches. And when Daddy got home Grace made him shut his eyes, drug him into the living room and yelled SURPRISE! It was soooooo sweet!

Bella's crate...

Okay who would have thought that a dog crate could be so much fun... but BOTH Grace and Eva LOVE to get in Bella's crate... and shut the door! I'm certain Eva only does it b/c Grace does it - and Grace probably does it b/c she loves dogs. At times she thinks she's a dog, and loves to crawl around, yes barking. She'll say she's Riley and Eva is Bella... I have pics of the two of them in Bella's crate - smiling, Rob thinks someone would call CPS if they saw the pics but I swear they beg to get in there - go figure!

Look at the socks!!!

Oh gosh, having someone like Grace around during the holiday makes it all worth it - she gets soooo excited over the littlest things:-) She has been dying for Nanni & Poppy to put up their Christmas tree (Matt is dying to buy her one for the new house - I keep telling him... focus on moving, we'll get a tree once we're moved!) So when Nanni hung the stockings on the mantle, I should have known Grace would come RUNNING. In she comes yelling, "COME LOOK AT ALL THE SOCKS!!!! EVERYONE HAS A SOCK!!! LOOK LOOK LOOK!!!!" It was too cute.

Nanni doesn't have her tree up yet but she put a small fiber optic tree in Grace's room. Grace was in love. She told me, "Nanni loves me a lot - look at my tree." So sweet it breaks my heart!

Almost doesn't count...

Okay so is there ever something you say that comes back to haunt you? If so then you'll love this...

Just to give you some background info - Eva who is known for her random biting, etc... is always being blamed for biting when she technically hasn't bitten Grace. Generally she makes an "attempt" but Grace is good at sensing it or dodging her. However, even when Eva doesn't make contact IF Grace thinks she was going to bit her, I hear, "Eva bit me! Eva bit me!" I'll say to Grace, "No she didn't bit you..." which Grace will respond w/, "well she A L M O S T did!"

So my mantra has become, "Almost doesn't count."

So we've finished Thanksgiving dinner at Gram's house and we're driving to Nanni's - we're less than 5 minutes away, when Grace says, "Are we there yet???" So, what do I say:-) ?? A L M O S T:-)

Here is what makes me roll w/ laughter... Grace says, "Almost doesn't count." Totally w/out missing a beat -- gosh is she like a little parrot or what??!!

Pic's at the park...

Grace's Preschool Party...

Okay so today Grace's preschool is having a Thanksgiving party - most of the parties fall on days that I work, but this one is finally on a Wednesday! So I get to go:-) I signed up to bring fruit, so last night Grace and I worked on making fruit kabob's... I should say I worked on making them, while Grace tried to steal (and eat) as much fruit as she could:-) You would have thought I didn't feed her:-)

Grace's class (Miss Rhonda) all of the kids were dressed as Pilgrim's - so the little girls w/ bonnets like Grace's and the boys w/ hats. The other 4-year old class (Miss Kristen) dressed as Indian's. They had turkey sandwiches, fruit, veggies and desserts! I was shocked how well they all ate, especially considering it was only 9:30 a.m. - but they all gobbled everything down; Grace included!

Then they sang "I'm glad I'm not a Turkey on Thanksgiving Day!" It was the cutest song ever! I wish Grace could remember it all, of course I can't but it was soooo sweet. I was also impressed b/c lots of the other kids who's parents helped out were fussy, cried, just acted differently b/ their parents were there. But not Grace she was good the entire time, sweet to everyone - listened to Miss Rhonda too! I was so proud of her!

Grace & Jillian Antel (one of her best buds!)

Going to work w/ Mommy...

It's so cute, Grace has looked forward to going to work w/ me since last week - maybe longer! She has a doctors appointment w/ a pediatric dermatologist to look at the little skin tag on her leg. But the apt. is at 10:00 a.m. in Greenwood so for me right in the middle of the day. So I figured, she can come to work - bring the Leapster and some art supplies and she'll be good till then. I'll take lunch early and then Matt can take her back to Brenda's.

Grace had her little backpack all packed the night before -- too cute! And when I got up at the crack of dawn, she did good and got up and got ready too, and I'm talking early. We left the house by 5:30 a.m. I'm certain Grace isn't normally doing anything that early! So once we got to work Grace told me she was hungry so I took her over to the cafeteria where she picked out a bagel. She was excited to use the "fancy" toaster:-) She ate her bagel, my yogurt, then colored some... played her Leapster, wanted something else to eat! I've never seen her eat so much -- she had some baked chips out of the vending machine. Good thing her apt. was at 10:00 a.m. or I would have been broke just feeding her!!!

Grace had enough time to color a picture for all of my friends at work - she had tons of fun at Rob Dinkel's desk. Grace wanted stickers, Rob didn't have any - so he drew stickers for her on post-it notes! Can you tell he has a little girl too? Grace really liked him, go figure!

We left about 9:45 a.m. and met Matt at the doctors office. The doctor was super nice, you could tell she dealt w/ kids a lot. They came in w/ the dry ice and once we said we wanted it gone there was no sit tight while we go get what we are going to torture you w/ - they just did it right away. And Grace was a trouper. I know it hurt and she started to cry some, but they were fast and she was super tough. Mattie took her to get chicken nuggets (a treat!) on the way home. He said she complained about her leg the entire way to Brenda's. But when I called Brenda to check on her she said she didn't mention her leg at all. In fact, when all of her friends asked where she'd been she told them, "At McDonald's!" So no mention of the doctor at all.

Apple bottom boots....

Gotta love little Gracie, she spent FOREVER talking about "Megan the big sister's apple bottom jean boots" - aka: Megan Cory (the big sister b/c she's older than Megan who goes to Brenda's) apple bottom jean boots refers to boots that have fur (i.e. UGGS). Grace has been dying to get some, I sooooo wanted to just splurge and get her the UGGS on Zappos but they were $150 and I figured knowing my luck she would say they hurt her feet and only wear them once. So I found the cutest pair at Gap.com -- and Gracie loves them! Brenda just wrote to say that when Grace walked in the door this morning the first thing she said was, "look at my apple bottom boots!" Too cute!

Has she [Eva] grown at all???

Okay so we all know Eva has had to have grown some, but today the outfit she picked out to wear (happens to be one of my favorites!) she was wearing almost at this same time last year!!! It's November now, and she wore this out fit - same pants and the same top last DECEMBER. Crazy to think she really hasn't changed that much. Uncle Rob says, she's just gotten "curvier":-) I think that's him being nice! But we'll take it in any form we can get!

Spitting?? Seriously???

Okay so why is it that kids only pull half of the bad stuff when they are at the sitters???

Today Brenda emails me and says, "so when did Eva start spitting?" I was like "WHAT???" I've never seen her spit, nor have I seen her watch anyone spit where she might have learned this! Brenda then says, instead of pinching Little Molly she spit... oh know. What next? I pinching or spitting worse? And, I have to be able to catch her doing it to correct her, and I've never seen it happen.

Again, how can someone so cute be such a little stinker???

Eva and jacket trouble...

Oh my goodness, who would have ever thought wearing a winter jacket was such torture!

It has been a total nightmare getting Eva to wear a jacket. She practically insists on only wearing a fleece jacket - which it is now too cold to just wear a fleece. The only jacket she is semi inclined to wear is a Nike jacket that is a size 2T (yes the jacket was bought just for her, not a Gracie hand-me-down, but we thought she might have grown more than she has), so when she wears this jacket the sleeves are WAY too long. She won't permit you to flip the cuff, which would look great b/c the jacket is reversible. So she ends up looking like "Bob Gregory's kid" (for those of you who have no clue who Bob Gregory is he was a local weather man) and it is nearly impossible to get her in the car seat wearing this jacket.

So I found a jacket (and hat) at L.L.Bean -- it's too cute! And I prayed that she would be willing to wear it and (drum roll please....) YES she LOVES it!!! She likes wearing both the jacket and the hat! Now I did have to pay more for it but honestly I would have paid even more to not have to fight with her every time we went anywhere - whew!

Now Grace wants one - of course:-)

Need to post a pic of Eva IN the jacket - but here is the life savor!

Drive by's....

It's so funny Rob's back has been hurting him (not the funny part) so he's been getting into this machine called an inversion table. You hook your feet into this foot clamp and then the table flips you upside down. So essentially you are hanging from your feet, they believe Rob has a compression fracture, or had one anyway - so this is supposed to help relieve the pressure on the vertebra.

Well while Rob is hanging upside down, essentially trapped, Eva loves to come and sit in front of him and slap at his face! She thinks it is hysterical. Sometimes she just sits there while she does it endlessly, other times she does what I call a "drive by" she runs up attacks and then runs away giggling!

Luckily Uncle Rob is a good sport:-)

So what did you learn at school today?

Today when I picked the girls up from preschool it was too funny... I did what I always do and I asked Grace and Jillian, "so what did you guys learn today?"

Jillian was glued to the DVD, I don't think she heard what I asked:-) So I pressed Grace for more info, and here is what Grace said next (still makes me laugh b/c remember she's only 4!)

Mommy: So Grace what did you learn today at school?

Grace: [Looks @ Jillian, then looks at me. Scrunches her face up, looks back at Jillian.] Then says, "Hmmmm.....hey Jillian, can you help me out here?"

Still makes me laugh! Sounds like something a grown-up would say:-)

Things Grace is learning at school...

Grace is so cute - she's been practicing saying all of the things she's learned at preschool and Sunday school. If you were to follow her around you'd hear her saying "In the name of the father, son and the wholly spirit - O-man" or she will say the pledge of allegiance, which is soooooo CUTE b/c at the end of it she says "Now you can go back and play" - I'm guessing this is what Miss Rhonda tells the kids, so Grace thinks that is what she's supposed to say.

Too funny!!!

Head strong Eva...

Eva cracks me up - I can't get over how HARD HEADED she is. I know I don't think I am that hard headed now, but according to mom even as early as two I was strong minded. So I don't know if she gets this from me or Matt but WOW. Today I was trying to get her to go to take her nap, she doesn't like to be laid down awake and honestly I love to rock her so I'm good w/ giving up some "me" time to rock her to sleep - holding her snuggly little body:-) Well today she would not go to sleep - she kept looking up at me giving me a huge grin, putting her forehead against mine, tipping her milk all the way up, just messing around in general. So, I finally said, "if you won't go to sleep Mommy will put you in your crib -- do you want that?" Generally, this would be followed by a "no" w/ her laying her head down. Not today. She nodded yes - and gave me a hug grin. So I'm like okay - in to the crib she goes. Followed by crying and screaming. Grace was trying to take her nap too, so I got her back out (I know not good - but I only get her out once, after that nope). So again, back to the rocker... Eva not sleeping, playing around. I ask her again, "do you want me to put you in your crib?" This is again followed by a mischievous grin and a nod for yes. So into the crib she goes... followed by screaming, but this time I left her there. She eventually went to sleep. Luckily bed time went easier, I know it would be good for both of us, but I love holding her at bed time... and it only lasts for so long. I'm not ready to give it up yet:-)

My finger, my finger...

Grace is sooooo sweet. Tonight we were at Home Depo looking for items for the house, and Grace was acting like a four year old - touching everything and talking loudly (go figure, right?). I'd asked her to stop touching everything, for fear she was going to break something but she must not have heard me over all the talking she was doing. All of a sudden, after running her hand up and down some plastic bins she yells, "my finger, my finger - it's bleeding!" Sure enough it was, she must have cut it on a small piece of plastic. Grace started to panic... so we found Daddy. Daddy took Eva, and Mommy produced a "ban-ban" aka: band-aid.

Okay are you ready, b/c here comes the sweet part... after placing the band-aid on her little finger, Grace looks up at me and says, "Mommy, thank you so much for bring that ban-ban w/ you, just in case my finger got hurt." I LOVE LOVE LOVE that she believes so deeply in me, knowing that I'm there just to take care of her. I wish I could make her feel like that every day. So sweet, makes me melt, but then I'm her Mom-mom:-)

Eva's 18 month doctor visit...

Today Eva had her 18 month appointment, and I had to take her alone... I hate going for shot visits w/out Matt. Oh and it was AWFUL - I think I was more traumatized than Eva was... let's start from the point we got there - she had to know where we were b/c first thing after checking in, she took a huge drink of rice milk and then opened her mouth covering me in it! Seriously, I think she knew and blamed me! After being called back they weighed her, measured her [weight = 24 lbs. 5.5 oz., height = 32 inches, head = 48 cm] all in all she's 50% in range on her height (so she's improving - maybe she is mine after all!), and 50% for weight, but she takes after Grace on her head size, 90% - whew! I knew she had chubby cheeks but 90%, I would have never guessed it:-)

Dr. Paula gave her a new book, Eva loved it. The book and pictures of people in it, and she loves seeing other people's faces. Dr. Paula was impressed b/c Eva sat in a chair by herself (nearly naked) reading her book while Dr. Paula and I talked. I had to bring up the issue of Eva's reoccurring biting (wish I didn't have a reason, but...), Dr. Paula said unfortunately its normal for a second child to bite. Until Eva develops better verbal skills and can communicate what she wants, she may resort to biting. Dr. Paula suggested (1st off -- do not bite her, yeah! I hate it when people tell me that.) she suggested taking her own hand and placing it in her mouth, and apply "some" pressure. Not enough to hurt her, but enough that she is uncomfortable and realizes what is happening, following up with "No biting. Biting hurts. No biting." Eventually, she will either obtain verbal skills to express herself and drop this nasty habit, or stop biting b/c she knows when she does her hand will hurt:-)

After this portion of the visit was over we moved on to the part I HATE - shots. Makes me sick thinking about getting one for myself, and its even worse thinking about my girls getting one. Ewww.... at Grace's last visit they suggested the flu shot, but not wanting to subject her to more pain I asked for the flu mist, which she got. Eva's not old enough (you have to be 2 years of age, and by the time she turns 2 she'd miss the flu window) so Dr. P convinced me that we should do it, tons of babies/kids die from the flu every year. I so almost didn't do it - nearly turned back and said we didn't want it at the last minute but the part of me that was scared of what might happened did it anyway.

So she gets two vaccinations in one leg and the flu shot in the other - three shots in total. I had to hold her hands, it is so not right that they make the parents be part of this violation. I gritted my teeth so hard during the ordeal that my jaw ached later that evening. Eva screamed and cried, I cried along w/ her. Then for the rest of the evening she would touch her legs and say, "ouch... boo-boo, boo-boo". I seriously think she remembered the event much longer than Grace ever did.

A little improvement...

Who would have thought I'd be happy she's "just pinching"??? :-)

Okay so today has gone a little better, Brenda wrote and said, "The morning with little miss Eva has gone pretty good. Just a few pinches here and there when she gets mad about something. I've been reminding her when she gets mad or doesn't get her way to be nice and not to bite. So far it has worked. She cracks me up. When she realized that Jarod was up she went upstairs to see him. She has done this everyday this week. She goes in his room and tries talking to him about stuff and points downstairs. It cracks him up.

Eva was bad yesterday! She bit Mollie really hard (yesterday). She still has a ring on her leg. I apologized to her mom and apologized again today and told her I would try as hard as I could (whether that meant keeping Eva with me at all times) for her not to get bitten again. She just said "I appreciate that". She said it's not so much the fact of the biting b/c she knows some kids go through it, but the fact that Mollie is getting hurt and she can't do anything about it. But so far today NO BITING!! She has been hanging out with Breanna alot. and she loves that!!"

A glass half full approach...

You know I used to dread the long drive to work, but I really believe happiness is a mind set... tell yourself you're happy and before you know it, you feel happy! I've been doing this lately on my drive to work (not that I wasn't happy before) but on the way in I think about all the things in my life that I'm thankful for - things that make me happy. I do a little bit of singing - good thing I'm alone, right? :-) Then, I try to make sure that the things in my life that make me happy have, I guess you would say a front row seat for everything in the day. Strange analogy, but basically I don't want the day to be over and think I didn't even see Grace giggle today, or realize its bedtime and Eva never once gave me her "smoochie" face (aka: I'd like something to drink sign). So while there are tons of things we "have" to do, I think about everything in the day that I "want" to do, and build my day around those things. I still get the "have to's" finished but somehow they don't seem so bad.

So why am I blogging about this? I guess b/c on the off chance I'm not hear to teach this life lesson to the girls I want them to know... you get out of life what you put into it -- but its even more than that... if you truly believe today is going to be a GREAT day, you know what? It probably will be:-) But if you start the day out saying its crap where can things really go but down? Now this isn't to say that bad things don't come along, but I think when I'm happy bad things don't seem so bad. I hope as Grace and Eva grow up this is something I can teach them - I should say, help them keep:-) B/c I know Grace wakes up (once she really wakes up b/c come one we all know she's not a morning person!) she's happy. She's happy to go to school, she's happy to go to Brenda's, she's happy for the small things - the things in life we think are just small, but when they aren't there... they are the big things. I hope they never lose sight of what is important.

Eva on the attack again...

Oh wow, what do I do w/ Ms. Eva??? She was doing so well not biting, but it seems she's back at it again. Brenda emailed me this afternoon saying, "Grace is good. Eva has bitten Jaidyn and Mollie today. They were playing with something and she wanted it. Mollie's left a welt on her leg but I'm not sure about Jaidyn's. She might have pulled away faster than Mollie so she didn't get it as bad. I sat her in time-out both times and she just cried. She bit Jaidyn first and then Mollie. I asked her if she wanted me to bite her and she said no and took off running crying. I told her if she bit someone again I was going to bite her back. She just buried her face in her hands and cried. I told her she had to sit in time-out for 5 min. After about 2 she looked at Grace and wanted her to get her. Grace said no Eva that is bad, you can't bite. You hurt Mollie."

I just don't know what to do w/ her - how can Grace be so sweet and Eva, well let's just say not so much??? And she'd so dang cute, she gets upset every time she bites someone and you correct her but doesn't seem to phase her.

Queen of the hill...

Halloween

Halloween - yippee! I love Halloween, in fact I love almost every holiday:-) I of course was soooo excited from the start of the day, just knowing that once work is over I get to dress my two little monkeys up and go door to door for candy is enough to get me excited... but Daddy on the other hand needed a little help finding his Halloween spirit. Halloween morning, he said, "I hate Halloween..." I mean come on - bah humbug! Right... don't worry though, a little Disney princess manages to help him find his Halloween spirit:-)

After work I rushed to Brenda's to get my girls and I was sooooo HAPPY to find Eva wearing her lady bug costume, and looking soooo CUTE! I'd sent it to Brenda's letting her know - if Eva falls asleep stick her in it (when other than physically hurting her I was willing to do nearly anything to get her to wear her costume! I should say, we'd had the costume for over a month and she would run the opposite direction any time she saw it.) Eva has this thing where she refuses to wear something, and then when she finally does she won't take it off... so I knew putting her in the costume might mean that she'd still be wearing it come Christmas, but I was okay w/ that:-) So to my huge surprise, when I got there out comes Eva wearing her lady bug costume (not the hat, but who cares!). I was so happy!!! And she looked soooooo cute!

From Brenda's we went home to get Gracie all dressed - she went as Jasmine, the Disney Princess from Aladdin. She let me do her hair in messy buns (my favorite!) although, she really didn't think that was how Jasmine liked to wear her hair. I told her, "Jasmine always wears her hair like this - if you wear it like this, they will really think your her!" That must have convinced her b/c she was good w/ it after that. Once both girls were dressed (Eva in all black and red -- and her WHITE shoes, yes she picked them out.) We headed out the door w/ Daddy.

Our first stop of the evening was a Pop-pop's work, where he loaded the girls up w/ tons of sugary things. Not sure how he managed to slip this one past me, but as he left he gave Eva a Reese's cup candy bar. And wouldn't you know it, she managed to get the candy bar open and ate some of it! I know, so what right? It has MILK in it! And peanuts, so w/ her food allergies, I had a little bit of a freak out - but got over it. We were lucky that only her hands and the car seat straps were covered in chocolate, I think had we been in the car any longer and Eva would have had to go as a Hershey's Kiss for Halloween:-)

The girls got Princess snack treats at Grams's, from there we headed over to Grandma-Great's house, and then on to Brenda's. I think both girls could have stayed at Brenda's the rest of the evening. When we got there Ella Griggs and Riley Lee were there so the little people were running around playing:-) But knowing it would get dark soon, we didn't stay long - our next stop was Rick & Vickie's. Matt did a little bit of his own "trick or treating" there and managed to get dinner out of Vickie:-) While Matt ate the girls passed out Halloween candy w/ Uncle Rick. Grace did a great job this year, in the past she wouldn't give anyone candy who was wearing a mask. But she wasn't as afraid this year, when pretty girls would come up - Grace would immediately tell them, "I love your costume." or "You're beautiful!" And she always said it w/ such honesty - she's so sweet! Although Rick probably would have liked to have help the rest of the evening, we left and went on to Marilyan's house. Where Grace rang her doorbell and came right on in - making herself at home. She then passed out candy there for a bit. She only decided she would leave when we told her she could trick-or-treat at the houses on our old street (Springway Drive).

Grace thought it was great going up to the houses getting candy. And so many of the neighbors were sweet having Teddy Grahams, etc... for Eva too! Both girls had a GREAT time, and the weather was so nice too! After trick-or-treating we headed back to Nanni's where Grace and Eva passed out more candy, and examined all the candy they both got. I'm sure way more than Poppy would ever want to see them eat! But they had fun, that's what matters! Plus, after seeing how excited Grace was, Daddy managed to find his Halloween spirit!

Wow - that's really neat...

Today we were going on a walk, Gracie was riding her bike when she told me... "Today Ella said, "I want that, I want that" and I told her Santa doesn't like it when you say that. You should say, "Wow, that's really neat." He'll know you like it then."

Makes me SMILE when she actually listens to me! Earlier in the week, Grace was CONSTANTLY saying, "I want that - I want that - I want that!" I didn't think we'd make it to Christmas, so I told her, "Santa will think, "Gosh Grace wants too much, I can never make her happy." So then he might just skip her house and go on to another little girl who only wants one special present. I told her I bet that if you just say, "Wow, that's really neat." He'll know you liked it. And who would have known - she listened!!! Makes me smile:-)

A note from Brenda...

"Eva saw a tractor out back and I think she was trying to tell me it was Poppop. She went and got Grace and was showing her too. Gracie said, "Eva loves her Poppop". It was so cute!! She had the biggest smile on her face so I'm sure she thought it was him."

I kind of think I might have...

Okay I know some of my blogs about the girls make those of you reading laugh, but this is one of my favorites... I have a hard time repeating it w/ out laughing, in fact I'm certain I've not repeated the story w/out bursting out laughing! So here goes:-)

Grace & Eva are in the bathtub, I'm busy getting their items for Brenda's ready, when Grace says, "Eva scratched me", "Eva pinched me", "Eva bit me". I'm in between telling Eva, "No Eva, that's not nice", obviously it's not working - so by the last "attack", I'm like, "Gracie I don't know what to do, do you want to get out?" Of course not. So they go back to playing, and I to packing.

I'm washing Eva when I see some scratches on her back, and two circular marks... that look odd to me. So I ask Grace, "Did you bite Eva?" Grace says, "No, she scratched her back here - pointing to the back wall of the tub". So I'm like okay, but I can't let it go... the circle marks have little dashed lines in them... something seems off. So I ask again - same answer. I even told Grace, "Gracie, you're not in trouble, Mommy just wants to know what happened." Apparently I wasn't very convincing b/c she still stuck to her story.

Finally, following my gut - I told Grace, "You know you might be able to get by w/ lying to Mommy but Santa will know if you're lying." This must have really gotten her b/c she looked like she was really thinking, and then sweetly said, "Hmmm.... Now that I think about it.... I think I kind of maybe might have bitten her... (then she follows it up w/) only when I was being a mean dog."

Oh gosh, even writing it makes me laugh - "I kind of think I might have" - some serious commitment there. And as I told her, she didn't get in trouble - Eva if someday you are reading this - please know, you never cried, so it must not have phased you too much! Plus at the rate you pinch/bite/scratch Grace she probably owed you one;-)

I'm "A-Door"???

I've been spending a decent amount of my spare time working on my new website (www.PhotographybyAmazingGrace.com) - it's not quite ready yet so if you peek know it's not finished! So the girls are playing with the doll house, and I thought I'd sneak into the office and a get a few things updated.

Of course, I'm in there for all of a minute when I'm two-some comes in. Grace and Eva both love watching the pictures flash on the screen. Eva LOVES to see the pics of the babies;-) Grace being older, wanted to know where the pictures of her were. I said, "Your pictures are under the gallery adore" Grace says, "What? I'm a door?" I said, "No silly" and showed her the few pics of her I had loaded (not many yet!). And let her listen to "her special song" - Gracie, by Ben Folds Five. Grace loved the song so much she sat in Nanni's office for nearly an hour listening to it - I think memorizing it! And periodically spinning in circles, she made me get my camera out b/c she thought that would be a good picture to go w/ her song:-) Too cute!!!

My little monkey...

Eva cracks me up!!! I would love to think that she's ready to start potty training but seriously it took Grace F O R E V E R, so why get my hopes up right? Well who knows if she is ready, but she loves to sit on the potty w/ toilet paper in hand, wiping her behind repeatedly. AND she has so much fun doing this that if you take her off the potty -- look out b/c she is going to be MAD.... she is sooooo like her Daddy when it comes to her temper (ha ha ha!!! I get to say these things b/c I'm the writer, see if Daddy wrote the blogs he could say, "she's just like Mommy w/ that temper of hers" but I'm writing this story, so it's Daddy!).

You know come to think of it, she's pretty set in her ways... she has this little Princess fleece jacket, and that is the only jacket she is willing to wear. Matt said this morning she threw a fit, refused to put it on. I'm thinking she's only 18 months, you could get her jacket on... so of course karma came back to bite me in the ass b/c when I pick her up from Brenda's she threw herself on the floor refusing to put it on, flopping around like a fish out of water. Grace was never like this - or was at least nearly 6 months older when she started it. Whew - we could be hitting the "terrible two's" a little early.

But you know, even writing about my little monkey and how crazy she can behave makes me smile... I think her temperament is only part of what makes her so lovable. Right now I'd have to say one of my favorite things she does, is - since she doesn't do a ton of talking - when she wants something to drink, she purses her lips out like she's going to give you a big kiss but makes smooching noises. I know my description is lacking, but wow - just thinking about her little mug doing that makes me smile. Between that and thinking - not much longer and we will be in our own house, makes me want to jump up and down and dance in circles around the bedroom. I seriously can't wait till we get our own space.

I mean don't get me wrong I feel so blessed to have lived here w/ the parents, but I think there is a reason children are supposed to grow-up and move out (I think I figured that out at least 6 months ago - I know slow learner). Matt will miss the home cooked meals, although he's at the house so much that just living where he's working will be a huge plus.

Okay enough blogging for now - gotta go back to editing senior pictures... not sure who reads the blogs, other than hopefully the girls some day, but it sure gets addictive!

Please let my Mommy's head be okay the next time she drinks!

Oh gosh some of the things Gracie says, whew! Taken out of context and I'd hate to hear what her teachers at school would think... tonight I had a glass of milk and I drank it too fast and got a "cold headache". So at bedtime when Grace was saying her prayers, at the end she added, "and God, please let my Mommy's head be okay the next time she drinks!" Ugh, Miss Rhonda will think I'm out on a bender every night;-)

A note from Brenda...

"The girls are good. Eva has been pinching and scratching but no biting!! She had some fries for lunch and boy was she in heaven. We only have them maybe once a week or every two weeks and she gets so excited when she sees me get the bag out to put them in the oven, She always runs to the closet door to get the booster seat. It is so darn cute to watch her. The little ones are napping and Grace, Jaidyn, Macey and Megan are coloring. She wanted to know if she could color a picture before her nap. She insists she doesn't need one today but I said yes, we'll try."

S M I L E :-)

Oh gosh, where to start? Today, although a Monday (ugh!) just feels like one of those days where you wake up smiling. The weekend was good, nothing special, I guess just loving where I am in life. I sit back and watch the girls play together and feel like the luckiest person alive. I couldn't ask for Grace to be any sweeter, she w/out prompting will offer to share some of her most prized items w/ Eva (ie. the tiniest bite of her stick of gum). Yesterday she popped into Poppy's room & came down the stairs saying, "Oh Mommy, I just went into Poppy's room, & it was soooo sweet - he & Nanni were sleeping together (sigh... smile) they're so SWEET." Seriously, how many four year olds notice things like that? My little Gracie does, and I LOVE it!

I love watching Grace dance in front of the huge mirror w/ Eva, my little monkey, following her every move:-) I even love how Eva's becoming her own person, even if that means that she has some VERY specific opinions on things. Specifically, she will only wear what she wants to wear - of lately, that is a Princess fleece jacket w/ a crochet hat. She will only eat what she wants to eat - currently chicken nuggets & grapes. And she will not go to sleep - no matter what, unless SHE wants to;-) What is it they say? Can't fight the tide, just enjoy the waves? :-) THAT IS EVA - and honestly, I wouldn't change her.

Sometimes, I wonder how I got so luck... I've got Mattie who seriously I know can be a turd when he wants to be, but how many girls out there have husbands who really truly want to make their wives happy??? I'm not sure, but I'm one of the lucky ones b/c Matt honestly is happy when I'm happy - guess he's lucky that's a lot of the time;-) Add the girls into the mix, and the fact that soon we'll be living in our VERY OWN HOUSE, and I'm OVER THE MOON w/ excitement!!!!

I know it's a Monday, a total oddity, but smile.... SMILE... S M I L E:-)

Why would anyone want to grow-up???

Tonight we had so much FUN! It's not often lately that we get a night out w/ Daddy, but Mommy talked him into it:-) And BOY did we have fun! First we went into Bishop's to look at appliances for the house - after that brief stop we headed north. Since the consensus was that everyone was hungry we went for pizza first:-) Eva refused to take her Princess jacket or hat off, which was fine - everyone there eating thought she was cute. And shockingly (she holds her smiles close to the vest) when anyone would look at her & smile, she'd give them the cutest grin... most of the time w/ at least one eye hidden beneath her hat. And look out if you so much as try to adjust her hat so she can see - she doesn't want anyone touching her hat, if she could talk more I'm certain she would say, "leave my hat alone Mom, it's fine just like it is!" w/ attitude I should add.

So after dinner we headed over to Pottery Barn Kids, where both the girls were in love. Mommy shopped for baskets for the Camera bookcase & some cute curtain rods, while the girls played w/ the kitchen set. I feel like a little kid w/ my excitement, but I was over the moon when Grace talked nonstop about the kitchen set (later on in the weekend, she BEGGED to go shopping again, b/c she wanted to play w/ the kitchen set). Oh, I soooooo want to tell her - YOU'RE GETTING IT FOR CHRISTMAS!!!! YIPPEE!!! And then proceed to dance in circles w/ her:-) But instead I bite my tongue and hold the secret in:-) Matt always says I'm a big kid - and this time I have to agree:-)

All I can say is I can't wait for Christmas -- only 62 days!!!! Not that I'm counting or anything!!!

Don't wish your life away...

I know life isn't always a bowl of cherries, but I think a lot of what you get out of life is how you view it... I know today's blog may sound serious, but I had the thought, "What if I'm not here some day to teach you how to make lemonade out of lemons? Would you learn it on your own?" Maybe, but just in case I wanted to make sure you always woke each day thinking about the great possibilities that day can hold... when I was growing up Nanni often caught me "wishing it was the weekend" and although I never got to meet Nanni's daddy she imparted some wisdom from him, he used to tell her "Don't wish your life away." From that I take it to mean, Enjoy each day - each moment. Yes, weekends are more fun than work days... but what if today a work day was your last day? Wouldn't you want to know you woke up singing on the way to work, smiling about how wonderful your life is? Enjoying the little things... For me playing footsie w/ your daddy while he's protesting that he's "sleeping", or being head butted by Eva who's breaking out all of her super cute moves to keep from going to bed, or sweet-sweet little Gracie who thinks the world revolves around goodness and it is her mission to share stickers w/ everyone:-) Focusing on the good things makes you smile, smiling makes everything else seem better and easier to deal with. I mean why worry about what you can't change, right? I know, sounds CRAZY, coming from me the semi-reformed control freak! But life is about smelling the roses, right?

So if I'm not there to tell you when you're older and Mr. Wrong breaks your heart - its okay, it hurts but its a good thing b/c he wasn't MR. RIGHT. I hope you both always have the spirits you have today, but if you don't know that you can take a deep breath, shut your eyes and when you open them you can see things differently... it's all what you make it.

Always know that you both and your Daddy make me SOOOOOO HAPPY!!!

Isn't more always better?

So I think Eva's taken to the motto, "Isn't more always better?"

I mean sometimes, but not always... today after picking Grace up from school the three of us are in the kitchen I'm "trying" to fix Grace macaroni and cheese - w/ out a boxed recipe! Crazy I know, but we're out... note, she didn't like my homemade version, go figure. I look over and see Eva, seriously looking like a cat that just got caught eating a canary... still in her mouth - fighting to get out. So I say, "Mutchkin, what's going on? What do you have in your mouth?" Out comes a HUGE smile followed by the biggest wad of gum ever! The gum is a mixture of chewed gum, and gum w/ the wrapper still on!

Apparently, Eva thought "more is always better" so she just stuffed it all in her mouth:-)

She was very upset to lose all of her gum, as was Grace since Eva stuffed nearly a pack of Grace's Trident into her little mouth - but after a lot of tears, Eva settled on being happy with 1/4 stick of gum.

Lesson: Sometimes less is better;-)

Mommy I don't want you to go to work...

Okay so today was TOTALLY embarrassing... I'm known for being a total K L U T Z, but wow did I ever out do myself. I was in the break room at work, when I turned quickly - b/c for those of you who know me I do everything quickly! When - WHAM! I slam my right knee cap into the ice machine, the ice machine that is sticking out an extra four inches. I know, I probably could have hit it w/out it sticking out but at least this lets me save a little face:-) So I'm in the break room hopping around clutching my leg, feeling as if I might throw-up! I have no clue how I wasn't screaming obscenities, I guess the "I have toddlers who repeat things" filter was working b/c I was only cussing in my head:-) So I make it back to my desk (about 15 feet away)... when I say to my neighbor, "Donna?" Donna responds, but I'm clearly not the brightest bulb b/c I proceed to ask, "are you there?" which she says, "Yes?" I then tell her, "I just hit my knee on the ice machine so hard I might pass out!" So Donna being nice and not at all thinking "DRAMA QUEEN" comes over to see what I'm talking about. Apparently I looked rather pale, so she being a nurse was going to check out my knee, when I followed through with my claim and PASSED OUT:-) Donna not being prepared, tried to catch me but failed, said I was like a "skinny slinky w/ hair" so I hit the floor.

But on the positive side, I woke up w/ Donna holding me;-) A crowd of co-workers looking in on me, and memories of a wonderful dream. Now granted my knee still hurt, not to mention later I had a heck of a headache. So of course it couldn't just end there w/ an embarrassing moment - they have to call an ambulance and bring in EMTs. If they had their way I would have left on a stretcher - a total nightmare! I refused treatment, no surprise there... and then had to follow-up at the Employee Health Services.

Matt must have told Grace a bit about the story, b/c the first thing when she saw me was to ask about my knee. And then declare, "Mommy I don't want you going to work anymore - you might get hurt!" Matt must have failed to tell her, "you're Mommy's a klutz and could get hurt anywhere!" But it's nice to know someone loves you;-)

Preschool Field Trip - Settles Farm

Riley....

We just found our that Riley our chocolate lab of 7 years has diabetes. She's been turning away her food, and has had a few accidents... so we took her in for a vet visit. They drew her blood and reported her blood sugar was 450+, when it should be about 85 - so extremely high! We now have to decide whether to treat her or not. If we treat her she would be hospitalized for about a week, during the week they would test her blood sugar and insulin levels to determine the average amount of insulin she need to receive daily (broken out into two injections). This is b/c w/ dogs they do not have their blood sugar levels tested prior to the injection, so each month we would have to take Riley back in to ensure she's doing okay and the dosage is correct. Then after her hospital stay she would require two injections each day and we would need to regulate her food and water intake - ensuring her food is given to her w/in the same 60 minute timeframe each day.

If we decided not to do the insulin shots, we could watch Riley and treat any of the symptoms of the diabetes... different from humans, one of the major discomforts would be chronic bladder infections. Eventually she would have kidney and liver problems, and would have to be put to sleep. But until she gets sick she could have a very happy life. On the other hand, treated w/ no other problems she could live an additional 7 years. Matt and I have been so busy w/ the house,work, photos and the girls activities we really haven't even had a chance to talk about what to do. Part of me says, sadly... "she's a dog..." and I hate to think that we're paying for insulin shots for her and sacrificing saving for college. Then the other part of me says, "she's more than a dog, she's family. I mean doesn't it say something about who we are, by how we treat those around us??" I know choosing to not give her the shots isn't like we are mistreating her, but to look at her and tell her she can't enjoy a future b/c I want to buy name brand cereal... doesn't feel like good karma to me. Then add that Grace LOVES her - she just told me after a session of playing w/ her, "Mommy, Riley's sad - she wants to come home and live w/ me..." Riley was our first "baby" so Grace hasn't ever not had Riley as a side kick... the thought makes me sad.

I think Matt and I will have to do some serious research, we have a hard decision to make.