Thursday, December 27, 2012

We are Blessed

This year we stayed put.  No flights with the possibilities of weather cancellations or getting half way home and then hopping on a bus for a drive that would only get us four hours closer to our destination only to wait for my parents to drive those four hours to get us.  Yes, we stayed put.  It was hard.  It was weird. No, snow on Christmas.  Even Grace didn't understand that there wouldn't be snow.  It was her first without snow too.  

But,

We are blessed.  We had a truly wonderful Christmas.  Candlelight dinner with the "fancy plates and cups" as Grace puts it.  (Note:  We've been using the fancy cups daily now.)  I brought a little of home to Virginia - homemade gnoochi on Christmas Eve.  (With the amount of cooking I did, I felt like my mother.)  Mass at St. Marks's.  Getting our three year old up on Christmas morning.  (Yes, you read that right.  We heard her in the monitor for 20 minutes.  I finally just had to go in.  I couldn't take it any longer.  Her response as to why, "Mama, I was just resting.") Dinner with Matt's parents, Skype with my family, and lots and lots of playing dolls and Headbandz and watching Cinderella.

Friday, November 23, 2012

It Has Been Too Long...

Seriously, where has the time gone?  I've let half the year go by without writing a single post.  My apologies. I have no excuses.  Well, maybe a few...like getting sucked into the world of Pinterest.  At least I can say that I have made quite a few of the "pins" I liked.  Honestly though I've just been overwhelmed with everyday life.

However, I'm back to blogging and starting off on positive notes.  It was Thanksgiving yesterday.  A day to give thanks and be grateful.  And boy am I grateful for...
1.  Grace  - How did I ever live without this child?  I love how sweet and caring she is and her Gracisms and her sense of humor and her obsession with Christmas (It's a year round thing in this house.) and her sweet tooth and her craftiness and our nightly bedtime routine and singing "Father, I adore you" and every.single. thing.
2.  Matt - I sure lucked out marrying this man.  He pushes me when I need to be pushed and supports me and lets me put up an obscene number of Christmas trees and is a fantastic dad and works hard and loves us both.
3.  Christmas music - year round.  But I'm really thankful for the fact that Grace has moved beyond singing ONLY track number 2 on the Glee Christmas CD (Deck the Halls), that she calls  Fa La La La.  We now listen to tracks 4, 6, and 7.  And if I'm really lucky she lets me turn on the Christmas radio station only in the hopes that Jingle Bell Rock will be playing.  If it isn't, then back to the cd we go.
4.  A great group of students at school.  It doesn't make all the other stuff go away, but it is soooo much easier when the kids aren't adding to the stress.
5.  Staring at the Christmas tree all lit up.
6.  Skype - Missing family on the holidays, so we were able to get to video chat for almost an hour.
7.  Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
8.  An extra comforter on the bed to get super cozy and warm.
9.  free shipping
10.  Knowing that I can buy the rest of my Christmas presents without leaving my house....thank you online shopping.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Connecting the Dots

Well, it was only a matter of time before Grace connected the dots that the loud music playing outside is actually the ice cream truck.  It is quite hilarious to watch her put her hand to her ear and say, "Do you hear it?"

Stalling at bedtime is becoming a routine.  Every night she calls me back to tell me there is something round like ball.  That's it.  Who knows what it is.

And the sheet monster still visits.

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

I Choose Happiness

Who couldn't love Tinker Bell Easter eggs with neon colors and glitter?

"I don't like rhombus.  It's a diamond."  Gotta love geometry and an-almost-three-year-old.  Thank you Starfall.

In response to us and Terri asking Grace if she wanted to look for the hula hibiscus with Mickey Mouse, she said, "No, I'm not in the t.v."

Jelly Beans...not the black ones or the white ones though. Yuck.

Pinterest and the soon-to-be crafts that will be done when I find a spare minute.

Saturday, March 31, 2012

A Few Gracisms

1.  Birdies, come out.  Come eat my birdseed.  I can't eat it.  I'm not a bird.

2.  Mama, come lay with me.  Don't go on Daddy's side of the bed.  It has germs.

3.  Mama, there is a monster eating my sheets.  Why is the monster eating my sheets?

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Spring Into Everything New

January 2?  Is that really the last time I posted?  Well, I apologize.  But...I was kind of busy with:
1.  Buying a new home.
2.  Painting the entire home.  Let's rephrase this.  Matt and some awesome people painted this home.  I was fired.  I am a pathetic painter.  Terrible.
3.  Moving in.
4.  And well, we are still making this our home.

on top of life and working and football and track.



Grace just being Grace.
 Grace playing with her t-ball set.  (yes...left-handed)

I will soon have pictures of the house.  The only room that I can say is finished is Grace's bathroom.  Can we say hello Tinkerbell?  And in other Grace news...

  • She still asks for "fa la la la" on the cd player EVERY.SINGLE.DAY.  
  • We had a few days last week where the Halloween costume came back out.  After day two, she spilled ice cream on it and into the wash it went.
  • Our next craft will be to make bird feeders.  She tells me the birds our hungry. 
  • She's still loving the princesses, but she's added My Little Pony and Strawberry Shortcake (aka Strawberry Cake) to the mix.

Monday, January 2, 2012

New Year, New Things

First, I've missed this (writing). And quite frankly, there are tons of things I should be doing right now instead of writing, but sometimes things need to be put on hold for my sanity. It's the new year, and with that comes resolutions. I believe last year I wrote anti-resolutions, but this year I'm going more simplistic.
1. Spend more time outside. Granted this is easier down here where the temperature was 65 degrees. Not sure I would be thinking about this if I was still back in the U.P. Although, we did have fun sledding on multiple days.
2. Be more mindful. This fits into so many aspects of my life right now.
3. Find the time to do some exercise. I'm not making a plan of do this or do that for x amount of time because I never do it.
4. Get back to to-do lists.
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Hmm...some updates:
1. We are in the process of buying a house. Can I say I hate this process? It is stressful. It is confusing. And there are so many questions and what ifs. Ugh...
2. Grace is still our Grace (and sometimes Gracie). She fills our life with sooo much joy and laughter. Currently she is painting her thank you cards while I write this post. She loves anything princess and pink and watches Tinker Bell daily. She has been a hoot this Christmas. She was obsessed with baby Jesus in the nativity. She "fixed" the Christmas tree every single day.
3. We spent a week in the U.P. over the break. I love getting to see my family, and Grace loves spending time with Landon, my nephew who is only one year older than she is. I ate way too much food, played Farkle and Phase 10, built a puzzle with my dad and Caleb, and just spent time with my family.

And we have one more day of football until we have to go back to reality...work.