Just Because...

So today was a day of nothing but cleaning...cleaning out the laundry/storage room, cleaning our bedroom, cleaning G's bedroom...you name it we cleaned it. Not sure where our motivation came from but at least it is all done and we can relax for the next two days off. While cleaning today I decided to change out some pictures in the frames that we have just for a change. I went to change one of Grayce and stacked behind was a bunch of other pictures. Pictures that I am guessing were once in the frame but got changed out. Well there was one in particular that I just had to post. Her smile in this picture is so sweet! When she was really little I used to put her in the laundry basket with the clothes when I was carrying the clothes in to be washed. She always thought it was so funny that mommy would put her in the laundry basket (I wonder if this has anything to do with her obsession in sitting in the laundry basket while watching TV...LOL?)

If that smile does not brighten your day, then go back to bed :0).

The next two pictures are of Grayce at the Zoo.

Nine Months...

Four years old...

I have been looking for the nine months one since I took the four year one almost a year ago (OMG...she is almost FIVE!). I knew I had it here somewhere and I have been wanting to compare them side by side. I finally found it today while I was cleaning. Too cute!

This last one was last night at the Reds game. Eric and Grayce went on a daddy-daughter date. They had a blast!!! This picture is so cute but it makes me so sad because it makes me think of my grandpa and how much he would have loved this picture. My grandpa was the biggest Reds fan around. He never missed listening to a game. When Grayce was nine months old I took her and had her picture taken with a cute little Reds outfit and a baseball bat and glove, and he just loved it. I don't have it here on my computer but do at work. I will have to try and remember to send it home so I can post it on here. Anyway...I miss my grandpa! :0(

Favorite Foto Friday! The Black and White Edition

First off I must say that I LOVE BLACK AND WHITE photos! I must agree with Sarah over at Kiss the Frog 4 Me when she said "the feel of certain pictures changes when you change them to black and white". Some of my favorite photos have come out of changing them to black and white. Here are a few of my faves!

Her first kiss. I have no idea who the little boy is, he just randomly came up to her while we were on vacation and wanted to give her a mooch.

Baby in a basket.

My mom's friend Terry takes the best pictures!

Hitching a ride with papaw.

G and Papaw. I actually framed this one for him for Father's Day last year.

I love this one. It is actually hanging in my living room.

OCD much!?

So I think my child has a mild (okay maybe a little more than mild :0)) case of OCD when it comes to bedtime. These are the items that HAVE TO be in her bed each and every night, and of course they MUST be in their proper place.

1. Prayer bear
2. Bear with papaw's picture on it
3. Water (WITH ICE!!!)
4. Spare Woobies
5. Bunny is under there somewhere
6. Ice Pack (I have yet to figure this one out)
7. Fan pointed directly at her (even if it is 10 below zero) (not pictured)
8. Glade Plugins Scented Oil Light Show-ON! (not pictured)
9. Tinkerbell Christmas lights-ON! (not pictured)

Once all of these things are in their proper place (heaven forbid you put the prayer bear on the inside of the papaw bear) then mommy has to give her kisses and tuck her in. During this time daddy is not permitted in the room. Once mommy has given her kisses and tucked Grayce in, THEN daddy can come in, but ONLY after mommy has gone out and told him that Grayce wants her kisses. Once daddy gives her kisses THEN she will go to sleep. If these things are not in their proper place and/or done in the correct order then just forget it...you have ruined her night! LOL!

Loving my crazy girl...

Going for the Gold!

So as most American (and I am sure other countries as well) little girls do around the Olympics, Grayce has become a big gymnastics fan. In particular she has taken a liking to the balance beam. My oh so creative dad made her a balance beam of her own in their garage this past weekend out of some scrap wood he had laying around. Ladies and gentlemen, your future Olympic Gold balance beamer...

My dad said she spent hours out there playing on that thing. How cute!

And then just because...here is what I came home to last Thursday night after the concert...

How cute is that? I love them!!!

Missing My Girl

It is Saturday which means that Grayce is spending the night with mamaw and papaw. I have not been feeling well today...feels like strep. I have been in bed resting all day. Eric has been so good to me today and has stepped up in helping around the house.

I miss my girl when she is not here. I can't wait to see her tomorrow!!! I don't really have any fun new photos to post today because we really have not done much this week, so I will post a picture from back in June when we took G to Kings Island for the first time. Her face in this picture makes me laugh so much. Anytime I am in a bad mood I look at this picture and it instantly cheers me up. This was her first ride on the Beastie and she loved it! She made her brother go back and ride it with her a second time. My girl is for sure going to be a roller coaster girl, which is good because we are all roller coaster lovers. Now her cousin Rylan on the other hand...well she is the one in front of G and I. As you can tell by the look on her face she was not pleased to be on the Beastie.

Missing my girl...

Favorite Foto Friday

It's Favorite Foto Friday! Today's theme is Friends with Stuffing. Grayce doesn't really have a favorite stuffed animal (she switches them all of the time), but there has always been one constant in Grayce's life and that would be her wooby (the name wooby came from the movie Mr Mom). Wooby was a baby shower gift that I had gotten from our family friend Terry. I had originally given it to G when she was about 6 months old, because we were getting ready to go on our first vacation and I had read that it would make it easier if she had something from home to make her more comfortable. Since then it (he as she calls it) has never left her side. When she was about 1 I read that they were discontinuing the specific one that she loves so I went and bought all of them that I could find. One day she saw the spares in the top of my closet and from then on now has to sleep with all of them. She has her favorite though. It has a "special" corner. The corner is full of little nubbies (for a lack of a better word) from being washed. We are currently on our second favorite since she lost the first one at Kroger about 9 months ago...that was a very rough day!!! When G starts "clicking" her wooby then you know it is time for bed. She basically holds it up to her mouth and does some kind of clicking noise with her tongue. She doesn't suck the blanket, just holds it up to her mouth. Wobby goes everywhere with us (just the favorite one...the rest stay on here bed). Here are some pictures of G and her wooby.

And then just out of pure randomness here is a picture of my sister (Hallie), my dad (Steve), and me at the Def Leppard/Billy Idol concert last night.

"Glue, glue, stick to the glue. Stick to the glue my darlin'!"

Our conversation on the ride home from school yesterday...

Me: How was your field trip today?
G: Fine.
Me: What did you guys do?
G: They read us a story and then we got to dance.
Me: Well that sounds fun. What song did you guys dance to?
G: You know, that stick to the glue song.
Me: No, sing it for me.
G: Glue, glue stick to the glue. Glue, glue, stick to the glue. Glue, glue stick to the glue. Stick to the glue my darlin'.

It took everything in my body not to laugh...I didn't want to her know it was wrong because I wanted to get in on video, and I was able to. Here it is (ignore her nasty looking hair...they had just got done playing in the water table at school right before I had picked her up).

Other than this fun little song, nothing really going on. Josh (Eric's 16 year old son) came out last night and will be with us until Sunday. It is always fun when he is with us because Grayce just adores him. Any time that she hears he is coming she gets so excited..."JOSHIE IS COMING!!!". He is very good and very patient with her. We went and got snow cones last night and they of course loved that. Grayce was up super late last night. She usually does that Josh's first night back with us because she is just so super excited and wants to spend time with him.

Is anyone out there? If you are visiting please leave a comment. I feel like I am talking to myself...which is okay, but it would be much better if this could be interactive.

Two Funny Videos!

Not much going on with us. We had our sweet corn that we bought at the festival for dinner last night and it was WONDERFUL!!! After that Hallie came over to check her email and that was it...we lead such a glamorous life!!!

I have two videos that I thought I would post today since we are so boring and I have nothing to post about. LOL! The first one is from the other day when we were swimming at my mom and dad's. I tried to post it with the other pictures that I posted but for some reason my computer didn't feel like doing it properly that day so I thought I would try it again. I will call this one, "When Alligators Attack"...

This next one was from last night...I guess we did have a little entertainment. LOL! Any guesses as to who was the one offering up the entertainment? You guessed it, Ms. G herself. I will call this one "When No One is Looking"...(you can't really hear the music but she is playing with her Hannah Montana Learn to Dance Mat. Keep an eye out for that tooshie shake...hilarious!)

I cannot believe that she did not see us standing in her door way when she was doing her turns. She is going to be a star that's for sure!

Sweet Corn Festival

This past weekend was the annual Sweet Corn Festival and of course we had to go. Here are some of the pictures that I took.

Riding the train

Going down the super big slide

Bounce House fun!

And this next picture just made me realize how big my girl is getting. Just this past spring these jammies had to be rolled up because they were so big on her. She would slip and slide all over the kitchen floor because they were so long. Now...they fit her perfectly!




And just because, here is a sleepy G this morning. I had to wake her up which is very unusual. Normally she is waking me up.

Down By the Cool of the Pool

Just some fun pool pictures from yesterday.

Trying to get papaw wet

(No, she is not in there alone. Her dad was behind her)

Keeping her daddy hydrated

Chillin' out with her two favorite guys

A very spoiled and lazy G making papaw move her around

Off to Mamaw and Papaw's House

Not much going on today. Eric is at work and Grayce and I just ran to Krispy Kreme (YUM-O) for breakfast. Right now we are just sitting here watching Hannah Montana (her fave!) and she is coloring. She just stopped me to tell me that she wrote me a poem. Here is her poem:

Mom

Fom

Lom

Som

How cute is that? She was so proud!


Grayce is going to spend the night with mamaw and papaw tonight. She normally will go over there for the night on Saturday's if they are not doing something. She looks forward to this all week long asking "how many more sleeps until mamaw and papaw's?". Mamaw and Papaw sure do love to spoil her...actually I can't really think of anyone who doesn't. I bought this bag a few weeks ago from the gift shop at Young's Dairy:

Isn't that hilarious! That pretty much sums up her time at their house.

So Eric and I have the night to ourselves. Nothing planned. Maybe we will go rent a movie. Or maybe we will be in bed asleep at 8:30 like last night. HA HA!

Well since Grayce is going to mamaw and papaw's house I thought I would post some pictures with her and them. Here comes the cuteness!

Grayce and Papaw-OBX 2007

Grayce, Mamaw, and Papaw-OBX 2007

Grayce and Papaw-OBX 2007

Ok, so all of the beach pictures are making me wish it was October and we were on our way there.

Favorite Foto Friday

Well this is my first time participating and this weeks Favorite Foto Friday theme is "Back to School". Well since Grayce is still in preschool and not technically going "Back to School" I figured I would just share a few of my favorite photos that I have taken while at different events at her preschool. With the approach of school starting it has made me realize just how glad I am that she missed the cut off to start Kindergarten this year (by only 30 days). Not because she is not ready...believe me she is so ready. But because I am not ready! I think I would be a mess right now if she were to be starting Kindergarten next week! Just thinking about how she COULD HAVE started this year if she were born 30 days earlier makes me tear up a little. I am so not ready!!!

School Pictures

Making our bird feeders on "Grayce Day"

(each kid got their own special day in April)

Grayce and Hannah being silly before the Easter egg hunt

Grayce and me...extreme close up

Somewhere Under The Rainbow

This is the picture of us that Grayce drew this morning to cheer me up.

I love that we are all holding each others hands

Amazing Grayce!

I woke up this morning and went to the computer to go pay bills. After seeing the lack of money that we will have after paying those bills (bad bill week) I got a little teary eyed. Grayce walked around the corner and saw me crying and came over and asked what was wrong. I told her that I was just upset that we didn't have as much money as I thought we would after paying bills. She looked at me and said "mommy, you can have the money in my piggy bank". Of course I told her that I would never take her money. She then gave me a big ol' hug and told me that everything would be alright. She is just so sweet. She then helped clean up around the house (without being asked to) and after that went and drew me a picture of herself, Eric and I under a rainbow. Is she really only 4 (almost 5)? She is so wise beyond her years. She knows just what to do to make me happy. The pure joy that she brings me on a daily basis is indescribable! Her pure sweetness has made me very emotional today, and I cannot stop thinking of how blessed I am. She made me forget all about the money issues with her kindness. How did I get so lucky to be given the opportunity to be her mother? I just hope I don't let her down.

Now for the cuteness!

A nice clean Grayce after her bath

Sleeping Beauty

Our Trip To Young's Dairy

This past weekend Grayce had her friend Lawson over. We took the girls to Young's Dairy for a little game of putt-putt as well as some ice cream...you just can't go to Young's and not get ice cream. They had a blast but these pictures will only make it more obvious that I never have my camera at the right time. I had my camera with me when we were inside eating our ice cream, but stupidly put my purse in my car while we went to putt-putt. Where was the camera for the what would have been great putt-putt pictures??? In my purse, in my car! DUH! These pictures are still cute though.

Grayce and Lawson

Grayce and Josh

Grayce and Daddy

We all had a great time. Grayce is actually surprisingly good at putt-putt. The first time we went (a few months ago) she walked up to the very first hole putted the ball and got a hole in one, and proceeded to get two more during that game. It was so funny. She thought that was so cool, because not even mommy and daddy could do that.

My First Post

Well this would be my first post on here. I have started this page mainly to force myself to take more pictures of Grayce. I am horrible at remembering to take my camera along to get that perfect shot of whatever we happen to be doing on any given day. My hope is that this will help me remember. Also, I think it would be a great way of letting family and friends see what the little princess is up to as well as give Grayce something to look back at. I will try and update it as often as possible with a new picture for each post. I will start with a video. This is an oldie but it is one of my favorites. This was last fall right around her birthday. She just started signing some random song and doing this adorable dance with it. I asked her what she was singing and she said it was a song she saw on Jojo's Circus. Usually if she does something cute and then we ask her to do it for the camera she will get all shy and never do it. Not this time though. She gladly showed off her statue dance and the results were priceless: