Thursday, August 20, 2009

Awesome Family Day

Family time is more priceless for us now that we are back into the grind of things. A little of our week looks like this...daddy goes to work each day from 8-5, mommy keeps kids in the house 7-5, Chad refs on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday nights, Chad coaches soccer on Tuesday and Thursday nights, Chad plays soccer on Friday nights, Chad's boys plays games on Saturday (the girls and I follow him around to all his soccer stuff), Sunday is church in the morning and youth in the evening and then thrown into all that is finding time to grocery shop, birthday parties, wedding showers, baths time, dinner (don't laught...some nights it is hard to find time to eat and bathe) etc. SO...when we find time for the four of us, we just soak it up. This past Saturday we ran errands together all day and ended up at the Mall of Georgia walking around, eating dinner and enjoying an outdoor concert.






Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Mimi and Pops

Grace really loves to draw right now! When I asked her what the above picture was she told me it was Mimi and Pops (Chad's parents). Then I asked what they were doing and she told me they were driving in a car to come her. Soo Sweet!

Thursday, August 13, 2009

I love Pigtails


Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Grace at 3 1/2

Grace continues to grow to a beautiful girl! I sometimes believe she thinks she is older then 3 1/2. She loves playing with her friends but continues to be very motherly to them (and sometimes that gets in the way of a good play date). She loves when I ask her to help watch Olivia. She claims it by stating that she is the "babysitter". She is great with Olivia. She helps her climb onto furniture, holds her hand in the parking lot, picks her up, hugs and kisses her, finds her toys and pacis. And she always MUST give a hug and kiss before they go to bed. Gracie's favorite thing to do right now is write, color or cut. I try to always have a notebook and a pen in my bag when we go out because I know if will entertain her for a while. She does a great job coloring within the lines and she can even help me cut out coupons now! She also likes playing mommy with her baby dolls. She loves puzzles and games as while. Grace is a good eater as long as their is nothing green to eat. I even have a hard time hiding veggies in stuff, she always seems to find it. She loves milk especially chocolate milk! I bet she drinks her weight in fluid every day. She continues to be shy around people at first (even people she is familiar with) but will start showing off within the first few minutes. One of her church preschool teachers told me the other day that she is so sweet and talks to them until a youth volunteer comes into the room and then she goes right to them. She absolutely LOVES our youth group kids. The play with her, give her fun food...really give her whatever she wants. Grace is completely potty trained but we do still put a pull up on at night. She sleeps about 10 hours at night and 50% of the time she takes a nap in the afternoon. She will now say our prayers before meals by blessing our food and family. It is so sweet to hear. Chad and I are having to start working on her little sassy side. Even though it is funny at this young of age we also know we need to nip it in the bud. Here are a few of her sassy comments and actions from the last few weeks...

~ They other day I went to check on Grace as she was suppose to be going potty. I told her that she needed to stop acting up or I was going to spank her. She looked right at my face and said, "No you won't.". I was shocked at her back talk and responded with ,"EXCUSE ME?!". She then went on to say, "You won't spank me because y'all get poop on your hand!".
~ One afternoon I asked Grace to lay down and try to take a nap. She went kicking and screaming in protest. I let it go for a while but finally went into her room to check on her. She was lifting the corner of her quilt where the tag was. Through tears she started yelling at me that, "It says it right here!". Pointing to the tag. When I asked her what it said she read the tag, "Grace does not have to take a nap!". I told her I overruled her quilt.
~ When Grace acts up she either gets time out or something taken away from her. So just today I went to turn the tv off when she was being ugly. Of course she starting crying telling me she wanted to watch tv...and then she asked if she could just have a spanking so she could finish her tv show.
~ This past week as I asked her to rest during a nap she continued to get up and come find me in my bedroom. I threatened that I better not see her again. Just a few minutes later I saw her walking backwards towards me. In my mommy voice I said, "GRACE". Without turning around she said, "It's not Grace...it's just my butt." Where does she get this from?



This is a picture of Grace's chalk drawing outside. It is of her daddy in a stripped shirt under a umbrella. Better good for a three year old to do all by herself.

Monday, August 10, 2009

Happy 1st Birthday Tyler

We enjoyed celebrating my nephew's first birthday this past weekend in South Carolina! Tyler is such a sweet, laid back, little guy. I just love this boy to death. (Get ready for picture overload)







Are these not the cuties cupcakes!!!



Our serious little guy finally got into the smash cake!

Present time!


My girls hanging out with Caleb. I wish you could hear the giggles in this room. What a sweet sound.
Poker!
Hudson and Gracie
Olivia and Tyler

Maw Maw and Paw Paw with all the grandkids
Maw Maw and Gigi



-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
While we were in town we were also able to go to the Bouknight family reunion. Below are just a few pictures but it does not show all the family or the great turn out!





Friday, August 07, 2009

Brownies

Today the girls helped me make brownies. My first thought was I thought Grace and Erin would love cooking. Little did I know that Olivia wanted to get her hands dirty also. She pulled her own chair across the room to the counter top and climbed onto the chair all on her own. The two big girls were very patient with her...because she wanted to do everything! The biggest lesson Olivia learned was that brownies have to cook!

I gave them each a spoon with a little bit of the batter on it...it's the best part!
"I WANT MORE!"
"Please"
This is when we first put them in the oven...
On No...she is about to get upset...
she can't figure out why they have to be in there...
MELTDOWN...so sad and funny all a the same time

Everybody enjoyed brownies with lunch later on in the day.....