Princess Camila's Fancy Birthday

Grace was invited to a princess party at her friend Camila's house. I'm embarrassed to report that when Grace received the invite she said "What?! It at her house? It not at a play place?" I don't even know what to say- all my parties growing up were at home. If I wanted to clean our house well enough, hers would be there too. My little party snob dressed up as Tinkerbell and we went to Camila's house for what was the fanciest party we've been to. We were only there for two minutes before Grace was getting a makeover- complete with hair, nails and makeup. There was lots of princess activities and crafts. We had so much fun! And Grace loved telling me how "fancy" she was.

It's Ok

Grace has been potty trained for a few months now but still wears her pull up at night. Most mornings when I go into her room, the first words out of her mouth are "It's ok Mommy- it's ok. It's ok to go a little in my pull-up at night. It's ok- don't worry!"

Zoo Class

It has been over a year since I took Grace to zoo class and because she has developed a fear of some animals, we decided it was time to try it again. We asked Grace's friend Lily to join us. The first class I sent her in by herself so I could get Kate out of the stroller. She went in but came running out two seconds later. Nut Nut- a big macaw was sitting on his perch in the middle of the room. We watched part of that class from the hall. Once Nut Nut left, she did fine in the class. Here she is petting a snake!

Grace really likes doing the craft part of the class. (Kate just likes to watch)

After class the girls posed for a photo

Scheduled Neighbor Time

We have been so busy this month that we haven't even seen our neighbors, the Lees. We decided to schedule a dinner with them so we could catch up. We all had lots of fun- especially the girls. Grace loves that Ella shares her love of dressing up- here are Tinkerbell and Sleeping Beauty at dinner- eating at their own table!

The "little kids" had to have dinner with us ;o)

PJ Day at School

This month they had PJ day at school. Grace thought this was hysterical. She laughed about it to herself for a week before the day. It was really funny. I would catch her talking to herself and laughing "Pjs at school?! That is so silly!" It was definitely one of her favorite days.

Sleeping Beauty

Happy Birthday Allison and Katherine Bibb

Grace had a fun weekend of birthday parties. On Saturday she went to her friend from church Allison's gymnastics birthday party. Grace has never done any gymnastics and she loved it! She went right into the gym and didn't even look back to see if we were coming with her. She loved running and jumping through all the obstacles and activities. She even jumped down about 3 feet into a pit of foam blocks. It took her about 10 minutes to "swim out" and didn't want to do it again, but I was proud of her for trying.

On Sunday, she went to a dance party for her friend Katherine Bibb from dance class. They were asked to dress like a ballerina or a princess. She decided to be Sleeping Beauty and had a great time.

Kate Pictures and First Illness

Grace had had a cold for a couple of weeks so we weren't surprised when Kate's nose started to get stuffy. She was very pitiful for a few days before it finally cleared up. Unfortunately her 3 month pictures were scheduled in the middle of her cold ;o( I took her anyway and she did really well considering she felt bad. Her eyes are watery in some shots but we got a few good ones. Thanks to Gayle for coming with me to help!

Kate- 3 months!

Katie Kate! We can't believe you are three months old. Everything is going great! You are eating well, sleeping well and playing well. You are still drinking 6 oz at a feeding- 8am, 12pm, 4pm, 6pm and 8pm. You started this pattern a few weeks ago and it's great. A little crazy you eat so much in the last few hours but after that 8pm feeding you are tired and go right to bed. And we don't usually hear from you until 8am. You take great naps during the day too- 2 1/2 hours in both the morning and the afternoon. You sleep in your crib during the day but still with us at night. You probably don't need to be with us but we can't find one piece of the monitor to make it work ;o) (I have a feeling that when you are 20 and reading this, you won't be surprised). You still have a very sensitive tummy- everyone in the house knows it if I had anything green, dairy or any caffeine. You can almost roll over if you want to get your pacifier. You don't pull the shoulder up when you roll otherwise you would completely roll over. You are just discovering your hands and trying to control them. You keep pulling your pacifier out and then crying. Grace thinks that is "very silly." We can't wait to see how you change this month!

Leave the Sun On

Every day before nap, the girls and I read a story in Grace's bed. Then Kate and I leave and Grace is allowed to read one story before she has to lie down. She went through a phase where she would whine for me to leave the light on. I always said no but reminded her she could see because the sun shown through her window. She is finally satisfied with that and no longer asks me to leave the light on. But every day she asks me to "leave the sun on."

Happy 92nd Birthday Great Grandma!

After Caroline's party, we headed to Jack's parents for Grace's Great-Grandmother's 92nd birthday. Grace is always up for birthday party and was not disappointed with the two desserts- cupcakes and a cake for Marcella and me!

Pump It Up Party with Caroline

After the Marathon, we ran right over to Grace's friend Caroline's birthday party. Grace had a great time. She has really figured out the system there and has gotten really comfortable with the activities. She told us everything we were going to play with before we even got there.

The only shot I got of the birthday girl- she was moving too fast! Happy Birthday Caroline- I can't believe you are 5!

Marathon Dad

Jack decided to get back into races with the Mercedes Marathon. He hadn't run an "official" race in over a year so we were excited to go and cheer him on. I loaded up the girls and we headed out Sunday morning. In the car, Grace was asking me about when we were going to see her daddy and if we would give him snacks and water since she saw me pack it. I told her we were going to look for him really hard, there was going to be lots of runners. She asked me "what color shirt he wearing?" I know I'm her mother, but man, her intelligence surprises me sometimes. How intuitive to think about what he was wearing and that being a way to spot him.

After we found a good spot to watch for him, in his blue jacket and then green shirt, we started working on our sign. Grace was so proud of her "Go Daddy Go" sign. She then wanted to make a sign for "Daddy's friends" (the other runners). She wanted to know their names- of course I had no idea everyone's names. She was upset with me but finally settled with a "Go Daddy's friends" sign.

We went to several different spots to find him and Grace got very excited every time we found him. This spot was upsetting to her- she did NOT understand why "all those cups on the floor? Why they not pick them up?" It took all I had to hold her back from running out to pick them up.

Jack did great! He finished in under 4 hours which was his goal. Kristen and Jeff came out to cheer him on at the end. It was a great race! Congrats Jack!

Valentine's Day

We had a great Valentine's Day weekend. On Friday, we went to a Valentine's party with my MOMS group. The kids were moving too fast for good pictures but here are the girls enjoying the playground.

On Saturday, we went to a Valentine's Day at Grace's dance school. It was lots of fun- a great family event. Kate slept through the whole thing but Grace and Jack and I had lots of fun dancing. We did the bunny hop, limbo, hokey pokey, hula hoops, and many more.

The highlight was the cupcake walk. There was about 50 people there and 12 cupcakes. We told Grace several times she might not win but she kept insisting she wanted one and would get it. As luck would have it- she won the first one! So..I don't think she understands the cupcake walk..Now she just thinks you walk and get one ;o)

Jack bailed on the limbo after two rounds and I had to take over. My height came in handy for keeping up with Grace.

That evening Jack and I had Chinese takeout and watched a movie. It was a great day!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Since we were in Florida for my birthday and you can go to Disney for free on your day, we decided to give it a try. Honestly we debated bringing Grace because of her fear of characters but after she met Cinderella at a birthday party, we knew we had to take her.

As soon as we got to the Magic Kingdom, Grace started to cry about seeing Mickey Mouse. She and her Nana worked out a plan that when Nana saw him, she would beep her horn on her scooter so Grace could hide.

We decided to go straight to the fairies and princesses. Grace was so patient waiting in line- 15 minutes for the Princesses but over an hour for the Fairies! She never complained, she was so excited! She met Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty first.

Then we went to Pixie Hollow. All Grace could talk about was inviting Tinkerbell to her birthday party. Of course when we got to her, Grace was so nervous she didn't really say much. She was just so excited. It was sad when we left because she realized she didn't ask her but then said she would just mail her an invitation and she will come...

By 1pm we had met 2 princesses, 3 fairies, seen a few more princesses in the parade and eaten lunch. (and strategically avoided Mickey Mouse) That's it. Our visits sure have changed...

We picked up the pace in the afternoon a little- we listened to story time with Belle but then finally went on some rides. Grace's favorite was It's a Small World. But a close second was the car she and Jack drove. She insisted on doing all the steering so it was a very wild ride.

At one point, Grace stopped dead in her tracks and asked me to pick her up. I could tell she was scared but couldn't figure out why. I asked her and she said she did not like "those squirrels." I looked at the overhead trees but didn't see any squirrels. Then I saw Chip and Dale... ;o) We need to review our Disney characters next time we go. It did re-enforce our commitment to avoiding Mickey Mouse.

We had a great day. I had to wear a little button that said "Happy Birthday Michelle" so everyone we saw wished me a happy birthday- it was crazy. It was also fascinating how many people I share a birthday with (since we all had buttons). I like to think of it as only my special day ;o)

The only problem we had all day was Grace's fear of the automatic flush in the restroom. It was miserable for all of us until we worked out a system of my mom straddling the toilet to block the flush and not being allowed to move until Grace left. I really regret not taking a picture of my mom...the things you do for your grandchildren ;o)

Thanks to Jack, Grace and my mom for spending the day with me! And a special thanks to Sarah for watching Kate while we went.

We wore Grace out... Oh- by the way...as we were leaving, Grace said "We not see Mickey Mouse?! Where was he? He on a trip?".....