Father's Day

We all had a great Father's Day. It started out with me waking up Grace early so we could make her Daddy breakfast in bed. She proudly helped make him (as she still likes to tell us) "eggs, gapes, toast, gape jelly and coffee to drink!" If I hadn't been so worried she was going to wake up Jack with about her loud voice giving me a play by play of the breakfast, I would have taken pictures- oh well. She was very cute and helpful. She was very excited to bring the breakfast and presents in to Daddy and wake him up.



Grace made two presents- a koozie at Mother's Day out with her handprint and a tile/coaster she painted with her handprint at storytime. And we bought him some shoes. The shoes weren't much of a surprise. Grace and I went to the store on Wednesday to buy shoes for Father's Day. I didn't think much about it again until we were out on Saturday and someone asked Grace what she got her Dad for Father's Day and she said "Shoes!"

After our breakfast we quickly got ready and drove to see Grace's Pop. She had a good time playing with him and spending time in the pool. She also had a good time playing with her aunts.

We came back home after lunch and enjoyed the rest of the day together. Jack and I (and the new baby) were able to have a nice, relaxing steak dinner after Grace went to bed. It was a great day!

Fly Fishing

I had a conference last week at a resort in North Georgia. They pride themselves in their outdoors sports, especially their golf and fly fishing, so Jack reluctantly tagged along. We had a few hours one of the afternoon to do a "networking" activity. I was eliminated from all the activities- horseback riding, skeet shooting, etc- because of my pregnancy except fly fishing. Jack has been numerous times and I think was a little excited at the prospect of me falling in love with one of his hobbies. I wouldn't say I feel in love- it really wasn't the fishing- it was the over 90 degree heat and 100% humidity with no shade that cut my career short. I did take the lessons and fished for a few minutes so hopefully one day in the future I will be able to use my new skills to catch some dinner.

Congratulations Papa!

A couple of weekends ago we attended my dad's surprise retirement party. It was a small affair with just friends and family celebrating all his accomplishments thus far and years of work. He officially retires the end of July but a few days after this party, the movers came and cleaned out the house so we wanted to have it before that. Grace and Isabella tried not to steal the show too much but they did have matching dresses that said "Hooray Papa" courtesy of Nana.

Everyone was treated to beers from the locations of my dad's various jobs. It was embarrassing to be able to find beers from every state except Alabama. We've got to do something about that....
Jack did a great job with a toast that captured the accomplishments my dad has had and the great ethics he has exemplified. We are very proud of you, Dad G./Wayne/Papa! (and before you start to wonder, I only have one dad- I don't even remember why we refer to each other like that- one of those father/daughter things ;o)- Michelle G.)

Fun Family Activity for a Good Cause

I hope our blog does not have an anti-solicitation policy. In any event, I want all of our faithful readers to know about a great upcoming event which will benefit the Alabama War Dog Memorial Foundation (http://www.awdm.org/). The Paws and Patriots Walk and Festival will be held on September 6 and we would love to have you attend. For more information and to register, please see http://www.pawsandpatriotswalk.com/

We are also looking for additional sponsors for the event. If you know of anyone interested, please let me know.

By the way, these dogs and their handlers are amazing. Even as I write they are working to protect our troops.

Pool Party

Just catching up the blog... We went to a pool party a few weeks ago hosted by our friends Heidi and Lilli. Grace had a great time chillin' with all her friends.

Cats....

Well... I wouldn't really consider myself a "cat person" actually, I don't particularly like them. No offense to my feline friends but I just don't understand them. I've always had a dog who wants companionship, love and fun. Cats just don't seem to be like this... That being said, somehow we now own two cats....Mitch and Monster. We have had raccoon and squirrel problems every year since we moved into this house. Every year a raccoon eats a hole in our roof and make our attic its home. We always catch it after months of trying, Jack has a scary trip for an hour into the woods with the trapped raccoon hissing at him in the back seat to release it and then we patch the hole. A couple of weeks later we start the process again with a new critter.

This year we'd had enough, we've spent too much time and money on this situation so we started to do some research about new ways to get rid of these critters. We learned from several sources that cats will prevent other animals from taking claim on your land and home. So, literally I was desperate and gave in to this idea. Our friends Kevin and Lee had some spare outside cats so Monster and Mitch became ours. Elliot hates them, Grace likes to look for them and the verdict is still out on what the raccoons think...

Dance Class!

On Tuesday, Grace started dance class again. This time dance class is without a parent. All the parents wait in the hallway watching through a one-way mirror (the pictures are a little grainy since we had to look through the mirror). Grace was super excited about dance class and was excited to wear her new dance outfit, complete with ballet shoes. She was also excited her friend Lily (in the blue leotard) is in her class.
Things were a little rough when class started. Most of the ladies were not excited about going into a class without their parents. At all. It was very pitiful to watch all the girls all dressed up screaming and pounding on the door to get out. Grace never cried, just stared very seriously at the others. It was the same teacher as last time so I think she was comfortable with the situation.



Grace had a good time in class. She followed all the directions well and participated, although she was always about two steps behind everyone else. Jack and I have been trying to figure out if she's going to be a loner or just likes to watch everyone else ;o)There is a video on Amy's blog with Grace's solo around the room. She was supposed to be skipping/galloping. Bless her heart, Grace needs to work on these skills- she's as flat footed as she could be.

Pool Party

On Monday, Grace had her first, of I'm sure many, pool parties this summer. Ella came over to join in the fun. Although, Ella did the "swimming," Grace was more interested in watching and eating.
They took a break from swimming to eat lunch. They loved Grace's new picnic table that her Pop made for her.
When everyone was tired, it was time to go home. Grace offered Ella a ride in her wagon and gave a great effort to moving Ella about 2 inches.

Lunch With Ms. Gayle

On Friday, Jack and I had a lunch meeting that wasn't appropriate for Grace to attend. Luckily, our friend Gayle was able to take Grace on her own special lunch. Gayle and Grace have always had a special bond since it was Gayle that told me I was pregnant before even I knew. Grace had a great time going to McDonald's with Ms. Gayle who not only got her french fries with katch-pup-pup, a hamburger and milk- but also goodies including a puzzle, crayons and a pad of paper. Just today we drove by a McDonald's and Grace told me "Oh, I go to lunch at McDonalds with Ms. Gayle."

Grace in Charge

The following is a rough transcript of a conversation between Grace and her Dad around bedtime:

Dad: Grace, you need to go night-night, you have a big day tomorrow

Grace: Gracie wake-up?

Dad: You are going to play

Grace: With?

Dad: Mommy

Grace: Else?

Dad: I don't know, sweetie

Grace: Think!

Horsies!

Michelle had to work on Wednesday of last week, so Daddy and Grace attended the Moms Group outing to the horse farm. The Moms were gracious enough to bend the rules by allowing a Dad to tag along! As usual, Grace talked about "horsies" for the entire drive to the farm, but once we arrived she wanted nothing to do with them. However, Grace (and her friend Lily) enjoyed spectating.

Grace perked up when the Moms started putting out the blankets for the picnic (I forgot our blanket, but someone shared). Grace did tell me to "go to car, get picnic."



After a bountiful lunch, Grace climbed "the mountain" to go see a baby horse. She was the only one of the four mountineers to fall. Once she got to the top, she sang the "I did it" song from Dora the Explorer and then told me "I fall ... I tell Mommy."



Even though Grace was scared of the horses, as we were leaving the farm she said "bye bye horsies ... Daddy, I come back!" She must have had a good time.