Babysitting Cousin Corbin

Gracie wanted to try out her photography skills again. I decided two are an armful. God knew I wasn't strong enough for that!

I am watching my cousin's baby for the next month on Monday's and Friday's. His name is Corbin and he is 3 months old. I was a little worried about it since Ella is still so young, but yesterday was the first day and it went remarkably well. That probably means there are rougher days ahead! Ella and Corbin weren't exactly on the same schedule, which was probably a good thing when it came to feedings. It was a bad thing as far as me getting anything done around the house. Oh, well. I think Gracie will appreciate her little sister more now, because she decided Corbin was loud compared to Ella. His big boy lungs were more developed than Ella's lungs. In his defense, he was having some gas issues, so he's probably not normally so fussy.

A Weekend In Keokuk

Ella and Kathleen getting acquainted.

Mike and Angie
Bruce and Ella

Multi-talented Vian...singing and holding Ella. She's obviously a grandma!
Gracie teaching Kathleen her revised rules for playing pool.
Ella snuggling with Angie.
Matthew looks good holding a baby!
Vian, how did you get Ella again? Are you the baby hog?! :-)

Mikie got to hold Ella for the first time! So sweet.
Ray even got in on the action and took a turn. Looks like he's a natural.


We had a wonderful weekend visit to Kahoka and Keokuk. It was short and fast paced so we didn't get everywhere we needed to go, but it was fun. Hopefully we can go back soon. I'm sitting here wondering how I left without getting a picture of Melissa, Joel, Mike, Todd or Ashton holding Ella. Next time, be prepared. I'm after ya!

A Tired Trio

All 3 girls fell asleep at the same time one night this week. They looked so funny grouped together I had to take a picture. It's not a very good picture, but it captured the moment. Molly used to get to lay on the couch when we were first married, but that has obviously changed. She now has a rug to lay on. Poor dog!

Napoleon Dynamite Jr.

We spent a lot of time outside this morning while Ella was napping, and Gracie wanted to dig in the dirt. She had on her short-sleeved shirt, Capri's and her good tennis shoes. I told her she couldn't dig in her good shoes so she needed to get her play shoes on. She came back with her snow boots and said they would be perfect for digging, so I allowed her to wear her snow boots with her Capri's. I only had one thought as I watched her running around in her boots and Capri's. Napoleon Dynamite would be proud!

Gracie's Church Program

Gracie in her favorite dress for her spring church program.

This is what scared 3 and 4 year old children look like when it's dark and they can't see their mommy and daddy's faces!
Gracie singing "This Little Light of Mine" with the other children in Little Lambs.

Gracie and the kids in the Little Lambs choir at church had their spring program tonight. It was a little scary for them since their leader was gone due to a family situation. They did a good job singing their 3 songs. It's always hard to look out into a dark auditorium and see nothing when you want to see your parents smiling at you, but they did well despite that. It was huge progress for Gracie since she didn't sing a word at Christmas during the church program. We were all very proud of her, and more importantly, she was really proud of herself.

Putnam County Alumni Baseball Game

Brent was working out those shoulder muscles while pitching!
I think the farthest Brent made it was first base, but of course that wasn't his fault.

Today we went to Unionville so that Brent could participate in the Putnam County Alumni Baseball Game. They started baseball his senior year of high school, so he missed out on three years, but he really enjoyed it. His uncle coached him, so it was a really fun experience. Anyway, they sponsored an alumni game today as a fundraiser, and Brent went back to play. Thanks to all of the rain the baseball field was under water, so it turned into an indoor game of spongeball. There were a lot of rules that I won't go into, but it was pretty much a game of glorified wiffle ball. It was still fun to watch and gave us quite a few laughs. Gracie was pretty excited to see her daddy playing ball. And yes, you guessed it, Brent is already needing his back rubbed thanks to using muscles that haven't been used in a while. I told him that whoever appointed him pitcher should have to come home with us to ice his shoulder and rub him down. He was never a pitcher, so it was a workout for him.

Gracie's School Program

Gracie really impressed us tonight! Her spring program was tonight and her preschool class sang two patriotic songs. Gracie participated and did everything she was supposed to do. She had to wave a flag while she was singing, so it was pretty cute. I taped her because Brent was at a track meet, and as I watched it later with him I realized she kept checking her arm out to make sure she was holding her flag up really straight. I had told her to hold her flag higher than any of the other kids, so I guess she was trying. I was just hoping to inspire her to sing, because at Christmas she wouldn't sing a word at her program. In fact, she cried and had to be led off to the side of the stage by the principal of the school. She had several fans come to watch her, so she kept smiling and waving at us all. Mama (Brent's mom) and Granny (Brent's grandma) came from Unionville. Wapa (my dad) , Nana (my mom) and Nana Kaser (my grandma) came from Moberly. She had a good time. We just hope she will have a repeat performance on Sunday when she has her church program. Until then...

Spring in Macon!

This was Gracie leaping in the air with excitement this week on a gorgeous spring day. She was so thrilled to be outdoors in only a jacket.
Gracie likes to strike a pose once in a while, and this was one of those moments.

What Has Ella Been Up To?

Just hanging out in her swing. This is what happens when Mommy forgets to strap her in!
Cheese! Ella is good for a few laughs right now as she breaks into huge smiles a lot!
My two pretty girls. They sure are fun!

Ella has been getting pretty active as you can see in the picture of her lifting her legs up after a diaper change.
Ella has also been helping around the house. Laundry is one of her strong points.
This day I just wanted Ella to look at the camera, but she wanted to show off her dance moves. She was actually bobbing her head around looking at things, but when you look at these pictures in succession, it looks like she was trying out some new dance moves.

Gracie's Prayers

I know I eluded to this in one other blog post, but Gracie is suddenly the master of prayers. She went through a very self-conscious period where she didn't want to pray at all. Then one day after preschool her teacher said, "Gracie prayed a very nice prayer today at snack time." From then on, she has wanted to be the pray-er at every meal. It's really cute because she bows her head, and then her eyes come open and she seems to thank God for everything she can see with her head down, so it usually goes something like this..."Dear God, Thank you for our legs, our feet, our shoes, napkins, forks, spoons and our food. Amen." Last week I had just spooned some pasta into her bowl when she said, "Mommy, I want pancakes." I told her she was having pasta and we would have pancakes some other day. Her prayer that night went as follows..."Dear God, Thank you for our table, and that I sure wish we could have pancakes. Amen." Yes, I had to laugh. It's just too funny sometimes.

The pictures I'm posting are of Gracie rediscovering all of the toys she played with as a baby. She loves to come to Ella's room and drag everything out. Many of the toys she never even liked, but she sure does now. She can make a mess in her room and then come to Ella's room and do the same thing all over again!

Miss America

Tonight is the Live Miss America Pageant. They had on dresses when it started, and then the next competition was the swimsuit competition. Gracie and I were playing a princess game when she noticed that they were now wearing bathing suits. She said, "Why did they take their dresses off?" I said because now they are having a bathing suit competition. Gracie's reply was, "Now they are ready for the pool." She was very disappointed when we never did get to see the pretty girls in the pool. When the evening gown competition came on, Emily tried to brain wash Gracie by telling her that the dresses that showed too much cleavage or too much leg were torn. By the 5th or 6th girl, Gracie had it down and would say, "Oh, hers is torn too. I think she needs to get a new dress."

Playdates and Tea Parties

Gracie had a neighbor who is 5 years old over today for a playdate. Gracie decided she wanted to have a tea party. Emma came over with her arsenol of princess dresses, shoes, tiaras, etc. After they dressed up we set up the tea party and they enjoyed cookies, pretzels and grapes while they sipped their tea. I left them for a while and when I came back Gracie was telling Emma, "Princesses lift their pinky up when they drink tea." I guess it was a proper tea party!

Now for an Ella story...this afternoon she was asleep on my chest and must have been having a good dream. She let out 3 or 4 giggles, and it was so funny. She has been cooing lately, but to hear her laugh made me so happy. She will be a lot more fun for Gracie once she can interact a little more. Actually, Gracie is pretty happy just to see her smile and coo. It won't be long until I'll be blogging conversations I'm having with Ella, huh?!

More Weekend Travels

We don't really spend much time at home on the weekends. This weekend we went to Unionville on Saturday to help with some projects around the Doolin homestead. Janice is having her ceilings painted, logs cleaned and sealed (it's a log cabin), some walls painted, some walls wallpapered and that all means that we had to move things around in order to make room for the painter. We had a good time even though it meant work! Luckily it was a nice day outdoors, so the kids could go outside and not be under foot during most of it. I guess I was too distracted with the tasks at hand to take many pictures, but I did get a funny one of Ella. Janice was holding her and Ella had fallen asleep with her face covered by her hands. It looked like she had to cover her face to block out the noise or something. It was pretty precious.

Top 5 List

Top 5 things Gracie said this week that cracked me up:

5) No, Mommy. Don't call me Gracie. You need to call me Princess Snow White.

4) Dear God, Thank you for our feet, socks, shoes, legs, carpet, tables and all the people. Amen.(prayer said at supper)

3) I need a consultation. I mean, a constellation.

2) Mommy can I hold Ella? Yea! (holding Ella) Take her quick, Mommy. She stinks. I think she's poopy. Mommy? Mommy? Hurry! Are you coming? She really stinks.

1) (Praying again) Dear God, thank you for Ella, thank you for Lane and Emma (our neighbors) and help them to be good and truthful and thank you for chips and cheese. (Chips and cheese are her name for Taco Bell nachos...but we weren't eating at Taco Bell when she prayed this.)

Ella's Big Accomplishments This Week

5) She can hold herself up in her Bumbo seat for a very long period of time.

4) She is so attentive and alert. She's always bobbing her head around trying to take everything in.

3) Ella is cooing and making the sweetest little baby sounds. She loves it if you mimic her.

2) She didn't cry during her baths. She cries after her baths, but not during. That's progress!

1) Ella's poo is starting to stink! :-) (Gracie thought that was worth mentioning.)

Happy 2nd Month, Ella

Ella's 2nd Month Birthday Picture

She's already strong enough for the Bumbo Seat!

Ella is really interested in her big sister!

Wide-eyed Ella with her toys.

What a sweet little baby!