Sunday Celebration

We drove over to Unionville today because Brent's good friend Rustin was in town. His dad was being baptized, and Rustin and his brother Ryan had the honor of baptizing him. It was a cool thing to see. After church the whole family and some close friends had lunch at the church. We were invited to stay, and obviously Gracie was glad to get to eat!
Gracie and her cousins Kalyn and Madison eating together after church.

Brent and Rustin haven't really changed that much since high school. Well, maybe their looks have changed a little, but their humor is still the same. They have a lot of laughs together.

Last Saturday of August

It was such a beautiful Saturday that we spent most of the time outside. We walked down to our neighborhood park and Gracie wanted Ella to try out the baby swing. Ella wasn't thrilled, but she didn't seem too bothered by it either.
While we were at the park we played a little racquetball. Gracie is getting much better, but still has a little coordination issue to work out. That would be my genes at play!
We also drug out the bounce house and put it up in the front yard. Two neighbors came over to play with Gracie but after they left, Ella took a turn. I had filled it up with bouncy balls so the kids could bounce around and the balls would jump up, so that was really all Ella was interested in. She didn't get to stay in for long since she could easily choke on a ball.

Brave Gracie

Today Gracie had to do a very big thing. She has had a little issue with warts. It started with one wart that she got when she was two. Several people, including one doctor, said due to her age we should wait to treat it. I think that was a bad move, because now at 4 years of age she has 5 warts on her hands. Two were so tiny that we didn't even know they were there until the doctor mentioned them, but 3 were growing larger. Today she went to a dermatologist in Kirksville to have the first 3 frozen. She did a good job.
This was a very happy Gracie before the procedure.

Here is a proud but slightly bandaged up Gracie. She was heavily rewarded by the doctor for being such a good patient, so 3 stickers and one sucker later she was all smiles! The next trip won't be as pleasant since she will know what is coming, but at least round one went well.

Ella Meet's Pooh

This week I dug out some of Gracie's old baby toys and let Ella play. Pooh was a huge hit! Brent's parents got Pooh for Gracie when she was little. He walks along and says, "Pooh can walk. I can walk faster. Pooh can run." He moves faster and faster as time goes on. Ella laughed and talked to him for a long time.
I think they will be good friends!

Pooh got his first slobbery kiss from Ella. Hope he liked it as much as we do!

Oopsie! What have I started???

Ella absolutely loves a new product I found at Wal-Mart. It is a quick-dissolving cracker called a Mum Mum. They come in rice and vegetable flavors, and she enjoys them both. They are wonderful because it gives her some freedom to try feeding herself and also gives me a minute if I need to do something. Brent is terrified of them, but I never leave her alone with one and so far she has never even gotten gagged on them.
I liked this picture because her eyes capture her feeling toward being able to feed herself. It's like, "Look what I can do!"

This is where I began to ask myself what I was thinking. A few days ago I let Gracie pretend to be a baby and get in Ella's crib, and it has carried over. Each day she wants to play baby, and today it meant getting in Ella's highchair. I think I might have corrected this problem though, because I said if she was going to be in the highchair she had to eat baby food.

Today's menu consisted of Stage 1 Carrots, and she didn't like them. Game over!

Back to School Picnic

Last night was the Atlanta Back to School Picnic. Brent had to be there of course to introduce the teachers and talk to the parents about their concerns. It was a pretty fun picnic. Gracie enjoyed playing on the playground with some of the other kids. Brent came out to the playground for a while, so I took a picture of Gracie with her daddy on the wooden train.

Getting Smarter Everyday

Ella has been maneuvering around in her Bumbo seat for quite a while, but it's officially no longer safe to leave her unattended in it. She's really close to finding her way out, and it will probably be a nosedive when it happens. For those that aren't familiar with a Bumbo seat, she's twisted around backwards in it and trying to climb over the back.

This can't be comfortable, but Ella will struggle for a long time trying to work her way out.

There Were Two In the Bed

Gracie has been flirting with baby tendencies once in a while ever since Ella arrived. Today she took it to a new level, which I allowed. I didn't figure it would hurt anything. After lunch Gracie wanted to get in Ella's crib, so I let her. I told her that babies are only in the crib to take a nap, so she needed to take a nap. :-) She then pretended to sleep. To add to her fun, I added Ella to the mix. Ella thought it was pretty fun having company in her bed!

Faker!!!! Gracie wasn't asleep of course, but that was part of the game.

Gracie's instructions to Ella were as follows: "OK, now we are going to cry and Mama will have to come and feed us. Wah...Wah..." (Notice that Gracie has her old tattered beddy bear blanket and Ella had her matching but cleaner elephant blanket.)

"OK, now we are going to sleep, Ella. Close your eyes."

Um, Ella...I think your eyes are supposed to be closed.

The babies didn't sleep long and they woke up happy and refreshed!

ER Fair in Moberly

Moberly Regional Medical Center hosted a Kid's Fair on the hospital lawn and parking lot today. We had signed the girls up to go, and I'm so glad we did. I didn't know much about it except that they advertised games and food. :-) It sounded like a winning combination for Gracie! It ended up being one of the neatest FREE experiences we have had with Gracie.Gracie posed with Dr. Bear who was working the crowd during the fair. She told my dad that Dr. Bear was just a person in a costume, because she could see her eyes through the mask.

The Fire Department was there with their trucks and let Gracie try out the driver's seat.

The fireman gave Gracie some neat coloring books and goodies to take home.
There were over 30 booths you could walk to for freebies and literature on different things affecting kids. Most of the booths had games or goodies for the kids.

We bumped into Gracie's cousin Elsie who was having a good time at the fair also. Notice the yummy cotton candy Gracie got.
Every child got a free bike helmet as long as you stood in line to get fitted for one.
The Tae Kwon Do Academy demonstrated cool moves and had a game to play.
While Grandpa and Gracie checked out the helicopter, the pilot checked out Ella.

The Emergency Room was open for kids to take a teddy bear for a check-up. Gracie's bear hurt its head, so the nurse bandaged it up and gave her some care instructions for the bear. He's due back for another check-up in 2 weeks.

The X-Ray technician took a quick x-ray of teddy bear. The x-ray he gave her showed teddy bears hand, complete with a watch and ring on it. :-)
Teddy Bear was feeling much better after his trip to the ER.

The firefighters had a small house that you could pretend was on fire. Each kid got a bucket full of water and was supposed to throw the water on the house. Well, Gracie's technique wasn't too good, so the water all sloshed out of her bucket backwards...on her.

Wet, but happy!

This activity was a little big for Gracie, but she tried anyway. You were supposed to hit a mallet on a target that would then throw a fly into the frogs mouth. Luckily, you got a prize regardless of how well you did. Next year her muscles will be stronger, and maybe she will do better.

This was one of the cutest things they did. The MODOT crew had set up an obstacle course that you could ride tricycles through. A MODOT worked told you to watch out for road work ahead and to follow the signs they held up.

Gracie successfully yielded while another boy rode his tricycle through her lane.
They helped Gracie navigate her tricycle around a road block. Those men were so good with her.

Gracie completed the obstacle course, all smiles and proud of her accomplishment!

Little lefty tried out her arm in the baseball throw. We'll keep working on that one!
Cheese, Daddy! Gracie knew how to earn some brownie points with her daddy.

Gracie really enjoyed trying out some super soccer kicks.

The grand finale of the fair was all of the bouncing and sliding toys. We heard the phrase, "Again, again. One more time." over and over and over and over! What a good time we had. Gracie said her favorite part was the slide, but I told her my favorite part was seeing her in the firetruck and watching her ride through the obstacle course.

Ella's Big Excitement

Ella was in Gracie's room while I dressed Gracie, and she discovered a pretend baby bottle on the floor. It's the kind that has a white liquid in it, so it looks like milk. Now, Ella is still very fond of eating with Mommy, but she knows what a bottle is since she does use one 2 days a week while I work. I just sat back and snapped pictures as she tried to figure out what to do. This photo captured her surprise and delight to see "food" on the floor that she could eat.

She got it up to her mouth pretty quickly, but couldn't figure out how to get it in her mouth.
This little bottle got away from her a few times, but she kept trying.

This didn't seem right either....

But finally, success...kind of. It was in her mouth, but didn't produce the desired result, so she threw it aside and played with something else pretty quickly. On a side note, so far Gracie is very good about sharing her toys with Ella. I know that will probably end, but for now it's nice to see.