Homecoming Week - Day Five

Today was School Spirit day, and I guess I'm just used to seeing Gracie in her Atlanta blue, so I failed to take a picture this morning. It is predicted that we are to get a huge snowstorm in the next few days. Time will tell. There is nothing going on outside as I write this.

Ella is getting pretty excited about her birthday. She will be 3 years old on February 1st. I keep talking to her about being a "big girl." I used to tell her that "big girls" didn't potty in their pants. Potty-training has been ended a long time ago though. Now I tell her that "big girls" sleep all night in their own bed without waking their Mommy up. She is still in the horrible habit of roaming the house at night. She usually wakes me up, goes potty, lays back down, gets back up and asks if she can sleep on our floor in our bedroom or she'll just go lay on the couch. Sometimes we get up 4, 5, even 6 times in a night. It's ridiculous and it never was this way until I moved her from her crib into a big girl bed. The horrible part is that it is somehow affecting Gracie. She was a terrible sleeper for most of her short life, but it had been getting better. I think Gracie is a light enough sleeper that she can hear Ella getting up, so now she is getting up and wanting to sleep on our floor as well. Augh. If I knew the answer to this problem I would probably do anything. I actually feel like we have tried everything. We tried being nice about it, we tried punishing them, we tried bribing, and now we are using a chart system with rewards. I'll keep you posted on our success. For now if you see me with dark circles under my eyes you'll understand why!

Homecoming Week - Day Four

Two words: Nerd Day

(Gracie insisted nerds would make a face like this.)

Homecoming Week - Day Three

Today's theme was a little challenging for us. The theme was "Dirty Job" day, based on the show where the guy visits people who have incredibly disgusting jobs. We didn't have anything that could make Gracie look horribly disgusting, but I told her cooks have a messy job at times. She liked that idea so we ran with it. Brent took Gracie into the cafeteria the next morning before school started and the cooks all liked her idea. They were quick to tell Gracie that their job really IS a dirty job! She enjoyed having the flour spritzed all over her face. I also dirtied up her apron and smeared some chocolate syrup on her cheek.

Homecoming Week - Day Two

Today's theme was "The Outdoor Channel.

Homecoming Week Craziness

This next week is Homecoming Week at school. The kids are supposed to dress according to a designated TV theme every day. Tomorrow's theme is "Let's Make a Deal" which Gracie has never seen. I told her people basically just dressed up in crazy costumes and tried to get on the game show by looking the silliest. While we were scavenging through her closet, Ella got in on the action. Thus, the blond bombshell/gymnast below.

This was the finished product. Gracie is very excited about her crazy outfit so she will have fun tomorrow, for sure!

Overheard Last Night

While Gracie and Ella were taking their bath last night, Brent and I were in the hall talking and this is what we overheard.

Gracie - "Ella, I wouldn't trade you for a million dollars. Your face is cute and you look a lot like me."

Ella responded with, "Your face is cute too, Gracie. I wouldn't trade you for a million dollars either."

What a sweet moment. Those are the moments I want to share and blog about so that I can remember them forever. Not the 10 minutes prior when they were about to tear each others faces off! :-) But seriously, I wouldn't trade either of my monsters for a million dollars!

Who is that Masked Girl?

Tonight the Girl Scout's had their annual cookie rally. Gracie came home with her face painted like a butterfly and a tummy full of this year's new Girl Scout cookies. She is very excited to be selling cookies again. Last year she sold 280 boxes of cookies. It was a lot of work, but she learned quite a bit in the process.

A Giraffe for a Day

Back in October, when we first began discussing Halloween costumes, we started wondering what happened to the giraffe costume that Gracie wore when she was 2 years old. I couldn't find it anywhere. Well, fast-forward to today....I pulled a tote of clothes Ella should be growing into out of our storage closet, and guess what was on the bottom of the tote? Yep. A squished giraffe costume. It will only fit her for a few weeks, but Ella squeezed into the costume and wore it everywhere she could. She even fell asleep in the costume and had to wear it when I went to get Gracie from school.

Gingerbread Houses

Wal-Mart had their Gingerbread kits 70% off today, so we bought a kit and let the girls each decorate a section. Gracie thought it was a fun activity. Ella was quickly bored, so I had to finish hers. They were both very excited to eat their work, so it was quite disappointing to discover that it tasted horrible! Gracie tried to eat it like it was good, but you could tell she really wasn't enjoying it. After a small piece she never asked for any more!

Gracie's creation

Ella's creation with my finishing touches

New Years Resolutions

Last year I did a pretty good job of keeping my resolutions, so this year I am going to add a few more to the list.
1) Read through the Bible in a year. (I have done this before, but it has been a while.)
2) Continue with my exercise routine. I try to exercise at least four days a week.
3) Complete four 5k's this year. Last year I ran in three.
4) Get Gracie's scrapbook caught up to her 3rd birthday.
5) Get Ella's scrapbook caught up to her 2nd birthday.
6) Clean out my recipe box (and pile of recipes I have under the recipe box) by trying new recipes each week. Weed out the bad ones, and keep the good ones.