Vegetables

Today at lunch I served peas as our vegetable. I know the girls don't really enjoy vegetables, and when I make a veggie they don't like, I always just make them eat at least as many of the veggie as their age. Ella is now 3, so she got 3 peas. Gracie is now 7, so she got 7 peas. I scooped a big spoonful of peas onto Brent's plate and Ella quickly said, "Wow, Daddy. You must be 50 or a thousand or something." That one got some laughs!

The Cookies are Here

Today was a very big day for Gracie. All of her Girl Scout cookies had to be picked up this afternoon, then we had to sort them out and start the delivery process. It's a great experience for Gracie, but it truly is a lot of work for us as well! I will be so glad when we have it behind us for another year. Gracie sold 361 boxes of cookies this year, and she sold the most in her troop! She had some help from her Aunt B in Unionville who had a sign-up sheet at her daycare and also asked some friends to buy from Gracie. Aunt B got a big hug from Gracie for all her hard work as well!

Ella's Sweetness

As I was bundling Ella up to go to her babysitter's house this morning she found a piece of paper that she had written on the day before. She handed it to me and said, "I made this for you yesterday. When we get home, lets hang it on your wall, 'cuz....you're the best." At this point she turned and walked away in a very nonchalant fashion. That little tidbit kept me going today at work.

Alien Ella

This was one of Ella's favorite birthday gifts. My cousin Dawn and her husband Todd gave it to her. It's a Toy Story bath towel (or beach towel), and she loves to wear it after her bath. Gracie wants to wear it too, but it's pretty short on her!

A typical picture of Ella blinking at my camera.

Valentine's Day Fun

Yesterday Ella and I headed back to Atlanta to help with Gracie's class party. I was in charge of the games. We played Bingo, did a "Minute To Win It" style challenge, and played a relay game. Gracie made her Valentine's box look like an envelope. She addressed it to herself and made the return address the school's address since her friends would be stuffing her box with Valentine's. It was a fun party. I especially appreciated the mom who made chocolate covered strawberries. That wasn't the kid's favorite treat, so the mom's got to eat them!

Little Lambs

I took the camera to church last night to take pictures of Ella at Little Lambs. I love to watch her interact with the other kids. They all LOVE Little Lambs. They play with Play-Doh, have snacks, sing songs, play instruments and make a craft most weeks. I've been asked to help for a while, so I get to watch her in action every week.

Happy Birthday, Sweet Gracie

Okay, I could have gotten a nicer picture of Gracie on her birthday, but by this point it felt like we had already had her birthday. I mean, we celebrated in her classroom, we celebrated on Saturday at her party, and by today it felt over. However, after her bath tonight we gave her a left-over cupcake, lit her candle and sang happy birthday anyway. We had saved one present for her actual birthday, so she got to open it also. She enjoyed having her birthday on a Sunday, because a lot of people at church wished her a happy birthday and she got extra attention!

Birthday Party Day

Grandpa and Nana called the radio station again today. This time to wish Gracie a happy birthday weekend. She was busy playing on Brent's laptop at the time, but she smiled pretty big when she heard Nana's voice on the radio!

I spent the whole morning icing cupcakes and getting things gathered up to take them to the church. We decided to have the girl's joint birthday party at the church where it was all on one level for those that have trouble with stairs, and then it allowed the kids lots of room to run and play. It was a pretty day outside and the girls were excited for their party.

We had lots of games at their party. I had games set up around the room that the kids could play individually to earn prizes (like a mini-carnival, I guess) and then we had a couple joint games. This was game where the kids were put on teams and had to balance their ice cream cones without letting a scoop fall off while they walked across the room. It was cute to watch Ella's little friends playing this game with Gracie's bigger friends.

After the ice cream game I decided it was time for musical chairs. Once you were out, you got to go fix your ice cream and cake. I had the ice cream set up like a station where you could put any topping you wanted on it. We had sprinkles, syrups, cherries, whipped cream, lots of candies and basically, an excessive amount of sugar went into those kids bodies!

I should have taken a picture before the table got destroyed! We had an ice cream cone tower, the cupcakes were rainbow colors and I had them placed into a rainbow formation on the table. It was colorful, for sure! My cousin Dawn helped with the food since I was feeling strung out in all directions with that many people there!

Ella was trying with all her might to blow up that balloon!

The bounce house was the biggest hit of the day!

Gift time got a little crazy. Both girls were opening gifts, and I was trying to get them to take turns. Kids were running around the room playing games, the ones that were watching them open presents were standing in the way half the time and I was starting to feel sicker and sicker as the day went on. My persistent head cold was hitting it's peak at this point and I gave up on getting things back in control. I tried to get a few pictures of them opening gifts, but it was hard.

Ella and one of her best buddies, Reagan!

This was pretty much the whole gang. They were a lot of fun!

Drumroll please.......an extremely rare family photo. Not perfect, but it's a family photo nevertheless!

Gracie's Classroom Party

Today Ella and I went to school a little bit early so that we could celebrate Gracie's birthday with her friends from school. We took cookies, juice and take-home goody bags. Gracie got to wear the birthday crown and said it was a great day!

Ella's New Look/Meeting the MU Cheerleaders

Lately Ella has requested that I straighten her hair. She sees me straighten mine everyday, so that's where she got the idea. This morning I had a little extra time when she asked, so I straightened her hair. The whole process literally took only 3 minutes or so. What a difference it made in Ella's appearance. I think the straight hair made her look much older. I'm not sure I like that factor!

The girls had a big surprise tonight. I was working and called Brent to ask him to run into the grocery store for one thing I needed for supper. Well, the MU cheerleaders were there signing posters and taking pictures with people. He told me about it so we went back with the camera. The girls each had their picture taken and got autographed posters, and boy were they excited!

Truman the Tiger was there too, so we let Brent in this picture! :-)

A Date with Daddy

Tonight I had a meeting at church, so Brent took the girls out to Pizza Hut for supper. He said they were waiting for their pizza and he told them, "I think you two are the prettiest girls I have ever taken to Pizza Hut!" Gracie said, "Pff, I doubt that!" Then Ella chimed in, "Pff, I doubt that bom bom." (Translation: "bom bom" - The way a very young 2 year old Ella used to pronounce "bottom." ) She still likes to throw it out into conversation whenever possible since she knows we used to laugh about it. Ella is always good for a laugh.

Meeting Baby Ian

Meet Ian Michael Smith Shriver. What a sweet baby. Today I went to Moberly for a baby shower honoring a friend from college and her new baby Ian. It was fun to see so many old college friends.

We all took turns holding Ian, but I think Mary got a little extra time since he was so content with her! :-)

Kathy, the new mommy, showing off one of Ian's gifts.

Notice his shirt. The "Handsome Little Devil" was getting sleepy at this point.

Anita and Ian seemed to get along well, too. He was just a really good baby!