Gracie's Church Christmas Program

If you were to look back at last years posts, I probably posted something about Gracie's church Christmas program. I'm sure I said that she didn't sing, didn't smile...she just stood there and looked pretty. Well, this year was quite a contrast to last year. The picture above is actually Gracie standing on the stage all by herself. We had a dinner theatre style Christmas program, so while Gracie was twirling and swirling on the stage, everyone was seated around the room eating dinner. There weren't that many people watching her, but it was just so funny to watch her get so brave when last year she was too shy to even open her mouth.

Brent was awfully proud of his little girl for being such a good performer. She was quite pleased with herself, actually.

This picture shows the Little Lambs singing "Away in a Manger." It was pretty cute to watch them do the actions while they sang.

The Little Lambs even played some instruments during "Jingle Bells."

I don't know what kind of smile Gracie has on her face, but I decided I'm not in very many pictures these days, so I was going to post it anyway!

The tag on Gracie's new dress said Cinderella, and I think she actually felt like Cinderella in such a poofy dress.

This picture shows another solo performance by Gracie while everyone was eating. It was a very fun evening. Grandma Kaser got to watch 3 of her grandkids perform since we go to church with my cousin Joey and his family. We were glad that Grandpa and Nana could come also. Hopefully by the next program Mama's foot will be feeling better and she can travel.

Gracie's Christmas Tree

Gracie has a very small tree that she decorates every year for her room. Each year it seems to get heavier with decorations that she wants to use, but they are obviously too big for her small tree. Nonetheless, she decorated it the way she wanted.

Isn't it obvious how proud Gracie was of her work? It's really pretty cute this year.

Brent was home tonight, so he got in on some of the decorating. OK, he really just wore the hat! :-)

Oh, Christmas Tree

We decided to bite the bullet and put the Christmas tree up today. I was really dreading it, just because I know it will be a huge attraction for Ella. Gracie didn't really want to help with the actual tree or even the lights. She just stood there saying, "I want to do the ornaments." I assured her she could do the ornaments, but the lights had to go on first. Her patience wore a little thin in the process. Finally, we were ready to put up the ornaments and string the gold beads around the tree. When I left the room for a moment Gracie strung all of the beads on the tree. It was a little thick in the front. Actually, it was pretty to a 4 year old, but I felt compelled to even things out once I got back in the room. We thought the tree was beautiful when it was done. I have noticed that the ornaments are slowly being rearranged. Actually, I remember Gracie doing that last year too. She would look at the tree and feel like she needed to change things up once in a while. Hopefully her fascination will end soon. Next, we will be wrapping gifts to see how much that tempts Ella.

A Trip To St. Louis....Minus the Kids

Friday afternoon Brent and I dropped off Gracie and Ella in Moberly at my parent's house. We were heading to St. Louis to do a little Christmas shopping for the girls before we watched the Clark County Indians play in the State Championship game. We managed to find some good sales at Target and Toys 'R Us, so I think the kid's shopping is pretty much done. We stayed with Brent's Uncle Robert and Aunt Deena on Friday night and had a good time visiting with them. Brent didn't get much sleep, however, because he was too excited about the big game!

Saturday morning we headed out for a quick round of shopping before we headed to the Edward D. Jones Dome to cheer on the Indians. We were playing the Maryville Spoofhounds. Isn't that a ridiculous name for a team? Maybe it's no worse than being a Putnam County Midget! :-) I'm sure most of you reading this are well aware that the Indians played a great game and won their first State Championship game. It was so thrilling to be there and see the celebration afterward. Half of Kahoka was there, if not more. Brent managed to get down on the field when the buzzer went off, so he got to give some hugs to some of the coaches and boys he used to coach. It was a wonderful moment and I was glad we could be there to watch history in the making.

Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving day was spent in Moberly with my side of the family this year. We were in Unionville the weekend before for Thanksgiving with Brent's side of the family, but my camera was broken, so I have no pictures. After lunch, Brent sacked out on the floor to watch football and catch some zzz's, but Gracie quickly joined him. I'm not sure he could breathe under her weight.

Once she revived, we headed to the park. Gracie enjoyed the new playground equipment at Candy Cane City in Moberly so much! Actually, I think we all enjoyed it!

Uncle Dana may not get to see Gracie that much, but when they get together they are pretty good friends!

Gracie thought it was hysterical that Uncle Dana tried to go down one of the slides and got stuck!

Happy Thanksgiving from one of our little turkeys! Gracie shouldn't have been outdoors on Thanksgiving because she was coughing a little, but we couldn't resist letting her play on the new equipment.

What? Is that Grandpa going down the slide? Now, if I had only been ready to take the picture when he fell off the slide. Poor, Grandpa! I'm sure he wishes Uncle Dana hadn't been videotaping when he fell. Now we can watch it for years to come and get a chuckle. Hope your hiney heals soon, Grandpa!

Here ducky, ducky, ducky. Gracie still loves the ducks. We didn't bring any food for them, but she still had to watch them swim for a little bit.

Uncle Dana and Gracie decided to pose for a picture on the ladybug. Who says the park is only for kids?!

Teguh didn't think the park was only for kids! He had a good time trying everything out. We were glad Teguh could stay in Moberly over break and have Thanksgiving with us.

Gracie The Pilgrim

Today was Gracie's Thanksgiving program at her school. She was given the choice to be a pilgrim or Indian, and she chose to be a pilgrim. She was a great pilgrim and sang every word of the songs her class sang. She did chose to not do the actions because there were too many people watching, according to her. They sang a really cute song about how we should eat pizza instead of turkey on Thanksgiving!

Brent was able to go watch Gracie perform and he taped it for me since I was at work. It was really cute to see her participating since a year ago she wouldn't have dreamed of singing along in front of a crowd. She was very proud of herself, and so were we!

More Teeth

I have not been blogging recently for several reasons. First of all, I'm finding that as Ella gets older and busier, I am busier too. Also, my camera broke, and I had to send it in for repairs. It's not as fun for me to post without pictures, so my mom has loaned me her camera so that I can get some pictures up on the blog.

Last week I thought things were awfully quiet, so I started searching for Ella. She was in the kitchen and had gotten into a sack of red potatoes. She was teething furiously on the raw potato. It was gross, but I also had to get a picture to capture the moment. Ella is trying to cut her second top tooth, and it has been hard work. I don't remember Gracie having this much trouble getting teeth, but maybe I have just blocked it out!