Happy Birthday, Nana!

Today was Nana's 65th birthday, so we headed to Moberly to take her out for supper and to eat cake!

What a great smile! The candles were trick candles and relit after she blew them out...well, with a little work they finally relit.

Gracie helped Nana blow the candles out the second time.

Ella decided to forgo the spoon and just pick up the ice cream with her hands. Very effective!

Nana Kaser and Ella did some bonding on the couch.

When did...?

When did Gracie get big enough to take a shower, dry herself off and get her pj's on all by herself? That's what happened in our house tonight. It has been a slow transition from bath to shower, and now here we are a few weeks later, and she can do the whole getting ready for bed routine herself. It's a good thing she got her ears pierced a while back and she needs me to change her earrings, or I wouldn't be needed much at all.

When did Gracie get big enough to read chapter books? Yes, that's what I said. She likes to read a few chapters a night with us. The only reason this doesn't make me incredibly sad is that she calls them "scrapter books." It's so adorable. I hope she never gets it right and is still saying "scrapter" when she is 10 years old!

When did Gracie get big enough to swim without her life jacket? That was one of this summer's accomplishments. She isn't a confident swimmer yet, but has come a long way from last year.

When did Gracie develop a golf swing that makes her mommy a little jealous?

When did Gracie get big enough to buckle her own seat belt?

When did all of this happen??? In the blink of an eye. I have always known that I needed to enjoy every moment with our girls, and that's what I continue to try to do. It's not always easy when there are things that need to be done haunting me, but then I just have to think about how fast these events are occurring and it doesn't take me long to reprioritize. It feels like I will blink my eyes and then I will be asking these same questions about Ella!

Our First Family Golf Outing

For church today I dressed the girls in a matching outfit that I bought on our vacation. They have one other matching outfit right now, and it is kind of fun to see them look so similar.

It's really hard to get a good picture of Ella right now, but I thought this one was kind of cute, even with her hand in her mouth.

After lunch, Brent decided to take Gracie golfing. He asked if Ella and I would like to go along, and since it was such a gorgeous day, I agreed. Hold on to your hat...since I don't golf, I was the official photographer. Feel free to skip the rest of this post as you will see many pics that might look the same, but I hated to leave them out.

Ella quickly decided to be the cheerleader for the day.

Ella was pretty quick to retrieve balls, and didn't always want to give them back.

Since Ella doesn't have any clubs (yet), she decided to use the flag from the putting green as her club and tried to hit a ball around.

Again, this is Ella with her make shift golf club.

Gracie was the most beautiful golfer on the course today.

The most difficult part of Gracie's golf game seems to be getting the ball to stay on the tee.

I liked this picture because it seemed like Brent was giving some advice to Gracie, and she appears to really be listening.

Ella still scoots down small hills instead of trying to walk down them. I'm OK with that. It makes for less boo-boo's.

When Brent would hit the ball with his driver, Ella would make this face. Every hole...same face. It surprised her every time.

Again, the tee was giving Gracie fits. She had to finally get a little help from a pro.

Ella stayed busy removing the tees from their holder and then putting them back in.

I saw a pretty group of flowers and wanted to take a picture. Of course, Ella wasn't about to comply with my request. First she scowled...

then she broke out her whine...

and finally...the glare.

Next thing I knew, she turned around and walked down the path from me.

She did have to turn around to make sure I was getting the attitude she was putting off.

Brent picked up the pouty princess and took her for a little ride.

Gracie is never one to turn down a chance to pose! I had such a great time watching her golf and really couldn't believe how much she has learned. Even seeing her tell Ella to whisper while other people were golfing was such a cute sight. It may be a while before Ella and I are invited to tag along again, so I'm glad I was able to take so many pictures to remember the fun.