Microcephaly Day!!

Today was the day that we celebrate Miss Grace and her beautiful head :)  I mean that we were sharing awareness about Microcephaly.  For this, we all had to wear yellow to show our support.  I posted on facebook about this and a lot of people liked the post, which was so sweet of everyone!  Here are all of our wonderful supporters!  Of course, a lot of people didn't post but I sure know that they love her and care about her.  They probably had the same problem I did...Grace didn't have a single piece of yellow!!!  Thankfully Dado and Papa had bought her a shirt and it just so happened to have yellow stripes, so we were set.  Here's the pictures!!

 Auntie Lisa!! (But Grace calls her "Grandma" Lisa because that's what the cousins call her.

 Mommy's friend (and cousin, actually) Shannon.

 GRACE!!!

 Super cheesy!

 Grace and Mommy.

Look how small she was so long ago compared to the picture above.  Crazy, right?

 Mommy's friend Alla and her kiddo's.

 Grandpa Hildreth!!

 Grandma Hildreth!!

And Garon, Mysha, Jarik and Kenna :)

 Heather, Qeirstyn, and Kaden!!

You guys are awesome!  

Today was super windy so we stayed inside most of the day.  But in the evening we went to Walmart, Broulims and Albertsons because we were SO going crazy with cabin fever.

And now time for bed for Grace.

Amanda

Update With Pictures!!

I realized that a lot of my posts don't have any pictures, so I better put up some pictures!

Sept 16th, 2013

 Grace got a present from "Grandma" Angie!  It was for her birthday :)  A princess tea party set and...

 A matching game!  Can you tell that she's super excited?!

Sept 17th, 2013

 Hanging out in a cooler :)

 And playing with Daddy!!!

Awwwww, how cute :)

More to come.

Amanda

Another Sick Day...Sick=Clingy

Oh boy, what a day.  Poor miss Grace girl.  She just does not feel good.  The breathing is getting harder and wheezier, the nose is running more, and the need for mommy and daddy is much much more.  Lot's of whining but that's ok.  Poor girly doesn't feel good so that's ok.  We didn't do much today.  Just went to Walmart in the afternoon and hung out at home the rest of the time.  There wasn't a nap today...Grace decided to take her diaper off instead and pull out all the clothes in her chest of drawers.  Gr.  In the evening she got to watch "The Magic School Bus" while Brad and I built a "greenhouse."  If you can call it that.  It's a really throw together thing, but it'll work until we made our really good one next year.  

That's pretty much the extent of our day.  I'm hoping Grace gets better because she has gymnastics on Tuesday!!  Her first real class and I hope she doesn't miss it!!

Well, that's all for now :)

Amanda

Sick

Darnit.  That's right.  Grace's reign of not being sick has ended.  She came home from school with a very very slight wheeze.  After naptime, I could still hear it but it was so slight I figured it was just the weather changing.  But now it's a full blown, heavy breathing, runny nose, nebulizer/humidifier needing cold.  GR.  I hope she won't need prednisone again.

Thankfully school is out for a week for Spud Harvest so she will have a week to recover.  I just hope she gets better by Tuesday!  Her first gymnastics class with her support therapist there!  I bought her a leotard today!!!  I'll take pictures tomorrow.

Amanda

Two Busy days!

Wednesday:  Busy day for sure!  Grace got to go to preschool (and got a new book from the library) and then I kept her up because we had a meeting for her new budget for therapy for the year.  That meeting was at 2 pm and it lasted about 2.5 hours...shew...and then we went out to eat at Chuck a Rama.  YUM!!!  After that it was around time to get going home and so of course, we headed off.  Can you imagine Grace without a nap this whole time?  Well, she was rambling to her teddy blanket for all of two seconds before she passed out.  Silly girl!  The rest of the night was uneventful.  She went to bed and I did homework.

Thursday: Another busy day!  Today was therapy day and so Grace went to therapy from 10-1, but then I didn't have lunch ready and so she wasn't in bed until 2 pm.  Poor girly!  She was asleep right when her head hit the pillow and then her friend's from a couple doors down came over at 4 pm.  They played until about 6 pm, then Grace and I ate dinner really quick and then went next door to a book club at 7 pm!  So fun!!  Now it's 9:30 pm, I'm beat, and Brad and I are going to go watch Bones.  Grace is still in her room gabbing so I'll bed she's needing a fresh diaper.

Until tomorrow!

Amanda

Fun Day!

Today was great!!  Oh, and yesterday, too.  I missed yesterday because of all the homework I have.  I can see how this homework is going to start to impede how much I'm able to write for Miss Grace, but for her sake, I will strive to keep up.  Just like her blog address...shallalwaysstrive.  Anyways, yesterday was great.  Grace went to school and of course, she enjoyed it.  Need I say more?  She is so fun because she rambles so much about what happens at school.  She told me owie on her head so I gave her a kiss and all was well.  Not much else happened yesterday.  It was one of those days where you just want to stay inside and have quiet time so that's what we did.  In the evening we went out in the back for quite some time.  I thought Brad had told me that it would freeze and so I covered all our raspberry plants, strawberries, tomatoes, picked the rest of our peppers, tore out TONS of plants (one tomato, cucumber, all the pepper plants, broccoli, and the crooked neck squash).  And then I am covering the tomatoes with a huge tarp and he says, "It's gonna freeze on THURSDAY!"  He had to yell it because he was mowing the lawn.  DUH!  Oh well, I said, and finished covering them anyways.  Grace had a great time out there with me because she was in her snow boots and so she felt stable enough to walk into the garden with me.  (Oh, we went through a ton of boxes downstairs and came up with an armful of clothes that will fit her now and 6 pairs of shoes.  Thank goodness for hand me downs from friends!)  So we stayed out up until 7:30 pm, I gave Grace a shower because she was so cold, and then she had a snack before going to bed.  It was not a good night though.  She was up until 10:30 rambling, talking, and crying, and I was very stressed because I was studying for a quiz.  So I went in there and barked at her to go to sleep...I hate doing that but it worked.  Does the ends justify the means?  No, I don't think so.  So I apologized to her this morning.  The worst was when she cried out, "YOU'RE MEAN!  NO NO NO!!"  Dangit I felt like I'd been stabbed!

Tuesday:

It was wonderful today!  Brad and I took Grace to a gymnastics trial day and he said it definitely would be good for her!  So I signed her up right then for Tuesdays at 10 am.  It's a 50 minute class and she will be have a support therapist go with her to each class to work as one-on-one.  I know Grace will really thrive in this class and so I'm super excited!  She came out super sweaty and absolutely thrilled, so I know she enjoyed herself as well.  They did donkey kicks, crawled through tunnels, hung on the bars and touched their toes to the bar, jumped on the trampoline, swung like Tarzan, did somersaults and some floor exercises!  She was very disoriented but that's just because it's all new to her.  She's going to do great.

After that we went to Pay Less to take back a pair of shoes I bought, then to another place to pick up her diapers and catheters.  Insurance pays for all this because her diagnosis is now seen as a "life long diagnosis" since she turned 4, and so diapers will be covered from now on.

Then we headed home, Grace had lunch and then went down for nap.  I took a quiz (the one I was stressed about Monday) and got a 95%!  After she woke up she got to go out with a support therapist!  She left about 4:20 pm and got back at 6:45 pm.  They had a great time!  I will say it was extremely hard for me to watch the therapist drive off with Grace...my stomach didn't feel good and I was so worried I'd never see her again.  But they were fine.  They went to the library and watched a movie, probably wandered and read books, and then they went to Taco Bell!  Grace came walking in with her Taco Bell cup and she was just so thrilled!  Then I had to rush off to a temple recommend interview and so Brad and Grace watched a tv show together, and when I got home I got to put her to bed after letting her eat mac and cheese and giving her a shower.  I love my sweet girl!!

Daddy put her to bed so I could do homework and now here I am, 10:27 pm, and I think I'm going to make it a long night tonight because tomorrow we have a meeting in the afternoon, which means no nap for Grace and no schoolwork time for me.

That's all for now, folks!

Amanda

Quick Update

Well it's Sunday...I missed Saturday!  Darnit.

Saturday:

In the morning we just hung out and had fun.  I twas a beautiful day and so we were outside a lot.  Around 12 Grace and I went to McDonalds and had cheeseburgers, a large fry, and split an ice cream cone.  The guys were on a hike in Driggs and so it was just me and Grace!  There was a party at Seasons Medical, which is her pediatrician office, and so we went over there at 1 pm and stayed until about 2:30 pm.  We got a caricature drawing, had some a Jimmy John sandwich, free samples that Jamba Juice brought, and Grace got a balloon!  We went through a tour of the three story facility and it was just beautiful, but Grace was definitely bored.  There was going to be a huge drawing for some awesome prizes but the likelihood of me winning with just two tickets in the pot was so unlikely that I gave my drawing tickets to someone else.  Grace and I each got one for going on the tour.  Then we headed home since Grace was getting really fussy.  But she and I had a great time together.  We had long conversations, we both were so happy and the weather couldn't have been any better.  She tried to get into the bouncy house but I think the fact that it was inclosed really startled her and so she didn't want to get in.  And then we watched her pediatrician get dunked in the "throw the ball and hit the bulls-eye" dunker.  That was fun!  We went home, Grace napped while I did homework, and then we spent the rest of the evening out and about.  We went to DI and got Grace a few long sleeve 5t shirts, a pair of pants (5t), and an Elmo flannel board book for church.  Then we went over to Walmart but that was just to waste time, really.  Daddy texted and said they were on their way home and so we headed home, but they beat us there!  Then Grace had a quick dinner and was off to bed!

Awesome picture, right?!  Totally!!

Sunday:

Today was great as well.  We had a great time at church and Grace got to say the closing prayer in primary!  But we didn't practice with the microphone beforehand, which I knew we should have, and so all she got out was "Dear Heavenly Father" before she was startled by the loud noise.  She threw herself on me and squeezed as tight as I've ever felt.  I tried to get her to keep going but then it seemed like embarrassment was setting in.  So I gave the mic to the leader and kept telling Grace she did such a great job!  She came away happy, excited, and so proud that she said the prayer!  She also got a bag of M&Ms, so that made everything great!

Sacrament was a bit tough for her just because she was tired but once I pulled out the Elmo flannel board, she did great on the floor playing.  After church she walked home with Skyler because I was getting my Temple Recommend renewed, then I went Visiting Teaching, and then I went home!  The little girly was still awake!  So a battle ensued, the door ended up being locked because she kept coming out, diapers were changed twice, and then, finally, she gave up!  3:30 pm.  I took a nap and finally woke her at 4:30 pm.  She was trying to be fussy but then quickly remembered I had said we'd go to the park, so all was well.  She and I went on a walk to the park and I'm just so glad that she's talking so much more.  We talked about everything that we saw on the walk, and she really just rambled constantly.  I kept engaging her in conversation so she would keep talking, and then we made it to the park!  I swung her on the swing quite a few times by herself while I swung next to her and it was just wonderful.  She would tell me, "swing mom, Mom.  OUT!  Swing more!"  She wanted me to stop swinging and then to push her more.  She sure knows what she wants!  And she can even get down on her own!  We took the long way home and got home about 5:45 pm, made dinner and watched some TV, but then had to take a bath because she was messy.  Very quickly 7:45 pm came around (while she was still in the tub!) and so she got in pajamas, asked to be read to (Bible stories) and so we said prayers and she hopped into bed.  I read a bible story to her about Noah's Ark, she and I discussed the pictures and used our arms to animate, and then a kiss, a tuck, and a fan turned on later and all was quiet.  Love you girly!!

A great night, yet again.  I got a lot of homework done but now it's 10 pm.  I'm going to go read scriptures and be lights out by 10:30 pm.  Goodnight!!

Amanda

Time to Catch Up

Wow, I never realized how swamped I'd be with school, Grace's school, Brad coming home from Montana, and all the other things it takes to be a mama.  I've missed a whole week!  So just a quick write-up and then I'll be sure to make time (hopefully each day) to write.

Tuesday is just a normal day, no school or therapy, and so we really just try to find fun things to do.  Most of this week we've been outside a ton since it's been just beautiful weather.  Wednesday Grace had school and got a new book from the library!  I got to go in the library and pick her up and for some reason she just seems so much older when I see her in the library.  I don't know what it's all about, but there it is.  Thursday was therapy day and I had a meeting with Journeys (her developmental disabilities services program) and I was very happy but angry to hear that she didn't need to have people coming into the home.  Made because the government worker had told me it was required, but then the people from Journeys called their lead manager and he said it's in no way required.  GR.  We were paying $45 out of Grace's budget each time these people were coming when we could have gotten rid of that all together and been paying $22 each time a person visited with her out in the community.  SO, they will be coming with me this time to visit with the government worker and to be my support and help me advocate since, obviously, the government wants to squeeze money out of Grace's budget the fastest way possible.  If if works out the way we've planned it, Grace will have 6 hours of respite a week, between 6-8 hours of therapy in the community a week, and this will be for the year.  Awesome, right?!  And I can increase the respite if Brad and I want to go to the Temple or for any other reason.  So if I end up getting Grace into gymnastics, I will be able to have a therapist go with her and work with her in the class.  I called the gym place and they said the class might be too much for Grace, but we'll see.  We have a trial run on Tuesday at 10, and fingers crossed that I'll have a therapist ready to go with her.  I was thinking she could do it alone for the trial but I don't want Grace to have a tough time and feel like she didn't succeed.

Now today is Friday!  I called the medical company that supplies Grace with diapers and catheters and the diapers are in but the caths aren't there yet, so we are going to wait.  Now that Grace is 4 the diapers are covered by insurance because she has a medical disability limiting her ability to potty train at the typical age.  Caths are obviously covered because she's got the neurogenic bladder.  

The gym has a preschool class today at 11 so Grace and I might go over there just to watch the class and see what it's all about.  I'm really anxious to see what kinds of things they do.  I'm just hoping Grace can handle being over there but not able to do any of the activities.

Well, it's 10:25 so I better head out and pick up Miss Grace girl!  She gets out of class at 10:35.  She loves school still which is always nice for me!

Ok so now it's later and I'll write about the rest of the day.  We didn't do much the rest of the day. W e stayed outside a ton because it was such a gorgeous day.  We went for a quick visit to the gymnastics class that she will be having a free trial for and...shew...hectic and too many kids for one teacher.  After that we went to visit Daddy because he was in the back yard finishing up his laying of cement.  It looks so great!  Then we colored with chalk, talked about Mommy's spinach that is already sprouting in some pots.  This will be some of our greens for the winter to keep us healthy with deep greens!  Naptime/homework!  Actually, I only did homework for a few seconds.  I finally chopped up all the peppers I could to dehydrate, then used the rest with all the tomatoes that were ready so that I can make spaghetti sauce.  I'm writing this at 10 pm and have yet to put the sauce through the blender and then into bags for the freezer!  Anywho, I made all that and then had to run to the BMC construction store to get Brad some more cement bags.  By the time I got home Grace was up and then the rest of the day was really being outside.  We went on a long walk, played at the park that we went to for a long time (Grace sat on the big swing all by herself while I pushed her and then went down the slide all by herself TONS of times!)  While we were at the park Grace saw Skyler walking home from work and she yelled out "STY-YER!  Tome here!  I swing I p-yay in the swing.  Tome on!  Tome p-yay at the part!"  I can't believe how much she was talking, and it was without me even telling her what to say!  Great job Grace.  Oh, and she walked Scotty all the way there and back with the leash.  She did very well telling him to "Tome on Stotty!" and to keep him moving.  It was wonderful to see how grown up she was walking Scotty.  Then dinner and having fun the rest of the day outside.  Dinner was breakfast!  Waffles, turkey sausage/scrambled eggs and milk.  Then her friends Sabrina and Savannah came over to play until about 8:20 pm and then Grace was definitely ready for bed!!

Oh, PS.  So I don't have a picture of it yet but when I was young I got a pooh bear doll from my grandparents.  They had bought it at a garage sale.  So it was my cling bear for EVER.  He went everywhere with me, I slept with him every night, you know how it goes.  So I handed him down to Grace, and now he sits in her room in her fort every day watching her and watching over her at night.  We went to DI and what did I randomly find????  Another Pooh Bear!!  The exact same one as we have now that I grew up with.  So of course I bought it!!  Now we have Pooh Bear and his brother Pooh Bear 2 and I'm just so excited!  It's just amazing that I would find the exact same Bear, years and years later, and this one is in better condition.  Brighter fabric, the Velcro on his pocket isn't torn like the one on mine.  Grace was SO happy!!

Ok, bye!

Amanda

It's now 10:15 pm and Mom has 15 more minutes until bedtime.  I've gone over my homework for the following week and there is a ton so hurray for me!

My First Book Published!

Okay everyone, check it out!!  Follow the link to my book that I published!  It's the blog that I have been writing since before Grace was born.  It is only the first 2 years but the blog will be printed in 2 year increments.  

Go ahead and buy a book!  All the money goes to paying for either gymnastics or ballet for Miss Grace :)

SO FUN! 

Grace's Journey (Journal of 1st 2 years of life)

Thanks for checking out the link :)

Amanda

School Day

Grace had, yet again, another wonderful day!  We were up bright and early to get ready for school, got there on time and she was just all giggles while waiting in the school lobby for her teacher!  While she was at school I got a bunch of homework done and then I got to go pick up my girly!!  She was so excited :)  Gosh I'm just so happy that she is so happy with school.  What a blessing it is for me, and her, and will be in the future for her as well.  When we got home we spent a lot of time outside since it was such a beautiful day, so we were in the backyard picking tomatoes which of course I got a "ew, yuty (yucky)."  Silly girl.  Then very quickly came lunch time and then nap time!  Once again I buckled down and got some homework done, cleaned the house a bit, did the dishes, and read for a while until it was time for miss Grace to wake up.  I woke her at 3:30 pm and then we went outside to play again :)  The rest of the day went pretty slowly.  We gathered some rocks and went to throw them in the aqueduct and what did we see when we got there?  A SNAKE!!!!!  It was a tiny garter snake and it was sitting on the support wall.  Grace doesn't like snakes so we didn't get too close.  It was so cute!  So we sat on the edge of the aqueduct rather than up on top where the bridge is because it's so much easier for her to throw rocks there.  Up on the bridge it has the rails and it's really tough for her to get her arms through the bars and toss the rocks in.  Anywho, we threw rocks, pointed out a TON of little tiny finger sized fish, and then headed back home.  We played outside (of course), rolled somersaults, threw wood chips, and laid in the grass looking at the clouds.  I love that she lays on my chest while we are pointing out all the clouds.

Dinner was cheese pizza!  Homemade, of course.  English muffin, spaghetti sauce and shredded cheese.  We watched a movie while we ate dinner and then...can you guess?  We went back outside!  Picked raspberries (30), ate strawberries, and just enjoyed the calm, beautiful breeze and the setting sun.

Then came bedtime.  She took of her shirt halfway, took her pants off by herself, pulled her pajama shirt over her head once I helped her get her arms in the sleeves, and said prayers tonight.  I put her pants on and brushed her teeth.  She's doing SO great!  She even put her shoes in the cupboard!  Of course it took some persuading.


Now she's in bed, I checked on my homework and it was done fine, and so now I'm writing this, posting pictures for Microcephaly Awareness Day coming up, and watching Undercover Boss.

I have the best daughter in the whole world.

MAKE UP AND NAILS DONE!!!

Oh, these are pillow covers that I made.  I started them a year ago and FINALLY got them finished.


Amanda

Sunny Sunday

Time for Sunbeams!!  That was the first thing Grace said when she wake up this morning!  It was more like, "Tine for Tunbeams?!"  In her super cute voice that I HAVE to record sometime :)  She was so excited to go to Sunbeams but did NOT want to let go of her hanky, and who knew that I would actually see it when I picked her up for third hour (sacrament).  I had gone to wait at the lobby a little bit down from the primary room and my ears perked up when I heard Grace's cry.  Isn't it so weird how a mama can know her child's cry without being in the room, or anywhere near the room?  But, yes, it was Grace's.  I went to try to peek in the door and then heard the bishop.  He had been giving the lesson and I guess he was putting things up on the board or letting the kids pick things, and Grace wanted to go up.  I am assuming the teacher told her no (good job!) and so she threw a fit.  The bishop didn't even bat an eye.  He was mid sentence when she cried out the first time and he didn't even finish his sentence how he would have.  He finished with..."Do you want to come up, Grace?  Do you want to pick one?"  How sweet that he would understand her desires and be open to allowing her to be involved even when she's acting out.  He is the sweetest bishop in the world!  Whenever he sees her he bends down and opens his arms for a hug, he'll shake her hand, ask her how she is, and really makes an effort.  There was one time when we were at a church carnival and he had everyone sit down in a bouncy house because she wanted to go in.  He was worried she'd get hurt and so they all had to let her jump by herself!

Anyways, so the first two hours were over, Sacrament came and darnit.  Right before Sacrament starts and her fingers are smashed in a door.  But she didn't call out?!!!  She sat there staring at me until I realized what was going on.  Dangit!  I hate not being more observant.  My poor thing.  So then came the screaming, alligator tears, gagging from the heavy crying, and mommy trying to hold herself together because of all the guilt racking her mind.  Her ring finger was so smashed in and purple it made my stomach feel uneasy.  All of a sudden there were women everywhere helping.  Getting a wet rag, trying to talk to her to calm her, a sister missionary (an older woman) ran out and got her essential oils and used lavender for calming and then something else to numb the pain.  I have NEVER seen a wound heal so quickly. Grace still had a hard time calming down...it took her all of the beginning opening to be able to go back into the chapel.  Another woman looked for children's tylenol but didn't have any and so she got Grace a package of fruit snacks.  That REALLY helped her!!  I still felt horrible.  So finally we went back into the chapel, got through sacrament but didn't make it to then walking back up to the table.  Grace freaked out because I wanted her to sit and she didn't want to.  So I'm trying to hold in a temper because she's not purposely trying to be naughty and sit her beside the wall, take her snack, and stare out the door.  At this point I can feel all the parents out in the lobby staring at me, I am assuming they think I am being a horrible parent but this is what she needed.  And I think I proved any of them wrong that didn't agree because a few minutes later she stopped crying, just like that, and said, "Mom, I weady."  Then I went to talk with her about being reverent, whispering, etc but we couldn't go in yet because they were still putting sacrament away.  So then she freaked out again.  Back to the wall.  A few minutes later came the quick stop whine, the "I weady" and the sacrament FINALLY being done so we could go back in.  All in all...we left 15 minutes early from church.  AH!  I was done!  And she had just had two massive bm's and was already full again.  Changed her at nap time, she laid down and was out within minutes.  Poor thing was tired from all the crying!

The rest of the day was nice.  I did a TON of homework while she was sleeping, we watched most of Shrek 3 while having dinner, went outside on a walk to throw rocks in the aqueduct, went to see our neighbor friend Sabrina (Grace's 3 yr old friend), took her on a walk with us again, went out back and picked cherry tomatoes and raspberries (50 raspberries not including the ones Grace ate and 7 strawberries), and hung out with the brothers.  Shew, bedtime came at 7:40 pm because of miss grouchy and then I got homework done.  Now it's 9:52 pm, I'm done with homework for the evening (WOW!), watching "What to Expect When you are Expecting," and eating brownies that our new home teacher brought over!  THEY ARE SO GOOD!  Brad hasn't come home yet from the cabin but I think he will be tomorrow.

That's it :)  Oh, Grace can go down the porch steps all by herself, no holding onto the edges.

Amanda

Ice Cream Weekend

Today was the slowest day we've had in...forever I think.  Holy Smokes.  The morning was nice, and the weather was gorgeous throughout the rest of the day.  Grace girl chose to have cereal for breakfast but was so distraught because of all the FLIES!!!  It was absolutely insane.  I'm not even kidding.  There were like...30 flies in the house.  I was horrified.  So I deep cleaned the kitchen, washed all the dishes, vacuumed, and hoped this would help.  I thought maybe there were crumbs in the carpet or something in the sink that was drawing their attention.  It still didn't work.  So...I walked around the kitchen with my spray 409 and a clump of toilet paper.  20 minutes later, squirt and squished out, I killed about 10 of them.  My poor Grace does NOT like flies and she really freaked out every time she saw a fly, even if they were far from her.  So, anywho.  She helped me out with the laundry here and then she got to watch SuperWhy while I put together dinner.  My grandma gave me the recipe and it's AWESOME!

Pasta Fagioli slow cooker crock pot version... just like Olive Garden


2 lbs ground beef
1 onion, chopped
3 carrots, chopped
4 stalks celery, chopped
2 (28 ounce) cans diced tomatoes, undrained
1 (16 ounce) can red kidney beans, drained
1 (16 ounce) can white kidney beans, drained
3 (10 ounce) cans beef stock
3 teaspoons oregano
2 teaspoons pepper
5 teaspoons parsley
1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce (optional)
1 (20 ounce) jar spaghetti sauce
8 ounces pasta

I also added a green bell pepper, a can of corn, a TON of seasonings, a wax yellow pepper and a Serrano pepper.  That made it SO much better.
Directions:
1
Brown beef in a skillet.
2
Drain fat from beef and add to crock pot with everything except pasta.
3
Cook on low 7-8 hours or high 4-5 hours.
4
During last 30 min on high or 1 hour on low, add pasta.

Naptime comes and I get to my homework!  Grace, once again, did wonderfully at going right down for naptime and so I had about 2.5 hours of homework time.  After this we really watched the clocks tick by so slow.  We went outside for lots of walks to throw rocks in  the aqueduct.  Lots of drawing with chalk, reading books, picking this and that in the garden, etc.  OH!  Grace and I picked about 40 raspberries today!  This has been the norm for every day this past week or two.  It's pretty amazing.  We already have a gallon sized bag of raspberries.  Can you believe how much that would cost from the store?  And Grace and I LOVE picking raspberries.  She loves eating them, that's for sure.  And she went and picked two strawberries for herself which is just so cute to see.

Finally it was 6:30 pm and it was ward ice cream party time!!!  She had a great time, played with her new friend from down the street, and we both really just enjoyed ourselves.  Grace did a great time eating her ice cream all by herself, and chose to have caramel sauce and rainbow sprinkles on it..  Then it was time to go home, went for one more walk, and then she went to bed!

Now I was planning on working on homework but we'll see.  I'm watching Undercover Boss and I did a lot already so I'm already ahead.  

Love you Grace!!

Amanda

Finally the Weekend :) Almost

Well, it's Friday.  Actually, Friday is over :)  Grace went to school this morning and, as usual, she did great!  She always goes in with a big smile and comes out with a big smile.  Oh, and another huge long line of gibberish about how her day was.  After school we went to the library to return some books and then to the campus (BYU-I) to return a book that I didn't need for this semester.  Then it was lunch time and nap time!  I have been deep cleaning my sewing room and Grace's closet so that's what I was doing all morning while she was in school.  I'm almost done :)  But I do see that I have a lot of projects that I need to finish so that I can make some more room for Grace's school stuff.  I want to be able to put her hanging clothes lower so she can hang up her own clothes. 

After nap time we just hung out together :)  Went on walks, went over to play at a friends house and Grace got soaked in their little swimming pool, and went on some more walks and played outside.  It was such a beautiful day I wanted to stay outside as much as Grace wanted to before the snow comes and we are stuck inside!

Grace, once again, put herself to bed early.  About 7:20-7:30 pm.  So I've had a quiet evening.  I'm watching Pleasantville and hoping that y classwork opens up at midnight tonight instead of midnight tomorrow!  All it says is it "opens Sat. 14th."

Amanda

Therapy Day!

Today we had a good day!  Daddy got in Grace's "behind the door bookshelf" and she was so happy to be able to get out of bed and read this morning :) 

 Isn't it beautiful!

 All the books were up because it was naptime when I took this picture and I didn't want her staying up and reading.

And then there's sweet Grace!  She's doing so great with her toddler bed!  There are rare times when she gets up at nap time and comes to her door, but she never leaves her room.  She just opens the door, looks out, closes it again, and then goes back to her bed.  I have been so amazed with the transformations that she's been making, and thank Heavenly Father so much for her!  Look at that smile!!!

Therapy went well even though she had to be changed 3 times throughout the three classes.  Her Miralax was really working for her this time :)  After having an English Muffin with shredded cheese and ham for lunch it was nap time!  She woke up about 4ish because our friend had invited us to the park.  So we went and played for awhile, then headed to DI to drop off some donations, went to Walmart and bought a bunch of candles that were WAY cheap (on sale really good), came home and had ravioles for dinner (sat out front to enjoy the wonderful weather, cool, slight wind, but warm enough to be in a t-shirt), and she put herself to bed at 7:20 pm!  I didn't tell her to go to bed or anything.  About 7:40 pm she fell asleep.  She must have been so tired today.

Oh, and we finally got her set of knobbed cylinder activities (there are 4 of them).  FINALLY!  So we will start working with these next week.

Love you Grace!

Amanda

Fun School Day!!!

Today Grace went to school!  And it was super fun for her because she got to check out a book from the library!!  It was so great to be able to walk into the library and see her at the librarian's desk, her arms folded with her chin on her hands as she watched the librarian check out the books.  She looked way too old to me, and I felt a frog in my throat.  She had her little backpack on and her super cool new shoes and I was just taken aback by how much she's surpassed what we were told would happen with her.  It was so great that Grace has stomped their expectations of not walking, sitting up, running or anything else of that nature. 

Grace's bookshelf is done.  It's stained a beautiful purple and I'm just super excited to put it up behind her bedroom door.  Of course, she is sleeping right now and so putting it up to take a picture isn't an option, but soon enough :) 

Oh, yesterday we made a new friend!  There is a family that moved in two doors down and they have a three almost four year old named Sabrina!!!  Grace and I went over there yesterday to take them cookies and the girls ended up playing for a little more than an hour.  So that was great fun and I can't wait to get together with them again.

We got some pictures so that Grace and I can make an "emotions" book together...here they are!

 HAPPY!

 Sad...

 Surprised

 Silly.

 Annoyed

 Mad

 Sleepy

And then there's just Grace, the normal cutie that we always see :)  So FUN!

Side note:  I made homemade cheese crackers with a recipe on pinterest...their pretty good!  I think we'll go that way instead of the store bought from now on.  (I made whole wheat ones)

Amanda

Busy Day

We have been working hard at getting Grace's room finished and decorated and I'm so happy to say that her "behind the door" bookshelf is almost done! It was sanded and put together today thanks to our wonderful Brad :)  We didn't have much else to do today since Grace doesn't have school or therapy on Tuesdays.  We went to the library to go to reading time but of course, they had a meeting and didn't tell any of the moms that it was canceled.  Grace and I also got some new shoes because she's already wearing a 7.5!!  Shew wee!  The rest of the day we "piddle-diddled" as Dado and Papa would put it.  Played outside, worked in the garden, and we had some preschool at home in the afternoon!

Here's a bunch of photos of our wonderful Grace!

This is our Learning Tower.  It finally came!  Grace has already used it to help me make Reeses Peanut Butter Oatmeal cookies and also served herself lunch :)

This is Grace's knobless cylinders.  It is a Montessori type activity, and is one of 4.  She did such a great job using her fine motor skills to take off all the tissue paper!  And after just a few time reminding her, she remembered to put the tissue paper in the box and the blue pieces together below the blue box.  At this point, I will probably re-wrap them so she can do another fine motor activity with them, and then we will begin a very slow process of understanding tall to short.

Here is our school wall :)  SO CUTE!

Grace's workboxes.  We will probably do two a day, which gives us 4 weeks of activities.  Plus I will be adding in side things that you can't really put in a box like balance beam work, outdoor play, gardening, etc.

And here was our art activity for Tuesday!!  Cornstarch, shaving cream and blue food coloring :)  Grace really enjoyed this activity!

It's called "Cloud Dough" and I found it on pinterest.  I just did it a bit different by adding more shaving cream that what was called for.  It was too crumbly for Grace without the shaving cream.

And after I cleaned up Grace wanted to "swim" in the water on the cement!  Can you tell this girl likes swimming?

And here's Daddy working on Grace's bookshelf!

Amanda

PRESCHOOL!!!!

Grace started preschool today and I'm so excited!!!  She was so happy when she woke up and she was already asking if she was going to preschool :)

 Our sweet girl posing :)  This is the same preschool picture as last year, and we will be seeing it again next year as well!

 Mom and Grace!

 DADDY!!  Daddy got up with us this morning, had breakfast, and went to Grace's school to drop her off.  Grace even got to eat her own bowl of Daddy's cereal!  Usually she sneaks from his bowl.

And there's our Grace girl!  Happy times.

She did great.  She talked to some of the kids in the morning while we waited in the lobby, got in line and headed off with her teacher, Miss Kim.  I'm so thankful that she enjoys school.

Amanda