Wow, Way Behind!

Gosh, I can't believe how fast time is flying and I haven't blogged.  I want so badly to keep up with all the information and fun times that we're having, so I really hope to come up with some kind of schedule that I can follow, even if it's a few minutes to jot things down.  So, here's the happenings.  Grace is all done with Preschool, and we had her meeting with her new teacher at the big girl school, the special education teacher, the principal and the OT, as well as getting to see Miss Kim one last time.

Here she is all ready for her meeting :)  

And we've been having fun going to church...

And hanging out with Levi!

These two kids are growing up way too fast for me.  I really can't understand where the time goes, and sometimes it feels like my kiddos are slipping away from me faster and faster!  But we'll have some fun and exciting times, I'll remember to write them down more often, and we'll have these books to read and reminisce about later :)  

Today was especially fun :)  We were out for about 3.5 hours.  We walked to campus to look at an exhibit they had with a bunch of taxidermy animals, and then walked to Kiwi Loco for some frozen yogurt! YUM!  A stop at the park to swing, and then ride the carousel, and off to home we went.  Poor Grace got the worst sunburn on her arms because I totally forgot about the darn sun, and that she was in short sleeves.  I'm SO sorry, Grace!!!  Pictures of the fun day!

They are being lovey dovey and getting a kiss, and also looking at awesome elephant head skulls!

We had some super yummy KIWI LOCO!!  Levi got to taste all the different flavors and he loved them all.  And Grace did so great at feeding herself and it made me so happy.  She's getting so much more independent, and I'm realizing I need to hold back on how protective I am.  And then the park!

Can I say ADORABLE!!!  My kids are the cutest!!!  AH!

And my hot stuff girly!!  I LOVE YOU SO MUCH GRACE!!

Amanda/Mommy

Gymnastics Competition!

I am so so excited because I was able to see Grace in her first gym competition!  Of course everyone got a medal but still, it was awesome!  Here's some photos!

There aren't very many photos because I got video of each of the events!  Great job, Grace!  Gosh I'm so proud of her :)  And she loved everyone cheering for her after every event, and she was so good at "Stick, TA DA!!!"  I love you girly!

Amanda

Gymnastics Girl!

Grace showed me an awesome thing that she could do that I never knew she could do!!!

Awesome job, Grace!  A bridge!!  I can't wait for her to show this off at her recital on Saturday!

Love you, Girl!

Amanda/Mommy

Almost Done With School!!

I can't believe that in two days, you'll be completely done with school.  You won't be a preschooler anymore!!  I don't know what I'm going to do with myself!  You're my little girl and always will be but soon you'll be in big kid school.  You definitely need to slow down on this growing thing!  Here's your school picture for this year.

Oh my gosh, right?!  What a big girl!

And here she is working on getting yogurt into her mouth instead of everywhere else :)

Good job Grace!!

And she has collected TWO bags of kitten food for her 4h project!  The group is going to be visiting the Animal Shelter on Thursday so they were supposed to all collect kitten food for the animals there.  I haven't heard from anyone else in the group but good job Grace!

Everything is just winding down.  Brad went to the cabin to help with the beginnings of a new building, so it's just me and the kiddos.  Grace's new favorite thing to do is brush her hair and boy, she's great at it!  She likes watching Iron Chef America with me, too!  She and Levi have both started going to bed around 7-7:30, and we are starting to nail down a routine.  I just found out today that bathing them at the same time ROCKS!!!  And she can spray herself with the nozzle while I'm dressing him without getting water everywhere so that just makes it even easier!  Way to go, Grace!

I've been heading to bed not long after them because Levi still has horrible nights, but tonight I'm waiting for a couple to come pick up our old futon.  I'm finally selling it and getting it out of the way.

I'm also working towards making a sensory room for Grace.  A swing, ball pit, crash pad, bubble wall, sensory wall...the works.  And I ordered some fabric and pellets to make her a weighted blanket for when she's overwhelmed.  Maybe it will help her sleep still as well.  She's a real mover.  But I have to make Elaine and Levi's blankets first before I can get to that, and painting the play room as well.  I'm going to paint it a really light blue since it will one day turn into Levi's room.  I'm sad she's going to lose her playroom but hope that maybe it can be half and half.  We'll have to see about that.

All in all, things are going well.  We had rice with vegetables for dinner tonight and you can't forget the pears!  Grace LOVES canned pears so she ate her dinner well so she could have her pears.  Well, I think the people are here that are going to pick up the futon so I best be getting off :)

Love you Grace.

Amanda/Mommy

So far Behind

I feel like I've done a disservice to Grace because it's been so long since I've written.  Things get so crazy around the house and I have ended up going to bed between 9-10 pm the past few weeks because my body has just been so exhausted.  And it's not like there's anything new going on!  Or anything more!  It's just that I'm up every two hours with a baby at night and then have busy days.  Don't get me wrong, Grace.  I LOVE YOU.  And I LOVE the busy days!  My body just seems to not be able to handle it as well anymore.  But no more excuses, ok?

So, where am I?  I'm in Saint Anthony and the reason for that is because I'm at an Autism Retreat!  I'm getting some great information for my girly and while doing so, I'm getting a little break from the craziness of every two hours waking up at night!  There are twelve ladies here and some of the coordinators, so it's a nice group.  

Today I painted a picture as one of our activities to do after watching presentations from 9-1.  Lots of information, and I'm hoping I'll be able to help Grace a lot with all this information.

Our girl got GLASSES!  She doesn't like them.  I don't think I would either.  She can watch TV from the tv without wearing glasses but she's supposed to be wearing these all the time.  But when she wears the glasses, it's obvious she can't see from the tv because she pulls them down and looks over them.  So we're going to have to talk with the ophthalmologist and see what he has to say about it.  Plus, I forgot to take them out of the car before I came to the retreat so she doesn't even have them!!

Grace's Cloverbud 4h group sis collecting kitten food as one of their special activities, so she colored this and I helped her write the message on it.  I posted it ALL over Facebook and I'm really hoping there will be some people that want to donate.  It would be really nice.  

My kids!

I have adorable kids.  That's all I have to say about that!!

Sorry, Grace, for being so far behind....I hope to get back to the daily writing, or at least every other day.  OH.  Grace will be in summer school!  I don't know if I wrote that.  The month of June she'll be in school Monday through Thursday, 8:15-12:15.  And they will feed her lunch and she'll be working with her aide that she'll have in kindergarten!  Awesome!

Amanda