Sleepy Sunday

Today was a super lazy Sunday!  We went to church and all that, and Grace did great in Sunbeams, as usual.  I just can't believe that in about 3 weeks, my girly will be a CTR 4!  No longer a Sunbeam!  She's growing up so fast, my little girly.  Anyways, after church it was naptime...ug...what a tough naptime.  She didn't got to sleep until 2:15 pm or so, which is the exact same time as I took a nap as well.  I was out like a log.  Snowing, plus negative temperatures, plus super comfy pajamas= NAP!  We were supposed to have friends come over for lasagna dinner but 2 of her kids were feeling sick and so we played on the side of caution.  Raincheck for dinner.  grace and I both slept until about 4:45 pm (I know, super late, right?!)  It was the best sleep I've had in...forever.  After naptime was just quiet time not doing much.  Snacked, watched tv, and played.  We watched Christmas devotional at 6 pm and very quickly it was bedtime for Grace.  And now it's 9:22 pm and I struggled trying to get through some homework but am still tired enough that I can't focus.  So I'll just work hard on it tomorrow to make up for it :)

All in all, a quiet day.  This winter will hopefully be a super heavy one so that we have enough water for the summer.  I'd rather be locked in the house because of too much snow than to be going through a drought.  

Amanda

BRRR!!

It was super cold today.  Like, insanely cold.  Grace got all bundled up in her snow suit, boots, coat and beanie and we headed out to see all the beautiful whiteness.  We were going to see Santa today but because it was so darn cold, we decided against it.  It would have been fun but since we already have a picture with Santa, we opted on a quick grocery shopping trip and then hiding out inside the rest of the day.  Today was tough for mommy.  I have my ups and downs because of my bipolar and today was definitely a down day, and so I'm glad today is over.  Grace was extra goofy and could tell that I was off, and so she tried to be extra grabby/loving/near to comfort me.  She did great, and I did the best I could.  Naptime went great today and I'm so proud of her for that!  Good girl!  And Ryan went to wake her up from her nap and that was a sweet surprise for her!  We had potato soup for dinner with toast and she did ok eating the soup.  She's not big on eating soup, so I think next time I'll need to make her a plate of the ingredients rather than adding it all into a soup.  She was still super crazy acting so I went to have a quick nap and quiet time.  She was fine and happy just playing by herself, and I was so proud of her for being able to do so!  She also went potty on the toilet again!  We are on to three days in a row...and would be a week in a row except that we missed Tuesday.  Oh well.  She still doesn't have the concept of "feeling" when she needs to go and so she needs to hurry to the potty, but the fact that when she's there she tries is great.  And she's always positive and doesn't show fear or anything like that, and can tell me when she has gone on the potty.  She gets a chocolate animal cracker for going potty as well as a princess sticker on her calendar.  Sometimes she reads while she is sitting there, sometimes she holds her stuffed animal, and sometimes it's a struggle to keep her tooshie on the potty!

All in all, I'm glad the day is over.  I could tell she was off because she hasn't had a very good bowel movement and this always makes her extremely uncomfortable.  Her stomach is also protruding extremely far which means she's bound up, so we'll have to start a clean out tomorrow.  We are having friends over for dinner tomorrow!  They have 5 children, and their youngest is the one that comes to play with Grace a lot.  They've never eaten elk and so I'm going to make elk lasagna, homemade bread, and have green beans.  We'll see what they think :)  

Ok, I'm ahead on a lot of homework and so I'm going to go rest and watch a movie with Brad.  Tomorrow is always another day to try your hardest.

Amanda

Curled Hair

 11/13/13

I curled Grace's hair :)  I don't usually do anything with it because I don't want it burning her hair or anything like that.  She didn't like it that much.  I don't know if it was pulling on her hair or what but she just couldn't stop touching the curlers.

 Yummy snacktime!

They look pretty good!  Super cute :)

Amanda

Tea Party

Grace had a tea party with Daddy, and it was so darn cute to watch them.  I got a video as well, but it's 2 minutes long!

SO SO SO CUTE!!!

Amanda

New Table!

Grace got a new table from Daddy!  She absolutely loves it, wants to sit at it all the time, and it's the perfect size for her.

Amanda

Gymnastics

Grace girl is practicing her gymnastics for me!  She peeked to make it extra fun.  Thanks for sharing Miss Grace!

Amanda

Fly by!

I can NOT believe how fast this week has gone.  I was absolutely floored when I realized I hadn't posted since Sunday, and have found it so crazy these days.  Finals are quickly approaching and so I've been bogged down with that, and I've also been spending more time with Grace doing a Countdown to Christmas, and so that has been more important that blogging recently.  I'll try to recap as best I can.  

Monday:  Grace went to school and had a fabulous time!  She always loves school and so I'm happy about that.  In the evening we went to see SANTA!!  She was definitely afraid of him and wouldn't sit on his lap.  Darnit.  Oh well, though.  It's ok :)

So cute!!

She also enjoyed dancing to the music :)

 

Tuesday we were going to have preschool with a friend but I was behind on homework and she had gone to sleep super late for her nap and so I canceled.

 NEW BIG GIRL BED!!

Wednesday school was canceled!  The power had gone out at 6:30 am because the night before we had gotten a downpour of snow, and temperatures were so cold that everything froze.  So we stayed home in our 62 degree house.  It finally turned on at 1:30 pm.  Shew!  That's the longest we've had the power out.  

Thursday:  Grace had therapy from 10-1 and while she was there, I went to the Temple!  It had been a long time since I'd gone, so I went and did work for Kate Craythorn.  It was wonderful to be there and I'm glad that I was able to get a session done.  And now that I know that I can get a session in while Grace is in therapy, I will be doing this every week!  We went to a friends house for preschool and she had so much fun!  We made picture frames out of popsicle sticks and buttons, and then the kids got to play.  It was so cute because they played for a long time in a box and serving each other pretend lunch.  Fun as always!

Friday: Today!  We had fun today.  Grace went to school...Daddy took her this time!...and I got to get a lot of homework done.  After this Grace helped me fix up her preschool room a bit more before she had to go take a nap...once again she didn't fall asleep until 3 pm.  While she was in her room (supposed to be napping) I worked hard on homework and got ahead for next week.  I'm hoping to get done as fast as I possibly can so that I can finally be out of school for awhile.  After nap time her friend Sabrina came over and she stayed until 6 pm (we had tuna casserole, peas and home canned pears), and then Grace and I worked on some more Christmas countdown activities!  Tonight we read a Christmas story, a scripture about Jesus and his early life, painted a paper plate with green finger paint for a wreath, and looked at a picture of Jesus helping Joseph with his carpentry work.  Now she's in bed and I'm really hoping to be able to get my blog caught up with pictures and video!

 Busy making a snowglobe together!

There's our sweet girly with a snowglobe.  Darn penguin came off and the bottle leaks.

Amanda

Church Day

Today was church day and Grace did so well in Sacrament!  All through her young years, we've sat in the front row and let her move as she pleases.  She's always had to stay within the length of our pew, and as long as she did that, we allowed her to roam.  And today I really think that I have realized that allowing her this freedom has actually helped her feel less of a need to roam!  Today, for about 95% of the time, Grace was on the pew!  She ate snacks, drew pictures and read books, over and over.  She didn't feel the need to get up and it was just beautiful to see how much self control she had. There was only one time I had to go get her because she'd walked to the end of the pew and was leaning over the back of the pew to another kid.  I wouldn't have cared if she had just sat there, but she's not allowed to turn around or stand up, so I had to snag her.  But otherwise, she was great!

Sunbeams, as usual, was a good experience!  She came out of class with a clip on tag that was colored and said, "I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints!"  It also had a sticker of Jesus on it.  Grace was SO excited with her tag and told me about it over and over :)  

After church was lunchtime and then naptime, which of course didn't happen until about 3 pm again.  While she slept I got some homework done :)

We are starting a countdown to Christmas today and so we got to work on that after dinner!  We had mashed potatoes, turkey and gravy with green beans.  YUM!

Anyways, Christmas countdown.  We have an advent calendar that has cotton balls in each of the little pockets, and every day we glue one of them to a picture of Santa without his beard!  I also have files for each day with activities in them for us to do, a picture from the LDS packet that goes along with a scripture to read, and then sometimes a cooking activity!  Today was super fun, and Grace had a great time.  She made little gifts for her two friends, Sabrina and Robert.  She made verse cards...one for each day of December, and then colored them a card.  She also decorated the first Christmas card that will be sent to family, colored a cover for her lightswitch that has Santa on it, and then we read the scripture and looked at the picture!  Oh, and we read a book..."Merry Christmas Big, Hungry Bear!"  She LOVED IT!

After that we watched a TV show and then Grace went potty in the toilet!  She went two times and so she got a chocolate animal cracker and a sticker on her calendar!  It was a tiny bit but still, she did the work and not the laxative.  So I was super proud of her.  After that was shower time, pajama time, prayer time, and then bedtime.  But..that didn't really go as planned.  I had to go get her at 9 pm because she was crying at the crack in her door and so I went to get her, turned on "Dreamer," and got her a corn dog to eat.  Pretty quickly it was bedtime again!  This time she did great going to bed.

I was going to do homework but Pinterest was calling my name, so instead I looked up Christmas activities that Grace and I can do together :)  Now I'm watching "Twilight" again as I write this and will go to bed shortly.  Preschool tomorrow morning!

Amanda

Flying By

Life is flying by and it's so hard to get it back!  Grandma and Grandpa Hildreth were here until Friday and they left about 10 am, and so while they were there we just visited a lot and had a yummy Thanksgiving!  Wednesday we went on a drive to the outskirts of Idaho and made it to the Teton Dam and Grand Targhee.  We watched the tiny little people ski down the insanely steep slopes and that's when I realized that I wouldn't be skiing there this year!  We saw a lot of beautiful scenery and it was just a really nice day trip.  Throught the time that they were here I was having to do homework, but Grace just loved drawing with Grandpa and so she kept him busy with that.  Grace absolutely loved having her grandparents here and talked to them so much!  Every morning they would get a huge, "Good Morning Grand..." (whoever) with a giant outstretched hug as she ran to them.  And she constantly talked to them, wanted to be around them and just really loved the extra attention.  We all would eat breakfast together and I just sat there amazed at just how well she does.  I can now put about 1/4 of a cup of milk in her cereal without too much of a mess, she can drink it out for the most part, she leans in as she takes a bite of food (that's with every meal), can wipe her face off, and is drinking out of a normal cup!  HURRAY!  She's extremely better at being receptive to things like, "Come to the table, Grace.  It's time to eat." She gets so excited to eat!  And she's doing great at using a fork, and gets upset when I give her a spoon!  She's gotten on an applesauce kick and just devours bowl after bowl!  She has also been going potty on her little toilet, and is starting to ask to go use the potty.  So we implemented the potty system.  When she goes in the potty she gets a chocolate animal cracker AND a princess sticker on a calendar.  Every time she goes potty, even if it's more than one time a day, these are the things she gets.  She is also telling me when she needs a diaper change and that she's messy, which is awesome!

There was one time when we were all at the Teton Dam and grandpa and daddy had walked off to check out the dam (or what's left of it).  Grace and I were out walking around to stretch our legs and she saw them coming and said, "Tum on Grampa...tum on.  Yet's go Grampa.  Tum on!"  It was so cute!  She does this all the time with him and really likes having him around.  

Friday morning they left and it was so cute to see Grace give them hugs and kisses goodbye.  You could totally see that she was understanding what was going on, but it was still tough when she'd ask for them and we'd have to tell her they were gone.  

Oh, Thanksgiving!  I have to tell you.  Ok, first we ate around 2 pm and we had: turkey, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, candied yams, veggie/fruit trays, cherry pie and pecan pie.  So, the candied yams.  We got them in the oven and were waiting for this as the last part of our meal and Ryan asked if he should take it out because the marshmallows were puffed up.  Brad said to leave them it it in for a few more minutes and then my stove started smoking.  I thought, "that's weird.  hm..." So I opened the oven door to check it out.  Oh boy!  FIRE EVERYWHERE!  That was so absolutely insane.  The marshmallows had caught fire and the fire was blazing out, smoke everywhere.  All the smoke alarms went off in the entire house and Grace was such a brave girl at covering her ears.  I ran to open doors while the guys tried to figure out what to do.  I pulled out the tray but we couldn't grab the casserole dish because the flames were literally everywhere.  I was going to through a towel over the whole thing to extinguish the flames but Ryan kept blowing on the fire...which means there are charred marshmallows ALL OVER in my oven.  I think the towel would have been a much faster and cleaner way of dealing with the situation.  So, all in all, a very exciting Thanksgiving!  All are well, no harm done, and we put fresh marshmallows on it, roasted it and it was fine.  Shew!

Now it's Saturday and Grace helped me get our Countdown to Christmas ready!  I have 24 folders of activities, a week's worth of community activities that are going on for the kiddoes/families, all her Christmas books set up in a basket along with the folders, my scriptures, the Ensign/Friend magazines, and we have an advent calendar on the wall with a cotton ball in each pocket.  Why?  Because I have Santa's face that has NO BEARD!  Every day we are going to put a cotton ball on his beard and by the time Christmas comes, he will have a full beard!  This is all sitting right beside the piano and it's so darn cute!  Oh, and there's two boxes of arts and crafts supplies that go along with the folder activities.  It's pretty exciting and now that Grace is old enough to understand, she just screams and laughs every SINGLE TIME we see Christmas lights outside.  Her face lights up, she gives TONS of high fives to whoever is around her, kisses you all over, and the whole thing happens again.  This is what she likes to say alot... "Oh I so E-CITED!"  And then she rambles this whole huge sentence and ends with "SO BIG!" with her arms out to either side showing just how big :)

Bedtime/wakeup:  She is now in a big girl bed (twin bed) and daddy treated her with a princess sheet set!  WOW!  Other than her bed and trampoline in her room (tramp just during the day), she's got nothing else in there.  I gave up the battle with her on trying to have a chest of drawers in there so it's now in her closet.  All her jackets, dresses, shirts and pants are hung up and all her books are stored in the closet (other than the ones on her wall bookshelf).  So daily all she has is a bed, mirror and trampoline.  She has been fighting naps for the past few weeks and will usually end up falling asleep at 3 at the crack of her door where she was talking nonstop to an invisible person.  We also had to tape down her light switch because she wouldn't stop turning her light on during naptime, and she has a knob cover on her door so I can get out, but she can't.  It's better than locking her door.  And so at night I crack her door open so she can get out when she wakes up, the sewing room and bathroom each have a knob cover, and the hallway has a gate (new gate since she broke the old one pushing it over and climbing on top of it to get out).  She comes into our room (it was at 6 am but now she's around 7-8 am...8 this morning!), comes to my side and I grab my extra pillow, push mine towards the middle of the bed and put hers next to it, and once she's climbed up she lays down, I cover her up, and we all snuggle for about an hour (only because it was a holiday week and there wasn't any school!).  She loves doing this and it has become our routine.  She gives me hugs and kisses all over, and says, "I love you," "Go to sleep mommy," "Wake UP!" and constantly is giving me kisses.  I'm not exaggerating either.  It's such a wonderful time until you hear one of two things...or even both of these... "I need diaper change," or "I want milk, please."  Then all fun goes out the window and it's time for the day to start!

Sewing room:  Once Skyler is married and moved out I will be taking all my sewing stuff down to the room he is now using.  I will set up my sewing area in the nook in the room and keep the supplies in the walk in closet.  This will leave the whole main portion of the room open to visitors coming to sleep over.  And this will also give me an entire room to devote to Grace's play room/school room!  I'm oober excited!  I'm going to start boxing everything up that move's downstairs because I'm so busy with school/life that I have not had time to sew.  And then I'll be able to set up her playroom just how it needs to be, and she will actually have things to play with other than just her trampoline.  I'm pretty excited about it.

Well, that's pretty much it for now.  Life is great, stressful but great, and a new year is coming.  

Shew.  I'm going to be 27 in January.  Age doesn't bother me...I welcome it.  Not that I'm wishing it would go faster, but I'm not freaking out because I'm almost 30 or anything.  I am at peace with age (unless it's about Grace because she's growing up too fast!) :)

Oh, one more thing.  We have another double eye surgery coming up in January (23rd), which is a week after I have to throw a wedding reception for Skyler/Mariah.  School starts the 6th and we travel to Nauvoo the 9th-13th or so, so it's going to be an INSANE month.  Then my birthday is in the mix of all that as well.  Anyways, back to the surgery.  This was expected, we aren't happy about it but knew it was coming so it wasn't that much of a shock to us.   Thank goodness her eye sight is holding strong in both eyes and so we no longer have to PATCH!!  AH!  I was so excited to hear that and I'm still so excited that patching is over...for now.  And Grace has been really complaining about her back hurting, and she keeps rubbing where her scar is and so I'm REALLY hoping there isn't something bad going on.  I called the Spina Bifida Clinic director and should hear back from her this coming week.  What will I hear?  I asked if we should have an MRI soon to check things out, and in a way I'm hoping she will say yes because we haven't really taught Grace the concept of pain and we haven't ever brought up her back hurting, so for her to be able to communicate specifically about her back and rub the lower part is a bad thing.  Good, but bad.

So, that's all of it.

Amanda

Two Days in a Row!

I can't believe I had time (made time) to write on Grace's blog!  It's been too darn long.  I'll need to be sure to make time.  I am down to 2.5 weeks left of this semester and it's really coming down to the wire because I have 4 "A's," 1 "A-," and 1 "B+," and I won't be able to get the schools full scholarship unless I get that B to a solid A.  So I'm trying my hardest!  Grace is getting used to me being on the computer doing homework and so she's so much better about giving me some space and playing with her toys while I get some work done.  

She is still getting up at 6 am...did I write that yet?  If not, then yeah...she's up at 6 am.  UG!  It's horrible!  I really value my sleep and since I have to stay up late to do homework that means I"m not getting much sleep.  And family is here and I don't want to be ignorant and go take a nap and so I am yawning all throughout the day!  This is where I wish I divulged in caffeine every once in a while.  But Grace, caffeine is bad for your body, so you won't want to eat/drink anything that has caffeine in it!  Anyways, this morning I found that she had knocked down the gate keeping her from roaming the house and was downstairs talking to Grandma and Grandpa!  Silly girl!  She got to go to school today and had a great time!  She always comes out of the classroom rambling on and on and on...no exaggeration.  She tells me elaborate stories with her arms and facial expressions and nonstop sentences and for the most part, I only get a few words here and there.  And then I ask her questions like, "What did you eat for snack?" and she says, "um...hm...(taps her chin with one finger), I had crackers!"  "Oh, yeah?  What did you drink with snack today?"  Again she taps her chin..."Water.  BIG CUP OF WATER.  And then usually I get a lot of random words and rambling that I can't really understand.  But that's ok, I still acknowledge that she's saying something.  After school we came home and played for a while, had leftover spaghetti, corn/carrots, water and Jewish Rye bread and then she went to bed, but didn't fall asleep until 3 pm.  3 hours of doing who knows what because she had no toys, no books and no stuffed animals.  Crazy kid!  While she slept I did a little homework, a little chatting, and back and forth :)

Did you know she can sing "Jesus want me for a Sunbeam," "I am a Child of God," and "Itsy Bitsy Spider!"  I think there are more but I can't think of them.  AWESOME!  Hurray for Sunbeams!  Can you believe that in January she will move up to CTR 4?  AH!  She's growing up so fast :)

The rest of the day was sitting around, playing and chatting.  We had burritos and home canned pears with water, and then Grace got to have Grandpa and I draw on her MagnaDoodle.  She absolutely loves that thing!  I need to put it away because I'm so not in love with it and need a break from drawing smiley faces, circles and spiders.  Ug.  Silly girl.

I got a ton of homework done and now I'm headed to bed.  I can't believe I'm actually getting to bed before 10:30 pm.  Woo Whoo!  It finally sounds like Grace is asleep...2 hours of her doing who knows what in her room in the dark (I tape her light switch down because she always turns it on at night.  I don't know what it is about this kid and going to sleep anymore...always fights it.)

Amanda

School, gymnastics, sick and family

Well, missed almost a week again.  Thanksgiving is coming soon and so we have grandma and grandpa Hildreth here to celebrate!  Skyler got ordained an Elder today and that was wonderful.  Brad was able to give him the blessing (or however it works) and so that was great that he could do that.  I was sicker than a dog Thursday with food poisoning and so that was definitely NOT fun.  Brad had been up in Montana and I told him to come home (after just having gotten there that day) because I felt horrible and needed some support.  So he got home about 3:30 am Friday and helped take care of Grace that morning so that I could rest.  Thankfully it passed quickly, but not without multiple visits to the bathroom.

Grace has been doing great.  She absolutely loves gymnastics, school and preschool with our little friend down the street.  Every time we pass his house she says, "Roberts house, Roberts house, ROBERT'S HOUSE!!!!"  She adores him, that's for sure.  This weekend was really a lazy weekend since I was so sick and today was the first day I've really felt good.  We went to church and she did really well in Sacrament!  Sat most of the time eating her snacks or reading books.  I was very proud of how well she did.  When I went to pick her up in her Sunbeams class she was hiding under a table acting out a "lion" and the king rolling away a stone so the lion's could get out.  It was so stinking cute!  She laid on the floor and wouldn't get up and a little girl kept nudging her with her foot which was really upsetting me, but I bit my tongue.  And then she rolled Grace around which bothered me more because I felt like it was more out of ignorance than friendliness.  Grr.

The rest of the evening was nice.  We had spaghetti with elk sauce, carrots/corn, toast and applesauce for lunch and then tuna sandwiches with applesauce again for dinner.  And Grace watched some magic shcool bus because I was so darn tired and needed a nap.  Once she went to bed Grandma and Grandpa went downstairs and watched a Country show with Brad because I had to get some homework done and then here I am, 11 pm and headed to bed.

Goodnight to all.  Just one day of school tomorrow and then Gym on Tuesday and then that's it for the week.  Let's home she doesn't get too rambunctious without being able to see her friends!

Amanda

Back to Our Schedule!

Hurray!  We are back to our normal schedule of school and gymnastics and preschool with our friends and therapy!!  We are so excited!  Monday she had a great day at school and got right back into motion with going, as if she hadn't been out for a week.  And then today was a super fun day!  We went to gymnastics in the morning and she did so great.  She walked on the high balance beam with helped and lifted her feet up to reach her teachers hand.  That's to learn how to point her toes.  She did somersaults, swung on a rope like Tarzan, crawled up a ladder (putting her feet between the rungs rather than on them), and worked on splits!  This was a really hard concept for her to grasp, and that definitely made sense because it was a really tough position to get into.  But she did great trying to learn and listen to what her teacher said.  After gym her Home Intervention worker came and worked with her on going potty (she went in the potty!) and eating lunch without making the hugest mess in the world.  Then naptime and even more fun!  We went to a friend's house for preschool and playtime, and then came home or dinner thinking that our night would be boring.  But then a friend called to ask if I'd watch her daughter, who is also Grace's friend, and so Grace got to see ANOTHER friend!  She stayed over until 7 pm, and then we watched SuperWhy until it was time for bed.  

It was a great day.  A great day back after a long sick week.

:)

Amanda

Yet Again...Another Sick Day

We had a doctors appointment today.  Darn it.  Grace had a bad reaction to the antibiotics she has been on for her ear infections, so we had to go get another medication to take care of that.  Seriously?!  This girl just doesn't get to catch a break.  I'm really hoping she gets healthy because she missed a whole week of school already, and I really don't want her missing another week.  After the doctor's appointment we grabbed her medication from Walmart (our friend Garon took us on our errands with his two kiddos since Brad didn't finish working on the car).  Then it was play time, nap time, and then the rest of the day was just trying to keep a cabin fevered, bored and over energized kid entertained.  Ug.  Winter hasn't even started and already we're dealing with high doses of cabin fever.

Now it's 9:20 pm and she's STILL up.  I locked her door and taped the lightswitch down, but even as I type this, she's yanking on the door...oh, now she's banging on it...telling me to "open!  the!  door!!"  Ug...I would love to go back to her normal sleeping schedule where she'd fall asleep right at 8 pm and wake up at 7:30 am.

All done for the night.

Amanda

Thursday Already

Miss Grace has still be SO sick, so we haven't gone to school, gymnastics, preschool with our friend or play days!  We did get to go to therapy today so that's great!  That darn nose of hers just doesn't stop running, and the congestion is horrible in her chest still.  Thankfully, though, it's all upper, and not bronchitis or anything like that.  So the past few days we have been playing at home, reading a TON (we finally got the books that I ordered from the Scholastic magazines that come home from her school) and did some arts and crafts.  It was fun playing with her :)  And the books were awesome.  Grace and I are going to have so much fun reading them together and doing activities with help from the books.  She was super excited as well, and we probably read 10 books in one sitting.

Tomorrow Grace will be going to school!  WOO WHOO!  She's so excited!  She's been asking me over and over to go to school, and also to go to gymnastics.  I'm so happy that she's excited about all these activities, and this makes me want to have her do them all the more.  

Amanda

Potty

Today was the first day that Grace actually went pee and then told us without us having to tell her what she did!  WOW!  She went and then said, "I went pee."  Great job girly!  

Today we had a sick day because of her yucky virus she has, and so that meant no school.  Tomorrow is gymnastics and therapy and so we'll go to that only because she's getting better by the day.  She's still getting up at 6 am...ug.  Daddy took her downstairs and let her watch Sesame Street so I could sleep an hour longer (so nice!), and even had her fed!  I was all ready to send her to school until I saw the yucky draining nose.  Oh well.

Gas is down to $2.79 here!  I can't believe it!

I got the rest of the supplies necessary to make Skyler and Mariah's wedding cake.  I'm going to print  out a recipe for pound cake and then I'll make a wedding cake and see what it's like.  I got the flower gum paste stencils and the foam pads that you need to make the flowers 3D.  I'm pretty excited!  I also have gotten supplies to make my own fondant and if this turns out, I'll be saving about $10 for each cake I make.  And then if I make my own buttercream frosting, that will be another $10 or so.  So this is going to be great!

All in all, that's our day.  It's now 11:30 pm, I should have been in bed 3 hours ago, and I'll probably be up at 6 am again.  It is really cute, though, how she comes in.  This morning she was tapping on my elbow.  "Mom...tap tap tap...MOM...tap...tap...tap."  I woke up enough to help her into bed and then rolled over to Daddy's side.  And then he stole her away and took her downstairs.  So cute :)

Can you believe it?  I wrote two days in a row.  It's been a while since that's happened!

Amanda

Time Missed

I can tell that I am feeling the lull in blogging.  In between a rambunctious kid, house care, homework, school and therapy, I'm not finding any time to write.  And if there is that minute or two, I'm zoned out watching a TV show and too tired to even think clearly.

So, this weekend has been tough because poor Grace has been so sick.  The coughs, the runny nose, trouble breathing...the whole shebang.  Thankfully, her doctor office is open on Saturday and so I took her in and we found out what?  Double ear infection and a virus.  Darnit!  So off to Walmart for her Amoxicillan and then we headed home for a sick day.  What comes with a sick day?  TV!  She is really into a show called "Oscar's Oasis."  Daddy got her into it and she asks for it ALL THE TIME!  SO why not let her watch it since she was feeling so yucky?

Also...since we had a sick girly, we didn't go to church.  There was a primary program and so it was so sad that we couldn't go because I didn't get to hear her sing!  But her health is so much more important, for sure.  So another TV day.  She's been having SUCH a hard time with her attitude, behavior and so forth.  We have also been having to give her a cleanout because she's not had a bowel movement in a week.  I'm really hoping this is what's causing her lack of sleep.  She's been getting up at midnight, 4ish, and then up for good at 6 am.  The past couple of nights I've been locking her in her room in the morning just because I need an extra hour of sleep or it won't be a good day!  And she's such a good sport about it, so that's helpful.  

All in all, it's been a rough few days.  She's had troubles, I've had a lot of stress with school, her different attitude, being stuck in the house because of the cold weather, etc.  Hopefully things will get better soon.

That's pretty much it for us.  A rough patch but we'll be fine!

Amanda

Very Early...12:40 am

Well, I've been up super late doing homework and so I figured since I was on the computer, I may as well write on Grace's blog!

Monday was our normal not so fun day just because after school, there isn't much left to do in the day.  On Tuesday we had gymnastics!!  Grace did so great in gymnastics.  It's great to watch her and see how much better she's getting in class.  She's listening more, keeping with the class more, and there are a few times that she gets overwhelmed and doesn't listen, but she comes back so quickly!  It's so fun to sit there and watch her for 50 minutes.  I wish I could just tape the entire class time every single time I went.  That way I can remember it :)  After gymnastics we had a quick rest of the time until it was lunchtime and then naptime, and today was fun because Grace's friend (Sabrina) got to come over!  They played for a few minutes while I talked to her mom (my friend Mary) and when we were all done talking, the girlies went down for nap.  Grace had a little trouble going down but very quickly, she was fast asleep.  It was nice to see that even though her friend was there she still went down nicely.  Sabrina slept in the living room and did a great job going to sleep as well.  About 2:45 pm Grace woke up and it was so cute to walk in there and see her sitting on her bed.  I said, "hi Grace" in a whisper voice and Grace said..."Hi Mom" in a whisper.  SO CUTE!  So then we got some things together for preschool and around 2:55 pm we went out to the living room, woke up Sabrina, and then got ready for preschool.  My friend Julie came over with her two boys (Robert and Jordan) and then we all had preschool together.  It was so fun!  We did color matching (Red, yellow and blue), sang a song about ladybugs, worked on counting (1, 2, 3), and played "swat the color."  I had fly swatters for the kids and I had three pieces of paper with a color on each.  Blue bird, red apple and yellow sun.  I would call one of them out and then the kids had to run and smack the color sheet!  So fun!  We lasted about 15 minutes with the kiddos and then Sabrina had to go home, and so Grace and Robert got to have pretzels and water for snack, and then they played while Julie and I talked about Emergency Preparedness.  Then we got the schedule for preschool written up and then it was time for the our friends to go home!  The rest of the day flew by!  Quickly 8 pm came and it was time for Grace to go to bed.  Goodnight!

Wednesday was fun as well.  Grace had school in the morning and then we went to Broulims to see what the price would be for a wedding cake.  $120 for the 30-50 people serving cake and that's without flowers or anything!  So then we went to Walmart to check out prices for cake making tools.  Lunchtime didn't go so hot...actually, I guess it would be naptime.  I put her down at 12:30 pm and she didn't fall asleep until 3 pm.  So I didn't get her up until 5:15 pm.  And then we went down the street to Sabrina and Mary's house to play!!  The girls had fun, the mama's talked and talked, the girls ate some yummy chicken nuggets, and some Smarties!  We came home about 7:30 pm and Brad said there was a surprise for Grace in her room!!  Daddy bought Grace a trampoline!!  It was so great :)  It has a handle and everything.  He put it in front of Grace's mirror so that she can watch herself jump up and down.  She was just so excited, and of course I was as well because she was.  He's such a good daddy!  So they played in her room for quite some time while I got to my homework.  I got two assignments done just in the nick of time...shew!  The deadline was 11:59 pm and I got it turned in at 11:56 pm.  And now I'm exhausted.  So it's time for bed :)  Goodnight...1:02 am.

Amanda

Way Behind

Wow, I really can't believe how fast the time goes by.  I'm so sorry it's been so long since the last post!  Things have just been flying by, and this weekend we were in Montana!  It was a spur of the moment trip and it was so fun!  "Papa Brian" went hunting and so we got to have some elk meat!  So we were there Saturday and Sunday.  Our darn truck has been giving us problems and so each time we tried to start the truck after it sat for a while, it wouldn't start.  So that was an added bonus to the fun trip.  Sunday we didn't make it home in time for church because the truck wasn't working, darnit!  Then today is Monday :)  Grace went to school and had a bit of a hard time, but that's okay.  Her injury from running into her chest of drawers is getting much better, and it doesn't bother her at all.  So that is such a blessing.  After school we went to Walmart to return something we bought and got a couple things, one of which is a box of 300 or so stickers for potty training!  Very low expectations and no pressure for the girly.

Naptime went well after Daddy helped her remember that nap time meant it's time to sleep.  Then I got lots of reading done for school work.  The rest of the day FLEW BY!  I couldn't believe how fast the time went, and before I knew it, it was dinner time!  Grace helped make dinner!!  She helped cut the kielbasa, rehydrate carrots, squash and green bell peppers, pour the olive oil into the pan, scoop onions into the oil (dehydrated), put the kielbasa into the pan, stir the food as it's cooking, poured the rehydrated veggies into the pan, put bread into the toaster, poured eggs into the pan once the meat and everything was cooked, put the plates on the table, helped strain the homemade juice, and gave me lots of high fives while I cook the rest of the way.  Then after a few minutes she went to lay down on the floor and pulled out her crayons and colored away in her coloring book.  She's getting much better at being able to find independent things to do while I'm busy with homework or cooking or whatever.  Good job girly!

She went to bed at 8 pm, good girl.  I got some homework done and now we are going to head to bed.  It's 10:13 pm.  :)

Amanda

Pre-Halloween FUN!

One of the most awesome things about Rexburg is that they are SUPER family oriented.  They had an early Halloween activity for families.  Now, think of the tiny towns that have the street with all the little shops that all work together to make a fun time for the town.  Now, this isn't "main street," but it's still a cozy, tree lined area.  Anyways, the party was from 1-5 pm, a mix of small restaurants, Deseret Book, and some tiny apartments on the other side of the street (they are tiny old homes so they aren't overwhelming).  Each shop had candy and some of them had activities for the kids to do.  There was a suit shop that had bobbing for apples!  WHAT?!  I haven't seen that in so long!  Each apple had a sticker on it and the color coordinated to a prize.  I was walking by with Grace and telling her that she was too young to do it, and the person working the activity stopped me and said, "You go ahead and grab one.  She's too young anyways!  Have fun!"  So I let Grace pick one (orange sticker) and she got a HUGE candy bar!  She chose the cookies and cream candy bar.  There was a horse drawn hay ride (SUPER FUN!), and all sorts of characters passing out candy.  It was great because Grace got used to all the people handing out candy (Cinderella, Hunger Games person, Duck dynasty person, Indian, all the princesses that you can think of, Ursela, etc), and so she would go up to every single person.  Oh, and there was a "headless horseman" that was riding a clydesdale!  Awesome!  So, some pictures...

 SO CUTE!!!  ROAR!!!

 Grace was pretty nervous about this part, but once I touched some of the stuff and showed her that it was okay, she was fine.  Her outfit was so hot that she didn't want the head part on.

 Aw, how cute!  One of the princesses with Miss Grace!  See her bucket of candy?  That's what all the characters were carrying around.

 Taking a break.  By this time she was VERY tired.

 Ok, just about done.  There's the headless horseman.  Grace was pretty fussy and so I couldn't take the time to get a second picture.

And here's her goodies!  YUM!

After this we went to a ward dinner, and that was fun.  grace got to play with her friend, Robert, for quite some times, she had a baked potato with chili on top, and then a cookie for dessert.

Amanda

October 10th Catch Up

So, I'm way behind about some things!  So, I'll catch up.  Grace got a package from Mee Maw and was very excited about it!  It was cute to see her playing with it.

 WOW!  So fun :)  She turned the envelop upside down and shook out the necklaces.

 This was her "I'm zoned out" look.

And there's the real deal smile!!  SO CUTE!!

Amanda

Wow, So, Lots Has Happened

Sheesh, time flew.  And a lot has happened.

Sunday was tough. Grace had a really tough time during sacrament, which then leads to Mom having a tough time.  And as if that wasn't enough...so, Grace has done a lot of chest of drawer tear apart sessions while she is supposed to be napping....

 October 9th

October 23rd

Yeah, so, I took the Chest of Drawers out...and then later, every single thing came out. (Oct 27th)

So, now it's like a prison (that's what Brad said!) and it's true, but I was just SO done with her playing with everything and not taking a nap.  I really worry that she's transitioning out of naptime and I just don't want that!

So...now we come to the 27th...ug.  I had moved Grace's chest of drawers into my room and it stood out in front of our door frame to the bathroom about 2 inches.  Brad was giving Grace a bath and took her out and told her to stay where she was (on the rug because the floor is tiling), but she didn't listen.  She tried to take off out of the door but...she slipped.  And...

 OUCH!

 4 stitches...

On my poor girlies head.  :(

But look at how she was acting after her stitches being put in...

HAPPY!!

Our girlie is so strong, and can get through anything.  She cried for only about a minute after hitting her head, and in the beginning, I didn't even know that she had hurt her head.  But then I saw the blood in her hair.  What a nasty feeling in my stomach when realizing she was REALLY hurt.  So I took her to the ER and they took us right back (there is NEVER a wait in the Rexburg waiting room!) and took us to an awesome room!  Floor to ceiling underwater decorations, whales and dolphins painted on the walls, fish hanging from the ceiling, a wall full of toys, and a TV.  WOW!  They numbed her injury and she was a bit fussy, but after I turned the TV on she was fine.  We waited about 30 minutes for the numbing to work (a nurse came in 15 minutes through to reapply more numbing solution), and then they wrapped her up like a burrito. :(  I didn't like it at this part because I knew what was coming.  Grace was still watching her movie and the doctor got started.  Grace did pretty well but when the doctor got to the last stitch, Grace was able to feel what was going on.  Then came her deep crying (the one that leads to throwing up) and I bit my tongue so I wouldn't cry.  The doctor said she had also hit a blood vessel (seriously?) and she would have to numb it with an injection at this point, so I told her to just hurry up and finish.  Poor Grace.  After she was done they sat her up and then came the dry heaves.  And then, once I picked her up, came the vomit.  But it was just a little and I didn't care that she got me.  My poor girly.  She calmed down pretty quick once they brought a stack of stickers, 2 Smarties, and a pink octopus squeaky toy!  

What a night. 

And then we left on Monday around 2 pm to head to Utah for a doctor's appointment.  We had to stay in a hotel because Grace was sick, and so we couldn't stay at the Ronald McDonald house.  Darn!  Farther from the hospital and so it was more time to get there, and then we went the wrong way!  Oh yeah, we went swimming the night we got there, which was nice.  Ok, back to the appointment.  This was on Tuesday (today).  She got her eyes checked, we got the ok to stop patching (WOO WHOO!), and she has to have another surgery...  Dangit.  So we are scheduled for January 16th, 2014, which is 6 days after Skyler and Mariah's wedding!  Oh yeah, by the way, they are getting married!  Another post.  Hopefully this will be the last surgery. 

All in all, a busy few days.  I'm glad to be home but I'm behind in my homework because of the 2 day trip.  So I have to hurry up with all that tomorrow (Wednesday), and hopefully get on track.  

That's all :)  Shew.

Amanda

Shew, the Day is Finally Over

Today was a tough day.  Mommy and Grace were both really bored and tired, and so we both were getting on each others nerves.  Plus she never took a nap, and so that was really tough on both of us because she never gave in.  So we took a really long walk, two times around the block.  She was so tired from it!  But she needed it.  And she went down at 8 pm and went right to sleep.  I will NOT be okay with her not taking naps!!  AH!  I want her to nap as long as I can possibly get her to.  

Well, I'm done with the rest of the homework for this week, and so Saturday is open for whatever we want.  There is a floor hockey church game at 7:30 in the morning, but I don't know if we will go.  Then at 1 there will be a trick or treat party starting over in Hemming Village, which is a little shopping center.  So we will skip nap and go to that, go on a horseback ride, trick-or-treat, look at all the pumpkins, and it's just going to be so fun!  And then after that the ward is going to have a Harvest Dinner, and so we will go have potatoes and chili without me worrying about homework!  Hurray!

All in all, a good ending to a tough day.  We had a nice dinner together, just Grace and I, and we cuddled before she went to bed.  She was a really good girl while getting her ready to go to bed, and then she went right down.  Shew.

Goodnight.

Amanda

Sunny Days

I can't believe Wednesday is already almost over!  Sheesh.  Yesterday was a fun day.  Grace went to gymnastics and did great, as always, and then she had her therapist come over and work with her for an hour.  Then lunch time/nap time, and this is where she was a problem.  I had a meeting online at 1 pm and so I couldn't deal with the naked and dirty Grace that decided it was fun to take her diaper off.  So Daddy got to deal with bathing her and getting her sheets and pack and play mattress washed.  And so of course she had to sleep in the toddler bed, which meant playing, getting up, messing around...long story short...she only had a half hour nap before our friends came over.  It was our first day of home preschool and it was interesting.  We talked about grocery shopping, the food you get while grocery shopping, and glued some pictures of food on pictures of grocery carts.  It was tough for Grace to want to be involved because of the lack of sleep, and so she was a bit crabby.  After home preschool we went on a field trip to Broulims and circled the items that we needed on a bingo cards for the kids.  This was fun :)  Grace enjoyed pushing the cart around, helping grab the items and put them in the cart, and obviously, getting a cookie from the bakery was the best.  She got to have a cookie!!!  YUM!  We also got Nutter Butters/Oreos filled with chocolate (3 for $6), donuts, a bunch of bananas, and a little strawberry milk because she was such a good girl!

After this we went to the park and called our other friends to come play, and Grace had an OK time playing there.  I think she was excessively tired from lack of sleep and it was a bit cold out there.  So when we were getting ready to leave I offered her friend Samantha one of the donuts that Grace and I had gotten, but when I went to try to open the door, the door lock cylinder broke! AH!  So now I was stuck there.  But, thankfully, I had had a feeling to keep the windows open and so thankfully, I was able to get my arm in and get it unlocked.  The rest of the day was just dinner and playing until bedtime.

Of course today I totally forgot about the door lock cylinder being broken.  So guess who locked the door once I got to Grace's gymnastics center so I wouldn't have to worry about someone stealing my wallet?  ME!  So we had to get a ride home, and we'll have to go back after Grace takes a nap (it's 1:16 pm now and she's STILL awake).  Then Brad might go to the cabin.  We'll see.  So far, that's our day!!

Amanda

Monday

School day!  Of course Grace is excited about this.  Off she went.  I have noticed that she's been a bit more cautious about going to school, so I'm wondering why this is.  But it's not horrible.  Just a bit cautious.  But off she went and I headed home and got some homework done.  I am usually one of the first people to the school to pick her up but this time I got carried away with homework and she was one of the last picked up in her class!  Oops!  Silly mommy.  

After school we made oatmeal cookies!  Oatmeal raisin, actually.  We made a double batch because I've got a lot of friends that I want to pass them out to.  Grace got to help pour in the ingredients into the mixer, and she got to eat raisins while I added the wet stuff.  She was doing so great and was listening really well about not touching the mixer...but....right after she helped me pour the oats in (remember, it's a double batch so it's really full), she yanks the mixer to speed 3 and AH!  Oatmeal went EVERYWHERE!!!  Of course I was super sharp because of the knee-jerk reaction, and I took her off her stool and told her to get out of the kitchen, but after seeing her startled face, I quickly took a deep breath and tried again.  I called her back and calmly talked to her about what happened, and why I had been asking her not to touch.  And then I made it a learning "game" of sweeping up the oatmeal with our "cup" hands.  She did really well!!  I was glad that I was able to fix what I had done, but I'm hoping that soon enough, I won't lash out like I did.  I'll just be calm throughout the whole thing.  I apologized to her because I shouldn't have reacted so quickly.  It startled me, and then angered me because of the mess, but then quickly, I realized that I could use this as a teaching lesson.  When she had walked off after I lashed out, her face said fear, sadness, confusion.  But after I called her back, calmed down, and was happy and working with her, she totally changed.  After we were all said and done, she walked off happy, laughing, and then she even turned around and said, "Thank you, Mommy!"  It was so darling to see!

The rest of the day went quickly.  Lunch time, naptime, wake up time, errands, dinner time, bedtime.  Shew!  Daddy did great giving her a bath and getting her into bed, so that was great.  I doorbell ditched two neighbors with "you've been booed" cards :)  I love doorbell ditching sweets!

All in all, a great night.  After Grace went to bed we had a family home evening about testimonies, and that was great.

Amanda

Fast Day Again

Another fast day today.  Church has changed to having sacrament first and Grace actually did really well with this.  I thought it would be tough on her but she did all right.  Then she went to Sunbeams without a problem.  After church was naptime....ug...she didn't fall asleep until 3:40 pm!  CRAZY!  I would be so tired.  Oh, and she fell asleep naked after taking her diaper off.  Bummer.  Anywho, I woke her at 5 after I got dressed and ready to go jogging and then she and I went out for a jog.  I really pushed myself today and I'm so excited because I'm getting a little better each time.  It's so fun to go with her because she just kicks back in the jogging stroller, and sometimes she crosses one of her legs over the other.  It's just so totally cute!  It was still cold enough for her nose to run and her hands to turn red so we quit after a while, and she had a lot of trouble warming up after.  Her body just kept shaking from her being cold.  So I turned on a show and had her sit on a heating pad until she was nice and warm.  Oh, and then she had a corn dog for dinner...or should I say that Scotty had one for dinner!  She either put it on the ground or offered it to Scotty and it was gone within seconds.  I was pretty mad because I've reprimanded him SO MANY TIMES not to eat from her but he's spoiled by Brad and so he gets away with it.  Oh well.  She and I had taquitoes instead, watched "The Next Great Baker" with the boys (Skyler and Ryan), and then she went to bed.  She was definitely tired...off the hook tired.  She was doing her crazy witch laughing that never seems to stop and I actually had to hold her head down so I could brush her teeth.  She laughed way loud the entire time, and I think I lost my breath a couple times because of how much she was making me laugh!  And now it's 8:16 pm and I can here her settling down in her room.  I give her her "Night night Elmo" that she got for her birthday and she just LOVES IT.

Well, now I'm going to do some homework in hopes that I can get most, if not all, done before Friday so I can go to the ward harvest party and another movie party this weekend.  Oh, and then there is a small area down the street, a small shopping center, that's having a trick or treat walk and tons of games, activities, food, free horseback rides, etc from 1-6.  I can't remember the day but I think it's the 26th.  So we are definitely going to that!  Grace will have a great time.

Amanda

Fun with Family

We've been having a great time with family :)  Grace has absolutely loved having Gabe here to play with, and I'm so glad that they have this time together.  All the family has sat and talked for awhile, and it's just really great to be able to sit around, relax, and chat.  The time also seems to fly by so much faster, which is definitely crazy!  It came to be noon before I could imagine!  Grace got us up about 7:45 am and that wasn't too bad.  And after a little while Gabe came up to go potty and Grace was SO excited to see him!  From that moment on we played :)  Now the kids are in bed and we all are just relaxing.  I finished the rest of my homework and so I'm watching 19 Kids and Counting, and will be going on Pinterest in a few minutes to find some last minute ideas for preschool.  We will be having Grace's friend over for preschool, and his mom and I will be splitting teaching.  We will do this Tuesday and Thursday and will swap houses.  So I'm nervous but also excited.  Nervous because I don't know if I'm actually going to keep up with it and excited for obvious reasons.  

This evening Janelle and Arron have a meeting to go to so we get to have Russell, Devon and Gabe stay here and hang out!  Grace will enjoy that :)

That's all for now!

Amanda

Hurray Day!

Today is going to be such a fun day!!  Grace is in preschool right now, then we will have a play day right after, lunch time, then nap time, and then a Halloween party at 5-8 pm.  Skyler, Ryan and Mariah are coming home from Utah tonight and then Janelle, Aaron, Gabe and Tyson are coming to stay for the evening!!  Hurray!

Amanda

Wow, this week

This week has gone by so fast and I can't even believe it!  I looked at the date of my last post (Sun) and I just could not believe that it was already Thursday!  So, lots of catching up to do.  

Sunday: Church went well.  She always loves going to class and so she had no problem heading off to stand with her class.  I was so happy to hear that starting next Sunday we will be having Sacrament first rather than last.  I like this more because Grace is happy right when we get to school, but once we've gotten to the 3rd hour she's just really tired and fussy.  That's what happened this past Sunday and so shew...I'm glad to hear this.  But what's not so fun is that starting in January, we will be going to church at 11 am.  I really do not want to have to take Grace to that time because that means she won't be able to take a nap until after 2 pm.  Oh boy.  

Monday: Preschool!  There wasn't much that we did since she didn't have therapy.  Right before nap time a friend came over!  Hurray!  SO they all played for about an hour, we talked about starting preschool together (we'll start T/TH next week), and then we had a quick snack before they left.  Nap time came and it was so nice.  She went right down after a little while instead of staying up forever like she normally does.  

Tuesday: Gymnastics!!  She always has so much darn fun in gym.  She did a great time on the balance beam!  She was actually able to very slowly walk along the balance beam with only tow hands being held, rather than the "under the armpit" hold like she's had the last couple of times.  So I was so excited!!  And she did well with her somersaults, she did around jumps on the targets...it was so cute because she would walk around in a circle in place, and then she would jump.  She's so awesome and she understood the concept of what she was supposed to do.  She did run around a few times when she wasn't supposed to bit it has changed and gotten so much better since the first time.  She is really understanding the concept and I'm happy.  Oh, and she worked on the bar this time too!  She held on just long enough to get her toes to be pulled up and tap on the bar.  HURRAY!

Wednesday: School again!  She got to go to the library today and got another book.  Of course I forgot to send the book with her to school and so I had to go early, but that's ok.  I didn't mind at all.  I got to watch her walk back to class from playing in the gym and it was so cute to see her walking back with her class!  I hid in the office so she wouldn't seen me and she just looked so big.  Then I got to watch them go into the library.  Gosh she's growing up so fast.  

Thursday: Oh, that's today!  She gets to go therapy today and while she's there, I will try to finish up as much homework as I can.  There is a party tomorrow in the community for Halloween and I want to be able to take her for the full time without worrying about homework.  I don't know what else we are going to do today.  We'll see.  She's wearing her butterfly costume today!  She found it this morning and demanded to have it on.  So, there we go!  Miss Grace Butterfly!  Oh, and she woke me up at 7:20 this morning!!!  Want to know how I was woken up?  SUPER BRIGHT LIGHTS were turned on.  AH!  It was so painful for my poor eyes...silly girl.  But I don't really care :)  Then she comes in with a quesadilla that daddy didn't finish and I forgot was on the counter.  Silly girl!...Just now I realize that's why she didn't eat her breakfast bar!  Anyways, that's all for now.  

Amanda

What a Weekend

It really feels like the weekend flew by.  I can't believe it's already Sunday.  It was an especially hard school week and so that's why I didn't write yesterday...darn homework.  Anyways, it is a rainy day today and burr, it's extra cold inside today!  Grace finally fell asleep for her nap (finally at 2 pm) so she'll be sleeping in a bit longer than normal.  Starting in January we have to go to church at 11 am (YUCK) and I'm not looking forward to that.  She has enough trouble as it is now at 9 am.  But I'm hoping she will do better.  Sacrament will be first instead of last so maybe that will make it easier on her.

Not much else to share.  Daddy is still in Montana and probably will be through Monday, and then they all come home and then we head to Utah to see Ciara and her girlies!  So I'm really hoping I can get as much homework done as possible before we go.  I was planning on spending all of Monday doing homework but now that Brad won't be here, I don't know if that's going to work.

Grace is back in her pack-n-play for naptime.  She was always getting out of bed, pulling everything out of her chest of drawers and then not taking a nap at all, so now she's confined.  It's working a bit more, yet she still is staying up too late.  It's something we're going to continue working on.  

Grace and I went out a few days ago and bought all the Christmas and birthday presents necessary for Ciara and family.  Since we are going to see them, we won't have to pay major postage so they will get to have more presents!  We also bought Kailyn her birthday present :)  So we are getting done early, and that's great.  Now we are working on Grandma Hildreth's birthday present, and hopefully she will like it.

That's all for now.  Another lazy day for Mommy!

Amanda

Wow, the Days are Flying By

I can't believe it's been so long since I've written.  I'm into my third week in class and I'm really feeling the pressure.  We've had days of smashing in play time, therapy, school time and me trying to get my homework done and that has left no room for blog time!  Nothing much has changed around here and so that's why I'm not too worried about having missed.  Today daddy, Skyler, Mariah and Ryan went up to Butte, Montana to visit Grandma and Grandpa Hildreth, and then they will all be going to the cabin.  It will be a special weekend :)

I think the only thing new to write about is Grace is having a horrible time getting to sleep for naps.  Now that we are using a toddler bed, she's all about getting up, out of bed, clearing out all 6 drawers of her chest of drawers, pulling everything out of her closet...oh, and getting naked too.  Ug.  I made her sleep in her pack and play and she still had trouble getting to bed.  Finally at 3 pm she fell asleep.  There is a party going on at the Farmer's Market that started at 4 pm but she needs her sleep!  We'll go a little later since it doesn't end until 8.

She's having so much fun in gymnastics!  It's wonderful to watch her walk on the balance beam, do somersaults, and run around having fun!  It's hard to not want to get out the and have fun with her!  She has a helper that goes out with her to keep her in line, but most of the time, she listens so well!

She's also doing great in school.  Loves going, enjoys going to the library, and is just all around so happy to be there!  Never a compliant.


Our girly is such a sweetie.  I love her so much, as does the rest of the family.


Love you Grace girl.


Amanda/Mommy