Almost New Years!

Wow, I can't believe that it's almost a New Year!  I just got used to writing 2013!  I can't believe how fast the time is going, and how fast Grace is growing.  Just a quick update because Brad and I are going to go watch a movie together :)  Our last movie of 2013!  

there wasn't much going on since it's still a holiday vacation, so there was no gymnastics or therapy today.  I did my training today, and Grace had fun watching a cartoon show with Mickey and Minnie mouse in it.  Other than that and going to Pizza Pie Cafe for our last "eat out" of the year, the day was pretty much full of staying home.  I got the practice wedding cake frosted and put together.  I also made fondant and will be working on that tomorrow to see if it is worth the work.  I also finally made cheese and have it in the homemade cheese press.  I saved the whey and it's sitting in a bowl for the next 12-24 hours at room temperature.  I will be making ricotta cheese with those leftovers!  If this all actually works out, we'll be eating homemade, non-additive cheese and a really good price!  Just the price of the gallon of whole milk.  But it says that you can make cheese with whatever kind of milk, so I might try the cannery milk next.

All in all, that's it.  Grace got another add-on for her dollhouse today!  She got the dog, doghouse, puppy, dog food bowls, bag of dog food, brush, bed and blanket.  SO CUTE!  I think she played with her dollhouse a few different times today and each day it was about 20-25 minutes.  Definitely a good buy!

Amanda

New Blog for Mommy!

 I have my own personal blog now.  It's for my training towards running a marathon in June!!  Hurray!  It won't just be about that, though.

 

My Marathon...one Step at a Time

Amanda

Packages!

It was so fun today for Grace because she got packages in the mail!  MeMa said that I could buy some add-ons for Grace's doll house that Dado and Papa bought, and they have been slowly getting here!  Today she got the kitchen set (sink, oven, microwave, refrigerator and table/chairs), the beds and the bathroom set (sink, toilet, tub, rug, towel, and little bathtub toys).  She was SO excited!  She cheered, jumped up and down, and gave me kisses :)  And then she went on to play with her doll house for 30 minutes while I made lunch.  We had beef stroganoff but instead of it being over noodles, it was over a piece of homemade bread.  We also cleaned the living room, cleaned my bedroom, and cleaned Grace's bedroom!  We've surely been busy.  During naptime I've been super busy baking cake layers!  I finally got the gumption up to make the practice wedding cake.  I've got the two smallest layers in the oven, and then I'll be keeping them in the garage while I make the next two layers, and then do the same thing!  Then I'll be making the second parts of the layers.  I'm doing the whole thing so I can see how it will look.  I'm surely hoping it turns out well!  I also put strawberry extract in it, so we'll see!

I don't know what we will do the rest of the day.  I have books to return at the library, and then I need to go get some more whole milk so I can start making cheese.  It has to sit overnight, so tomorrow will be the cooking day.

Other than that, we'll probably just play with her doll house and other toys.  And I will probably be working on the cake for most of the day.  It'll be fun to have Grace helping!  I'm going to let her work with some of the fondant and gum paste for the flowers.

All in all, a good day so far!

Amanda

Not Much Today

Other than going to Idaho Falls today, we haven't done much.  Since we are all sick, we didn't want to work ourselves up too much.  We went to Idaho Falls to see if we could find some silk flowers for the wedding cake I have to make.  We went to Michaels and JoAnns but they were just so fake looking.  Then we went to Sams Club for some groceries and then headed home.  Naptime was from 3:30-5:30 pm (Crazy, right?).  And now it's 10:30 pm and she's still up.  She got into the cupboard that held her diapers and skin cream, and the ski cream ended up being emptied out and all over her face, in her mouth, and wherever it went!  her light stopped working in her room and so we weren't able to turn it on to see where it all got.  

Anywho, time for bed.  I'm beat.

Amanda

Sick Day

Well, Miss Grace is officially sick.  And not just a snuffly nose.  It's the full on difficulty breathing, runny nose, coughing, whining, sleepy (she slept until 5 pm), and just all around not a fun day.  I don't like it when Miss Grace gets sick because she's just not her normal self.  I'd much rather be sick instead of her.  And I think Daddy and I are both getting sick.  Oh boy.

So we didn't go out at all today.  Not even out the front door!  We played a lot, watched TV while cuddling in bed, ate, and put the Christmas tree away.  We also worked in her school room for a while, and cleaned the living room so it finally looked decent.  Grace got a van in the mail today!  This is an add-on for her doll house that Dado and Papa got her.  :)  It also came with a dog and a bag of groceries!  Awesome!  The next closest add-on is in Salt Lake, Utah, so maybe we will get it tomorrow.

Other than that, not much has gone on.  I'm setting up plans for workout schedules wedged into a full schedule at school and grace in preschool/therapy.  I'm going to sign up for the Teton Dam Marathon, and I'll check out the first 2-4 weeks of training to see if I can handle just the 5K or 10K, or if I might be able to handle a half or full marathon.  I've got 6 months to train.  Grace and I will definitely be visiting the college a lot to run on their indoor track!

Amanda

By the way...it's 11:45 pm, and I'm not the only one awake....Miss Grace decided it was time to get up!

Sledding!

We went sledding today and it was SO FUN!!!  Daddy pulled us behind the truck and then I pulled him for awhile.  And then we went to go get our friend's two kids and pulled them around for awhile, and then brought them home for spaghetti with us.  Fun day!

Before we get to the sledding pictures...this is a picture of a princess on Grace's ceiling.  It is a projection!  Her room is dark but somehow it looked like this in the picture!  And it's like this without the flash on.  The princess goes from blue to green, and then yellow.

 Oh, another Christmas picture I missed.  Dinner!  Ham, homemade bread, mashed potatoes/gravy, corn, grapes and juice/milk.

Ok, now sledding pictures!!  This is Kenna, our friend's daughter.  Super fun!

 There's Kenna again :)

 And again!

 I got mostly video, which is why there aren't that many pictures.  But we all did it.  Grace and I, then Grace and Daddy, Jarik and Grace, Jarik, Kenna, Kenna and I, and then Kenna and Jarik.  SO FUN!!

 There's our sweet Grace girl looking like Marshmallow girl!  She had SO MUCH FUN!!!

And then there's Grace and Kenna.  That's noodles right there, not something yucky :)  I dumped out my cup of soup thinking there was just juice left...obviously not!  Grace girl loves Kenna.

Amanda

Christmas

Shew!  I've been busy and it's been crazy around here, so there has been no time for blogging.  But now I have time to catch up, and as such, this could just mean one thing...PHOTO BOMB!!  So, just be ready to sit back and see happiness in action :)...well, actually, still frame but whatever.

 ALL THE PRESENTS!

The house is from Dado and Papa, the lego set is from Mommy and Daddy, Sit and Spin is from SANTA!

 Candyland dora from Dado and Papa, magnetic doll set under candyland from mommy and daddy.

 

 Bouncy sit on ball from Santa, Fishing game from Grandma and Grandpa Hildreth, puzzles from Mommy and Daddy, fruit basket besides the sit on ball from "Grandma" Angie, Pooh Bear puzzle from Grandma and Grandpa Hildreth, Kitchen from SANTA, blue hardbound book from Grandma and Grandpa Hildreth, toothbrush holder beside the fishing game from Santa.

 

So excited :)  And ready to go see all the presents.

But them mom and dad were SO excited that Grace got nervous.  It took us 10 minutes to get her down the darn hallway!  She actually ran all the way back to her room and jumped into bed saying "goodnight."

But then she saw everything and started in.  Good girl!

 "A Puh...dle!"

 Grace LOVES the dollhouse!  Mema has bought a bunch off add-ons for the house so it will be a complete set for Miss Grace.  Pot and pan set from Dado and Papa, as is the food to the right of Grace.

 All the food from dado and papa.  Thank you so much Dado and Papa!

 "Up, down, up, down."  She really liked putting the man on top of the roof!

 Slowly opening her presents.  It really was slow.  We actually had to "persuade" her to open the presents.

 This is from "Grandma" Angie.  This will teach her how to cut fruits and vegetables.

 A present from Keri and Jonathan!

 These punch balloons are from Grandma and Grandpa Hildreth.

 This is the puzzle that she got from Grandma/Grandpa Hildreth.  Daddy even had trouble putting it together!

 There's everything!

Eating her sandwich.  This is part of the set from Keri and Jonathan.

 I got this for Brad for Christmas!

 Daddy reading his card.

 And a game book!!

Here's our Christmas tree, by the way.

 Grace got to help this year!!  Actually, I didn't know she wanted to help and grabbed it out of my hand and put it up!

 Here's the one she hung up.  Super cute, right?

 Mommy and Grace in front of the tree.

Daddy and Grace in front of the tree :)  

All in all, a good Christmas.

Amanda

Fly By

Wow, you know how it is when the day is going super slow, and all you want is for it to hurry up because it's just the most boring day?  But then there are the days you are enjoying so much that you want them to never end but go SUPER fast?  That's how this weekend was.  It FLEW by!  It was absolutely insane.  Grace didn't have school on Friday because of Christmas break, and so we just hung out at home.  And then Saturday...what happened Saturday?  I can't remember.  Sunday there was church, lunch, nap time, playtime, dinner time, bedtime.  Pretty much our Sundays in a nutshell.  The real sad thing that we learned at church is that we will be meeting at 11 starting in January.  I am SO not a fan of that.  Oh, and what's super crazy?  The bishop got up and made an announcement about how there are people in the ward that have been gossiping and talking about other families, (as he got all teary-eyed) and that these people need to stop doing it and be sure that those people that are doing this must repent and be cleared of their wrongdoings.  Wow.  I can't believe a bishop would say stuff like that!  It felt like a principle reprimanding his students because someone tattled about another person gossiping.  Of course that makes the entire ward think, "Who and what is there to gossip about?  And who is doing the gossiping?  And what is so important that the gossiping would be widespread?  And now I want to know!!"  That's probably what was happening with everyone!  Anywho...

Monday.  No school, so we slept in.  Miss Grace has been getting up at 6 am, and today was no exception.  I think today it was 5:50 am.  Yes, the 10 minutes do count!  But Brad was so awesome :)  He had just gotten up and so he turned on the TV (we just moved it into our room) so she could watch and I rolled over and slept for 2 more hours.  Ah, the joy of a babysitter for Grace and earplugs for mommy.  And she's so sweet because she doesn't come over and poke/prod/hit/slap, etc.  And I love that I get to snuggle her every morning :)

After that was breakfast (Daddy got it all ready for us while I got Grace dressed), and then we played for a little bit before Grace and I went to the library.  I wanted to get the rest of the books for The Giver, but of course they had one missing that the computer said was at the library.  It was a fun trip because I found out that one of the librarian's is a cousin by marriage!  She is Larene's cousin, and she is my sister-in-law.  Grace got to play on the touch screen computer and did really well!  She colored pictures, matched letters on a train game, and made music with a Dora game.  I got a few books (one of which I started during her nap time and finished before she woke up...Independence Rock) and a couple yoga/pilates videos.  I want to try them out to see which one I like the best, and will stick with that one.  

After this was lunch time, naptime, and then wake up time.  We went to pick up our car at a hotel.  Skyler had to use it at 2 am to get to the shuttle that went to Salt Lake so he could catch a flight to Indiana to spend Christmas with his fiancee.  

We had been invited to an ice cream sundae party a few days ago and it was today, so we headed over there at 5:30ish pm and it was so fun!  Brad didn't stay very long because Grace was off the hook, and so he took her home to feed her.  I staying until 7:45 pm, which is when everyone else started heading home.  There were so many people, and it was decorated so beautifully, and it was just all around a great evening.  

And now it's 9:13 pm, Grace is still awake, I'm watching Twilight while writing this, and Brad is down finishing a TV season show that he has been watching for a while.  Tomorrow will bring much of the same since there's no school, no preschool with our friends (because they are in California), so we'll have to find things to do to keep us entertained.

Amanda

Shew...Friday

Wow, this week first seemed like it was going so slow but then felt like it went by so fast!  Already 10:51 pm on Friday night and I can't believe where the time went!  I finally finished my finals and at this point I've got all A's but one final hasn't been graded yet.  So because I finished all my schooling, guess what we put up today?  Our Christmas tree!!!!!!  It's so pretty and Grace loved helping put the lights on, and she even hung some of the ornaments.  Good girly.  We also got a package in the mail from a friend with some Christmas presents in it and were surprised by it!  His present is going out tomorrow :)  We got a little behind since I've been dealing with finals.  Hopefully it gets to them in time.  

Today was a crazy busy day.  First of all, Grace was up at 5:30 AM!!!  Ug.  So our day most definitely started early.  Then came snuggle time in bed, my begging for extra sleep from Grace while letting her watch Caillou, and finally getting out of bed at 7:30 am.  Breakfast, getting dressed, and then running errands.  We had to take textbooks back to the college and Brad was so helpful because he took Grace with him to get my textbooks while I dropped off my old ones.  What a sweetie.  We all sat in the kids section and she was SO excited because there were TONS of books, at her level, and bean bags to sit on!  She plopped right into one and laid on it, crossed her leg over the other, and read her book.  After this was a run to get Grace some more diapers, then to Walmart to get Grace's prescription refill, to the library to drop off a movie about Marathons, and finally it was time to head home!  We got there about 11:30 am but Grace was already passed out in her carseat so I took her to bed without lunch.  And she didn't care one bit!  She slept in until 3:30 pm and then I was finally able to feed her lunch...I guess linner, really.  After that came more food, and the the Christmas Tree!!!  This took us to about 6 pm and then we headed out...again...for more errands.  We really like spacing them out (I'm kidding...we forgot about some of the things) so that our day goes by faster.  It breaks up the monotony.

Anywho, we got home at 9 pm, Grace got to have a quick glass of milk since she wasn't too hungry, and then off to bed she went!  

Now it's 11:13 pm and I'm sitting here next to the fire, staying warm, and writing this!  Brad and I were usually asleep between 10-10:30 pm but tonight he's hanging out with Skyler because he'll be leaving to go to Indiana to spend Christmas with his fiancee.  Plus his birthday is tomorrow.

That's pretty much it for now :)  Sweet girly is fast asleep and I'm...gonna stay up a bit longer :)

Amanda

Wednesday :)

Today has been a great day so far!  Grace had school today and it was the last day of school before Christmas break, and so Mommy and Daddy got to go to her class to see all the fun things they do!  There were gingerbread men that the children had decorated all over the walls (Grace didn't do one), little triangle Christmas trees (construction paper with sparkles), plates that had bunched up tissue paper on them like ornaments (the plates were painted green) and they were stacked exactly like a Christmas tree, and Uppercase and lowercase "Gs" decorated with wrapping paper and a big bow.  The class had the sensory table was loaded with flour and grace spent most of the time there!  There was also some time spent at the blocks (which is where Daddy stayed most of the time because the little boys loved playing with him!), we made an ornament with her picture in the middle, and then one of the class workers worked with her on writing her name, taking turns drawing ornaments on a Christmas tree, drawing square presents, and having cookies and hot cocoa!!

 This is Grace's face!  She added all the black pen.  The circle on the bottom of the face is the CHIN!  How cute!!!

And this is wonderful.  See where her name is on the bottom?  Right above the G for her name you see two circles?  The first one is a G, and it even has the line that goes into the G, and the next one is an A!!  She drew a circle and then added a super long T.  WOW!!  Great job sweet girl!!  And do you see the present above the A right after her name at the bottom?  She drew the pen marks by herself.  She was tracing the green lines that the class helper drew.  She worked very hard.

After visiting for the Christmas party we went home for a little while and then went right back out to go to gymnastics.  We went again today because she had a day that she missed, and so this was our make up day.  She was still having trouble listening and so I ended up going out with her.  She did so much better ten, and it was obvious that she could do a lot of things as long as she's got someone on her!  Here is here evaluation page...

See her award at the bottom right corner?  SO CUTE!!!  She passed the white level :)  What a great job, Grace!  We will continue to work on these things while we are out for Christmas break.  

Oh!  After gymnastics we came home and Grace and Daddy had some great fun outside :)  Here's some pictures to share the story.

 Grace went down this ice all by herself!  She didn't really like it but it was easy because we didn't have to pull her around!

After playtime it was lunch time and she wolfed down 5 wedges of apple and 2 bowls of potato soup!  She seriously loves the potato soup.  Nap time just happened at around 2:30 pm...stinker.  So she will probably be in bed until 4 pm.

Oh, we got a present from Dado and Papa!  I got some Sudoku books and word find books, and then Grace got.....

Thank you Dado and Papa!!!

And that's it for now :)

Amanda

I missed Tuesday!

Darn!  Once school is over, I will hopefully be able to not only remember, but to have time to write on Grace's blog!  December 31st is the final day of this blog volume and I will be printing it in January!!  

So, yesterday.  Tuesday brings gymnastics!  She had quite a tough time but we're thinking it's because of being tired, the activities are over her developmental level (it gets harder as the year goes on), and since the teachers were doing evaluations of the students levels, Grace had a chance to get away with more things.  But with what she did do, she did great!  Oh, and before gymnastics she had gone to the grocery shore with her home intervention therapist to work on staying at the cart, not grabbing every single thing, and helping when asked.  She did great with that as well!  

After all this it was time to come home, have lunch, and then head to bed!  While she was sleeping I, of course, did some homework, and then we were up and out at 3 pm to go to Robert's house for preschool!  This was a lot of fun and Grace had a great time.  They read a Grinch book, did some coloring, color matching, made a Christmas wreath (which we got to bring home because they are going out of town for Christmas), and then played!!  Oh, and they made a chain to be used for counting down to Christmas :)  At one point they were both laying down under a blanket and sharing a large pillow.  How cute!  Then Robert realized that Grace didn't have her chain and so he ran into the kitchen and got her chain for her.  Cute!

After preschool we played at home for a while, had dinner, and played some more!!!  Then Grace went to bed at 8 pm and I was supposed to meet someone online to discuss a movie we had to watch for a final for one of my classes, but it didn't work out.  So instead I watched a movie, New in Town, while finishing my psychology final.  3 classes down, two to go!  WOO WHOO!

All in al, a great day.

Amanda

Family!

Gotta share a picture of Grace's niece :)  It's still so funny to say that!  Oh well.  She turned 4 December 9th.  Andrea!  Of course there is another girly but she's extremely hard to get to sit still so that a picture can be taken.  THe one below is just the side of Allison, but it's better than nothing!  She just turned 2 in November.

 Cute girly!!

 Total pose!

 Mmmm...candy cane.  Her mama told me she had eaten an entire box in one day.

Riding the carousel!  I think this was for her birthday.

And here's Allison!  I can't believe she's only 2.  She weighs around 43 pounds.  Grace is double her age and weighs 29 pounds!  Shew!!  :)

Sweet girls.  They live in Oklahoma and we miss these girlies...oh, and their parents too!

Amanda

Two Posts

Today we celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary :)  It was a good day!  Since I had been up until 4 pm, Brad got Grace up, dressed, changed, fed and off to school, and picked her up afterwards.  I was still in bed (not sleeping, just relaxing) when he came home, brought me Grace and said I was NOT allowed to come out!  SO I waited, had lunch brought to me (it was 11:30 am.  Sausage/egg/cheese english muffin with wrapped mini weiners!)  He was definitely appealing to my senses with the foods I liked to eat.  Finally I was able to come out and he had set up a treasure hunt to follow!  All through the house there was a treasure hunt, with little chocolate candies to follow (rolos, mini reeses cups, and kisses).  I got Cookies and Cream Muddy buddies, a bunch of Santa candy bars, 2 logs of pepperoni, chocolate milk, strawberry milk, chocolate cookies, 2 boxes of caramel corn, crab dip, a package of fresh tail on shrimp (AH!  We NEVER buy anything from the meat/seafood section because it's wicked expensive!), a HUGE box of chocolates, and the most beautiful bouquet of flowers that he designed himself.  I thought that was so awesome!  Oh, and the fun part?  Grace LOVED the treasure hunt!  At first all she wanted to do was eat the candy, but she finally figured out that we were supposed to follow the candy trail.  Every second or so you'd hear "over dere.  Tum here.  Over here," as she's running around gathering up the candy.  Quite a few pieces made it into her mouth and the wrappers were in shreds on the floor.  So cute!  She had the greatest ime and was such a big help.

After all the fun and being mesmerized by the beautiful bouquet Brad hand picked out for me, it was time to eat lunch and put Grace to bed for naptime.  Then I hit the books while Brad had a friend over.  I didn't last very long on schoolwork though because I was so excited about the all inclusive play equipment that I'm writing a petition for to be put into our main "hub" community playground!  If things go well out of the gate, I will do a full post just about that.  But I won't do it now.

After that we let Grace sleep until 5 pm because we were going to have her play at a friend's house while we went to the movies!!  We saw Ender's Game and it was awesome!  I would have liked to have seen more boot camp battle scenes but oh well.  We got home about 9 and now here it is, 10:08 pm and Grace is still in her room talking.  Silly girl.

I'm off to bed.  I'm beat.  Darn finals.

Amanda

Early Morning or Late Night?

It's 3:08 am and I haven't gone to sleep.  I've been pushing through finals because I really want to have them done as soon as I possibly can.  I don't want to wait until the last minute.  Plus...today is our 7th wedding anniversary!  And why would I want to be up doing homework when I could be spending time with Brad?!

Anyways, back to Miss Grace.

Sunday:

Sunday was a fun day because Grace got to have her friend Robert and his family over!  They came over for dinner :)  First of all, grace did okay with church.  She was quite a bit fidgety, read every single book we took (10 or so), ate a whole bag of pretzels, and was just not able to sit down!  But she did absolutely wonderful in primary, which I'm always happy about.  She always runs to her teacher and gives her a great big hug, which I love to see.  After church came naptime and of course, she was a stinker.  She didn't go to sleep until probably...2:30.  But that's ok.  I did homework while I let her sleep in until about 4:30 pm since I knew that Robert would be coming and they would be super wild.  They got here about 6 pm and we had elk stroganoff, corn, home canned pears and toast.  The kids really enjoyed having dinner with each other!  The squealed, screamed, stuck their tongues out, laughed and giggled some more.  It was really loud at some points but she always likes having a friend over, so I didn't mind too much.  After dinner we visited until 8 pm, and then it was definitely bedtime for the kiddos.  After that mama got to homework and now here I am...it's 3:18 am and I haven't gone to sleep.  Daddy will step in though because he's so stinking awesome!  

Well, that's all for now.

Amanda

The Weekend has Come

Not much happened today.  Grace went to school and I did some mapping out of the playground that I'm hoping to have accepted for our city playground.  I am having the plans drawn up so we can go to the city parks and rec and see what they say.  After that we went to campus to pick up a prescription, and then it was home for lunch and bedtime for Grace!  I worked on a bunch of homework and very quickly 4 pm came!  We played around for a while, had a friend come visit for about an hour (daddy's friend), and then we had so much fun playing hide and go seek!  Grace is getting really good at finding us.  Then we went to Pizza Pie for dinner and it's now 9:45 pm, Grace is tucked into bed saying..."Ho ho ho...Merry Kissmiss!"  SUPER CUTE!

We are going to watch a movie tonight.  I've got a mini break I can take from classes, so I'm going to take advantage of this for sure.

Amanda

Wednesday and Thursday

I did it.  I already missed a day!  Darnit!

Wednesday:  Grace had preschool and enjoyed it as usual.  After preschool we had lunchtime and then naptime, and then we had friends over!!  Robert and Sabrina (and their moms) came to decorate cookies and make ornaments!  It was pretty fun except that the kids were full of energy...especially Grace since she never napped.  Ug.  But it was fun, Grace enjoyed herself and got to eat a lot of chocolate frosting, and I found out I love eating sugar cookies with chocolate frosting and crushed candy cane!  They left close to 5 pm and Grace went to Sabrina's house with so that I could get some much needed homework done!  That was so nice of them to take her.  She got back about 7:15 pm and I was in an online discussion and so I quickly let her in and pointed her towards daddy!  She went to bed about 8:15 pm and then I worked on a project I'm pretty darn excited about!  I am planning on writing up a petition to have an all-inclusive playground put into the park that is in the center of the city instead of the playground they have now.  It's not all inclusive and Grace has had so much trouble playing on it, so I can just imagine all the other children having trouble as well.  So I got a catalog of a bunch of different playground structures with prices and stayed up until 1 am writing prices down for the structures I like.  It comes to about $110,000.  Yikes!  And then I stayed up until 2 am figuring out which 5K, 10K, and maybe half marathons (if I do well with the 5 and 10K, otherwise I will just stick with 5/10K) I want to do next year!  My goal is to reach Ironman status...but that will most definitely be a few years down the road.  Plus, it's $500 to enter the race and so I want to be more than sure I'm ready for that!

Thursday:  Grace got to go to therapy and while she was there, Daddy and I ran some errands.  One specific errand was to go to city hall to get the blueprints of Porter Park so that I know the dimensions of the playground area.  With this information I can figure out which structures will fit.  Someone at city hall helped me navigate the city hall webpage and so I was able to do all the measuring at home!  I found out after a couple hours of working on the measurements that I can fit FIVE structures in the playground, if not more!  (5-12 play structure, 2-5 yr play structure, swings, rope climbing, and a panel board section for wheelchair bound children: drums, musical activities, etc).  I called the representative I'm going through with the play structure company and we are going to meet up and discuss likes/dislikes about what I have chosen, prices, and she has a fancy computer program that allows us to piece together the structures to my exact likes!  I'm pretty excited.  But...MUST maintain a low expectation.  We will be setting up a meeting with a representative from Park and Recreation, and if we don't get the okay to move forward with this for whatever reason, then that's it.  So I'll be praying for a miracle.  It's definitely going to be a ton of work, and will probably take close to 2 years to complete.  Fundraising, grant writing, volunteer coordinating...wait, I'm getting ahead of myself.  After parks and rec come city council!!  AH!  I have to be sure I have all my ducks in a row and a wonderfully fluid presentation so I can show them just how important this is.  And then I can continue with the list...construction companies willing to donate time/machinery, time to excavate/move old play structures to new location, put in new structures (at least 2 weeks, if not more), and making sure we not only have enough money but also enough man power to last as long as this project will last.  SHEW!

After therapy Grace had a nap, and then we really had a lazy afternoon...reading books, coloring, eating.  Last for the evening was a trip to Walmart!  More to get out of the house than anything else.  

Grace got to eat dinner (tuna casserole), have egg nog YUM, and then went to bed, and now I'm done writing after having completed a lot of homework, it's 10:38 pm, and I'm headed to bed!!!

Amanda

No gym...but a Friend!

We didn't go to gymnastics today because Grace is still at the finishing end of her bowel cleanout, so her Home intervention therapist came here for the two hours.  Oh...back up!

Grace woke up at 6 am today.  WHAT??  She came in and I half awake pulled her into bed but she very quickly pulled my hair and needed a diaper change, so off she went to her room.  I quickly changed her, pulled in a bunch of toys and books for her, and said goodbye to her!  3 hours later I was more than happy to go say good morning to her, and she was just happy as a clam playing in her room.  That's when her therapist came, we had to fill out a developmental test to see how Grace was doing, and then they worked on some things while I did some homework.  Then it was naptime...she did well today!  And while she was napping I had an online class meeting and gave my last speech of the semester.  At 3:30 pm we had our preschool friend come over and they stayed until about 4:45, and then came dinner (leftover potato soup...which WAS FABULOUS!), TV time, play time and then bedtime.  I had an online class meeting again and all through it I could hear Grace talking and talking in her bedroom!  But now it's 9:45 pm and I think she's asleep.  I hope!

Tomorrow is school and homework time for me.  I've been really bad at NOT doing as much homework as I should, and so I will most definitely be cramming tomorrow.  We will also be decorating cookies (Grace, Robert and Sabrina!) and will be making ornaments together.  Hopefully the kids have fun!

All in all, a pretty good day.  I'm on my up-side of my bummer mood so it's getting better.  Grace has been strong to have to deal with me.  :)  I love you!

Amanda

PHOTO BOMB!!

Tons of photos!  I finally finished Grace's school room, so I thought I'd put up some pictures.  Of course the wall where Grace is drawing is ugly, but I've got some canvases that she's going to be able to paint and then they will be put up.  I will also put up a framed picture of Noah's ark and one other LDS picture that I have.

 Grace was so excited about her room that she went right to work!  The easel isn't set up yet because I need to find a screw for it.  Grace took it out and I haven't seen it since.

 The main view of the room.

 The other main wall.  Of course the calendar says October but that's because this room has been in transition from sewing room to school room that it's been forever.  I couldn't find much time with all my school work, so I finally ignored the work and got it done!

 Grace is working on coloring "Writing" a Christmas card to a family member.  We don't know who will get it yet :)

 Her workboxes.  I will work on these specifically with her.  The little pictures get moved to the right as we finish. The radio is for books on tape. Then on the shelf: the double basket holder will have books in it, the plant (Daddy's) is to be watered, then graduated knobbed cylinders, shape sorting, puzzle w/ shapes, and graduated cylinders knobless.

 A and B song/sound practice, the empty mat is where the letter writing was, spelling practice, sandpaper letters for tactile letter learning, A-Z puzzle, and A-Z flip board.

 Art section: basket on top is for the numbers, months, and weather cards for the calendar. Painting a coffee filter, chalk with a black piece of paper, toothpick drop (fine motor-put tooth picks in the holes of the shaker), cutting practice, and stickers (fine motor).

 Coloring on her Christmas card!

 Being super cute!!

 And another super cute smile :)  I love this girly!

And then our countdown to Christmas.  We put a cotton ball on Santa's beard every night (he's on the piano), and then we read a Christmas book, a Christmas story scripture, and then there are files in the back of the basket that hold fun activities for each day.  Under this shelf are two boxes crammed full of art supplies...all for Christmas activities!

So, there's the most recent pictures!  I've finally caught up with the blog and I'm so excited.  We are coming to the end of another year and on the 1st of the year, I will prepare to print the last 2 years and have it published.  Another journal for her collection!

Amanda