Happy Holidays

I hope everyone had wonderful holidays!
We had a pretty good time I must say!

Christmas Eve was pretty low key. We had a nice dinner with a whole chicken, homemade rolls and jello (which any meal with more than an entree is a big deal at our house). Then we had our annual Christmas story puppet show, that Lucy was so not into. And finished it off with opening PJ's and eating ice cream sundaes.


On Christmas, Gracie was in heaven opening gifts. She didn't care who they were for or even what was inside, she just wanted to open them all. Lucy was the opposite. We tried to make her open some and she just cried. She just wanted to play with the ones already open. I guess I missed out on that saving opportunity! Gracie got her mermaid barbie and mermaid movie that she asked for, and a bunch more. Lucy got her tinkerbell barbie and tinkerbell movie that Gracie asked for her, and a bunch more. I got Rockband 2 for our Wii and got a raincheck for Wii Fit! Andy got some clothes, badmitten and a goatee trimmer. Ya, I think I took the cake for getting the most fun gifts! I think I'll have Andy do the Christmas shopping from now on!



Then we had Grandma and Grandpa come over for Breakfast and naps. They got us a trip to Disneyland for Christmas!! We are soooooo excited!! It makes the holidays being over a good thing, instead of depressing. We had fun seeing them attempt to rock out on our new game. They also got us an awesome game called Raving Rabbids that is hilarious and I highly recommend it. We always have fun when they come over! Thanks you two!!

The next day we tried on our snow gear and Gracie and I went out and played in the 4 feet of snow we had in our backyard. We built a snow fort, a house for Sasha and a snowman and played ring-a-round the rosies, slid down the stairs and to my surprise, Gracie was done playing before I was!
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New Year's Eve we put the girls to bed at my parent's and they let us take off to see a movie. It's always so fun to go out anywhere, especially when going out usually means going to Walmart with your kids screaming at you the whole time. We loved it! And at midnight we woke-up the girls and on the drive home we got to see all kinds of fireworks. It was great!



New Year's Day we had Grandma Brenda, Grandpa Rob and Uncle Adam over for lunch. They're always a huge hit at our house. We had a great time playing games and eating and watching a show and eating. We love having them over!

I must say we missed seeing cute Grandma Trudi and Grandpa Hal this year, but hopefully we'll get to see them soon! Hope you both are doing well! We love you!

Last night I promised Gracie that we would sleep in her little tent and watch a show. With that said, I am very tired this morning and will be surprised if any of this post makes sense! I'm very grateful for beds!

Good luck to you all in 2009! Hope we all come out on top this new year!

Potty-Trained... Poopdee-Doo!

So first of all, before I explain the title, me and Gracie went on a mommy daughter date with our friends Deja and Monique. We had a blast! We saw the real princesses and all the other Disney pets and it was just about the most incredible thing ever! But really, I did not expect Gracie to be quite as into as she was.
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The grand finale was equipped with all the characters and fireworks. I think she was impressed. She was screaming for joy and just couldn't even believe her eyes! I was the same way, but from watching her. It was so fun to see her get so into and have so much fun with me and not at my expense! Which brings me to my title explanation...



I'm in the kitchen today attempting to create a tinkerbell dress-up, which for me is stressful, not fun. My oh so talented sister talked me into it, trust me, not my idea. Gracie is in the bathroom flushing the toilet, cause she's supposedly "potty-trained" (I swear there's no such thing for this girlfriend). So I go in there to check things out cause she's taking some time. I open the door and my fake french cobblestone bathroom floor is covered in a dark chocolate colored spackle. It reeked, it was crumbly, it was stuck, it was out of a nightmare! I don't even want to know how it got all over the place. SICK!!! I should have sensed things weren't going my way when she peed her pants in Ann Taylor Loft at the Gateway on Saturday. I think that grossed some people out too cause Seth puked about five minutes later (in the same store mind you). Poor Ann Taylor girl! I tell you what, I'm up for a trade if anyone wants to have a go at this dilemma. I love my Gracie like crazy, but man, she is sure having a good time getting to me lately! I tell her come here, she sprints in the opposite direction. The louder and sterner I say it, the faster she runs and the more she laughs. I tell her to put her shoes on, she's throws them across the room with a big grin on her face. I try to put her in time out in her bedroom and she says, "I want to say sorry! I want to say sorry!" and does the same thing as soon as I'm not looking. I keep telling her Santa won't bring her toys, but will bring her dirty rocks if she's not a good girl. She just looks at me with an innocent smile and says, "I'm a good girl mommy". All I can say is it's a good thing she's cute! If anyone has any 2 1/2 year old pointers for me, PLEASE!! I would LOVE THEM!! Other than that, life is fabulous.

Happy Boo to Lu and You

We are still alive! Lucy just had her 1st Birthday last week! Happy Birthday to Lu, we all sure love you! She liked eating the frosting off her cake, but she didn't quite get the cake part. Oh well. And though I opened her presents, she liked getting them! Gracie especially liked her getting them. She figured it was happy birthday to her too since she has used her toys a tad more than Lucy, so far. But thank you so much to our wonderful family that came and our wonderful family that sent gifts and love. (that includes the Mehler family)





Here's Giesha me and Joker dressed as a nurse Andy (you'd have to have seen the movie to get it) dressed for Tracy's fun Halloween party. We always have so much fun- thanks Tracy! And to the family members not present, we missed you!!



Halloween was fun this year, cause I actually had a legit excuse to go trick or treating! Me and Gracie went to a couple houses in our neighborhood, then we packed up and hit the Greenwoods neighborhood and scored some delicious doughnuts and dinner. Thanks Greenwoods! When we got the girls to bed at 10, I was all pumped and ready to watch a spooky Halloween show and eat some of Gracie's candy. But the old man said it was time for bed and so lights were out at 10:15. I'm not crazy enough to watch a scary show by myself! It was good to get to bed early though. Thanks Andy for your practicality. I think I would be a zombie right now if you didn't love to sleep so much! I love ya!


Lucy was a duck, or if you prefer, a chicken. I myself am not sure which this hand-me-down bird is. This is what Gracie was her 1st Halloween and Lucy, okay I, decided that's what she wanted to be.


Gracie wanted to be a purple kitty, but she was a good sport and settled for a white and pink one. I must say she could make a roadkill costume look cute!

And on a side note, we discovered the secret to potty training!! Halloween Candy! (I wish I could type that to sound like how Oprah announces her fabulous suprises) It was so worth it to her to be able to pick whatever random candy she wanted. I feel like I've drugged her with sugar some days though, so we've tried to tone it down a notch. I was just so thrilled she was excited to go that I didn't even care she was trying to go every ten minutes! YAY GRACIE!! It's not 100% yet, but I tell ya, this time has been a pleasure.


Hope you all had a most excellent Halloween!!

A Day for Firsts

We made it!! I can't believe the first day of Preschool finally got here! It seemed like it took forever! It was so much fun and I LOVE my cutest little children in my class already! The only difficult one was Gracie, understandably. So it was Gracie's first and last day of Preschool, this year. 'We'll try again next year my little spunky, ball of cute naughtiness!' I'm kind of sad to send my babies, but I'm so glad my sweet neighbor will trade my kids for her son to come, cause Gracie just adores her. She's her nursery leader too which makes it perfect. Lucy was feeling strange today, or she was just grouchy. There was a lot going on so I think she had a rough go, poor thing! She's so good natured that if she's ever fussy it's pretty dramatic. But she had her first day of ever being tended by anyone other than Grandma and Grandpa. 'Way to go Lucy Lu! You did it! And she even said you were good! I'm so proud!'.

Here's a cute picture of her that has nothing to do with her first babysat experience...



And Gracie had her first day of Dance Class!! I think I'm more excited about her being in dance than she is. I just love little 3-4 year old recitals with their darling, froofy costumes! I can't wait!! She really liked it, and I must admit, she was a wee bit skeptical. But how could you not have fun with cute Brandi as your teacher!





And Andy had his first day of listening to every detail of each of his girls' day. And let me tell you, we each had a lot to say and each were exhausted beyond reason. 'Thanks Andy for your support and your ready ears! I don't know what kind of a mess we drama queens would be in right now if we didn't have your steady, happy spirit around!'




And let's not forget Tuch Partuchi's first banishment to an enclosed space since he moved back in the house. Poor kitty!


The basement worked better.

p.s. Lucy's tooth is totally back to normal! Crazy little teeth. They're amazing.

When Do I Get Eyes On the Back of My Head?!

The Before Picture...

I desperately need another set of eyes somewhere! It all started on Saturday morning. We like to take it easy in the morning and so we just put Lucy on the floor of our bedroom to play with toys while we try to get in a couple more 5 second intervals of sleep. That morning we heard a thud and she started screaming. Not too unusual for this stage of standing up to everything. Andy picked her up, and grogy me looked at her and realized that she used to have two teeth. One was missing! We looked on the floor for the other one. Eventually we found it still attached, but just bent all the way forward! I called the pediatirician, duh! I was freaking out okay! Yes- over a tooth that she's going to lose one day anyway, but it's still scary! I came to my senses and called the dentist. This was a Saturday, mind you, so I was over-joyed when my dentist called me back and calmly told me it happens to every kid and to just push the tooth back in place. First of all- I have nightmares about my teeth falling out or shattering, so this is just not my thing. I pushed it back, which was easier than I thought, (maybe cause she was screaming and kept her mouth wide open) but it just seemed crooked so I called the dentist back. He said, "you seem nervous, do you want me to meet you at my office and look at it or do you want me to come to your house?" Talk about the nicest dentist ever! And to top it off, after I met him and he said that it looked fine, I asked the cost and he said, "I don't charge you for emergencies, they're stressful enough." How awesome is that?!! I think he's got a ticket to the celestial kingdom! (if I could give them out he would) Maybe it's cause I don't know many dentists, but that just seemed so generous to me. Especially when every time we go to the emergency room it sets us back, roughly, a grand for basically the same thing. So thank you a million times over Dr. Doman! You are an angel!
Sorry for the bad picture! This was after I pushed it back and you can't even see it. She was reluctant to open her mouth and prabably will be forever now, I'm afraid. She was a major trooper and was back to her usual massive, crinkle-nose grins and giggles 5 minutes later.

And speaking of angels...
My first born angel found the food coloring this morning. Pretty! At first I thought she drank the bottle, but then I found the cup with the dye and my hair color brush in it. I guess she's already practicing for her career in make-up, or from the looks of it, face painting. She was lots of fun today. I lost something and so I kept going out to look in the car, but she kept following me. I decided to outsmart her and close the childproof door. She's smarter. She locked the deadbolt! I was completely locked out of the house!! I tried to talk her through unlocking the door, but she got so frustrated with the childproof doorknob that she gave up and climbed on the counter to eat the bag of cookies sitting there. Lucy was in her high chair crying and I was begging and pleading through the door, as nice as I possibly could- at a moment like that. It was a good thing I had my cell phone with me, but an even better thing that I knew how to get her to open the back door that I temoparily forgot exsisted. I was so relieved that it was hard to be mad. Shocking. I do believe the current book I'm reading, 'When Anger Hurts Your Kids', may be preventing much, much hurt! Props to you doctors that wrote it! I'm impressed. And I'm sure Gracie thanks you as well!

I Love Lucy

Little Lucy Lu is at such a cute stage and has been so much fun! She eats most food now but still survives on her bottle. If she's not sure about a food item, she just sits there with her jaw clenched lookin at me like, "you must be joking".
She's going through a semi-serious phase where she just stares at you. At times I will give her my best material and still she just stares at me. Ya, it makes me feel pretty lame, but it's still adorable somehow.
She's crawling around like crazy and loves to get into everything, especially the cat food. She thinks it's tasty. She also pulls herself up to standing all the time now. The little daredevil was trying to let go and stand all by herself in our little kiddie pool yesterday.
She's always so happy to see people after she wakes up, like she's been in isolation for ever- so she's very social. Except when her toys are taken. She's devasted when someone takes objects from her, namely Gracie who usually takes EVERYTHING from her. She curls that bottom lip and starts bawling so intensly that she can't move, unless it's to rest her suddenly heavier head on the floor.

But this time she's ready for combat. Look out Gracie!

Now that Gracie's scared off it's turned from weapon of mass destruction to delicious lollipop.

The Magic of Asking

Gracie woke up yesterday morning and said she wanted an Elmo Pancake. Who ever heard of an Elmo Pancake?! I figured I'd just make regular pancakes. And look what magically appeared when I took the first pancake out of the pan...


I guess what Gracie wants Gracie gets! Maybe she should say she wants a free trip to Disneyland!

Do you think this could've become a shrine like those pictures of Mary found in tree bark and such?


Even Lucy was impressed. I bet she was thinking she can't wait until she can talk.