18 Months

Today my sweet baby, Gracie Ruth, turns 18 months old. I'm telling you, it seems like she has been a toddler for longer than she was a baby. Taking her picture has become a challenge within itself! She won't look at the camera, which is okay, but the hardest part is that she is constantly on the move. Chris and I have been talking about getting a professional family picture done, so stay tuned for that.

Gracie is talking like a mag pie! Just about anything you tell her to say, she can. It's not always perfect but pretty close. My favorite thing that she has said is when Emily started coughing, Gracie would say, "You okay". I love it!!!!







Here she is saying "Cheese".

What a sweet girl she is! Except when she is popping her cousin in head. Sorry Sophie Clare. She is just such a blessing! Daddy always asks me what I would do with out my kids. And I just don't know! They sure make life worth living, thats for sure!!!

Happy Birthday Robin

Not sure what y'all did today, but I can tell you that we partied like crazy! As crazy as you can get for a 6 year old's birthday! My niece Robin turns 6 (I can't believe it...I just can't believe that she is 6 already) on Tuesday so we celebrated today. There was a huge absence felt at the party, mostly by me, because Emily didn't get to go. She hasn't felt well for the past couple of days, but you could tell it was nothing serious. But yesterday afternoon she began to cough and cough, and let me tell you, she coughed until I thought surely she can't cough anymore! Guess what...she did! She coughed just about all night! Even with the cough medicine I gave her, she still wouldn't stop, so first thing this morning Chris took her to the doctor. This was Chris' first visit to the doctor with one of our girls, and I must say I'm a little envious that Chris missed out on all the fit pitching and snot slinging Emily use to do at the doctor. Now, she's just a little adult, or as she would put it....brave. All kidding aside, I'm very glad she doesn't mind going to the doctor now. Better late than never! Whatever the doc gave her worked because finally at 5 o'clock today she stopped coughing. Can I get an Amen!

Back to the party. Although Emily wasn't there, we had a great time. It's sweet to see Robin with her "school" friends. She has always been "personality plus" and you can tell because all the kids love being around her. Grace had a great time too!!! As you can see form the pictures, she thinks she's as big as everyone else!



Gracie and Uncle Jeff having fun.

They play this music and have this group dance in the middle of the floor. Apparently it's a popular song because all the kids knew it! Robin sure did..she was breakin' it down!

And so was Gracie! Chris thinks that our children get their rhythm form him. Let's hope not!

Robin, I hope you had a great birthday party. We sure had fun! You do "6" better than anyone I know!

Well it's 9:30 on a Saturday night and you know what my house smells like? A fresh pot of coffee. You want to know why that is? Because I'm a big dork!!! Every night I get the coffee pot ready for the next morning and tonight I plugged it in and turned it on. Oh well. I guess I better go try it again.

Good night all!

Hey y'all! I hope the past couple of days have been good to ya!!! I want to thank all of you who took time to say a prayer for our family. My dad had surgery on Wednesday and he came through it wonderfully and we also have a new addition to our family!! My cousins, Jenny and Michael, had their baby, Kate, and all went just as we prayed it would. Thank you again for thinking of us.

While Jenny and Michael were at the hospital having Kate, their oldest daughter, Ava Caroline, came to stay with us. We had such a good time having her visit.

In honor of Baby Kate, Chris read the girls a book about sisters before bedtime. We read these books to Emily every night before Gracie came and she loved them!



Thursday, I took the girls to the bouncy place down the road form our house for a couple hours of fun. I think we may have Emily's birthday there, if she doesn't change her mind.

Please excuse every one's hair, those bouncy things can reek havoc on a girl's hair!!!!

Getting a picture with everyone looking the same direction.....YEAH RIGHT!!!!

When we got home, I put Gracie down for a nap, and attempted to get the big girls to nap. That didn't work out too well, so they got up and played dress up.

By the time supper got here and we had bath time, everyone was worn down to a frazzle!!!! Bed time didn't go quite as smooth as it did the first night, but we recovered nicely!

Today, we got up and took Em to school and then came home for a little craft time. Still no nap! I do believe everyone was running on fumes!

My Aunt Carol made this shirt for Ava to wear to the hospital to meet her baby sister. I know Ava doesn't look too fired up, but she was just wore slap out!!!! And she didn't want to leave. That makes me feel so good because all the stuff we did was really nothing fabulous...just what we do everyday. I'm so glad she enjoyed herself because we sure enjoyed having her. Now we can't wait to meet Kate!!

I'm so ready for bedtime!!!! See you later y'all!!!!

A Busy Week!

Hello All! I hope you had a great weekend and an even better Monday! It has been a very busy week and it's just Tuesday! I'm very tired so this post will be quick and to the point. I will ask that you keep my family in your prayers this week. We have a few things going on and as they happen I will share them with you, but if you can just give us a shout out to the "BIG MAN" upstairs we sure would appreciate it. In the mist of all that is going on this week, we have a very special visitor coming to stay with us. I can't wait to show you all the fun we are going to have!

I don't know about where you live, but around here this past weekend was just beautiful!! Friday night Emily spent the night with my parents, so on Saturday morning, it was just me and Gracie. Thanks to all of those who sent me messages on Facebook and sent comments about Gracie. She is feeling much better!



Saturday afternoon we went outside and enjoyed the beautiful weather. Emily rode her bike and Gracie blew bubbles (or attempted to blow bubbles). She sounds so cute saying the word "bubble"!



Yes, Gracie is striking a pose in her pj's. I didn't see the point in changing her just to get dirty.

Big sis helping little sis.

Later all! Have a good Wednesday!

Trip to the Doctor

Well, we've had a good run! Gracie hasn't been the doctor since she was 9 months old (I'm talking for a sick visit). But for the past couple of days, she just hasn't been herself. Her biggest symptom was that she was in a very bad mood. She's never been a real sassy girl (which I hope will go away once she feels better), but yesterday she was super sassy. Plus we had a throw-up car seat situation.....my friends, it was not pretty!!!! So I thought, "Hey, we might better go to the doctor."

I took her thinking her problem was one thing, but it turned out to be something totally different. She has an ear infection! I would have never guessed that! I asked the Dr. if the tubes were still in her ears, but he said he couldn't tell with the infection. Yikes....that can't be good!! But, like I said, we've had a good run. She had tubes at 9 months and they have worked wonderfully! After this gets cleared up, we'll see how things are in there.

(sorry this picture is mostly of the wall. I was using my cell phone and I just can't get the hang of the camera)



Sometimes, the only thing that can make you feel better is a little sugar!

I hope you all are having a great week!!! Later blog buddies!

The other day I had a "tooth" emergency and had to run to the dentist. Em would go without a fuss, but as soon as the dentist touched me, Gracie would go CRAZY, so I called my friend Ashley and asked her if I could bring the girls by for a little bit while I ran to the dentist. She got some great pictures!


Emily and Claire crammed a lot of playing into the 30 minutes I was gone. I have got to work on Emily looking at the camera when she's having her picture taken.



This picture just cracked me up!! How cute! Gracie and Allie

Thanks Ashley! I'm so glad I've got someone close by that I can call in a pinch!!!! Hopefully I'm good for awhile!

Hello all! We have been very busy around here, so I'll spare you the big introduction and just get on with it!

On Wednesday, Emily's school took the kids on a field trip to the local library. Emily really enjoyed all the stories the librarian read and we checked out a book about sisters before we left!

As usual, Gracie was all over the place!

Thursday, we had to get Emily's Valentines ready for the big party on Friday. She was very particular about each Valentine and wrote her name on each one of them. She is a total Type-A personality in some ways!

Party day at school is always an adventure! 21 kids and a few brothers and sisters sprinkled in, all hopped up on sugar is really a site to behold! But a fun time was had by all!

Emmy showing Gracie the love!

Gracie snagged a juice box before I could get to her. Thankfully it was her sister's!

Em playing with Kynleigh

Snow!!!!! Em and Claire watching it fall. She couldn't wait to get outside to play in it.

When we got home from the party, I laid Gracie down for a nap and let Em rest a little before we went out. Thankfully Chris got home which made playing in the snow much more fun!

When Gracie woke up, we headed outside. She looks all happy in the beginning, but it didn't take long for that to change. She didn't like being all wet and her poor baby hands were so cold. She didn't last very long, but Emily and Chris stayed out for about 2 hours!

We all had to get our picture with the snowman.

Chris had made reservations for us at the Classic on Noble for Valentine's Day, but with the weather, we didn't get to make it. He ran to the store and picked up a few steaks (which is Emily's favorite) and that was our Valentine's dinner. Hopefully we'll get to go out just the two of us next weekend, but we had the best time as a family.



Saturday after everything melted, we hit the mall. Saturday was kind of a rough day because the kids just couldn't find their happy place! But we made the most of it. Here are the girls riding the carousel.

We hope you all had a great Valentine's Day. We sure did.