Easter 2010

We have had a GREAT Easter this year. We started the day off with all of Grace's 'goodies' the 'Easter Bunny' brought her and then some from both of her grandparents. They sent her some things in the mail. She first looked at all her stuff right after she woke up and had just came down stairs so she was still 'groggy' but she LOVED all of her stuff. I guess the highlight had to be the CHOCOLATE!! :)

Church was GREAT today! We had a great crowd and 4 people were baptized today. I LOVE how this year Easter has meant so much more to me. I believe I have reflected on what Easter means so much more this year. As I was singing praises to my King, I was SO thankful for the cross and that how Jesus is RISEN!

We ended going over to a friend's house after church (Faith and Brian Busby) to eat lunch with them. She had cooked for Easter and invited us to come. It was very good and we were LOVING the company on Easter. :)

After Grace got up from her nap Grace hunted Easter eggs for the FIRST time. We hid them in the front yard and Grace was so proud of herself for finding all of the eggs. She did sooo good!:)

Ready for the 'Easter Bunny' and I guess, Elmo too :)

From us or the 'Easter Bunny'... her biggest fascination was seeing what was in the eggs :-)

Her FAVORITE-- CHOCOLATE!!!

Gifts from Nana and Paw Paw..

Gifts from Nanny and Papa... LOVING talking Tweety..

Lining up all of her stuffed babies! :)

Gorgeous Grace in her Easter dress and new shoes :) She calls them her heels!! (that's my girl!) LOL

Ready to go hunt some eggs with her new shades from Nana and Paw Paw

She is good at this!..

Playing with her new magnetic numbers and below LOVING her candy jewelry, from us. She is a jewelry girl!!

Warm weather and fun around the house...

We finally pulled out all of our spring/summer clothes this week. I painted Grace's toenails just like Mommy's for the first time! She LOVED it! She felt so big and she kept saying 'pretty'. LOL. She has been admiring them for days!!! Check them out... :)


;[

Fun outside....

Fun inside...

Momma's play-doh art work, and Grace's below.. ;o)

"How Great Is Our God.. Sing With Me.. "

Do I really have to say it! HOW GREAT IS OUR GOD!!! We have seen God's provision, direction, sovreignty in our life time and time again. We were floored again this week by how AWESOME God is! The Lord has laid it on many hearts to give to our Mission trip to Africa. We are thankful for EVERY SINGLE CENT we get! It has taken all of these donations to get to where we are today. We are actually doing pretty well! This past week we were ASTONISHED by a donation we got from someone we hardly know. This person is at our church now but WOW, what a sacrifice!! We talked to her today at church and she blessed our hearts even more. She told us that she use to go on Mission trips but now due to her age and physical condition, she is unable to go. She said she feels like we all are to serve by going or sending (etc. etc.). She said the Lord just laid it on her heart and she feels PRIVILEGED to be a part of His work. What a TESTIMONY to all of us!!

We are forever grateful as we continue to prepare our hearts, minds, and as we pray for the Lord to help us in this. We also pray for the Lord to prepare the hearts of the people we will face!!

Enjoying Everyday...

As you all may know, Isaac and Holly has been recruiting me to the choir for a while now. I finally did start going and now I am officially in the choir. I didn't know if I wanted to commit to going on Wed. nights for choir practice but I have actually really been loving it. It is nice to get out and Grace comes with me on Wed. nights to choir practice because Adam is working. They let her run around in the choir room and just play while we practice. (It is a very laid back practice). The other people in the choir have grown to LOVE Grace and they look forward to seeing her. She LOVES it too because she gets so much attention. They all smile and laugh at her and she is the queen bee.:) I am glad it is working out so well and I am happy to be a part of it. I have known for a long time that I needed to serve in this area. So it feels good doing what I am told!!:)

This past Friday, we had Ronnie and Marci Parrott over and their 2 kids. They have 2 1/2 year old and a one year old. Grace loves Jack (who is 2). They are in Sunday school together and Jack is such a sweet and fun little boy. I cooked supper for them and they brought dessert. We hung out for a while and all of the kids had so much fun playing together. Grace and Jack ran around the living room and laughed and squealed. They were so cute together. I was so amazed at Anna Kate. She will be 1 this week and she is so tough. I guess she is used to having a older brother but she gets knocked down and falls down all of the time and it doesn't even phase her. She was right in the middle of them! They all are so much fun to be around. We are thankful for the Parrott's and their encouragement to us over the past year!

Yesterday, our mission group went back and visited the Assisted Living home in Valley Station. We are trying to go monthly and the old people are just loving it. Grace goes with us and she is also a highlight to them!:) I was able to talk to one man about his Salvation. He said he is Catholic. We will see. Next month, we plan on going back and doing some music for them. Isaac plays the guitar and his wife Holly and him both sing beautifully. So I know they will love that!

After we got home, I left and went shopping all by myself to the mall and Target. I have been needing some clothes. I told Adam that it could be my early b'day gift!:) So.. I went. It was great to actually have time to look and then I went and got my FREE Versa Spa tan due to a grand opening of a tanning salon. I HAD to take advantage of that!

I am looking forward to Easter. I am going to be off now for Saturday night so we can all go to church together. (I swapped days with some one). It is also going to be the 4 year Anniversary for our church being Highview at Valley Station. It is going to be a big day and this week is suppose to be beautiful. Hopefully, the weather will hold out for Easter!!:)

The Things She Says... watch what you say:)

Grace is taking everything in (verbally) these days. Her vocabulary amazes us more every day. She can really tell us just about anything. When we walk in the door from being gone or when we talk to her over the phone while we are gone.. she in her very excited voice QUICKLY has to tell you what is on her mind or what she is or has been doing. It is like she can't get it out fast enough! :) She has really been cracking us up lately with things she says.. I will let the video speak for itself. :)

(Her hair is wild because it had been in pigtails and she took them down)..

Make sure you turn up your volume!!.....

Good Times

The last two days have been great. The weather has been just gorgeous. Yesterday, after getting a good nights rest, Grace and I decided to go 'check out' toddler story time at our local library yesterday morning. It was great. They read some books to them and sang some songs, played music, and let them dance and even make a craft at the end. This is all FREE. :) In the month of March, they are doing color themed weeks. Yesterday was the color yellow. They encourage you to dress your child in something of the color, or bring snacks, etc. in that color. Most everything was about colors yesterday from the stories, to the songs, to the crafts, etc. Mostly about the color yellow. At the end I helped Grace make a yellow daffodil (craft) to bring home. They stamped her hand with a sun when we were walking out the door and she just LOVED that. She has never seen (ink) stamps before. She really liked it but spent most of the time just looking around the room at all the other kids and watching what they did since this was her first time. We will definitely go back.

Grace has also been doing better on her naps and sleeping in general the last 2 days and nights. She still wakes up once during the night but has went back to sleep but she still wants us to stay with her until she goes to sleep. She acts scared to go to sleep on her own now. Hopefully, she will soon learn and trust being able to go to sleep on her own.

Yesterday, after her nap, we went for a walk through the neighborhood. We came home and our neighbors little boy was outside playing with his grandmother. Grace just HAD to go see him and play with him so we went over for just a bit. They chased each other around the yard and Grace just got so tickled at him. He was being very silly and hyper. He is around 3 1/2. I told my neighbor today, that we are DEFINITELY going to have to get our kiddos together more often to play!!

Last night, I experimented and improvised on our Supper. We didn't have everything I needed for a homemade pizza but I kind of made my own sauce and did different cheeses than normal. It ended up turning out very good and Grace gobbled it right up too. Which is always a plus!:) I think she liked it even more because she 'helped' me put the toppings on the pizza and other things. I LOVE my little helper!:)

You can see the stamp on her hand and the first craft we made..

My little darlin':)

Stark Reminder...

'Life is good'...If only I felt this way in all circumstances. Some people's faith in the midst of major trials and tribulations is absolutely amazing. Recently there has been a few young people die that have been a part of our church. First, it was a Mom and wife who was in her mid-twenties and was also 5 months pregnant. She was found to have a brain aneurysm that was inoperable and there was no hope for her to survive. They had her on the ventilator and was going to see if they could keep her alive a little longer so that the baby inside of her would have greater chance for survival (coming early). The baby ended up going 'bad' and they had to do an emergency c-section when she was about 24 weeks along and the baby and the Mom didn't make it. Now a husband and son (I believe) are left with out a wife and mother. VERY SAD.

Just yesterday, I heard about a husband and father of 3 young kids (who was in his lower 30's) who collapsed suddenly yesterday and died of unknown causes. I am told that he and his family are wonderful people and he led Awana at another campus of our church. Just TERRIBLE!

I know people get terrible news, and deal with all kinds of major issues every day. When things like this happen, I am ASTOUNDED at how the Lord shows me that I am blessed! Just when I think things are difficult, I am PAINSTAKINGLY reminded that it doesn't COMPARE to the things that are happening to other people, EVERY DAY.
Lord, help me to be grateful in EVERYTHING and to even 'praise You in the storm'!


We are not hardly going through a 'storm'.. but I am just reminded of this beautiful song by Casting Crowns.. 'I Will Praise You In This Storm'.....

On a Fun and Positive Note..

Don't get me wrong, I know that children are totally a blessing from the Lord and we are forever grateful for Grace. During all of this, we were most concerned for her well-being, because she has obviously been stressed, not her self and most of all we were concerned for her safety. Just being real...

This past week has absolutely not all been bad. The weather has been GREAT for the most part and we have all been anxiously anticipating getting out side and playing!! Last Saturday, we all went to the park for the first time this year. Grace actually can play on the equipment this year. She LOVED the slides and even likes the swings this year. She especially LOVES being around the other kids and quickly finds a 'friend' every where she can. This day, her and this other little girl kept wanting to give hugs. We finally had to stop them because they kept on and on.

On Wednesday, it was gorgeous and Grace and I went to the park again for a little while and then we did something we have never done. We went to the local library for the first time and checked out Grace some books and got info on their story times. They have story time for toddlers on Thursdays. I am SUPER EXCITED about that. They said that they will some times do color themed days and they will also sing songs, and have time for them to play together. I am looking forward to taking her to some of these.

We also played dress up the other day with some of Momma's stuff. Grace really liked that. Jewelry and all!!

Today, we met a friend (Leah) from Ninth and O and her daughter Kendall and went to the zoo. They have zoo passes and were able to get me and Grace in for free which was great! It was wonderful to see them and to get out! We had fun and I know it was good for Grace to get out of the house too. By today, Grace has kind of been dazed and she really wasn't very playful with Kendall (who is 2). We walked around and saw most of the animals and even spent time letting them play on the playground. They were very cute together though and would hold each other's hands when they were riding in the strollers.:)

We are very happy that warmer weather is here!!

At the park as a family...






Momma and Grace playing dress up...

Fun with Kendall (and Leah) at the zoo...

Look closely at the picture below.. he is holding the new baby gorilla at our zoo...

What a week!!! (Update)

We have had a rough week with all the changes around our house. Grace kind of crashed and took a nap on Saturday and Sunday but I feel like be Monday we went backwards. Adam had school all day and I worked Monday night. I laid Grace down for a nap and she started her getting up continuously and screaming crying. When I laid her down I told her not to get up and when I started to walk out of the room she started acting panicky and trying to quickly get out of the bed. I tried staying in the room with her or standing at the door and she kept turning to look at me to see if I was still there. She acted like she was terrified to go to sleep or for me to leave her. I was losing my patience this day and got on to her multiple times for not staying in the bed and I kept telling her it was okay. I tried multiple things including letting her lay down with me but she was refusing to even lay down in the bed. Then she got so upset she climbed over the end rail of her crib and hit the floor. I didn't understand why she did this but I was very concerned for her safety. After that is when I tried laying her down with me. That night she did okay. On Tuesday she climbed over the rail again and hit the floor and so we took the toddler rail off and made her crib a day bed to make it clear to her that she could get out of the side of the bed instead of climbing over the rail. By Wednesday night she climbed out and hit her head so we had no other option but to put her mattress on the floor and we got her to sleep by sitting in the door way and waiting till she went off to sleep before we left. She knew that her 'bed' wasn't right but was so tired! The next morning she woke up at 3:30am and wouldn't go back to sleep in that bed so Adam brought her to bed with us and she finally went back to sleep for a little bit.

As far as nap time, Tues, Wed, and Thurs. of this week went about the same. I spent almost 3 hours of back and forth trying different things to get her to go to sleep. Including sitting in the room with her in the rocker and laying at her bedside and sitting in the doorway on the computer and kept telling her that it was okay for her to go to sleep and that I wasn't going to leave her. She acted like she really wanted to go to sleep but was just scared to. I knew she was exhausted. I was exhausted and discouraged to say the LEAST! By yesterday afternoon she had refused to nap all day and was very ill and whiny. Then while she was sitting in the recliner with me she fell fast asleep and slept for 45 minutes. This is VERY unusual for her. She use to only sleep in a bed. All of this was really catching up with her. When she woke up, she was screaming crying again and was INCONSOLABLE! She was throwing her body every which way and didn't want ANYTHING. Didn't want milk, food, paci (with the hole, which she has still been using), etc. She was grabbing at her neck and I was concerned that something was wrong with her (either she had hurt her self from one of the falls (hitting her head) or that something else was going on. It was right at 5 pm, so I quickly called my Pediatric Doctor who is right by our neighborhood and they let me bring her in to be checked out immediately. (They were about to close). The Doctor looked at her and thought that her now terror of going to sleep, and other behaviors is probably the result of a few things. We all agreed that this all started when we put a hole in Grace's pacifier. It also seems that she may be having night terrors and especially since she is sleep deprived she is prone to more of them. It also seems that she has some of her last molars coming through which definitely may be affecting behavior, etc. too. Also, stress of the two transitions of her bed and pacifier occurring at once. Of course now, sleep deprivation is in the picture.

The Doctor recommended us going ahead and giving her a pacifier back that doesn't have a hole in it to give to her just when she sleeps. She thought that may be best while she is trying to get use to the change in bed. I really hated to do this because it really seemed that she was getting use to the pacifier with the hole in it but we were at the point of desperation. So we went and got her new pacifiers for bedtime. She acted like she didn't really care for it much when we got it but seemed to warm up to it later (at bedtime). We had also decided that we weren't going to attempt the transitioned crib ANY MORE because it was scaring us to death when we heard her hit the floor so hard from going over the end rail. The mattress on the floor wasn't working either and we thought that getting her a special (low to the ground) toddler bed would be good for her. We thought we could get it in a 'character' that she knew and liked and she would think it was 'neat' and 'fun' to lay in the bed again. Needless to say, in desperation, we went out and got a toddler bed at Walmart last night. It is a Dora Bed and she LOVES it! She kept climbing in it and playing in it and kept yelling "DORA!!" She was still skeptical about going to sleep last night and Adam had to stay at her bedside until she went to sleep. She slept until almost 6am which is an improvement but not as good as before.

Today, she has still been dazed and ill from being so tired. After a trip out, she fell asleep in the car right before we were about to get home and I was trying to get her to stay awake. She was "out"!! I brought her in and nothing woke her until I laid her down and then she started to cry a little and I stayed with her and she laid her head down and fell asleep immediately. She slept a total of 1 and a half hours today!! I can already tell she feels so much better.

I have to say this has been about as bad as her colicky days in the very beginning. It was even more discouraging because every since then she has been such a great baby. She LOVED to sleep and this just threw us ALL for a loop. Thankfully, I think it is getting better and I know with time.. it will all work out. Thanks for your concern you all!

Sorry, I was so long winded... I feel like this doesn't even sum it all up:)

No Paci and Toddler Bed... OH MY!!!

As most of you know, Grace loves her pacifier. We have started to notice that it seems like she is getting more and more attached to it lately. She doesn't use it all of the time, just when she is sleeping, in the car, and sometimes in stores when she is in the buggy. I think she started using it in the car more when we were going longer distances because she would be tired/ or tired of the car and we would give it to her when she would start fussing. Lately, as soon as she gets in the car she thinks she HAS to have it and starts asking for it. Same for in the store.. she use to only get it when she was tired or tired of the buggy but now she wants it all the time when we go in to a store. So we knew that the longer we waited the harder it would be. Our Doctor had told us that she needed to get rid of it around 2 years old. She turns 2 next month so we decided the time is now! For a few weeks now we have been trying to avoid giving it to her and she seems to realize this and wants it even more. I tried telling her it is just for babies, etc. etc. I've heard of many stories of how people get their child off of the pacifier. Someone also told me that you can cut a hole in the tip of the pacifier and continue to give it to your child but the pacifier will flatten when they suck on it and they will get to where they won't like it and not want it any more.

So on Thursday we cut a hole in all of her pacifiers before her nap time. At first, she knew it was different but acting like she would still suck on it and be okay. After we put her down for a nap, she started screaming and crying. I had went in to check on her but she just didn't want to take a nap! The next thing I knew.. I heard a BOOM and she had climbed out of her crib! She bumped her chin a little but was otherwise okay. After trying multiple things to get her to sleep (Adam was working at this time) I decided to try to put her down again and BOOM she climbed out AGAIN. So needless to say, she never took a nap that day. She absolutely will not go to sleep in our bed either. We have tried to lay her down with us and she thinks it is 'fun' but won't go to sleep! So this was a FIRST. She has NEVER went all day without a nap. She actually did pretty good. When Adam got home from work, he got busy on converting her bed to a toddler bed. that night she was so tired from every thing.. she just crashed.

Same thing happened on Friday.. Grace was up a little earlier that morning and no nap on Friday but 'crashed' at bed time. She was up by 6:30am this morning which is early for her AND us! :) Thankfully today she did nap now that we both were at home. Hopefully, she will get use to all of this real soon.
Overall, we sure weren't expecting to try to get rid of the paci and convert her bed to a toddler bed all in the same day!! It has been a wild ending of a week!

As for the paci, she will still use it some now but it is just not the same to her and will not want it near as much. She will take it out and give it to us and say she doesn't want it some times. So we will see.. it will be a little slower process... which is JUST FINE! :)

All of this is bittersweet to us. It makes us realize that our baby is not really a 'baby' any more! Both of these things are two major 'milestones' that kind of happened at the same time. But now I see that there are positives to every stage and they are all fun. With every day.. I see more of this little girl's personality, mind, etc...


A 'broken' paci AND a 'new' bed...

Birthday and Visit..

Nana and Paw Paw came last Wednesday and left on Sunday. The Little Treasure's Kid's Sale (consignment sale) was on Thursday. Adam had to work but the rest of us went to that and it was CRAZY crowded. I mostly found some sandals for Grace for spring/ summer. That was the biggest thing I was going for. I found some that looked really good and got some great deals. Grace liked walking around and playing with the toys. We found a couple of toys for her too and a Boz the Bear DVD for $4.50 which was great because they don't ever go on sale and are always $15. The bad thing was the line to check out was wrapped around the building and I knew that it would be at least an hour wait, so Mom (Nana) graciously volunteered to wait in line while I drove Grace and Paw Paw home so she could eat and nap. Then I went back to get her and we stopped by Lifeway on the way home.

On Friday.. we stayed around the house mostly and it was Adam's Birthday!! I made him a chocolate cake (his favorite!!) and we had planned to go out on a date for his Birthday. Nana and Paw Paw took Grace out to Applebees and we went to Five Guys Burgers and Fries (Adam's choice). We went to some shops and we were going to go bowling but there was an hour wait on a lane so Adam and I were like kids again and went into the arcade and played at the bowling alley. :0) We had SOO much fun! It was funny though because we were mostly amongst a bunch of 8-10 year old kids. We cashed in our tickets for some dum dum suckers and a toy bracelet for Grace!:)

Saturday I was invited to a Premier Jewelry party and I had told them I would come so Mom ended up coming with me because Grace was napping any way and we spent most of the afternoon doing that. Later that night we went to our new fave restaurant (Cheddar's). We had to wait for a while for a table so Grace was pretty tired by the time we got out of there.

They left on Sunday after lunch and Grace was back to reality. :) We had fun though..:)

Grace's new favorite thing to do.. take her socks off, and it drives all of us crazy!!:)

Grace's new toys from the consignment sale an Abbey lego and a baby My Little Pony with bottle and it makes sounds when it eats. We also found those purple crocs at the sale.

Making Daddy's Birthday cake!!

Happy Birthday to Daddy!!

LOVING the choc cake! of course!!

Momma and Daddy about to go on their date!!

Grace's Pigtails!! YAY for pigtails!! We are FINALLY there...

Grace with Nana and Paw Paw before church...

The girls!... Daddy had to go to church early.