brrr

Yea! We got some of the Winter weather my Texas friends have been enjoying! Truthfully, it wasn't really a lot...just a little freezing rain and cold temps but it was enough that Gracie had a 3 hour delay for school today! I sure did enjoy sleeping late! Last week, I'd hit the jackpot at Old Navy getting around $140 worth of clothes for around $29! One of my bargains was this hat, scarf & mitten set. Each of them had been $9.50 and I got each of them for 1/2 off $1.98! Today was the perfect day for Gracie to wear them. I shudder to think how full of static her hair will be when she takes off the hat, but that's okay! (I actually got the sweater too....had been $29.50(?) and I got it for 1/2 off $9.99! I love a bargain!)I put some beef stew in the crock pot for tonight and am looking forward to having that warm dinner!
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Last week, Chris & Gracie experimented with one of her Christmas gifts she'd gotten from Gramme. It's called "Lab in a Bag" by 'Test Tube Wonders.' They had fun "making" snow and "making" a rainbow in a test tube. Gracie loved it and since Science is right up Chris' alley I think he loved it as well! It's hard to tell much from these pictures, but they did have fun and did some pretty cool things.
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I had to make a kinda hard decision about Gracie this week. She was invited to a birthday party/sleepover for a friend from church who also goes to her school, although she is in 2nd grade. When it came down to it, I was nervous about allowing her to spend the night since there would be 4 other girls there who I didn't know at all. I LOVE the parents of the little girl whose birthday it is and I was afraid of offending them, but her Mimi (actually it is her grandmother) was so nice about it and assured me-even before I made my decision-that she wouldn't be offended and would completely understand. Chris thought she would be fine-and she probably would have been-but I kind of felt like he wasn't sure either because of the other girls. I finally decided that we would take her to the birthday party Friday evening but would pick her up later that night and not have her spend the night. I was really torn because I trust the parents of the birthday girl and if it was just a sleepover with her I'd be probably be just fine (she has spent the night with us before); I just struggled because of not knowing the other girls and I think Gracie would have been the youngest one-except for the little sister (the birthday girl will be 8.)

Part of me feels like I'm being way overprotective and part of me feels good about it. The birthday girl's Mimi called me last night (I'd left a message on her machine) and said she could tell I sounded worried and figured she'd better call me. I was glad she did! She was very supportive and said I needed to feel comfortable and really sounded like she understood. She said the birthday girl was okay with it too and was just glad Gracie would be coming to the party at all. Gracie was okay with it too. She pouted for just a few minutes but didn't pitch a fit or anything (she didn't know any of the other girls either). Chris was very supportive of me. He said he feels like she would have been fine but understands how I feel and was fine with my decision. I feel I may overindulge her a little to make myself feel better about not letting her stay overnight. They are supposed to wear princess dresses to the party so I did get her one of those at Target today because she really didn't have one. (Overindulgence #1!) LOL I told her we would set up her Princess tent for her & Katie to sleep in tomorrow night, too.

I feel like I really try not to be TOO overprotective of her while still protecting her as much as I should. I'm not sure if that makes sense. It's a really fine line. I think we all have our "things." Some of us send our children to public school while others would never consider it. Some people watch certain television shows that others would never consider allowing their children to watch. Some put their children in daycare while others prefer staying home with them. We all have our "issues" we prefer to stand up for over other issues. I just hope we're all supportive of each other. I know I've talked with friends before who talk about things they wouldn't allow their children to do and I think it would be no big deal but then I may not allow my children to do something that they think is no big deal. We all just have to parent they way we feel is best and pray A LOT!
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On a lighter note: check out this YouTube video on Deana's blog. Too hilarious and I'm afraid it hits a little too close to home for me!