Is today a school day?

We've had many bloggable moments lately. Chris was teasing me because he knew things were coming up that I wanted to blog about. Don't let him fool you-I catch him checking my blog many times!

Gracie woke up on Thursday and wanted to know if it was a school day. I told her no, not yet, that Mrs. Zimmerman had to get things ready. She said, "Well, I could help her." So sweet. I think she may very well be on the path to being a teacher herself one day. Monday will be here soon enough. We're all pretty excited around here about that.

The table in these pictures used to be in Gracie's room but we moved it into the "play area" the other day. The girls have enjoyed playing on it back there. (It's just behind our couch in the den.) Even though we've had this table for about 2 years, it's almost like it's a new table because it's in a new place.

Last night, we all got comfy on the couch with our popcorn and watched "High School Musical 2." I thought it was cute although I did like the first one better, but isn't that usually how it goes?!?! I waited until about 9:00 to start watching it so we could fast forward through the commercials. I love having DVR.

This morning we had a birthday party to go to at the local gymnastics place. Lots of fun as always!

After the birthday party, we went to an art reception at the local art gallery. Lots of art projects were on display from the many kids who took art classes and/or camps this summer. It was really neat to see. They also had lots of fun things happening like face painting, bands playing, refreshments, crafts to make etc. We are very proud of how Gracie did at her art camp. She said that next year she would like to go full day.
This is her art camp teacher, Gretchen. The project she is holding is one where they used all sorts of different mediums to create their picture. Gretchen sketched the giraffe then Gracie used mediums such as acrylic paint, colored pencils, crayons, watercolors, oil pastels & markers to finish the picture.
This one is hard to see, but it was an underwater scene using an air dried clay. (I think!)
To the left of Gracie, you can see (if you click to make the picture bigger) she drew a butterfly. She then created a butterfly, ladybug & snake out of clay which was then baked.
Here is Gracie standing next to the bulletin board displaying many pictures of the different camps held throughout the summer. We found a picture of Gracie and had to take her picture next to her picture! What good blogger wouldn't do that?!?!
After the art reception where we got to bring home her projects, we drove out for an afternoon of roller skating with friends from church. We did this last year also. I didn't actually skate but had fun watching the others and talking. We then ate together and came home to finally relax after such a long day. I've bathed the girls and washed their hair so they're ready for bed early tonight! Chris went to the gym and then went to Wal Mart to pick up some more batteries for the camera.....and milk.....and bread.....and bananas.....and diet coke.....and whatever else he thinks to pick up while there.

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Here is the birthday card Gracie drew for her friend's present today. I loved the cake she drew! Why? Because to me, it shows that she's been watching a lot of "Ace of Cakes" & "Food Network Challenge" shows. It's a much more inventive cake than she used to draw!

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I just began Book 5 of Karen Kingsbury's "Redemption" series. I sure am glad people recommended it. I've really enjoyed it and look forward to reading the "spin-off" series as well.

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Baby Caroline hasn't been doing well. She is actually doing great except that her chest tubes won't stop draining. Her parents have asked for a specific prayer: that the Lord will stop this drainage and heal her leaky lymphatic vessels so she won't have to endure another surgery. The surgeon has said that he will open her back up Wednesday if the drainage hasn't decreased. Poor thing has already been in the hospital-the PICU no less-over 3 weeks (or is it 4?!?!) Please say a prayer for the drainage to decrease. It is the ONLY thing keeping her in the hospital. Her heart is doing great after the OHS. The drainage just won't stop.