flashback-I can't believe I'm posting this picture!

almost exactly 3 years ago....me & Gracie. Look how long Gracie's hair was!!!!

My baby's birthday is this week and she knows it! She will be "3" on Saturday and I can hardly believe it! She still "loves" Spiderman (most of the time) and quite a few other "boy" things. Before my little girl was this way, I used to snicker a little at other little girls when they would express such "tom-boy" ways. Now that my little girl is liking these things, I think it's precious! She still carries her pink bunny around and pushes the baby stroller, too! I have kind of gone 50/50 with her birthday gifts-1/2 tom-boy & 1/2 girly. She is so adorable-I just love her,

tom-boy and all! My friend Kristi assures me that she was a tom-boy too...crawling under dog pens and things and she is a very well adjusted, cute, feminine wife & mommy of 2! I'm just not used to this tom-boy thing after having had Miss Gracie who is so the opposite!

She is still very into puzzles. She'll ask, "I can do my puzzle?" I guess she thinks she has to ask because we are frequently getting on to her to clean them up after she leaves them lying around on the floor.

She has started enjoying eating apples whole. I've always cut them up for her but the other day I let her try it "like Sissy" and she did great! It's so cute to watch her eat it that way!

The other night we had a really bad storm. I woke up & jumped out of bed around 1:30 Friday morning to the loudest wind. I'm a huge chicken when it comes to storms so I encouraged Chris to go watch the news. There'd been those tornadoes in AL earlier in the day that had kind of freaked me out. I got both girls and put them in bed with me. I didn't think we needed to get into the bathtub but I was so nervous about all the huge trees around our house that I figured it'd be better for us all to be in 1 bed. If one of us would get crushed by a tree, we all would! I know that sounds morbid, but I really didn't feel comfortable leaving the girls in their own beds the way it was storming outside. Of course, Chris was in the other room watching the weather....It finally calmed down after about 20 minutes and me silently singing "O Master the Tempest is Raging"...."the winds & the waves shall obey thy will, peace...be still........" Gracie went back to her bed and Chris took Katie back to hers. Of course, Katie started crying, "Daddy, I neeeed you! I want to sleep in Daddy's bed!" Finally, she just walked into our room and Chris told her to come get in bed with us. I kid you not, 20 seconds later, she started whining, "I don't want to sleep here. I want my bed." UGH! So, since it was on her terms, she was able to go back to her bed and go to sleep just fine.

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Speaking of tornadoes, Gracie's class has been practicing their tornado drill. All 15 of them + Mrs. Stauffer have to get into their tiny little bathroom. Since Gracie is the smallest, she has to get under the sink! She thinks that's pretty crazy! It's a funny mental picture, definitely!

She came home today talking about "symmetry" and shapes that are "congruent." She was quite proud of this new knowledge!

She has received quite a few "behavior bucks" at school recently which she is looking forward to spending at the school store.

The other day, she found a workbook I'd bought for Katie. She decided Katie needed to work on it, so she took it upon herself to act as teacher. You can see in the picture that Katie is actually pointing to the book. Whether or not it's what she was supposed to be pointing to, who knows!

Gracie is still our little studious sweetheart who certainly isn't perfect, but is really such a good child & such a blessing to us!

how many of me?

I've seen this before on other people's blogs and decided to post about it myself. How Many of Me? is a cool site where you can put in your name and see how many people in the U.S. have your name. I don't think it has 100% reliability since it said there were "0" people in the U.S. with the name "Reese." Um....ever heard of Reese Witherspoon??? Maybe that's not her legal name....but I know a little girl with that first name.....anyway, it's just something fun to look at.

Interestingly, there are "0" people with my name in the U.S. and I know it is my legal name. Does this mean I don't exist? I typed in some names and it says there is "1" person with that name but for me, it just says "0."

Here is how my family comes out name-wise:

There are 331,465 people with the name "Chris," 14,488 with our last name, and 16 named Chris Shanks. If I change it to "Christopher," it jumps to 1,556,837 and 75 named Christopher Shanks.

There are 1500 people with the name "Jacinda," and 0 named Jacinda Shanks. (still don't get that!!!!) If I look at my maiden name, it says there are 5 people named Jacinda Jackson.

There are 26,997 people with the name "Gracie," but only 1 named Gracie Shanks-yea!!!!

Not surprisingly, there are 169,482 people with the name "Katie," but only 8 named Katie Shanks.

Just something light hearted & fun to do!
Have a good weekend!

Are you in a pit?

I've been putting off writing this post because I know it will take awhile to write. However, I need to go ahead and do it so I don't forget all that I want to remember! I went on a "girl's weekend" this last weekend-something I never do-and I had a really good time. I was completely worn out by the time I got home though! *whew*

For awhile now, I've been hearing people talk about Beth Moore and what a wonderful Bible Study leader she is. I've heard it from my "in person" friends-you know, people I didn't meet through the Internet: my mom, Tracy, Erin, Jaime. I've also heard it from my "non-in person" friends-you know, people I have met online: Betty, Janice, Elizabeth. I've never really been in a position to participate in one of her studies but have always been interested in doing so.

Back around Christmas, my mom told me that her church was hosting a Beth Moore live "via satellite" women's event on a Saturday in February. I was really interested in attending and asked a couple of friends to go with me. Mom signed us all up and it was great! Earlier in the month, Mom had sent me her Beth Moore "Patriarchs" book that she had used with a study. I've only just begun reading it but am looking forward to getting more into it.

I am not the type of person who goes off on weekends all the time. I have been invited to go on some and I usually drag my feet and come up with excuses: it costs too much, we have plans, etc. This one worked though. I was nervous and anxious-I like being with my family-but I was also looking forward to it. Here's a synopsis:

Friday:

*MB picked me up and we headed to the school to drop off some pies for the teacher's luncheon. Gracie had been sent home sick from school the day before so I couldn't send them with her!

*We went to pick up M.

*Off we went-talking a mile a minute! We had all brought some sort of snack and M had bought Starbucks for us all-yum! We didn't snack too much but we did enjoy the Starbucks. At some point, we had to stop to potty and MB & I then switched to a different kind of caffeine-mine in the form of diet Coke. We continued on our way to Atlanta!

*Since we had left around 7:30, we ended up getting to Atlanta before we were ready to eat lunch so our first stop was IKEA! I had always heard about this store from my interior design friend, Kym, but had never been to one. This is a fairly new store in Atlanta and my dad alerted me to the fact that it was open. I bet we spent 2-2 1/2 hours in it. It is HUGE and waaaay cool! I urge to check it out if you ever get a chance! Did we buy anything? NO! Can you believe it. The one thing I saw that I wanted was only in the showroom. We kept looking for it where you could actually pick it up and buy it and never could find it. Oh well!

*Next stop: food! The Varsity is an Atlanta tradition that you must try if you're ever there. I always get the "Pimento Cheese Burger" (which isn't on the menu...you just have to ask for it), fries, and a fried apple pie. YUM!

*At this point, we decided to head to Lenox Mall. They have some stores we just don't have access to very often: Pottery Barn Kids, Pottery Barn, Crate & Barrel, Godiva, etc. So we went there and had fun looking around. We were feeling the fact that we are no longer very young and we plopped down on the couches & chairs at Crate & Barrel. While there, someone came up with the idea of getting pedicures. Why not? So we finished up and headed towards Mom & Dad's to look for a place to get them done.

*We found a place that was quite inexpensive and they did a pretty good job. We just felt like they were really talking about us when we left. We kept thinking of the Seinfeld episode when Elaine went to get a pedicure and they would say, "Princess want pedicure? Princess in a hurry!"

*After that, we headed to Mom & Dad's for dinner. Mom had cooked a good dinner-as usual-which we enjoyed. She had made this "Double Chocolate Ooey Gooey Butter Cake" that was soooo good! My dad wasn't feeling well-his voice sounded much deeper than it usually does. We were sitting around after dinner trying to figure out our plans for the next day. We wanted to go eat after the Ladies' Day but we also wanted to go to a movie. It was only about 8:30 so we decided to go to the movies that night. We loaded up and went. We even made a stop at Bass Pro Shop for M to buy something for her husband.

*After the movie, we went back to Mom & Dad's and went upstairs to get pj's on. (Have I mentioned that all of our kids (7 total) are at home with their Daddies?!!?!? It was great!) M had brought the first 2 seasons of Grey Anatomy with her. MB & I are recent converts to Grey's, so we got caught up a little by watching the "Bonnie" episode. I'd had to call M during Grey's Thursday night to ask who she was. After that, it was time for sleep. We each got our own room for sleeping. Mom & Dad slept downstairs in the guest room.

Saturday:

*Thankfully, the thing at church didn't start until 10:30 so we didn't have to start the day too early. Pappy (my dad) made us Mickey Mouse waffles. Dad making waffles is a tradition. He used to carry me downstairs-usually on Saturday or Sunday mornings-to eat them. He sure couldn't do that now!

*Mom was going with us to the Ladies' Day (10:30-4:30) but we drove separately because she knew she would want to go home while we were planning to shop & stuff. Beth Moore's lesson was based on her book, "Get Out of That Pit." It was a really good lesson where she talked about us getting out of our pit-whatever it may be-and how Jesus can get any of us out of any pit. I decided that one of my biggest pits is FOOD! 'nuff said.

*After the Ladies' Day, we went to Garden Ridge. Again, I think we spent over 2 hours there! We did all buy something there. We got the best deals-bakeware, picture frames, party stuff etc.

*By the time we left, it was about 7:30 and we still had plans to go eat. The Cheesecake Factory is absolutely one of the BEST meals you will ever eat. When we got there around 8:00, we were told that there was a 65-80 minute wait. We went over to a shopping center that had some stores we wanted to visit. Well, by the time we got back we had missed being called! Luckily, we only had to wait about 10 more minutes before they got us a table. I bet it was 9:45 before we even sat down. We definitely weren't in our little town anymore! There were some fancy-schmancy people there!

*Once we sat down, we ordered this appetizer: Fried Macaroni and Cheese. Here is a picture that is similar to what they served. Seriously.....you have GOT to try it! I really didn't think it would be that good, I mean good, but not THAT good. Oh goodness! It was fantastic! So, so, so good! MB & I split an entree: shrimp scampi & salmon with mashed potatoes. Again, so good! M got shrimp scampi & steak. We were so stuffed but it's just about impossible to not get cheesecake so we ordered 1 piece to go: Vanilla Bean. If M & MB read this, they will probably note that I left out a little incident that happened on the way to The Cheesecake Factory. Something about me missing an exit, a car really close to the passenger side and a concrete barrier coming up fast in front of us. Hey, all I have to say is "All's well that ends well" right?!?!

*Mom & Dad ended up paying for our tickets to the Beth Moore conference-refused to let us pay-so we used what we would have used for that to buy them a gift certificate to The Cheesecake Factory. A little thank you for housing & feeding us over the weekend!

*We got back to the house-exhausted but happy and it was already smelling good from the roast Mom was cooking for lunch the next day. We let Mom have a taste of the cheesecake before we went upstairs to put on pj's and watch the "Dylan & the Bomb/Bailey giving birth" episodes of Grey's that I had also never seen in their entirety. 8:30 church was going to be there soon enough so we went to bed.

Sunday:

*We got up and got ready for church. It's amazing how much more quickly we could get ready without any children to get ready too! Dad was feeling really badly by this point so he didn't go to church with us which is quite rare for my dad. It's always nice to see people at church that I knew from growing up although there are lots of people there that I don't know now. With a church so large, I guess that happens. We went to class after church which I have to admit is always a little uncomfortable for me: going to class when you don't really know people. I knew some of them but still, it's a little out of my comfort zone.

*After church, we went back to Mom & Dad's and had a wonderful Sunday lunch of roast, carrots, vegetable casserole, biscuits, potatoes, fried apples and more cake! We were all tired but knew we needed to get on the road to get back.

*We left to come home, but "needed" to stop at one of the malls on the way. We probably stayed there 2-2 1/2 hours. We don't shop very quickly. By this point, we were all very tired. We drove for awhile and then MB needed to stop for a minute. We pulled into the gas station/Dairy Queen. She got out while M & I stayed in the van. M & I started discussing how we "could eat" since it was about 6:00. Forget the fact that we'd basically done nothing but eat the whole weekend! We'd walked a lot also so we figured we'd burned a lot of those calories! So, when MB got back, we pulled through the drive-thru and ordered something for M and something me. MB was going to get something at the McDonald's drive-thru.

After we got the food, we pulled over to get some gas. Here is the funny part. I'm sure I will not even come close to describing how funny this was but trust me, it was. The gas station was packed! MB pulled behind this truck and waited. I was pretty interested in eating so I didn't really notice that we sat there for about 5 minutes. It was empty and apparently no one was in a hurry to claim the vehicle. Finally, she said something about it and pulled out to go to a different pump. She pulled up behind a different truck and we waited. After a few minutes, we saw this old man with a cane come out of the gas station. He headed our way so I thought maybe he was coming to move his truck. M & MB said no, that another car had honked at him. Apparently they had done what any decent person would do and actually moved their vehicle while they were waiting to leave rather than just sitting at the pump making other people wait.

Well, the man turned around-slowly-to make his way to the car. Remember he had a cane and was kind of bent over. Well, this woman went up to him and took his arm to help him. Apparently, he didn't take too well to her kindness because he started running! Only this old man running with his cane was really more like shuffling but he was really going for someone so old in his condition. He really looked like he was going to fall a couple of times which really isn't funny but the whole situation was so comical looking. The lady stayed with him until he got in the car-she really was trying to be nice-so I guess he finally realized that she was trying to help him. No one in the car ever got out to help him. I know my writing probably does not do the story justice but trust me, it was one of the funniest things I've ever seen in my life!

All 3 of us are laughing so hard and then we notice this man waiting for a different pump across from us is looking at us and he's laughing at us laughing so hard! Finally, we realize that the truck we're behind isn't going to move anytime soon so we pull to a different pump which we then see is roped off as not working. Then we pull behind a different SUV and the guy walks away from it into the gas station after he looks at us pulling up to wait. Finally, MB found a pump that was available. I think we were probably there for 30 minutes! I don't know why the people in the town never learned how to "pay at the pump" or at least the proper etiquette of pulling your car away from the pump so others can use it. It was so funny!

*Finally, we got home. We dropped off M then MB dropped me off. My family was at Life Group but they got home soon. I was happy to see them and they were happy to see me! Gracie seemed to really miss me which I thought was so sweet. She had her arms around my neck so tight. I heard the van door close when the got home so I went to the door. I could hear her outside saying, "Hurry! Hurry!"

It was a GREAT weekend! It was a blessing to spend this time with these 2 girls. The real reason for going-the Beth Moore conference-made me think about many important things and the fun I had with my friends was just icing on the cake! God has blessed me with these 2 girls who offer such wonderful things to me as friends. I'm so blessed with all of my friends-those who weren't with me this weekendas well-as they also are so valuable to me. I couldn't bring them all seeing as how we were staying at my parents' house which can only hold so many, but I'm thankful for them all.

Dear Lord,

Thank you for my friends M & MB who are such blessings in my life-both for similar reasons but for different ones as well. They were such fun to be with and I'm thankful you have put them in my life. Thank you for my friends who weren't with me as well as they each offer something unique to my life. I'm so grateful for good girlfriends on whom I can lean & depend. I pray that I will be for them what they need me to be. Help me to be a good friend to all of my friends. Please let my girls grow up with good girlfriends who love You and who will help them grow closer to You. Thank you for our sweet husbands who so willingly & lovingly supported us going and took such good care of our children. I know for me personally I know Chris did a great job and didn't look at it as "babysitting" as some men do. He is their daddy and loves spending time with them and vice versa! Thank you for keeping us all safe as we were apart from our immediate families and thank you for my parents who opened their home to us.

In Jesus' Name,

Amen

the dreams I have

You are such a wonder

I danced when you were born

Celebrated every step

And held you through each storm

I've seen your tears

And felt your fears

As your heart broke in two

I only wish that you could see

The dreams I dream for you

I've seen you struggle forward

I've watched you fall behind

Courage only goes so far

When faith and fear collide

But I know what you're made of

And all that you could do

I only wish that you could see

The dreams I dream for you

When you're standing all alone

And you wonder if I'm there

Or why the road seems longer than it should

I am right beside you,

even closer than a prayer

You know I'd walk this journey for you

if I could

I hope you never settle

For less than you can be

For time will test your mettle

But truth will set you free

So spread your wings imagining

There's nothing you can't do

For you could never dream beyond

The dreams I dream for you

Words & music by Anita Renfroe & Jim Robinson

These are the words to one of the songs on the Anita Renfore cd I got today. Most of the stuff she does is just funny & silly, but this song is one of the serious ones. She originally wrote it with a friend about her children. They realized that it could be a song that speaks of the way God feels about all of us. I like it a lot and it makes me think of all the dreams I have for my sweet little girls.

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What Katie is into right now:

She is really into "God made.......". She also talks about things being painted. Why? I don't know. She said something about us painting our (kitchen) chairs. I absently said yes. Then I corrected myself and said that no, we didn't paint them. She said, "God painted them." She had a blanket later and said, "God made the blanket." In our bubble bath tonight (all 3 of us girls were in there!) she said, "God made the bubbles." Sometimes I say "yes." Sometimes I try to explain that God didn't actually paint the chair or make that particular blanket but that He made the people who did make those things. I think this started because I would ask her "Who made the grass?" "Who made the birds?" etc. Those are easy because God did actually make those things. When she starts bringing in blankets & chairs....what do you say? Do you just say, "Yes, God made everything!" or do you get more technical about it?

Today I heard Katie singing the Heaven song to Strawberry Shortcake. "Strawberry Shortcake, I want to see you up in Heaven........." I usually ask her if she had a 'sweet sleep' and ask her what she dreamed about. Today she said, "Baby Jesus." The other day when I asked her what she & her friend Dillon talked about at dinner (they sat at a table together after Life Group), she said, "Baby Jesus." Funny! That just seems to be the answer right now....whether or not it's true!

She has started saying, "I love...." She loves Spiderman. She loves Thomas the Train. Yes, this is my little girl. We saw Spiderman u-n-d-e-r-wear at Target the other day and she loved it. I moved on and showed her the Thomas u-n-d-e-r-wear. She loved it too. She said, "Thomas is for boys" kind of sad. I said, "You can like Thomas and you can play with Thomas but you can't wear Thomas u-n-d-e-r-wear." You have to know Gracie to know that this hasn't been an issue until Katie came along. Gracie has always been quite content to play with "girl" things while Katie loves the "boy" things too! Don't get me wrong. I think it's fine for Katie to like Spiderman and Thomas the Train. I draw the line at her wearing the u-n-d-e-r-wear though!

She sings the "Little Einstein" song all the time..."We're going on a trip in our favorite rocket ship; Come on, let's go; Little Einstein." (words may not be exact) Another common phrase to hear her attempt to say is, "Hot Dog, hot dog, hot diggety dog!" from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

She'll frequently say, "Good dinner, Mommy!" Even if all I did was open a can, she'll say it.

She loves fruit snacks and chose them over frosted cupcakes yesterday....crazy girl!

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What Gracie is into right now:

She is enjoying her memory challenges in Bible Class. She said the books of the Old Testament this last Sunday and did a great job! She worked really hard on memorizing them.

Today she asked me, "On my calendar it says tomorrow is Ash Wednesday. What is that?" I wasn't sure what to say-and neither was Chris-so I told her I would look it up and tell her about it. Chris & I neither one know much about it. Is that bad that I don't know? Isn't it mainly observed by Catholic practicing people or am I going to look really stupid for thinking that?

She had a sleepover Sunday night here at our house with her best girlfriend and they had lots of fun. Lots of giggling, lots of planning what to do, etc.

She is still reading a lot and doing well in school. She still enjoys it and I'm grateful for that. The other day she parked herself on the couch with a book and Chris told her to go brush her teeth. She sighed and said, "Can't I just have some time to read?!?!" Another time he told her to go do something and she sighed and said, "Okay...but I'm going to read while I walk!"

One of her friends from school has come to church with her the last few Wednesday nights. They were having me call out Scriptures for them to look up before church started one night. When they both found it, I guess they were reading over each other shoulders and Gracie said, "Mine doesn't say the same thing." They had different translations and she noticed that. I thought that was pretty cool for someone so young to notice. We need to show her Chris' Bible he has (parallel Bible???) that has 4(?) different translations in 1 Bible!

The other day I was looking at buying something on Ebay. It was from the United Kingdom. I was talking about how I wasn't sure I wanted to buy it from outside the US and wondering how far away that was. She said, "I'll find out." She ran to her globe and ran back to tell me how many miles away it was! Pretty cool globe where you can touch 2 different places and it will tell you the distance between the 2!

When I took her to the doctor last week (she had strep!) she was still only 36 something lbs. She's 6 1/2 years old! I'm assuming one day she will put some meat on those bones of hers; wish I had that problem!

I love it when she says, "You're the best Mommy." I follow up with, "You're the best 6 year old!"

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Both of the girls are so funny in their own ways and I love them both dearly!

Will you go out with me?

****updated with pictures now that Blogger is actually cooperating!****

Gracie & Chris had a 'Daddy/Daughter' date tonight. He was so sweet to bring her flowers which she was very happy to get! She picked out her dress to wear and was excited to be wearing jewelry and smelling like Mommy on Sunday morning in the car! (Meaning I put my 'white cherry blossom' lotion on her. I guess I must smell like that on the way to church because that's how she described it..."that's the smell I smell on Sundays in the car." Funny!
Here is Gracie waiting to be picked up for her date.

Chris wasn't sure where to take her. She wanted to go to a museum that she loves but he's already tentatively planning to take the girls there next weekend when I go away for a weekend. She always wants to go to Fatz after church on Sundays. We rarely go because honestly it's kind of expensive and isn't as good as it costs! However, since this was a special date, he decided to surprise her by taking her there for dinner. After dinner they went to Target and she spent some money she's been saving. They also went & played Arcade games at the Putt Putt place. (too cold to play Putt Putt! brrr) Gracie won some Smarties and brought some home to share with me!

Katie and I hung out here at the house. We worked on her Dora puzzle, had grilled cheese for dinner and watched "Little House." She also took a bubble bath and we played her Leap Pad. Now the girls are going to watch the Barbie movie she bought at Target with her saved money.

She told Chris it was the best date she's ever been on!

Here Gracie is showing off her rings. The silver ring was given to her at her baby shower when she was just over 2 weeks old. The gold ring is one that I don't think I've ever allowed her to wear on her finger. She used to wear it on a chain but the chain broke recently. This ring is my grandmother's baby ring! I am under extreme stress from my mother not to lose it! I decided for this special date she could wear it....and she came home with it still on which she very proudly told me (because I put her under extreme stress not to lose it!!!!) It was still a little big even on that finger so I'm not sure when my grandmother actually wore it!
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After school, Gracie had a playdate with her good friend, Hunter. His mommy told me they rode skateboards and scooters-that's a sight I'd like to see! They also played 'Dance Dance Revolution' (Chris said she tried it at the arcade tonight too!) where you watch it on the television and have to step on the right things at the right time. I hear it's quite a workout....she had pictures and they were funny. Gracie's dancing kind of reminds us of Elaine on Seinfeld! HA! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Lord,

Thank you for Chris who loves spending time with his girls. As Gracie & Katie grow older, please let them remember how blessed they are to have him as their daddy. Please help Chris & I to be the kind of parents you want us to be and to raise them the way You want us to.

In Jesus' Name,

Amen

all our love

Happy Valentine's Day

from our littlest sweethearts!

IS there a refrigerator in Heaven?

I did something tonight that was lots of fun! I went to one of the churches in town and listened to a hilarious Christian comedian: Anita Renfroe. She was so much fun to listen to; if you ever get a chance to listen to her, GO! Some of it was serious, most of it was just silly fun. I even saw Gracie's teacher there, along with a few people from church, so that nice. I wanted to buy a cd, but the line was long and I'd left my purse in the car. I may order something later. One thing she said that I loved: "If there's a refrigerator in Heaven, you know God has YOUR picture on it." I thought that was sweet!

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Chris & I went on an overnight date last night: ooh la la! He planned this evening almost all the way by himself-I was so impressed! He planned for our good friend to watch the girls for us, we went & checked in a hotel (not too far away, about an hour), ate at The Melting Pot, slept in late, ate brunch at Waffle House (yummy!), watched "The Pursuit of Happyness," then came home. Less than 24 hours total but sooo nice to get away!

He was very sweet and had planned to have our picture taken at the restaurant and a rose brought to me at the table. He also gave me a silver cross necklace and a pearl bracelet with 2 Swarovski crystals to represent the girls' birth months. I gave him gift cards to a sports store and this other store called 'Lids.' The man has about a million caps but he always feels like he needs more!

We don't usually go on such a big weekend with so many gifts for Valentine's Day but we did a little more this year. It's nice to splurge on each other from time to time; we don't do it very often. Of course, Chris is the type of husband who is sweet each & everyday and is always doing kind & thoughtful things. I'd rather have him be like that rather than not be kind day in & day out and give elaborate gifts each holiday to make up for it. I've certainly been blessed with him and sometimes wonder how I got so lucky!

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Yesterday, I mailed off Gracie's story for this year's Reading Rainbow writing contest. She was so excited to participate again this year (and hopes to win the laptop computer!) I think she did a great job! Looking at her story from the eyes of her Mommy, of course I think she deserves the laptop. Looking at it from the eyes of an educator, I see where she still needs work and think she probably won't win 1st place. I worked with her more this year on it-helping her plan it out before she actually started writing, etc. I didn't want to give her too much help because it still needs to be HER story. (Last year there were 1 or 2 that certainly didn't seem to be written by the child which was frustrating!) She had a great time at the celebration last year when each child who participated got a chance to visit the studio, listen to the winning stories and enjoy a carnival. I'm hoping we'll get to do this again. She really worked hard on her story & illustrations and I'm proud of her!

where did that come from?

background: Gracie is working on something at the coffee table while I watch "In Style's Celebrity Weddings."

Gracie: Will you come to my wedding?

me: Oh, yes definitely!

Gracie: if you're still alive

like mother, like daughter

As I walked into the dining room this morning, I saw Gracie reading while she was eating breakfast. It definitely brought a smile to my face; that is so much like me! I'll always remember my mom telling the story of me cleaning the toilet with one hand and holding a book reading in the other. When I would get in trouble, Mom & Dad would tell me I couldn't read. I hated that!

Gracie has been reading "Black Beauty." One of her friends gave it to her for her birthday in July. The other day, she said, "He sure was smart to get me a horse one." Horses are her latest "thing" so she's loving the book!

using the Book It "certicifate"

Here is a picture of the girls doing one of their favorite things: playing in their kitchen!

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*Wednesday~Chris missed work Tuesday & Wednesday due to being sick. He's better now. Gracie invited a friend to come to Bible Class with her Wednesday night so off the 2 girls & I & Gracie's friend went to church. It was pretty cold! Before church, I went and picked up some really good chili at Atlanta Bread Company. It was sooooo good!

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*Thursday~Gracie had a 3 hour delay for school. The threat of ice caused the delay and it was very nice to sleep in! We actually had mainly just a yucky weather day; no real ice so I guess we didn't really need the delay but I suppose the night before they weren't sure and had to make a decision. Some areas near here did cancel the whole day and actually had some "real" weather. I'm so glad her school district seems to make their decisions early on. I knew before we even went to church Wednesday night about the delay. I read about Malia getting a call at 5:30 am(?) from Sweetpea's school district. She slept through the call and saw it on her answering machine. I don't know that I would have slept through a call and it would have scared me!

Katie & I did go to Wal Mart that morning, getting quite wet & cold in the process! I made 'white chicken chili' for that night; it was pretty good!

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*Friday~Chris took Gracie to school so I got to sleep in yet again (one of my favorite things to do!) He was off this Friday but actually had to go in to do something. He at least had a short day. Katie & I pretty much hung around the house until time to go get Gracie from school. That night, we went to a friend's house for a little bit. After we left, we went to TJ Maxx, Ross & Wal Mart. Big night out, huh?!?! At TJ Maxx, we saw Mrs. Hooks who was the full time aide for Gracie's Kindergarten class last year. I see her usually at least once a week when I'm at the school but it's always kind of "fun" to see teachers outside of school. We stood & talked to her for a long time. I will always have such fond thoughts of her! I just truly think she is a wonderful lady & I'm grateful for the time Gracie got to spend with her last year!

We spent the rest of the night just hanging out together at home. We got Gracie's "American Girl" doll ready to go on a playdate with her this morning. "American Girl" is in quotes because it's really an "Our Generation" doll from Target! Gracie & Kathryn were in the same class last year at school but she doesn't go to Gracie's school anymore. We happened to see them at the library last week and they quickly decided they wanted to have a playdate. Today was the day and Gracie has been so excited! In the few minutes we talked at the library, it came up that Kathryn had an American Girl doll and they asked if Gracie had one. I explained that she had 2 of the "Target versions" of one that would work just fine for the playdate. Of course, later I had to listen to Gracie asking why she didn't have a real American Girl doll. I was quick to explain that the one she has is almost just like the real one. She questioned a little more but then kind of left it alone. I think she knew she wasn't going to win out and get a real one. She knows her Mommy is a bargain shopper!

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Saturday~I took Gracie, Robyn (her doll), and more than 1 change of clothes for Robyn to Kathryn's house. As I left, they had both run upstairs happy as could be. When I went to pick her up, I had to wait for Molly & Robyn to switch clothes! Even Kathryn's mom had to admit that Robyn & Molly looked almost just alike although I do think Molly had prettier hair. For the price difference, I can handle having doll's hair that's a little more rough!

When we picked up Gracie, we went to look at having a print framed for Chris that I'd bought him for Christmas. Framing things cost so much; it's depressing! We placed the order but I may end up cancelling it and going to another place that will do it for less. I'm not sure yet.

The girls & I ended up napping this afternoon while Chris forced himself to stay awake. He took a nap yesterday and stayed up until 3 this morning! Such a curse he has! Tonight, we went to Pizza Hut and Gracie was able to use her Book-It "certicifate."

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I finished reading "The Memory Keeper's Daughter" awhile back. Now, I've started reading Rekindled by Tamera Alexander. My mom & dad gave me this book and also a 2nd book, Revealed, for Christmas. The author went to GAC which is neat. I've just started Rekindled and already I'm really enjoying it.

This next weekend, my husband is taking me on an overnight date. I'm so excited! We're going to eat at The Melting Pot and stay overnight~sans kids! One of my very nice friends will keep both girls for us~how fun for us!

Puzzlemania!

Katie's new obsession is puzzles! She'll do them over & over and is really getting pretty good. I mean, she still needs help but she's getting better!

This is her "Jopheph" puzzle! LOL

Last night was "Family Enrichment Night" at Gracie's school. It's over for another year: yea!!! A lot of planning went into this event: a lot of phone calls, some emails, some snail mail, etc. It turned out really well! One of the teacher reps for the PTA handled A LOT of the event, specifically things on the actual night and she is organized with a capital "O." She had teachers assigned to each class to take attendance and be a general helper. She had "floater" teachers on the sidewalks to help direct people, she had large signs directing people.

We offered classes in mural painting, pottery making (the one we went to!), gymnastics, karate, scrapbooking, magic & Mary Kay. We had just a tad over 200 students signed up to come and I'm anxious to see what our actual number was. I know the class Gracie & I were in was just missing 1 student! The event is designed for each student to come with a parent (or other adult). In fact, they have to have an adult with them or they can't come. Thus, the "family enrichment" title...spending time child & parent together.......

I'm glad all the presenters I lined up showed up! Last year, I had one cancel about a week beforehand and that was stressful, but this year everyone showed up! I had one call me about an hour & a half before it started last night. When I saw her name on the caller id, I panicked thinking what in the world was I going to do with the 41 students signed up for GYMNASTICS class if she was cancelling! Especially since I can't even do a decent somersault myself!!!!!! She just had a question though and all was good!

I'm thankful to God that the event seemed to turn out well. I'm also thankful to our PTA teacher rep and our PTA President for all the support, encouragement, time & effort they put into this to help make it happen!

happenings

this week:

*playgroup~Thursday

*breakfast with a friend & shopping~Friday

*'family night'~Friday. I guess every night is family night to some extent, but I really love nights when none of us has to be anywhere but with each other and we can all just hang out. Chris came home from work and promptly fell asleep on the couch. This may not seem like a big deal, but if Chris takes a nap he will be up 'til the wee hours of the morning. Regardless of this fact, he napped anyway and was up 'til around 3 this morning. Oh well, his decision. When he & Katie woke up from their naps, we decided to go to Pizza Hut. Gracie had a 'Book-it coupon' that was burning a hole in her pocket. When we got there and someone finally got around to seating us, they told us that there was about a 40 minute wait for food. We decided to go somewhere else. We ended up at Chili's which we hadn't been to in a long time. After we ate, we went to the mall and visited just a few stores before it closed. I don't think we even bought anything, but it was still fun. Chris has in mind that he wants a flat screen plasma so he was showing me his "dream." He did receive 'official' word of a bonus so we'll see. We came home and Gracie wanted to play a family game so we decided to play Monopoly. She did pretty good and was getting pretty rich before we decided to stop. That game can last forever. Poor Katie spent most of our game time on the floor saying in sing-song, "please help me, please help me" as she worked on her Elmo puzzle. She's not quite ready for Monopoly! The night ended with Chris watching tv, the girls asleep in the Princess tent and me sleeping. Sounds like a good night to me!

*teachers' meeting at church~Saturday morning. Chris is 'ministry leader' for education and he, along with some other leaders, talked about various things within the education ministry. We have all been so impressed with the kids & their parents as we've started pushing for more scripture memorization. The parents have done a great job of encouraging their children and the kids are 'steppin' up to the plate' big time. This past week I gave my 1st/2nd grade class the task of memorizing the names of the 12 sons of Jacob and Gracie has done fantastic with it! I talked to one of the other girls this morning and she was saying them as well. I bribed them with candy and I will need to be ready to deliver in the morning! Even the 4 & 5 year old/Kindergarten class has been given this assignment from their teacher and I heard one of them saying it today also. Kids are such sponges, it's amazing! Tomorrow I plan to give the assignment of memorizing the books of the Bible...without singing them! I have complete faith that with a little work, they'll succeed!

One thing I've started doing in class that I think is a lot of fun is using "Veggie Tales Bible Mania" book to teach the kids interesting, "random" facts from the Bible. I put up a bulletin board in the hallway where each week they each write down one of the facts they found most interesting. It's really a neat book filled with some things I certainly didn't know about the Bible!

*shopping-Saturday afternoon. All 4 of us went to a neighboring town this afternoon to shop. We went to Family Christian and Lifeway Christian and perused the VBS curriculum selections. We picked up some brochures and will do a little more research before we decide what to purchase. We may even end up buying one from somewhere else. I love going to those stores; such neat things!

We also went to the mall to use some gift cards we'd been given for Christmas. I bought a "date dress." Chris & I plan to go out for Valentine's Day (either the weekend before or the weekend after) and I wanted a nice outfit. Something I wouldn't wear to church. I am quite modest in my dress (some might say I'm a fuddy duddy in my dress!!!!) so some things I just can't see myself wearing. Not that they're "immodest," I just don't like the way they look on me. (Some things are immodest for sure!!!!!) I found a dress that is different from what I would wear to church but still modest for a date with my husband. I wouldn't have bought it if I didn't have a gift card, so it was nice to splurge with that. (I also bought Gracie a pair of shoes with it.) I told Chris now we really have to go out and that I'd wear this dress for every fancy date we go on for the next couple of years (which happens about twice a year!) I just don't have that many "nicer" dresses.

Tomorrow will be church and Life Group. I hope everyone has a good Sunday!

Here's a funny thing Gracie said:
*She asked Chris if she has school on Valentine's Day. She had asked me earlier in the week what we were going to do special for Valentine's Day. I'm afraid she may be disappointed!

a funny from Katie:
*She tried to lick me the other day! I told her not to lick me. She said, "I just a puppy." Okay....

*After being with our niece Sara Jane and seeing how her daddy has brainwashed (LOL) her into liking football, Chris has started working more on Katie. (He knows it's pretty much useless with Gracie by this point!) She & I were at Kroger the other day and there was a huge football helmet hanging from the ceiling. Katie saw the helmet and I can't remember if she said 'hat' or 'football.' I kind of laughed; she then threw her arms up in the air and said very loudly, "Touchdown! Romo!" Thanks, Uncle Mike! (Dallas Cowboys fans will know who she was talking about.)

a funny from Chris:
*The other day I heard him singing a song in the other room. I said, "Are you singing (from) 'High School Musical'? He said no. I know he was lying!

Here's a sweet thing Katie's been doing lately:
*"Thank you Go-od, Thank you Go-od, for our food, for our food and our many blessings, and our many blessings. Ah-ah-men, Ah-ah-men. " Yes, God is 2 very distinct syllables and Amen is 3. I guess they say this prayer at MDO before eating lunch. Usually she says "yea" and claps when she's done. It's really quite cute! Chris has it on video from our camera. I'll have to see if he can get it on here on You Tube.

fresh new look

Here are our precious girls. Please excuse Gracie's non-matching pajamas. She gets that habit honestly from me...I want to be comfortable when I sleep but I don't so much care if I match!
Thanks to Kristen, I got the idea of getting a new template. I'd thought of it before, but when I saw her fresh, new, Spring-y template I decided it was time to make a change. I know it's only January, but having a Spring-y looking template still seemed like a good idea. I did what she said her husband did and googled "free blogger templates." I read the instructions (skimmed actually) and decided I could never figure it all out so I waited until MY husband got home and asked him to take on the project.

Good thing he'd already bought me flowers the day before because he fought with the thing for HOURS-literally. It still didn't do everything we wanted it to, BUT I still like it. Thank you Chris for fixing it!!!! At one point, I thought we'd lost the whole blog because it wouldn't open up. At that point, I retreated to watch my DVR'd 'American Idol.' I couldn't handle the stress! LOL

I may be changing my blog address soon too. I'll try to somehow let people know what it is.
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I went to Gracie's school this morning after taking Katie to Mother's Day Out. I read with a few of them and helped them take A.R. tests then hung out with Gracie at lunch for a little bit. I always end up opening up many milk cartons and such. I'm no good at opening the Capri Sun so I had to enlist the help of one of the other 1st graders for poor Matthew's drink. I have the hardest time with Capri Sun! Their 100th Day of School is Friday and I think Mrs. Stauffer has some fun things planned. I sent in chocolate chips for the trail mix they'll be making.
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I went to Target and browsed around for a few things and am now at home for a few moments of silence before picking up Katie. I am quite the homebody so I enjoy being here alone from time to time. Not something I'd want all the time but a few moments are good!

because he loves me

from my hubby...because he loves me! I love him too. Thank you, Honey!

yesterday

Tales from yesterday:

*took the van in for some repairs
*a friend picked me up and we headed over to the mall in a nearby town and did some girly shopping
*ate a little too much during the day (but it sure was fun!)
*picked up the van
*came home and picked up the house a little
*took Gracie to a birthday party
*met same friend from above & her family for dinner (not really hungry but of course ate anyway!)
*picked up Gracie from birthday party
*came home and same friends came over; let kids play and we watched Grey's Anatomy & The Apprentice that we'd taped on DVR (Yes, we do have satellite again-a family package-and DVR....man, I'm getting used to that!)
*Chris put up the princess tent for the girls to sleep in tonight

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!

How did this happen?

So how is it possible that a simple cup of milk can end up on the floor, on her clothes AND in her hair?!?! Seriously, it's frustrating! She was dressed for Mother's Day Out. All she lacked was her socks & shoes; hair was even done; lunch was packed. I was going to sit and enjoy my breakfast without needing to rush to get her ready-we had about 30 minutes before we needed to go. She asked for a cup of milk. I gave it to her. She asked me if I was going to give her a top but I said no. We've pretty much stopped with the sippy cup and have gone to a regular cup. She generally does well. All of a sudden I heard the unmistakable sound of spilling milk and then I heard her. It was IN HER HAIR! How does that happen? I had told her to go sit at the table. Instead of putting it on the table and then climbing up in the chair, apparently she decided to climb while holding the cup of milk! She said she bumped her head on the chair. So.....I ended up changing her clothes because they were quite wet. The hair I left sticky I will admit. I might have had time to wash it, but it was cutting it close and honestly, I wanted to eat breakfast. I told her teacher not to think I was a bad mom if she noticed the sticky hair. I had put a hat on her also because it's actually quite cold today so when they take that off, her hair's gonna look crazy anyway! *sigh*
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Gracie got her report card yesterday. We are so proud of our little girl! 100 in Spelling, 100 in Reading, 98 in Math, A in conduct; "S's" in all other areas! I just love the attitude she has about her schoolwork too. She loves doing it! She was struggling a little bit with telling time and money, so she told me so I could help her and she's improved so much! We've been focusing on the money and she has come so far in just a few weeks. She was really struggling with getting it to "click" in her mind....the counting of the coins. She knew how to count by 5's and how to count by 10's and all that but applying it to nickels and dimes was just kind of like a roadblock to her. I always struggled with math so I really felt her frustration. I bought her this money set and she's really enjoyed using it. It helps her immensely to use this "real" money and now she is doing great! I can tell she feels much more confident now. I really think she was just timid about it and not sure and now that she's been successful she is feeling better about it.
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The Family Enrichment Night at Gracie's school is the 30th and I've been busy helping to plan it. Our PTA President is so wonderful about doing a lot for most of our activities and one of the teachers will be doing a ton of work for it. I'll be glad when it's over but it's coming along!

sisters forever

Dear Lord,

Thank you for these girls and the blessing they are to me!

I'm so glad they each have a sister in each other. May they always

enjoy the simple things in life, like playing "Dora" together.

Please help them to grow in a way that is pleasing to You!

In Jesus' Name, Amen

back to normal-whatever that means

I'm getting tired of looking at the title of my last post, so I'm going to add a new one although I don't have a whole lot to say. It's been good to be back home and try to get back into the swing of things. Everything still isn't put away exactly where it should be but I don't see that ever happening! Here's a rundown since my last post:

*skipped out volunteering at Gracie's school this week and spent Katie's Mother's Day Out time going to the grocery instead-we had pretty much NO food in the house after being gone for so long
*made calls etc. regarding the 'Family Enrichment Night' I'm coordinating for Gracie's school-a little hectic and overwhelming, but it will get done
*dentist appointment
*church
*playgroup, but I found out while there that I had a huge bolt in my tire so I left to go have it repaired and was able to go back to playgroup to eat lunch
*started thinking about VBS which I get (lol) to coordinate this year
*Chris had some good things happen at work!
*used some Christmas money to buy some roman shades for the den windows-we've been in this house almost 5 years and have never had anything on those windows! Now I want to paint the trim.......correction! I want to pay someone else to paint it!
*took the car in to have something repaired/replaced (I really don't know) but the cost was covered by Honda so that was good; found out something else needs to replaced which isn't covered but it's not too terribly bad so I'm okay with it; it'll be better to have this minor thing done now rather than ignore it and it possibly turn into something much bigger and more costly
*went to the library and stocked up on books and took a "rainy day nap"
*went to the park & McDonald's with some friends today
*went shopping with a friend after that-with no kids!
*had some other friends over tonight to play Cranium's Family Fun-it is a lot of fun!
*got a hilarious look at how Gracie would look as Superman-she put on this funny Superman shirt her friend had-it blows up kind of like a balloon-it was so funny seeing her with it on!

I hope everyone had a good week!

tales from I-20

Here we go! This is my attempt at posting about our 2 week trip without taking 2 weeks to write it!

Friday, 12/15
driving time this day: approx. 3 hours
*field trip walking across the street to the high school to hear "holiday music" with Gracie's class; notice Gracie doesn't seem to feel well
*last minute packing
*back to the school for Gracie's Christmas party; (Mrs. Stauffer would probably not be happy if she knew I'd put up this picture of her with the Christmas bow around her head!) continue to notice Gracie doesn't feel well and feels warm also
*leave for Mom & Dad's in Atlanta despite the fact that Gracie is now obviously sick
*have good dinner & Christmas present time with Grammer & Pappy; Gracie feels better, now Katie is warm
*get to bed rather early since we have an early departure time planned

Saturday, 12/16
driving time this day: approx. 16 hours
*get up & leave at 4:45 am ET; both girls feeling warm and not feeling too well-still in pj's
*stop a couple of hours later and change the girls and take potty break
*stop in MS (or was it LA) somewhere for lunch; both girls don't eat and lay in lethargy on the booth at Wendy's
*make the sad decision to call our friends (in Van Alystyne, TX) whom we haven't seen in years and cancel staying with them that night due to the girls' fever & sickness-this was so sad for us because we had been looking SO forward to seeing them, neither of them have ever met Katie and he hasn't ever even met Gracie, but there was no way we wanted to stay with them with the girls both being so sick at this point
*FINALLY get to the Dallas/Ft. Worth area and FINALLY find a hotel after my husband decides it'd be fun to try a few different interstates in the area!
*eat dinner, bathe, relax a little and get the girls in bed where they fell asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillow!
*look foward to seeing my cousin the next day whom I haven't seen in over 3 years!

Sunday, 12/17
driving time this day: approx. 3 hours
*take it easy that morning trying to recuperate from the drive the day before; girls are feeling better but run fever a little during the day
*find out that plans to meet my cousin have fallen through; I am very disappointed
*hit the road for Abilene
*call information to get Jetty Betty's phone number to see if we could meet; she called back after we were already in Abilene
*get to Abilene hungry for some good Mexican food and go to Rosa's~YUM! We didn't actually have this in Abilene when we were there, we had it when we lived in Lubbock and we LOVED it! Needless to say, we stuffed ourselves!
*took the girls to the ad building at ACU where Chris & I got engaged
*went to the home of a sweet friend of Chris' family who is kind of like a grandmother to him and stayed the night with her; went to church that night, all day Katie had been asking to go to church; we'd had "family church" in the hotel room that morning but she wanted to go to church.
*drove around looking at Christmas lights; walked around ACU some more showing it to the girls and trying to explain it all to Gracie; there's just really no way to explain ACU and the whole experience to someone who hasn't attended there as a student; people don't typically choose ACU for the buildings or location but for the people-during a holiday there aren't too many of them around, so I'm not sure she "got" what we were trying to explain to her; of course, that could also have something to do with the fact that she's only 6 years old! LOL
*went back to the house and visited a little before going to bed

Monday, 12/18
total driving time for this day: approx. 7 hours
*girls appear to be better; I can't remember which day it was that the fever blisters appeared but before all was said & done, Gracie had 2 huge ones and Katie had 1 that scabbed horribly below her lip; Gracie also ends up with a horribly scabbed up, blistered nose
*get to NM before Gramme is out of school so we stop by; being the small school that it is, the principal himself invites us to interrupt & disrupt as much as we want to in her class; Gracie of course stays with Gramme to finish out the day, as a matter of fact she attended the next 2 days of school as a student in Gramme's class! She loved "being a 2nd grader" for 2 days!
*begin to relax now that we're there, although I'm concerned about the fever blisters and Gracie's nose.......

Tuesday, 12/19
total driving time for this day: NONE! I didn't get in the car the whole day!
*hung out at the house; Chris & his parents were supposed to go to Albuquerque for an appointment, but snow conditions prompted them to stay home

Wednesday, 12/20
*Gracie went to school with Gramme (2 hour delay due to snow!)
*Gramps, Chris, Katie & I went to Ruidoso shopping
*fun to see snow but I'd rather watch it through the window than actually be out in it!
*hung out

Thursday, 12/21
*Gracie went to school with Gramme
*Chris, Katie & I went shopping in their little town (it seriously took about an hour...it's a really small town....no stoplight, about 1300 people!)
*visited the school then went back after Katie's nap for the Christmas party

Friday, 12/22
*visited the Smokey Bear Park and museum; took lots of pictures for Gracie to share with her class (he'd visited their class earlier this year!)
*left the girls with Gramps & Gramme while Chris & I went back to Ruidoso to do a little more shopping
*Mike, Erin & Sara Jane arrive! I was glad the girls got to spend time with their cute-as-a-button cousin, Sara Jane-and with their aunt & uncle, too!
*Gramme makes her good New Mexico flat enchiladas with a fried egg on top~YUM!
*the fever blisters & nose are looking really bad by this time; I felt bad with Sara Jane being there but I wasn't sure what to do.....they hadn't had the blisters when we left home, just the fever and for all I knew at that time, it was a 12 hour virus! I didn't know it would keep lasting! ugh!

Saturday, 12/23
*all of us went back to Ruidoso for more shopping; I picked up something for Chris that he'd pointed out the day before
*ate out for lunch; sent the guys home with the kids; Gramme, Erin & I did a little more shopping by ourselves
*left the kids with Gramps & Gramme while Mike, Erin, Chris & I went out for good Mexican food (in Ruidoso again) and to see "Night at the Museum."

Sunday, 12/24
*church where Mike & Chris shared leading singing
*good lunch and naps for the little girls while Gracie got to help Erin & I bake a cake
*did a little gift opening that evening

Monday, 12/25
Merry Christmas!We actually had to wake the girls up!
*oh, wait! Chris was up with chills & fever during the night and now feels horrible! GREAT!
*enjoyed opening gifts despite being worried about Chris
*Nana, Papaw (Chris' wonderful grandparents), Jerry & Cheryl (his so sweet aunt & uncle) and his cousin Jeremy come for the day for Christmas dinner. We visited throughout the day, Chris spent much of it asleep on the couch because he felt awful! When I told him to wake up because the Cowboys were on and he barely stirred, I knew things were bad! He did get up for it but was halfheartedly watching. Of course, from what I understand it was a horrible game anyway. (I played Phase 10....I don't like football!)
*went out to find some Sprite & Gatorade for Chris that evening....small town, remember????? NOTHING is open...not even the 1 gas station! Good thing Gramme is a teacher; we got some Sprite out of the teacher's lounge.

Tuesday, 12/26
*Mike, Erin & Sara Jane leave early.
*Gracie's poor nose is still horribly blistered and the poor thing could literally hardly breathe! She seemed to feel okay except for not being able to breathe. Chris was feeling better but still not great. Gramme found out the little clinic in town was open and would see us so I took the 2 of them in.
*Chris' diagnosis: strep! She said it wasn't all the way there yet but just about (they did that rapid test thing). At first, she thought maybe Gracie had hand, foot & mouth because she'd had a blister on her finger and Katie had one on her knee but then she said she thinks Gracie & Katie had strep when we first left then gave it Chris and that the blisters on Gracie's nose were impetigo! She asked how I felt and I was okay but had a headache and my throat was a little swollen so she went ahead and wrote prescriptions for all 4 of us!
*had to go to Ruidoso (about 30 minutes) again because there is no pharmacy in their little town, so we all went to get the meds and ate Mexican food again; by the time we got back home I was feeling pretty bad so I crashed in bed!
*woke up and started packing the car; relaxed in bed that night watching mindless t.v. in one room while everyone else watched football in the other room
*emailed Jetty Betty about possibly meeting for breakfast Thursday morning

Wednesday, 12/27
total driving time this day: approx. 9 hours
*got up, felt okay, went ahead & left and drove to Ft. Worth
*talked to our friends again and told them we'd better not stay with them yet again because of the recent strep developments; we'd been on the antibiotic 24 hours by then, but they have 2 young children and 1 on the way so we felt we'd better play it safe
*talked with Jetty Betty and made plans to eat breakfast with her! I figured since she didn't have young children and we'd only be eating across the table from her that it'd be safe
*got to Ft. Worth, relaxed, ate, slept What fun the girls had staying in hotels!

Thursday, 12/28
total driving time this day: approx 8 hours
*met Betty for breakfast along with Critter! So great to meet them and we had a wonderful time! I loved it!
*left Ft. Worth, drove to Jackson, MS eating a late lunch at Cracker Barrel somewhere in LA
*got a hotel, relaxed, slept

Friday, 12/29
total driving time this day: approx. 7 hours
*left MS and kept heading East; girls' blisters are already looking much better...partly due to the meds and partly due to leaving the dryness of NM I think
*finally get to Atlanta~Yippee!
*decide to make one more stop and stay with Grammer & Pappy; after all, Grammer will cook for us!
*relaxed

Saturday, 12/30
total driving time for this day: approx. 3 hours
*left Atl. around 10:30
*get home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
*took a nap worthy of a Sunday afternoon!
*a very sweet friend brought us dinner that evening since she knew we wouldn't have anything in the house and were kind of tired of eating out

Sunday, another sweet friend had us over for lunch after church. It made me feel good to have such considerate friends! Slept after church; went back that night; got take out and came home to have a relaxing New Year's Eve watching a movie and not doing much of anything! Monday, we took down most of the Christmas stuff and Gracie & I went to see "Charlotte's Web." I loved it! Today, I've continued trying to put everything away. Things are looking better but there's still stuff to do....as always!

It was a good trip; I wish we hadn't been sick and I felt so bad for the girls because I know the blisters couldn't have felt good! (I know they didn't look good, poor things!) I loved finding out that Nana reads my blog and enjoys it! It's amazing that way out on the sheep ranch in the little rock house, she can sit and read about what is going on with our girls waaaaay over in South Carolina! I loved watching her & Papaw talking with the girls. Nana & Papaw may be Chris' grandparents but I think I probably love them just as much! I love watching how sweet & gentle Papaw is with Nana...reminds of my Shanks man. Chris is always thinking of me & the girls before himself and you can tell Papaw is the same way with Nana. I've always thought Chris & Papaw had similar personalities! Gramps & Gramme were great hosts and treated us well as always. The girls had such a good time playing with them and I'm glad they got to create those memories!

Now, it's time to get back to "normal."

p.s. Where are all the pictures of Gramps & Gramme?!?! I'm not sure! Next time I need to remember to take more!!!!!! This isn't my favorite picture by far, but it shows almost everyone from Christmas day, so I'll post it. (I couldn't get the red out of our eyes.)