Gracie Girl & Company

Jordan in Joliet!

2012-01-29T14:03:00.007-06:00

Well if you didn't know, I am a HUGE New Kids on the Block fan. I have always loved them since the 80's. Sure they disappeared for awhile and everyone laughed when I said they would reunite and tour again. Sure enough they did. I have been to see 3 concerts since they reunited. Well come to find out my favorite of them all, Jordan was coming to Joliet! I wondered why of all places he would come to Joliet but hey, it's close right? So I gathered a group of us to go.

Apparently lots of ladies in the Joliet area are huge fans too because the line was crazy long and we waited in the cold for an hour in a line that was around the corner and a block long!

Fianlly after being frozen, it was time to head inside.
First up, get some drinks and get in the Jordan mood.

Patti was 2 fisting it.

Amy bought the calendar signed by Mr. Knight himself.

I love Jordan! I really do!

Patti does too.

2 of the biggest NKOTB fans you'll find this side of the Mississippi.

Erin was thrilled to see this hot man live before her eyes.

And here he is.......

Now you see why he is in my top 5!

We were pretty close but I got a new camera that zooms in pretty close. It wasn't a big bar though so it was nice. Not like the other concerts where we were sitting in nose bleed sections and they looked like little people.

I have to say I didn't purchase his solo album but I will now. His songs rocked!

He did sing a little "Right Stuff."

Look at that gorgeous man!

You know you are an old NKOTB fan too when the radio station hosting this event is 93.9 the Light!

Oh well, older men are always better right?

He can sing to me anytime!

Thanks for coming to Joliet Jordan! I'll be Loving You Forever! I know I'm sad. But I love him!

Snow Much Fun!

2012-01-23T18:56:00.003-06:00

Since it snowed over the weekend, we didn't have any snow days but we did have some fun in the snow. Gracie got the sled out right away.

Bub decided to try out the new snow shovel that Daddy bought him. Evie stood in the garage all mad as can be. She wanted nothing to do with being out in the cold snow. Gracie helped shovel the driveway although instead of using her shovel, she used her hands. Finally we headed out back to the hill. Gracie took her turn down the hill first. Then Presley took a turn. This guy liked being pulled around and didn't want to get out of the sled. We weren't out there more than half and hour and this girl was whining to come inside. And then Gracie got snow down her boots so she wanted to come inside too. Oh well, the snow fun didn't last much longer than the snow did but that's part of the crazy weather with living in Chicago. Next time we'll hope for a snow day!

Messy Masterpieces!

2012-01-22T18:43:00.005-06:00

This weekend, Evie and Presley started their very first Park District class! It's called Messy Masterpieces. Gracie did this too when she was 2 and these little ones were just babies. It seems like yesterday. I love park district classes. Aside from most of the classes for young children being during the day, I did find this one offered on Saturday mornings. It was nice to be able to do something with just the little ones. It took place at Gracie's school so they were pretty excited. They got to come in and sit on the carpet. The class is set up where there are craft and play stations all around the classroom and the kids can move at their own pace from activity to activity to practice thier fine motor skills.

The teacher was Miss Darlene. She was Grace's preschool teacher last year. She is super nice. She explained all the stations that were set up. Evie wanted to go make some snowflakes first. Prelsey made a snoflake but with glitter. Grandpa came with to help! The big hit for both of them though was the bean and rice table. They had so much fun scooping and pouring and digging. But I did manage to get them away to have some fun with the dot paints. These were a hit. I need to go to Michael's and buy some. It's such an easy way to paint without the huge mess! Another fun idea to try at home is marshmallow painting. Basically you dab paint on the bottom of a marshmallow and wall-ah...instant designs. We decorate some mittens. Here they are showing off thier masterpieces. We also spent some time playing the popular playdough. Played with cars in shaving cream. And painted with ice cubes. Such brilliant ideas to try at home too! Evie and Presley had so much fun. They can't wait to go back next week! It's fun to be messy!

Busy!

2012-01-16T19:01:00.005-06:00

I know I haven't blogged in a while but life happens you know and our life is busy!!!! Since break ended last week, I headed back to you know where and it was a long week. Despite the problems going on in my neighborhood......we still managed to have fun. Thank goodness that this was a long weekend. First up, we headed to a bouncy house to meet up with my good friend Carolyn. We haven't gotten together in forever but the kids were instant friends. Evie couldn't wait to head on in. Of course the wrong way because that's the right way!

Gracie and Peyton were immediately hooked on each other. They took off hand-in-hand and headed all over the bouncy place. They even tried to play some games. Then Evie atttemtped to and actually managed to climb this ladder on the big slide all by herself! Yay! Both my girls had fun on the slides best of all. Guess who didn't want to partake in bouncy house fun? Mr. Wuss sat by me the entire time. He did however, eat the most pizza for lunch though. My girls and Carolyn's girls, Peyton and Reagan, played really well together. I'm so glad we fianlly got a chance to get together. Carolyn is such an amazing friend. We hardly see each other but when we talk every 6 months or so..it's like we pick up right where we left off. It's hard to believe I have known her since 1st grade! Thanks for going with us! We had fun! Next up, it was time to play in the snow. Gracie has been waking up everyday and looking out the window to see if it snowed. She was so excited when it finally did. She couldn't wait to get out there. She helped Grandpa shovel the patio. Then it was time to pull out the sled. Grandpa pulled her around for a bit. This weekend we also managed to go see "Beauty and the Beast." Well, Gracie and I and Grandma did. The little ones just got to meet some chipmunks and play in the mall with Auntie Amy. But Gracie did like the movie. One of her favorite princesses right now is Belle so she was thrilled. Today we had some fun with our friends Allie, Emma, and Jackson. Allie and Gracie even dressed up as Princesses but I forgot to take pics. Next time. Now time to get these kids to bed so mommy can relax before headed back to work tomorrow :(

Glow-In-The-Dark Bath!

2012-01-08T19:05:00.003-06:00

We spent the other night taking a glow-in-the-dark bath! I found the idea on Pinterest and the kids LOVED it! You can find a tube of glow sticks in the dollar spot at Target. We divided them up and practiced our colors with them. The kids liked it so much that we did take the entire bath in the dark!

Pajama Picnic!

2012-01-04T20:41:00.003-06:00

Today we slept in and hung around in our jammies. I just love being on break. I decided that today we would have a picnic in our pj's right on our very own kitchen floor. So that's what we did. We just had PB and J sandwiches and some chips and cheese sticks but it was so yummy.
We put out our beach towels so it was somewhat like what we would do outside.

Presley loves his PB and J sandwiches. He also loves not wearing clothes apparently. I promise you that he does wear clothes. It seems that any pictures I post, he is in his diaper. This is mainly because after a diaper change, he gets up and runs away and it's not worth chasing and fighting with him and spending the next 20 minutes trying to get him redressed. Oh well. Evie has a special way of eating her PB and J. She takes it apart and eats it one slice at a time. She especially likes the jelly part. And Gracie Girl, well, this is about the only thing she is eating right now. We are experiencing some eating issues as we have in the past and I can only hope it gets better. It's a frustrating experience and I just want my girl to be healthy. Thankfully my other 2 are good eaters. We tease Gracie telling her she is going to be a "cheap" date in the future because she will hardly eat any food! And speaking of dates, Gracie and I had our very own first ever Princess Kingdom Party today. I should have taken pictures. Gracie put on her Belle dress and I put a dress on, over my pj's. She got out my tiara from my wedding because she knows where I keep it and she wore her tiara and then she went to work putting makeup on! Doesn't she look beautiful? I promise to take pictures of the next "Princess Kingdom Party" as Gracie calls it. It was fun to dress up with her. Presley even joined in the fun and had his nails painted for the occasion too!
I am so lucky to be on Christmas break and to spend all my time with my kids. It is so much fun! So far 2012 is great!

ASA Playdate!

2012-01-03T20:24:00.003-06:00

Last week, my friend Jessica planned a playdate for all the girls from my college sorority who live close by in the area to get together and let the kids play. It was so much fun! Not only did my usual girlies-Jessica (the hostess), Anne, and Lindsay come, but we also got to visit with some other old friends-Amy, Katie, and Sarah! 2 more were supposed to attend but they could not make it. The kids played well and we had "Halloween pizza" for lunch. We set out lots of little tables for the kids to eat.
Here is Scott, Gracie, Evie and Presley.

I think we had 14 kids in all! Check out the eating madness!

Here is Levi, Will, Emma, and Adam.

Jackson and Anna got stuck sitting up in the high chairs.

And little Shelby ended up just sitting on a chair on the floor.

It was so great to catch up with everyone. It's hard to always get plan a get together with so many people because you know...life gets busy! We definatley intend to plan more of these days especially in the summer, when we can go outside and play! Jessica actually put together these yummy cookies! Eat your heart out Martha Stewart!

The kids did play together very well. There weren't even any meltdowns or anything! We had 14 kids under the age of 6 there too! And actually, there were even 3 sets of twins there! Can you spot them?

I stood on the staircase in order to fit everyone in the picture. Not one of them even cried. They just sat there with a look like "get this over with already!"

All of our friends are Scott, Lanie, Lily, Winnie, Will, Emma, Shelby, Levi, Evie, Presley, Jackson, Anna, Adam and Grace. Good job kids!
Thanks for having us over Jessica! We had a blast and ASA girls, I hope we can get together again soon! It was great seeing everyone! Any other ASA girls out there that want to join in the fun next time, let us know! We would love to see you!

Happy New Years!

2011-12-31T20:57:00.002-06:00

We didn't do anything special this New Years. Chuck had to work so we had some friends over for dinner and to hang out and party!

They say you can party hard. Well, these kids played hard! They were wiped! But they had fun! Hope 2012 brings everyone lots of wealth, good health, and happiness. Happines will be easy to come by with these kiddies. Happy 2012!

Sesame Street Live!

2011-12-30T19:50:00.006-06:00

The other day Grandma surprised us with tickets to see Elmo Live at the Rialto. Gracie has seen this two times before and loved it. This was the first show for Evie and Presley. I wasn't sure how they would do because they are only 2 but the show was at 10:30 and I knew it would be over by lunch so we could eat and head home for naps. Evie and Presley are into Elmo right now and love him.

We got to the Rialto just in time. Evie and Presley wore their new Elmo shirts they got for their birthday from Uncle Frog and Aunt Christie. We were running late because someone had to put on some of her new makeup. Can you guess who? We found our seats and Evie and Presley wanted to sit in their own chairs.

They were so excited. Once they saw the Sesame Street gang come out, they opted to sit on our laps to watch the show. I wasn't sure how Gracie would like it but she loved it. She isn't too much into Elmo or Sesame Street lately and keeps talking about going to see Disney Princess on Ice again which is coming back in like a month. Presley just kept saying "Elmo, Elmo." Wheneve Elmo wasn't on stage, he was like "Where Elmo go?" This chick jsut sat back and relaxed with some Teddy Grahams and enjoyed the show.
This boy loved it the most! Everytime they were singing, which was most of the show, he was bopping along to the beat. He loves his music! He also clapped every song too. So cute. If you are ever wondering whether or not to take your kids, I highly recommed it. It is the perfect length and the song and dance routines keep the kids engaged and entertained. Sure their were kids there crying and some left early but it was worth it for us. You can bring snacks into the theater and that helped us too. We would totally go again.This makes me wonder.....Sesame Street was going strong when I was little. How much longer will it continue to last?

Zoo Lights!

2011-12-29T20:12:00.004-06:00

The day after Christmas, we headed to one of our favorite places, Brookfield Zoo for the zoo lights!

Everyone else had the same idea that we did. oh well, that place really goes all out with the lights. It's really pretty to see! It wasn't too cold, not as cold as last year anyways and bundled everyone up.
We rode the merry-go-round a couple of times. Good thing too. The first time, Gracie got stuck riding a rhino in the back and she was not happy. So we rode again and this time she got her favorite panda bear! Bub rode the gorilla! He was waving at everyone as he rode by. We walked around for a little bit and then got some hot chocolate. Then it was time to head for home. The zoo is pretty with all those lights but I still prefer it in the summer when it's warmer and easier to walk around.

A Christmas Miracle!

2011-12-27T21:27:00.002-06:00

Have you ever wondered if Christmas miracles happen? I can tell you that they do. It happened just a few days ago to my cousin Diane and her husband Bill. You see, they have been on the adoption waiting list since last winter. It was a long road for them to be able to get even there. I remember when she told me the news that she was offically on the waiting list and she had such gleam in her eyes. There was no doubt in my mind that she would get her baby someday. No one knew when or where but I knew it would happen for her. Fast forward to last Wednesday. Last Wednesday night, 3 days before Christmas, they got the call of a lifetime. Their adoption agent called and said "we have a baby for you!" But that's not the kicker, they told the to come to Springfield, Illinois the very next day! Now they live in St. Charles, Missouri so that's not far considering their baby could have been from anywhere in the country! They made a midnight trip to Target and headed home to pack. My cousin said she was just too excited to even sleep! The next day, they drove the few short hours to the hospital in Springfield where their baby boy had been born the day before. I guess the birth mom had chosen them earlier in her pregnancy but it wanted it to be a surprise. What a surprise that was! They briefly met with the birth mom and then met their little angel which they named Logan Robert. He is perfect. He weighed in at 6.9 pounds and is 20 inches long. He was discharged from the hospital on Friday. They stayed the night in Springfield in order to make sure the paperwork went through and then on Christmas Eve headed up here! Their families are up here and it works out that they have to stay here a couple of weeks because you have to stay in the state the baby was born until the adoption is finalized. They surprised everyone by showing up to midnight mass with a carrier containing their little bundle of joy! How exciting is that! When I talked to her on Christmas Day, she told me that they got the call that they had a baby and that the baby was with them! Talk about a Christmas miracle!

So here is the lastest addition to our growing family.....Logan Robert and the new Mommy and Daddy!

I was lucky enough to be able to mee him already. I quickly got some of Presley's newborn clothes and a bouncy seat and took it over to them. Talk about scrambling to get things together. Now they get to register and get everything they need! My mom got to meet little Logan too! So Diane and Bill, I know it's been a long road for you and I am so happy that you finally have a baby to hold in your arms. There is no other feeling in the world than to hold that precious bundle. I know you two will be the best parents and baby Logan is a lucky little guy because no 2 people will love him more. I believe he chose you to be his parents because he knows that you will provide the best environment to keep him safe, happy, and healthy and most of all, loved! Congrats to the new Mommy and Daddy Meyers!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T21:38:00.018-06:00

Merry Christmas! And it was a merry one indeed. We had so much fun and made lots of good memories. So much in fact that it took forever just to download the pictures. Santa did stop at our house and it was perfect.

Santa may have gone overboard but that's just the way it goes. They are only young once right?

Gracie got her princess castle and a fold-up school. Presley got a train table and a cleaning trolley. Evie got a baby nursery with a baby alive dolly. the yall got a puppet show theater with some puppets. Check otu the look on Bub's face when he saw his train table. He was so excited. (I found this back in the fall at a garage sale for $15!) Evie went right for her baby nursery and started playing mommy! Doesn't she make a cute little mama? Presley set off right for his trains. He also loved his cleaning trolley. In fact, he went for that first. If you don't know my son, he loves to clean. He takes after his Grandpa. He was busy sweeping, mopping, and vaccuuming all morning! He even took the mop and broom with him to Grandma and Grandpa's.

Evie took time off from being mommy to come drive some trains too. This girl was excited too. In fact, she woke me up saying "Mommy? Santa's been here. I got my princess castle and Bub got a train table. Come see!" Millie even hopped up on the train table to see.

The proud new mama of her baby. She makes sounds and talks as you feed her.
Gracie was so excited about her Tangled purse. She even had some princess jewelry in it!

Evie was happy to get an enormous Tinkerbell pen.

Presley and Evie helped Hazel and Millie get out the goodies from thier stockings.
Gracie set off right away to play school. Her name is Miss Gracie. She even got a new purple pointer!She found the North Pole on the map too!

Evie took her turn with the mop.
And then we started tearing into the presents. This year I learned a few things....not only did I assemble all Santa gifts before Christmas Eve, I also had 3 separate wrapper paper patterns for each kid. It worked good and there was no confusion of who's was who's.

Gracie got a couple of new games including Princess Yahtze!
This year was so fun because the little ones knew what to do. And before each new present was opened, Bub made sure to throw away the wrapping paper before getting a new present! I hope he loves cleaning this much when he gets older.
Gracie got giraffe limbo too!
Evie got some little people.
Preslye got some Thomas the Train Megablocks!

Santa even left Daddy and Presley semi-matching shirts. Daddys' says "Elvis" and Presley's says "Presley."
Bub got a Cars suitcase (which one of my favorite mom's at school gave me). It was filled with cars and a mat that has roads all over it!
Gracie also got a new panda bear! Her favorite!
Each of the kids got some new puzzles.
Gracie got a new cupcake maker and a Princess cookbook that has all kinds of good recipes that are geared towards each of the Princesses. One of her favorite gifts I think. She can't wait to bake!
She got a Wizard of Oz puzzle.

Evie got some new Tinkerbell coloring pagesGracie got a new Princess scrapbook set.Mama had to stopand check on her babies. What a fun morning we had at home.Gracie put on a quick puppet show before we headed over toe Grandma and Grandpa's. Gracie also tried Millie's new toy on. After we ate breakfast at Grandma and Grandpa's, we watched the Disney Christmas Parade for a bit. The kids were so excited and when new characters came on, they would shout out thier names and dance around.
Then we got to dig into our stockings at Grandma's house. Santa goes way overboard over there to!Santa even leaves everyone a reuseable bag because all the goodies just don't fit inside the stockings.
Presley got some new cars. Evie got some great goods too!Grandpa even got Facebook for Dummies as a joke because he still doesn't even know how turn on the computer, let alone know what facebook is!We took our picture by my parent's tree before we opened presents there. Since Santa also visited there, Gracie got some new makeup! ANd a new Jessie outfit! Evie's turn was next. She got some new toys called "Pop-up Pals." She even got a Little People castle. Now the girls can't fight over their kingdoms.Bub got some Handy Manny sets. He loves it!Auntie Amy made Gracie some menus for when she plays restaurant. They are really cute and have all kinds of pictures of different foods inside. She needs them because.....you'll see why.Bub got another Handy Manny set.Evie and some new Pop-up Pals set.And then Gracie got a big present from Auntie Amy.... a talking Princess kitchen! The cookbook talks to you and tells you how to make yummy things!Auntie Amy made these (from Pinterst) for the kids. How cool are those? And Dad got this cool new jacket to promote his awesome buisness of Bill's Plumbing! Grace even designed some new handkerchiefs for Grandpa. He uses them all the time!Oh, and she made him a new coffee mug.
I made this for my mom from Pinterest...a calendar! It's paintchip samples, cut and glued behind the glass and wallah... a wipeoff calendar!We had fun opening more gifts.After gifts, it was time to play in the paper. Maybe next year Santa could just leave a pile of paper!
It was such a great Christmas! Everyone was way too generous as always and now I need to think about how to make all these things fit inside our house! Hope eveyone had a Merry Christmas! This was the best one yet with the kids!

"Twas the Night Before Christmas!

2011-12-24T21:18:00.006-06:00

"Twas the night before Christmas and all through our house.....

Frankenstein spent her last few days trying to finish working on some last minute toys at Santa's Workshop.

She also had fun playing Candyland! We spent this Christmas Eve making some crafts. Evie made an elf. Bub made Santa. Gracie made a reindeer. Gracie also had fun making a beard for Santa. We baked him cookies too! After fun at home, we headed to Grandma and Grandpa's for supper. It is jammies Christmas Eve so that's what we wore. After dinner, we sang some Christmas carols courtesy of our very own marching band complete with a little drummer boy! Then we put Bub's hair in a spike because he thinks that is pretty cool. Then Gracie and Daddy used some of Gracie's new stickers as earrings! Then I stepped outside to get a picture of my dad's tree of lights. And I helped my mom put up candles along side the house. Doesn't it look pretty? We took some pics of us girls in our matching pj pants. Dad and Grandpa had matching ones too. Our comfy little family. And Grandma and Grandpa with thier little angels. And then we made reindeer food so that Santa, Rudolph and team could find Grandma and Grandpa's house. And ours too. We also put out some of the chocolate peppermint cookies that we baked today and milk for Santa. We thought he might be hungry. And of course stood back to admire our beautiful tree with the lights that keep going out. Maybe Santa will leave us a new tree for next year.

And now after I have already spend some time trying to create a Silent Night atmosphere, yep, I already fell asleep, I am up because I think I just heard Santa land on our roof so I better let him get his job done.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas is the Most Wonderful Time of Year!

2011-12-24T12:44:00.004-06:00

Christmas has always and will always be my favorite time of the year! I loved it as a kid and I love it even more now that I have my own kids! I love looking at Christmases past and while they make me smile, they make me sad too. These Christmases with the kids as young as they are, are getting less and less and I want to just bottle them up and live in these moments forever.
Here are some other things I love about Christmas.

I love that every year I buy ornaments and put the dates on them so that I can give them to the kids when they are older.
I love the whole magical world of Santa! There is no other feeling than believing! I love that we can all snuggle and watch Christmas movies. This year are favorites are Mickey's Christmas Carol, Rudolph, Miser Brothers Christmas, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Oh and the Polar Express for sure! I love that the kids get excited to make crafts and bake cookies. I love that Gracie and the little ones can sing "Jingle Bells" and Bub yells out "hey!" I love that every year I say "ok, only a few things this year" and then I go overboard. Oh well, they are only that young once and it only comes once a year. I love drinking peppermint mochas to add that extra Christmas feeling!
When I have time, I love watching my Christmas movies. My favorites are Holiday Inn, Elf, One Magic Christmas, A Christmas Story, It's a Wonderful Life, and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. And of course White Christmas. I love the traditions of pajama Christmas at my parents on Christmas Eve and on morning too. I love that they are able to be a part of my children's Christmases. I love that I put up my decorations the week after Halloween and only listen to Christmas music from that point on. I love buying the kids Christmas jammies every year so that I can try my best at getting one good picture for our Christmas card. I love that Gracie is no longer scared of Santa and can even write her own letter to Santa!
I love Christmas! There really is nothing like it!

Christmas Parties!

2011-12-23T14:37:00.007-06:00

Yesterday was quite the busy day! It was the last day at school before break and my kids got to come to my class party! The girls in my class grabbed Gracie right away and off she went. She had so much fun. Can you find her in this clan?

She even played a game where you had to put a cottonball on your nose.
Then she posed for a picture with her team. She also had fun writing on the whiteboard. And coloring pictures. These two on the other hand, just took it all in. They ate some goldfish and stayed pretty close to me. Gracie even played "pass the present." I think she loved every minute of that party. She was so excited to come and can't hardly wait until next year when she comes to mommy's school! After that party, we headed to my 3rd grade team party at Jake and Kyle's house. Gracie was also looking forward to that party as well. And like every party we have every year there, it wouldn't be complete unless Santa Gil was there! Here is all the 3rd grade kiddos. Minus some. I know 2 little monsters who didn't want anything to do with Santa. Maybe next year...... Can you guess who those 2 little kiddos are? Santa had to leave after that, too much to do to get ready for Christmas so we headed downstairs to play! Then we also had a gift exchange with the 3rd grade kids. Cullen gave Gracie a scrapbook kit. She carried that box around all night and even slept with it last night. (We started it today by the way) Olivia gave Presley some Playdough and a kit to make food! He loves that stuff! I think maybe Luke had Evie and he got her a baby doll! We had to open it right away and play with it of course. She is such the little mommy! Evie and Presley loved the pool table. Although we had to do a lot of reminding to roll the balls. Don't worry, a couple of fingers did get smashed but everyone lived to tell about it. Then we all had fun watching the kids play Just Dance! What a riot! I think Jacob B. wins the prize for best dancer. I hope Santa gets him that for Christmas! Then we did the famous "couch" picture. This time we had 2 newbies to the mix: Cullen and Mason because Laurie joined our team this year and we just love her! She fits right in with us crazy 3rd grade gals! I think there is 12 all together. Evie, Gracie, Jake, Presley, Olivia, Jackie, Luke, Jacob, Kyle, Cullen and Mason and little Cayden who was not in the pic. By the way, if anyone ever comes to our school, don't get too comfy in the 3rd grade hallway because there is only 5 of us but 12 kids! 2 of us have twins too! Can you say fertile mrytles? And as always thank you Andrea and Mike for hosting! Mike, glad you were able to hang with us this year :) I am blessed to be able to have such happy holiday memories with the best coworkers! Happy Holidays! 2 more days!

Gracie's Christmas Program!

2011-12-21T19:55:00.008-06:00

First of all, Frankenstein has been busy reporting to Santa and having fun at our house. The other day she went potty and forgot to flush her green pee!

And today she found the books that just came in the book order. Good thing she just put them out since many of them are Christmas stories and she knows I just can't wrap any more presents! Gracie, Evie and Presley each had their own little pile.

Today was Gracie's Christmas program at school. She was so excited and after a long morning trying to get everyone dressed and out the door, we had some speical guests come and watch....Auntie Anne and Jackson!

The teachers brought the kids in. My Gracie Girl was in the front row! Doesn't she look darling? She was so busy looking around that I couldn't get her to look at me and smile. She has been practicing her songs at home and couldn't wait to sing them for us.

Oops. That kid threw his hands up just in time for my picture! At the end of the post, you can see Gracie singing her 4 songs.

After the show, we had some cookies and lemonade. We also gave Miss Jane and Miss Coleen our Christmas presents. I got them mugs with a Starbucks gift card and tied a bow and made a tag that said "Thanks a latte for all you do." Thank you Pinterest. Don't worry, after the holidays, I will post to you all the wonderful Pinterest crafts I have been busy making this holiday season. The cookies were yummy and Gracie had about 4. These 2 were pretty good during the show too. Gracie wished her friend Ava Merry Christmas.

And then we went back to cookie eating.
Here are my little darlings with their Christmas outfits on. I realized that we really don't get dressed up a lot so I wanted to try to get a picture of them dressed up. Here is the best I got. Here is Gracie singing her little heart out to "Santa Claus is Coming to Town."

And another song.

"Jingle Bells"

"We Wish You a Merry Christmas"

What has Frankenstein been up to?

2011-12-19T19:14:00.002-06:00

Frankenstein, our elf, has been very busy. The other day it did snow a tiny bit and Frankenstein had her own snow fun on the kitchen table and she made a snow angel with flour.

Then the other day, she left elf-sized donuts for the kids for breakfast. They were made from Cheerios and they were yummy. Some had sprinkles and some had powdered sugar. And this morning Frankenstein was eating cookies and left crumbs everywhere!

Girls Christmas!

2011-12-17T21:45:00.008-06:00

Today was our 5th annual Girls Christmas! Yep, we are 5 years strong now. It's a day thay my friends and I get together to celebrate Christmas together. Although I have been friends with them much longer than 5 years, it all started the Christmas I was pregnant with Gracie. Now it's become quite the production because it's been 5 years and 11 kids later!

Evie was kicking her heels up in excitment!

This was also probably the easiest picture we have done with all the kiddies. The only one missing was little Jackson because he was sick. Do we have the cutest kids in the world or what?

(from left to right: Scotty, Presley, Levi, Shelby, Gracie, Evie, Sean, Mia and the girlies in front are Allie and Emma.
Then we had a special visitor come.....Santa Gil! We love Santa Gil. This has been his 2nd appearance at Girls Christmas! Gracie went right up to him and told him that she wanted a princess and a princess castle. Scott went right up to him too and told him he wanted a train I think. Then it was Sean's turn. Levi was being shy but went to sit on Santa's lap. Miss Allie was trying hard not to smile. Emma was a wiggle worm. Evie was not all about Santa. Neither was Presley. Maybe next year. Shelby wasn't happy either. Sorry Santa Gil. Here is all my girlies with our kiddies. We make for a fun group! And me and the best friends a girl could ask for. Some kids snuck into the picture but that's ok. I hope that we can all spend many more Christmases together like this. That is until the kids decided they are too cool for that in which us mommies will take our party and move it to a more adult setting. Me and my BFF's: Jessica, Dana, Lindsay, Annette, Erin, Anne, and my sis Amy. These are the best girls in the world! We always have such yummy treats to eat too. Presley was digging the jello. Evie liked the cake pops. We always do a gift exchange with the kids too. Shelby got Evie and zebra pillow pet. Ahh, the madness of little kids opening presents. Scotty gave Gracie a horsey that she named "Snowflake." Allie gave Presley some Thomas books. Gracie gave Allie this Dora book. I think she liked it. Everyone had so much fun! Especially these 2. Christmas is going to be so fun this year. I can hardly wait. Thanks Dana for hosting.

Santa's Workshop!

2011-12-16T22:12:00.004-06:00

Last night we headed to one of the middle schools in town for Santa's workshop. Talk about cute, this totally was! All the middle schoolers were awesome. They had stations set up to make crafts, decorate and eating youw own cookies, games, caroling, dancing, writing letters to Santa, face painting and even Santa and Mrs. Claus were there!

Gracie was the only one who would sit with Santa and she told them that she wanted a princess kingdom! Ha!
She had a blast making snowflake ornaments with Grandpa. Presley made one too alhtough he was more into people watching. Gracie also made a reindeer bag puppet with her hands as the antlers. Then we went and decorated cookies. You got to eat them too! Evie thought that was cool. Then they had toy ads out for the kids to make their Christmas list and write a letter to Santa. Gracie wrote, all by herself, that she wanted a princess, barbie, and a castle. My sweet girl! Then we headed over to play some Christmas games. First up was the beanbag toss into the snowmen. Then Christmas Bozo buckets. Each game was complete with some holiday prize too! Finally using candycanes, Gracie had to swing the ball into the net! She did it too! Oh, and then we went back to try our luck at beanbags again. Then we watched the danceers one last time. Presley was amazed. I think he wanted to dance but was too shy because he would have been the only boy! I'm glad we decided to go. The kids were crabby for not napping for Grandma but this was fun. All the money raised is being donated to a charity called Aunt Martha's. I think it's a charity that gives to underprivileged children. What a great idea! We'll be back next year too!

Busy Baking!

2011-12-15T19:34:00.003-06:00

Well we decided to bake some Christmas cookies last night. At 7 pm. It was fun. Gracie had been eyeing the sugar cookie mix for a few days and so we finally made them.

We had 3 Christmas cookie cutters. When it comes to my kids, it's best to have 3 of everything to avoid whining. After everyone made their cookies, Gracie made Santa, Presley made presents, and Evie made stars, it was time to frost them. We made red and green frosting. Most everyone did a good job. Except for this girl here. Here idea of frosting a cookie was this:

1. Dip the knife in the frosting.

2. Frost the cookie once.

3. Lick the rest of the frosting off the knife.

4. Dip the knife in the frosting again. Great parenting right there. I'm not sure which was worse: letting her lick that much frosting that late at night or letting her lick a knife. Oh well, we survived and eventually around 9:30, everyone went to sleep. Finally.

And if you are wondering where Frankenstein has been......

The other day she was sitting in the freezer with some Christmas ice cream treats. I guess it reminded her of being at the North Pole. And this morning we awoke to find her having a tea party with Hulk. Hopefully she doesn't decide to start dating him. Long-distance relationships are hardwork!

Gracie's Message From Santa!

2011-12-14T20:49:00.001-06:00

I received an email from the big man himself today...Santa! Yep. We know him! He sent Gracie a special message. Check it out.

http://www.portablenorthpole.tv/watch/gTT-x7MBtb5aUMEQwKKJAhg?utm_campaign=share-video&utm_medium=share&utm_source=copy-paste

Jingle Bell Rock!

2011-12-13T19:56:00.004-06:00

Gracie's last day of tap dance was last night. She was so excited! The girls were told to wear their Christmas dresses because they would be performing their dance to "Jingle Bell Rock."

Here is Gracie's little dance class.

Here is Gracie and her friend Ava. They are in preschool together and have become good friends.

Gracie was excited because I told her that on the last day, her and Ava could go to McDonald's or Old McDonald's as she calls it for dinner! So of course we went there to celebrate the end fo dance class.

Gracie sure had fun in tap dance. She may not be the most coordinated dancer as you will see but she certainly had a good time and always was excited to go. I have to still sign her up for dance come January. We have already dabbled with ballet and hip hop and now tap. Maybe we might try jazz. Whatever we pick will be for the recital in spring so we have to make the right decision. I'll leave it up to her.....

So for now just relax and watch "Jingle Bell Rock."

Mueller Family Christmas!

2011-12-12T19:12:00.007-06:00

In addition to all the family Christmas parties this weekend, we surely didn't miss the annual Mueller Christmas Party! Just to refresh some of your memories, we Mueller's are a big family. Like I am talking huge. My Grandma and Grandpa Mueller had 13 kids! (I'm still not sure how she did it becaue I can barely handle 3). Anyways, we are much too big to fit in someone's house so we rent a hall. We actually only really get the ENTIRE family together twice a year-Christmas and 4th of July. So as soon as we got there, Gracie and Evie took off to run around with cousin Addie. Totally reminds me of how me and my cousing Jen were when we were little.

These two were like BFF's all afternoon. This little man wasn't as social but does he not look like a little studmuffin with his plaid shirt and sweater vest? My little man is growing so fast! He's being Mr. GQ with his little hand in his little pocket. Again, these girlies were all about each other. Gracie even asked me if Addie could sleepover. I'm sure one day, that will happen! Cousin sleepovers right Jen? Here is just my little piece of the Mueller clan. And here we are again. And us agian with Grandma and Grandpa and Auntie Amy. Then, as tradition, it was time for cousin Bobby to be Santa and call out the names and pass out presents! Gracie sat with Evie on the floor waiting for their presents. Every year a different branch of the family has to plan the party. This year was Aunt Rosemary's family's turn. They came up with a great game called Mueller Minute to Win it! It was fun. There were different age categories to accomodate everyone and first they had snowball fights with ping pong balls. Then the winners advanced to the round where they had tissue boxes tied to their trunks and they had to shake all the jingle bells out. After that, there was some fishing for candy canes. It was funny. The winner ended up being my cousin Elizabeths' fiance, Ryan! Welcome to the family dude! Also, each branch of the family had to design some sort of visual using Christmas Peeps! It was so cute! I wish I would have gotten pictures. With all the excitement of everything, there is also PLENTY of food. And lots of goodies to eat!

Cousin Kyle had Presley's name and he got some new Thomas trains that he LOVES!

Cousin Lena had Evie's name and she got a new kitty keyboard. It is really cute!

Cousin Julia had Gracie's name and she got a Dora dress-up doll! She loves it too! In fact, Gracie took it to show-and-share today at school because it was her turn to bring snacks and something to share.

We also had time to play left-right-center and of course Bingo! The Bingo cards were everyone's faces so no 2 bingo cards had the exact same people on them. Totally awesome! This was a hit for sure!

Aunt Judy won Bingo but I think it was because she brought her good luck charm, a picture of my cousin Danny when he was little. Too funny!

It was a great party and it always is. I love having this big family and I'm so glad that we were able to make it. Next year, it's my dad's turn to plan the party so my sister and I are already cranking up the ideas! Merry Christmas Mueller's! Thanks for everything!

The Holidays in Highland!

2011-12-11T18:04:00.011-06:00

We headed down south this weeked to Highland to see Chuck's side of the family and to have some holiday fun! It was sunny when we left so it's a good thing that Bub packed his sunglasses.

Evie fell asleep in the car. I don't blame her. It's a long car ride. Grace was having fun watching all the new Christmas movies that Frankenstein gave us. Yep, she came with us too! On Saturday, Papa and Grandma Vicky came over to Uncle Frog's house. Gracie and Maddie played rin-around-the-rosy with them. They had fun until it was time to "fall down." These girls had a blast together. Normally Maddie is not there when we go down so luckily her and Gracie got some girl time together. Evie was being shy but she was super excited to open up gifts. Uncle Frog passed out the presents and everyone waited patiently to open. At Uncle Frog's house, the youngest goes first and so on. That way everyone gets to see what everyone gets. Evie was first. Afterall, she is a whole minute younger than Presley. She got 2 baby dolls. For the bathtub too!

Presley got a cool Spiderman and Hulk (his favorite) set from Uncle Schmut.

Then it was Gracie's turn. She couldn't wait to open her big bag from Papa.

In fact, both girls were excited.

Gracie got something that she has been talking about...a Lalaloopsy doll! She was beyond happy! She even got some outfits for her doll too!

Maddie got one too. Those girls played with their dolls all day!

And Gracie brought a special gift for Maddie that she made and even wrapped all by herself! A pig mask on a paperplate! Maddie loved it!

I'm so glad that Gracie has grown out of her shy stage because she was just as friendly as can be and talked everyone's ear off. She got some bonding time with Uncle Chad.

And with Papa.

We had to get some pictures with Papa and Grandma Vicky since we don't get to see them often. (Evie was pouting because Aunt Christie took away her paci. I know what you are thinking...she acts like her father right?)

And then it was time for a cousin's picture. Jordin is Gracie, Evie, and Presley's cousin. She is all-grown up now and in high school!

An Uncle's picture too!

Then after resting and napping, we headed over to Aunt Marlene's for some more family holiday fun! Sydney and Peyton were there too!

There were more presents there too!

Bub made out with some new cars from Drake.

Evie got another baby! She's a great mama!

Sydney got Gracie a Christmas Barbie!

It was fun there getting to visit with everyone. Presley was impressing everyone with his pole dancing. Apparently Daddy used to be good at it too.

After presents, it was time for Bunco. The kids had their own table going on.

The whole weekend was filled with yummy goodies too!

I'm so glad we were able to make it down for a Christmas weekend! It meant a lot to the kids and us to be able to see everyone! Thanks to everyone for all the wonderful presents. You are way too generous. Thanks Uncle Frog and Aunt Christie for letting us crash at your place too! Happy Holidays!

Busy as an Elf!

2011-12-08T23:17:00.002-06:00

Christmas time is super busy that's for sure. It is in our household. This morning, we woke up and Frankenstein was rocking out with Elmo! Man that elf can play!

And since it's late, Frankenstein has already been to the North Pole and back for the night and while cleaning out the mini (because we are leacving tomorrow to go out of town) she was sitting on the steering wheel and brought with her 2 new Christmas movies to watch on the road. I think the kids will be excited to watch "Beauty and the Beast's Enchanted Christmas" and "A Christmas Carol." (it's the new animated one). She also has a note to share with the kids. I guess Frankenstein is coming along for the ride. See ya on Sunday!

Christmas Crafts!

2011-12-07T20:33:00.003-06:00

My pictures got a little bit out of order here but since I wanted to talk about Christmas crafting, yesterday morning, Frankenstein surprised us with a picture that she colored of Santa's elves. She even signed her name! Hmm, maybe she can do some of the crafts I've been wanting to make one of these nights and leave them for ME in the morning.....

Anyways, because I am addicted to Pinterest and addicted to things with my kids' handprints we made our family Christmas tree. Chucks hands are at the bottom and all the way to the top. Evie's little hands threw off the tree a little bit but that's because she put them down before I could help her. Oh well. It is still cute. I added ornaments but I think that if we make something like this next year, I'll have them use theit thumbprints to make the ornments. I think I'm addicted to these little handprints because right now that is my favorite thing about Christmas-the kids! They will only be this little once and these special Christmases will fly before my eyes so it makes this tree very special to me. I also have been wanting to make this for some time. I don't have room for another tree in this house and I don't have anymore room on my big Christmas tree for any more ornaments and I reprinted pictures from Christmases past. Like I said, these are going to be the best and most memorable Christmases so I made them into garland. It took a bit of time to cut and mat the pictures but finally I added the ribbon and hung them from my windows and wallah.....Christmas picture garland! I have them in all 4 windows (sadly yes, I only have 4 windows. I don't count the basement ones). Oh and I also hung them from my sliding door windows too. I think they turned out cute. They could have been a little shorter but I didn't bother to measure. I was hyped up on caffine last night and didn't have the patience to look for the ruler. So..what do you think? Oh yeah, and today, we found Frankenstein in the fridge and she had turned the milk green! Gracie thought is was cool but no one would drink it. Chuck had to pour it out because no one wanted it. Good thing it wasn't the whole jug huh?

Letter to Santa!

2011-12-06T20:26:00.003-06:00

Tonight Gracie and I sat down to write her letter to Santa! Last year she told me want she wanted it to say. This year she was a big enough girl to write one herself. Here she is proudly holding up her handwritten letter. We are going to mail it tomorrow.

She did a very good job. Remember she is only 4. I think she would have written more but we ran out of room. We are not used to writing small or on lined paper for that matter. Isn't sweet?

And in case you have no idea what it says because Gracie doesn't understand about putting words together on 1 line, it reads....

Dear Santa,

I have been nice.

I want a Princess castle. I have been a good girl.

Love, Gracie.

(I already told her that she REALLY needs to start being a good girl if she wants that Princess castle!)

Gingerbread House!

2011-12-05T21:23:00.004-06:00

We spent a cold, rainy Sunday making a gingerbread house! While shopping, I picked up a kit to make one. Gracie spotted it right away and couldn't wait to get started! Here are all the materials we got ready including the piece of the box she ripped off so she could get out all the candy!

First we put the house together and let it dry. Waiting for it to dry took forever with 6 big eyes constantly watching it. Finally, it was time to get started. Everyone wanted to help so we passed out candy for everyone to help decorate. I decided that I would be in charge of the frosting.

Whoops, sorry about the pic. Now this little girl.....well, everytime I put frosting anywhere, she would take her little finger and wipe it off and eat it! She thought that was fantastic! Bub was very careful about where he was putting his candy. He even let Gracie boss him around and tell him where to put it. We had so much making this. Of course about half of the candy ended up in our tummies.

The 2 decorators and the frosting eater busy at work.Now our house turned out nothing like the beautifully designed one on the box, nor was it the calmest and smiley picture of the people. There was some fighting over the candy and where to put it and hands getting in the way and spilling candy all over the floor but it it was fun and that's what matters!Gracie is so proud of her gingerbread house!
(She even made one out of a box with Auntie Amy complete with working Christmas lights! Pics to come later) All my little gingerbread house artists. Don't mind Evie's glazed look.....she was in a frosting coma. *On another note, Frankenstein was pulling Rudolph and friends in the choo-choo train this morning. Good thing too. It reminded us that The Polar Express is on TV tonight and we LOVE that movie.

Frankenstein!

2011-12-03T22:51:00.002-06:00

Frankenstein, our elf, has been very busy keeping her little eye on us. She is busy, busy having fun at our house during the day and flying off to the North Pole every night to give Santa his nightly report on the Weiss kids.

The other day we awoke to find Frankenstein checking out the responsiblity chart. Mainly this is for Gracie and by the looks of it, she needs to step it up a notch but so do we by rewarding her more when she does act responsibly.

This morning we awoke to find Frankenstein fishing for goldfish in the potty! Gracie thought that was pretty funny and all Presley wanted to do was try and save the little fishies. And tonight Frankenstein has already returned from the North Pole (it was a short trip because we had already called Santa today to let him know there were a naughty little girl here). She climbed in Presley's fire truck and up the ladder she went so she could do some trimming of our tree. If only I had half the energy that this elf does!

Season's Readings!

2011-12-01T21:39:00.002-06:00

This morning Frankenstein the elf, was reading "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and was sitting on some wrapped up books. She wanted to remind us that it's December 1st and now we can offically start the 24 days of books!

We started this tradition last year and was awesome! Each night we open a book and read it! Not like we need a ton of new books around here, we have many. Some books are Christmas books that we have, just wrapped up. I'm sure the kids don't even remember we have them. I pack away the Christmas books with the holiday decorations. I've been collecting books from book orders through school and using my teacher discount at Barnes-n-Noble. I even snagged some books at school that are too easy for my 3rd graders. Here are some of the favorites that are going to be opened this year!

My favorite....a gift to Gracie from Auntie Anne before she was even born. We LOVE this book and movie and I hope that my kids will always hear the bell. I still can't read this book without choking up at the end.

We also love Llama Llama. We have all the books so far and this one is just super cute. We even have the stuffed Llama doll to read it with us!
Gracie loves the Look and Find books and the little ones are getting into them too. We have several. This one is from last year and it's Rudolph. It's sure to give us hours of I Spy fun. I highly recommed these books. The pictures that you need to find also have a little learning lesson with them in the back. Gracie totally just got into "There was an Old Lady" books. This fall we constantly read "There was an Old Lady who Swallowed Some Leaves." I have several of these in my classroom so I brought home this one and also wrapped up is "There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow." These are sure to be a hit. I try to sing the song as I read the book. I'm a great singer you know. This is a new book that I picked up for a steal and with my educator discount. Gracie loves the Princesses and I'm sure she'll love this book too. Evie will too. I thought about buying the Cars Christmas book but Presley is still not all that into books yet so maybe next year. Of course not all books are Christmas books. I wrapped up several books from this series as I have them in hardcover and don't leave them out to read very often. I even have the author, Laura Numeroff's signed copy of "If You Give a Cat a Cupcake" courtesy of Grandma Patti! These are just silly and it inspires Gracie to make up her own silly stories. I found this one at school too. Jamie Lee Curtis has written some cute books. This one is called "When I was Little, A Memoir of a 4-year old" Perfect for my 4 year old. Gracie is always tellign the babies all the things she can do because she is a big girl and they can't because they are still babies. This was actually the first book we opened tonight and it was a hit.
If you're thinking that most of the books are geared towards Gracie, you're right. She loves to be read too and when she knows the story, she'll read it to the babies. Evie loves books too so I'm sure she'll get into it. I know as the years go on, this will be a cherished tradition in our family. Season's Readings!

Fishing for Santa!

2011-11-30T20:47:00.006-06:00

Tonight we headed up the Bass Pro Shop to meet and see Santa. Gracie was really excited. She even said "The real Santa is here." We picked the perfect night. Although it's not even December yet, there was no line so we walked right up to Santa and got our picture with him. Granted Evie was a little bit excited but once we got up there, she got nervous. Presley, you know him, flat out said "no" to sitting on Santa's lap. Hence, the family pic of us. (Please excuse the lack of Christmas attire, the shirts have not yet arrived and also my son's black socks, he likes to pick them out himself.)

After Gracie told Santa that she wants a Princess castle with lots of Princesses, we walked around. We go to this place often just to get out of the house and walk around. I mean what's not to like when you can sit on cool things like this? And you get to see a huge fish tank for free! And pet bears. And ride elevators where you can push the buttons. And climb and play in tents. Presley loved the pink tent. I should also mentioned that his nails are painted the color of this tent. Oh, don't worry, the girls' are too. I guess Daddy painted everyone's nails today and Bub wanted his done too. Don't worry though, he wore a Yoda shirt to show he still has some masculinity. Monkey see. Monkey do.Gracie and Evie led Auntie Amy around like they owned the place. After a walk, we headed back over to the winter wonderland to check out and control the trains. We also colored some holiday pictures. They also have a free craft that kids can make!Gracie even played Daddy in checkers. It was the quickest game ever. Over in like 2 minutes! Then we decided to try out our shooting skills using the Red Rider Guns! Then we did our best to get some kiddie pics but as usual, it did not go so well. Bub wanted to hold the Cars tacklebox and wouldn't put it down. We left the store tired and ready for bed. Gracie was crying how she needed some Princess fishing stuff. I needed a Starbucks which I did get.

Oh, and today Frankenstein the elf, was found in the bathroom taking a bath in a container of marshmallows.

No Ordinary Elf!

2011-11-29T19:36:00.002-06:00

Our elf Frankenstein, has been keeping a close eye on the Weiss kids. In fact, today she was spotted sitting on the potty of the dollhouse! Silly elf. I wonder where she will pop up tomorrow!

Jingle Bell Rock!

2011-11-28T19:36:00.003-06:00

This morning we awoke to find Frankenstein eating some cereal for breakfast. A mixture of Fruit Loops and Trix. Yum!

Gracie also had tap dance tonight. She only has a couple of weeks left and is excited because today she got to show off her "Jingle Bell Rock" dance!

Guess Who's Back in Town?

2011-11-27T19:06:00.002-06:00

Guess who came back this year to check up on us?

It's our elf friend Frankenstein! This year he came back as a she (per Gracie) and was wearing a beautiful snowflake skirt. She brought with her a note from Santa saying that she would be flying back to the North Pole every night reporting to Santa whether Grace, Evie, and Presley were naughty or nice. (I'm sure tonight's report won't go over so well with the big man. Gracie was a stinkpot!) Santa said in his letter that they should listen to their mommy and daddy and get along with each other if they want to be on the nice list. She brought with her some special snow-covered donuts too all the way from the North Pole for breakfast! She also brought some gifts from Santa. We spent the morning playing the Rudolph and Santa games for Wii. Each of the kids also got a travel Rudolph coloring book and crayons and a little Rudolph book.
This little girl was pretty excited when she woke up to find all the surprises. Too bad it didn't last all day. I wonder where Frankenstein will show up tomorrow morning?

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-26T20:41:00.003-06:00

We had a great Thanksgiving! We ate hearty, took naps, put up the Christmas tree, and most of all, were together. I didn't get any good pictures of the delicous turkey that my mom made or the yummy veggie casserole (yes, I can make some things) or the saucy lasagna that Amy made (because neither her or Chuck eat turkey), but it was good eating. I did manage to get some pictures of Gracie helping Grandpa hang ornaments on his tree. She loves doing this. It reminds me of me when I was little. I LOVED putting the ornaments on the tree and seeing all my parents ornaments, just brings back memories.....

When she was finished, she sat underneath the tree and looked up. She did a great job! Sadly, I didn't get much of any family pics this holiday. We are all still recovering from last weeks stomach virus and now minor colds although Bub has a double ear infection too :( but it could always be worse right? I did buy the kids cute Thanksgiving shirts to wear. I got a pic of Gracie in hers because of course we are thankful for her! Evie would not let me take her picture. She is as wild as the turkey on her shirt. I barely got one of my other turkey gobbler. We had fun though. The kids spent the night at Grandma and Grandpa so I could hit the Black Friday madness. It's become a tradition with my girlies. We hit the stores at 3 which was awesome because we missed the crowds and didn't wait in any lines! We shopped for about 6 hours covering Target, Kohl's, Walmart, Menards, Toys-R-Us, Michaels and a breakfast break too. We got some awesome sales and then some. Then it was off to the docs to get Presley some meds and then we went to the Christmas parade in downtown Joliet last night. Today Amy, Gracie, and I took my mom to lunch and shopping since her birthday was during the sickness craze. We went up to Woodfield and ate lunch at the Cheesecake Factory (yum). Now it's off to order some Christmas cards and rumage throught the purchases that were made yesterday. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! Now off to get this holiday season really started!

Thanksgiving Crafts!

2011-11-23T20:37:00.004-06:00

I thought I would post some of the fun Thanksgiving crafts that have been going on around here. With Gracie in school, she makes lots of crafts so she LOVES making them at home too. We have had spent lots of evenings making crafts for the holiday. Our Christmas decorations may be up but we haven't made any Christmas crafts yet though. Just wait. Here are some things she has made at school. She knows about the Pilgrims and Indians and made this.
I did not keep this as there is food glued onto it.

Since I didn't work today, we spent the morning painting turkeys.
Gracie made this fall leaf at school. We can do the same thing with handprints for a Christmas wreath. She made this turkey at the babysitters. And this one at school. And even a teepee! She knows that Indians used to live in them. Here are just a few of the other crafts she has made too that she proudly displayed on our new art wall. In our little school in the basement, we made a thankful tree. On the leaves I wrote what Gracie told me she is thankful for. It took some prompting but she wrote "Mommy, Daddy, Evie, Presley, Hazel, Millie, Grandma, Grandpa, Amy, leaves, Grace Ann (her friend from school), toys, crafts, books, crayons, and counting. Today we painted toilet paper rolls brown and then traced our hands to make feathers. Gracie's are red, Presley's are yellow, and Evie's are orange. We glued on eyes and beaks. Gracie cut some of these things herself! Tomorrow, we will write on the feathers, everyone's names who will be at our Thanksgiving table. Gracie will get to pick where everyone sits. She is super excited about them. This is something totally cute that I found on Pinterest. It's our fall family tree! It's all 5 of our handprints (I'm loving the handprint crafts lately). Then I painted leaves and put our name on canvas. I have an idea to do one next week for Christmas where our hands will make a pinetree. Happy Thanksgiving!

The Hot Chocolate Dance!

2011-11-20T20:06:00.004-06:00

Did you know there is a dance to the Polar Express song "Hot Chocolate?"

Well, there is. Check it out.

O' Christmas Tree!

2011-11-19T20:22:00.003-06:00

Our Christmas decorations have been up for like 2 weeks now. The big tree went up last week. This week the kids tree went up. (I know some people dislike the early decorating but I LOVE it!) Last year we got this pink tree on clearance after Christmas in hopes that it would be in Gracie and Evie's bedroom this year. No such luck because they share that room with a boy. Oh well. We do have a little green tree but Gracie wanted pink. Presley seemed fine with that though. I guess he's used to that though. Ha! Grandma gave us some ornaments to hang on it. We got Hello Kitty, Princesses and some not-so-girly ones like Rudolph and Sesame Street. They all had fun hanging them on tree. Makes me super excited for this Christmas!

Happy Birthday Grandma!

2011-11-18T20:56:00.002-06:00

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Well actually Grandma's birthday was on Wednesday but since everyone was sick, including Grandma because she watched the kiddies for me when I was on my deathbed, she got it a little too. So we had a little celebration tonight. The kids were excited to give her our gift.

I'm all about the handprint gifts now thanks in part to some ideas from my fav Pinterest. Afterall, they're only little once right? One day, they will be too cool to be painting their hands and leaving handprints so I will treasure these days now! I think Grandma loved it. Homemade gifts are the best! Amy and I also gave her a lunchdate to the Cheesecake Factory and a little shoppy-shopping in there too. Daddy will be off work again next weekend so it's a date! But these two were really all about the tissue paper and the bag! Ahh, the simple things in life. Christmas could be pretty cheap if Santa just left tissue paper and paper bags under the tree!

Happy Birthday Grandma! We love you!

Elmo!

2011-11-17T20:58:00.006-06:00

Today the baby's, ok my 2 year-olds got a surprise package. Uncle Frog and Aunt Christie had sent a little something for their birthday all the way from Edwardsville! They couldn't wait to dig into the gifts.

It was a ........

Rock-n-Roll Elmo!
They LOVE Elmo and they can both even say his name. They were thrilled. Even Gracie thought he was pretty cool.

He comes with drums, a tamborine, and microphone. He can sing along with the microphone and he plays the drums. What a fun toy! They also got Elmo shirts. Bub loved trying to get Elmo to sing.

(Note: these videos were taken to be cute. Please ignore harsh words coming from my son's mouth.)

Thanks Uncle Frog, Aunt Christie, Drake, and Maddie!

Evie and Presley's 2nd Birthday Party!

2011-11-13T19:29:00.019-06:00

WARNING: This is a really long post but it was a really fun party!

Yesterday, we headed to Gymquest to celebrate Evie and Presley's 2nd birthday. The theme was Mickey and Minnie. You know me and my matching themes.

Check out the super cute cupcakes that my sister made! They were yummy.

Instead of doing little toys and stuff for goody bags, I opted to make these frames. I'll explain why later.
And instead of party hats, each kid got mouse ears. The girls got one with a bow like Minnnie.
My mom made the kids these cute shirts. Even Gracie got one. And my sister made the tutus.

We had open gym for the first hour. They had to go over the rules with us but the kids were so excited! They kept staring at the bouncy houses, trampolines, trapeeze, and foam pit.

As soon as they could take off and play, they did! Gracie went right for the foam pit.

So did Evie.

Presley wasn't sure what to make of it, so he stood around and took it all in.

But Evie and Jake took to the trampolines.
Evie was all over the place, it was hard to get a good picture. She LOVED it!
Allie liked the trampoline too.

Laurie helped Gracie get on the trapeeze swing.
Here are some of the kids playing in the foam pit.

Andrea was there with Baby Cayden.

There's my birthday girl jumping her little heart out.

Levi had fun climbing around.
Here is Gracie swinging off of the trapeeze and into the pit.

And the birthday boy, not sure about anything.

Evie seriously could not get enough of the trampoline.

Me and the birthday babes.

Miss Mia jumping around.

Daddy with the birthday kids.

Evie having fun in the foam pit.

Olivia taking a bit of a rest.

Jacob thinking about jumping into the pit.

Mason was so funny. He just kept swinging from the trapeeze.

Gracie decided to jump into the pit though.

She also loved the trapeeze.

I think the kids were having fun.

Kinda looks like it huh?

There she goes chasing Luke.

Then Presley finally found something he liked: pushing Gracie around for once.

Then Evie wanted in on the action. Monkey see, Monkey do.

Gracie had so much fun.

Look who finally decided to try out the fun in the foam.

Then I attempted the unthinkable: a group shot of everyone in the foam.

It's sort of like I Spy. How many kids can you spy?

We are lucky to have so many great friends to share special occasions with.
And then when it was time to go eat pizza, guess who wanted to stay and play?
Even Becky and Holly didn't want to get out.
Pizza time!

Yum!

Then my goal was to to get a pic of each kids with their cute littel mouse ears on to put in the frame! I tried to get all the kids but I missed some. Sorry.
Miss Shelby.
Scotty.

Evie.
Gracie.

Luke.
Jacob.
Olivia.
Cullen.
Jackie.
Mason.
Mia.
Emma.
Bub.
Evie with her cupcake.
Sean.

But all good parties come to an end. We didn't even have time (or room) to open presents. Gracie gave Scott a big hug.The kids were so excited to open thier gifts today.

All of thier friends were WAY too generous.

They got all kinds of good stuff though.

They made out good. They got backpacks, sleeping bags, jammies, winter clothes, winter hats, books, cars, a Tinker Bell doll, a talking and moving dog, a ball shooting cannon, and some Little People!

Thanks to everyone who came to celebrate. It was so much fun and we were so glad you were able to have fun with us! This about wraps up our weekend of birthday fun. I know my kids had a great birthday and I am very thankful for that. Happy birthday kids!

Happy 2nd Birthday!

2011-11-11T20:31:00.013-06:00

On this the day of my Presley and Evie's 2nd birthday, I was awoken at 6 am this morning by a little boy pulling the covers off of me and saying "look! Look!" You would have thought it was Christmas morning as you can see our tree in the background. (We just decorated it yesterday). Presley was talking about his new basketball hoop he got for his birthday.

We put their gifts out after they went to bed last night so it sort of was like Christmas morning. It's good practice. Evie got this adorable lemonade stand. The little plaques are chalkboard to write on. Oh and please don't think I'm a bad mom because that big present you see the cardboard box because I ran out of wrapping paper.
Presley couldn't wait to tear into his presents. Evie was excited too. And you know big sis had to get in there and help too. Gracie picked this present out for Evie all by herself. She wanted to get her a baby Ariel dolly. Evie is really into babies right now. Presley got a Matchbox or is it Hotwheels box to hold all the cars he has been collecting. A great garage sale find by my husband. There were some cars inside too. This year was so different than last year. Last year on their first birthday, they weren't sure what to do with the presents and now, you can't get them to stop ripping them open! Bub even got some motorcycles. Evie got some new books. This one I picked out especially for her, "On the Night You Were Born."
Again , Gracie being the helpful big sis that she is!
Evie got some new puzzles too! Both of my kids love them. They are good at them too. Presley was also pretty excited about his new firetruck! The hose even squirts water! A great Menards find! Evie got this wooden pizza set. Gracie got the birthday cake one for her birthday. It's by Melissa and Doug. They make the best toys! The lemonade stand is by them too. By the time it actually got light outside, we had all the presents opened. Presley practiced hoops all morning! It's a nice hoop (from Menards). It's adjustable too. And when the weather gets nice again, we can take it outside. Later, Auntie E stopped by with more presents. After we picked Grace up from preschool, we headed to Chuck E. Cheese for some more birthday fun! My kids love the merry-go-round there. In fact, Evie loves all the rides there. I think she rode all of them. Speaking of rides, this girl rode a lot of them too. This guy loved Bob the Builder. And both of the birthday kids loved popping the balls into the frog's mouth. Now when it came time for Skeeball, we let them cheat a little. Or a lot. Then they tried shooting peanuts into the mouth of the animals. Then we took a family pic with the man himself, Chuck E. Cheese. But he was the one not cooperating and looking at the camera! After that, we cashed in our tickets. I think that was actually Bub's favorite thing to do. He loved that machine! We got some prizes of slinkies, airplanes and they even gave us a free Spiderman ball! Nice! After a nice long nap, we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa's for more presents and cake! Once again, they took to town on those presents. Bub got some Thomas the Train Take-along sets. They are so cool. The tracks fold up and you can tote them along with you. Makes it easy because he is sleeping with the train right now! Grandma even found this Little People train set. It makes all these sounds and is super cute. We are letting her keep it at her house. Auntie Amy gave Evie this darling shopping cart like the ones at grocery stores where the kids can ride in the car in front. She also gave her a little bag full of baby things like bottles, diapers, sippy cups, powder, bibs, etc. Evie was in Heaven! Presley played with his new train set for most of the night. This boy is one train lover! Evie also got this cute Minnie set where you can dress her buy just snapping on pieces. You can even change her hairbows! Evie spent a lot of the night playing with all her baby stuff. Bub moved from one train set to another. Trains and babies! Good thing Santa knows that! We had to pry them away from playing with their presents to eat some cake. We sang "Happy Birthday" and they blew out their candles. What a sassy little 2 year old darling I have on my hands! And this guy....it looks like he's laidback...... The cake from Jewel hit the spot. Of course I don't know about your kids but mine only eat the frosting. On a sugar-high with her daddy. I got these litte peanuts to hug though but my camera was too dang slow to get it! Maybe Santa will bring me a new camera. Hint, hint. Then it was time to get a few family pics again. First with Grandma and Grandpa. Then our family of five. Then with Auntie Amy. Then the birthday kids themselves. It was a great day filled with so much fun and exitement. I think we may have tuckered them out. I know Evie and Presley had a fabulous 2nd birthday and tomorrow is their party with all their friends! Happy Birthday my babies! (Although you are not babies anymore) ((sigh))

Happy 2nd Birthday Presley and Evie!

2011-11-10T21:21:00.009-06:00

2 years ago today I looked like this.....

49.5 inches around! But a few shorts hours later, I gave birth to these little surprises!

Evelyn Mae Weiss born at 8:43 am. She was Baby B and she weighed in at 6.4 pounds and was 18 inches long.

Presley William was born a minute before at 8:42 am. He was Baby A and weighed in at 8 pounds and was 19.5 inches long.

Both were healthy and I couldn't ask for more. It's been quite the rollercoaster but I wouldn't have it any other way. I love these 2 with my heart and soul. Here is a trip down memory lane of their first 2 years.
3 months
6 months
9 months
1 year

18 months

And tonight, their last night as 1 year olds.

And here are my babies who are growing way too fast!

And because I am a writer, I wrote something special for them as I did when they were born and on thier first birthdays too.

Presley

Today you are 2

My sweet, sweet son

You are full of energy

And full of fun

Your big brown eyes twinkle

When you smile as big as you can

You show off all of your teeth

But you're still a shy little man

You are saying lots of words

And you repeat everything we say

You love to yell for "mama" and "daddy"

And you like to tell us what you want in many different ways

We ask you lots of questions

Usually you shake your head and say "no"

Sometimes you will nod and say "yes"

But I think "no" is your favorite words though

You like to play with your Matchbox cars

And you love your choo-choo trains

You also like to throw footballs

And in the tub, you love to work the drain

You are a curious little boy

You love to open and close doors

You like to work the DVD player

Everyday I watch you learn more and more

You are sleeping in a big boy bed

And in clothes you are wearing a 2T

You're still in a size 4 diaper

But learning how to use the potty

I love to watch your face

Your facial expressions make me smile

You are full of hugs and kisses

And I hope it stays that way for awhile

Your face lights up when you get excited

Especially when you hear music and you can dance

Or when someone comes to the door

And when we are at home, you hate to wear your pants

We still call you "Bubby"

Because you are a little chunky monkey full of fun

Mommy loves you so, so much

Happy 2nd birthday my sweet little son.

Evie

Today is special baby girl

Today you are turning 2

It seems like yesterday you were a little baby

My how time flew!

You are the sweetest little thing

And such a beautiful girl

With your hazel eyes

And red hair with curls

You love to read lots of books

Some of your favorite ones are:

"Where's my Baby", "10 Friendly Fish", and "My Pretty Pink Alphabet"

You read books everywhere, even in the car

You love puzzles a lot too

The wooden, chunky ones you do quite well

You like the ones with animals, toys, and food

And the ones that make noise, you find quite swell

You are starting to say lots of words

Like your brother, your favorite one is "no"

But that doesn't stop you from talking

Or from reading out louds lots of books though

You love to play with your babies

You are good at pushing them in a stroller and putting them to bed

You cover them with a blanket

And plant a kiss on upon thier head

You love to eat

Lately it's your brother and sister that you can outeat

Your favorites are bananas, cereal with milk, spaghetti, and carrrots

But sometims it's hard for you to stay in your seat

You are wearing 18 month clothes and in a size 3 diaper

You get to wear a lot of your sister's hand-me-downs which I think is neat

You like to dress yourself

But you are so, so picky about which shoes you put on your feet

You are such a sweet girl

And take good care of your brother

Your big sister just adores you

You have heart like no other

You continue to amaze me everyday

And I love watching you grow

Happy 2nd birthday Evie

Mommy loves you more than you will ever know.

Happy 2nd Birthday Presley and Evie!

Happy 30th Auntie Amy!

2011-11-09T21:11:00.004-06:00

Today was Auntie Amy's 30th birthday! I don't think anyone was more excited than Gracie. She decorated a bag by drawing a cupcake and writing "happy birthday."

This little girl was excited but she was too tired to watch presents being opened. I was pretty excited about some of the gifts. You see, I am addicted to Pinterest and found some amazing ideas and have been staying up way too late crafting like a mad woman! And this is just the beginning. Just wait til Christmas!

Here is my "30 sucks." Totally easy to make and Gracie liked helping put the suckers in the foam. Although technically it's 29 sucks because Presley grabbed one as soon as she opened it. This was an idea I came up. I painted the kids hands for them to make handprints because you know I have 3 kids, so that's 30 fingers so I wanted to come up with a catch slogan so it says "30x the Aunt hands down." I then the other day I did a little interview with Gracie asking her what all the things are that she likes to do with Auntie Amy. Somehow, she gave me 30 things. And it didn't take that long. Sure there was some prompting but that girl loves her Auntie! I typed up Gracie's list and made an accordian book. It turned out super cute. Here is Amy reading it back to Gracie. Some of things she said was....

"I like to get donuts with Amy."

"I like to go to Diamond's with Amy."

"I like buying cupcakes at Jewel with Amy."

"I like to go to Disney World with Amy" (maybe some day Gracie)

and my favorite "I like to get drinks with Amy." (um not for several more years)

but they were totally precious. One side of the book. Then my mom wrapped up 30 presents. Some things were little like tape, buttons, oatmeal, and gum. Some things were bigger like baking things and a cake pop maker! She made out pretty well. Bub finally decided to get in on the pics. He was a good present opener though. Good practice since his birthday is 2 days away! Then we sang and had some pumpkin pie. Now I am off to wrap and make more birthday presents....2 little ones are about to turn 2!

Ring-Around-The-Rosy

2011-11-06T20:14:00.002-06:00

Makeovers!

2011-11-02T19:41:00.003-05:00

In between holidays, it's best to get some makeovers. So we started with our nails. The girls wanted their nails pink. Guess who else wanted it too? Poor Bub. He's one of the girls at heart!

This is Halloween!

2011-10-31T20:29:00.009-05:00

Today was Halloween! It was a beautiful day too. Gracie had a Halloween party and parade at school today. I skipped over there to see the action. Today she decided to be Jessie. Doesn't she look cute?

Here are some of her friends in the parade they had.

And here is her whole little class. They look so darling.

They even sang us a pumpkin song and you can watch it at the end of this post.

After school, I tried to get Gracie with some of her friends from school. Here she is with Grace Ann.

Here she is with her teachers Miss Jane and Miss Colleen.

Here are some more of her friends, Kendal, Ava, and Bella.

And her is Gracie with Michael. He was a shark.

After some naps, Auntie Amy, or the Great Pumpkin, had some Halloween gifts to give.

Bubs got some choo-choo's. He loved them.

Then it was time to go trick-or-treating. We bundled up because it did get a little chilly. This girl was ready to get some candy. And lots of it.

Gracie showed the little ones the way. Oh yeah, Evie and Presley went trick-or-treating as big babies because neither of them would wear their costumes. They screamed again!

First stop was Aunt Sue's. Gracie showed them how to ring the doorbell and say "trick-or-treat."

After a few houses, everyone had the hang of it. Lots of people weren't home and Evie had a problem with that. She would look and the door and mumble something.

Presley was on a mission though. Since he doesn't say "trick-or-treat" of "thanks" yet, he was full of waves. His little strut down the street with his bag of candy was pricless.

These two gave the stare down until candy was given. Of course lots of people put the bowl out for them to grab some and they were not shy one bit to take any.

Evie started getting tired after our trip around the block so Presley carried her bag for her. What a good brother!

These two couldn't wait to get home and dig into those bags.

But we made one more quick stop to Aunt Rosemary's. She had special little bags put together! She is so sweet!

Here is Gracie digging into hers.

And here are the little monsters already on a sugar high with their little Halloween bags.

Evie with one last look at her Halloween outfit because tomorrow we pack up this stuff and get ready for Christmas.

In fact, this girl ratted me out to her dad because Gracie and I already have listened to some Polar Express songs in the mini. But now that Halloween is over, it's CHRISTMAS!

Hope everyone had a spooktacular Halloween and hope everyone is looking forward to the holiday season as much as we are.

Gracie's class singing the pumpkin song.

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-30T21:28:00.000-05:00

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Waiting for the Great Pumpkin!

2011-10-30T19:09:00.006-05:00

Despite some little monsters not wanting to wear their Halloween costumes, we have had lots of fun this month doing some Halloweeny things. We've been to the pumpkin patch a few times this year but we've also seen this Halloween movie a couple of times.

This one was the favorite until I found my old Garfield Halloween. We've seen that one plenty of times to last until next year! We carved pumpkins already, I forgot to take pictures, but I'll post some later of how they turned out. We also got some baby pumpkins at one of our trips to the pumpkin patch and these we decided to paint. This was a fun project. I stripped the kids of their clothes to spare all the messy cleanup of them. Did I mention, I decided to do this with no one but me here to superivise? It went really well though with only some minor messy messes. Evie would have rather painted the tablecloth. Like my subtle way of throwing in some early holiday cheer with my snowman tablecloth? Presley was so interested in this that he never wanted to clean up. How is this for some serious concentration? Gracie was busy mixing her colors. She is so smart. She knows what colors mix together to make what. My son, the artist, who also likes drawing with red dry erase marker on the wall, which fyi, doesn't come off. Even with the magic eraser! This girl wanted to use every color under the sun. Gracie also wanted to make some foamy pumpkin stickers to put in a Halloween card to all her friends at school. She had a blast putting them together and then we stuck them inside some orange construction paper. I wrote "Happy Halloween" and Gracie signed her name. On all 18 of them. Plus a few extra for some nonschool buddies. I am proud of her! We stuffed them inside a treat bag with some Dum-Dums and a Halloween pencil so she can take them to pass out at her Halloween party tomorrow at school! She is super excited. And then of course, who doesn't like a foamy project from Michael's? Gracie likes these things and we buy sets all the time to make. So that's some of the fun we have had this month to prepare for Halloween. It was fun but I am ready for Christmas! Have a good Halloween!

Halloween Party!

2011-10-29T19:50:00.005-05:00

Today we went to our friend Scott and Levi's 2nd Annual Halloween Party! Now my kids, Gracie in particular have been anxiously awaiting Halloween. Gracie has had her costume for weeks now. She's been wearing it all over the place. Today though, what does she pick? Sleeping Beauty. And the twins, well, I worked hard to go with the Toy Story theme so I found them Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head costumes. Guess who won't wear them?

I have tried for days to get them to even try it on. Nope.

They wore them for like 5 seconds and then we took them off. I guess I will be returning them. Halloween costumes are not too cheap anymore. But somebody did stay in her costume. Miss Shelby was a cute little witch. Now my friend Jessica went all out on this party. It was Harry Potter themed, complete with the coolest Harry Potter invites I had ever seen. ALthough I don't know much about him. I have actually never read any books or seen any movies. But check out her cupcakes she made. Mr. Jackson ran around in his costume like a champ as a sock monkey. All my 2 non-wearing costume children wanted to do was eat. At least they wore their Halloween shirts.
Gracie stayed in hers though and had fun playing in Scotty's new ballpit!

Here are all the kiddies at the party. Trying to get them to pose for nice picture is nearly impossible. Actually, it IS and WAS impossible. So I took a bunch. Check out the Dorothy and her sister, the little tornado. I loved that. Good thing I decided this was not the year for the Wizard of Oz themed outfits. They wouldn't have worn it anyways. Jessica's boys, Scott and Levi were Harry Potter people. Scott was Harry and I'm not sure who Levi was since again, I don't know my Potter stuff. But after that ordeal, it was time to eat Halloween Pizza! It doesn't have anything to do with Halloween, it's just really yummy pizza that you can only get in Manhattan. And the of course, the yummy cupcakes. Gracie ate a whole pumpkin cupcake.

It was a great party! Happy Halloween!

Loving Those Pumpkin Patches!

2011-10-28T20:35:00.007-05:00

We went to the pumpkin patch again. Check it out. We had fun.

Halloween Kiddie Carnival!

2011-10-25T19:23:00.004-05:00

Last weekend we headed to a kiddie Halloween carnival! It was fun to play games and win prizes and of course candy. 2 little munchkins refused to wear their costumes. I won't tell you what they are going to be but since Gracie is Jessie from Toy Story, you can probably guess the theme. Hopefully I can get them to wear it for trick-or-treating. So they attended the carnival as stubborn babies. Take a look at all the spooktaclar fun we had.

Proud Mary Keep on Tapping!

2011-10-24T19:34:00.002-05:00

Gracie's Treats!

2011-10-20T20:59:00.002-05:00

It's the day Gracie has been waiting for.....she gets to bring the snack. I made these! I got the idea from my new favorite addiction...Pinterest. They may not be the healthiest of snacks but they were easy and they are super cute. In fact, I would say that they are a hoot!