Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving in Andalusia this year. We always have lunch with my Dad's side of the family at my Uncle Donald's house. It is a great place for all the kids to play because they have a lot of open land. The girls had a blast! Gracie really loves getting to play with all of her cousins, especially Asa.

After lunch, we went to Matt's Aunt Calmese's house for dinner. Her granddaughter, Hannah has started riding horses, so we rode the mule and went to the pen to check out the horse. It was beautiful. Katherine wasn't real sure about it to start with, but she warmed up pretty fast.

On a side note, do you know anyone looking for a great guy to spend some time with? Allen is recently divorced and I'm keeping my eye out for a good woman to hook him up with:)

Happy (LATE) Birthday, Daddy!

I know this is SUPER late, but I wanted to add it anyway. Expect several more posts to come in the days to follow. I have a lot of catching up to do!

Matt's birthday was October 31st, otherwise known as Halloween. I try to set the day apart from all of the hustle and bustle of it actually being Halloween. We usually do our trick or treating at the zoo (see previous post) and we normally just go out to dinner for Matt's birthday on Halloween. This year, Gracie dressed up as a cat for their school party. She also handed out candy to the neighborhood kids before we left for dinner. I almost think she liked that better than getting candy herself. She was so funny. When she couldn't see any kids coming, she would yell "Kids, hey kids..." She cracks me up!

Oh yea, back to Matt's birthday:) He is officially older than 30!! I keep teasing him about being older than me, even though I know a lot of you have hit the mark this year and he keeps reminding me that I will also be hitting it soon. I just remind him that, no matter how old I am, he will ALWAYS be older than me!

Matt, I hope your birthday was happy. The girls and I love you SO much and I can't wait to spend the next 31 years with you! (Don't forget to stop the music before you try to play the video.)

Boo at the Zoo

We made our annual trip to Boo at the Zoo this past Sunday night. It is at the zoo here. Sponsors set up stations where kids can walk through and trick or treat. All of the zoo employees dress up as different characters. It's lots of fun. As you can see, Gracie went as Cinderella (she even had glass slippers!) and Katherine was her pumpkin (before it turned into a carriage). I decided to wear cat ears and a tail. Gracie proceeded to tell me I could be Lucifer the cat from Cinderella! I'm not sure whether to laugh or have my feelings hurt:) Matt went as a golfer - not really, he had just been playing golf with my Dad earlier that day.

One big thing that happened while we were there - Gracie had her picture made with Jasmine AND Cinderella. This is a big deal because she is VERY scared of anyone dressed up as a character, even human ones. This is a step in the right direction. She still wouldn't get near any of the other ones that had costumes on. Katherine didn't cry, but she didn't want them near her. She would just stare really hard at them as they walked by.

Meet Madison. Well, sort of...

As a lot of you already know, my cousin Wendy is pregnant with a little girl they are going to name Madison. She is due mid January and she recently had a 4D ultrasound. These things are amazing! I even got to watch online as she was having it done. The preggo picture of her is almost 22 weeks. I believe she is a little over 27 weeks now. Aren't they cute?!?!

Wendy - It is time to start a blog!!!

Gracie's 4 year old pictures

Here are Gracie's 4 year old pictures we had made yesterday. I can't get over how much she looks like a little girl now instead of a baby. It seems like she has grown up so much between 3 and 4. I've told her that she has to stay 4 forever. She just laughs at me, but I'm serious!! :)

Guess who came to see me...

EMMIE!!! (Oh yea, Michelle, Paul, and Maddie came too!)

I got a phone call as I was leaving work on Friday. It was Michelle. She asked me if I lived anywhere close to Maryville, TN. I told her that it was only about a 30 minute drive from my house. She said Maddie had a gymnastics meet there on Saturday and Paul wanted her to go, but she didn't really want to drag Emmie to it. I suggested they come and stay at our house and she could stay with us while Paul & Maddie went to the meet. So they did!! I was ecstatic! They didn't get here until late because Maddie had practice until sometime after 8:00 (central time), so they couldn't leave until then. They arrived around 11:30 eastern time and we stayed up until about 1 a.m. I told Michelle Saturday morning that I must be on a high because I wasn't even tired.

Emmie is so precious! She is still only a little over five pounds, so she is tiny! Gracie and Katherine both loved her. Gracie was excited she got to hold her like a big girl. Katherine wasn't even jealous. She helped me burp her one time and even tried to brush her hair with a Barbie doll brush:) When we laid her in the play pen so we could eat breakfast, Katherine stayed by the play pen so she could keep her eye on Emmie. So cute!! I told Michelle she should just leave her with me for a weekend, so that I could see if I could handle three kids at once:)

They went home Saturday afternoon because Paul had to go to work early Sunday. I was so happy that I finally got to see Emmie and Michelle. Michelle seems to be doing really well and just dreads going back to work.

Funny Faces!

Gracie dressed herself and did her own makeup!


Gracie & Bryson on their way to the beach!

What a beautiful mermaid!

There's another one!




Has anyone noticed a pattern with Gracie?

I laugh out loud every time I look at this picture!

You have something on your chin!

Katherine's best friend!

Doesn't she look like a movie star?

It's Official!

I cancelled Gracie's dentist appointment this morning! I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off of my shoulders. Thanks again for all of your kind words and encouragement!!

Just take a little off the back, please.

Here are pictures of Katherine's first haircut just to shape her hair up a little and of Gracie's most recent cut. Gracie's was definitely more drastic than Katherine's, but she was very excited to get it cut. Matt was excited too, because he does most of the hair brushing in the mornings and her hair had gotten very tangly and she is tender-headed. So far, it has made the mornings much easier. I'll have to let you know after Thursday if I can still get it in a decent bun for dance!

Hot Air Balloon Festival

This past Saturday night, we went to the 5th annual Hot Air Balloon Festival at one of the local community colleges here. We had a great time. Gracie got to climb a rock wall, watch a dog show, and get her face painted like a pink tiger! She LOVES getting her face painted and I thought the lady did an excellent job. It literally took her about 3 or 4 minutes to do Gracie's whole face! She was awesome. We waited in line a little over 30 minutes to get her face painted and the line was as long when we left the tent and still as long when we left the whole show! Gracie felt like a little celebrity. She is very shy around strangers, but not as a pink tiger. People were looking and pointing everywhere we went and she would gladly say thank you if they made a comment about her face. One lady even asked if her son could take a picture with her!! The publicity photographers also took a picture of her. She was in heaven!!

Gracie and I even got to ride in a hot air balloon! It was fun. Gracie was a little scared of the burner, but she made it through. The first thing she asked me when we got off was if her tiger face was still on. I assured her it was. All through the night, she kept asking me to take a picture of her so that she could see if it was still there:)

They had a lot of craft tents and live music playing through the afternoon and into the night. Then, about 8:00, they did what they call a "balloon glow". They play music with a lot of beat in it and they light their burners to the beat of the music. It was very cool! I attached a little bit of the video I took of it so you can see what I'm talking about. The only disappointing thing was that they originally were supposed to be flying when all of this was happening, but there was no wind, so they were just parked on the side of the pond. We had a great time, and I can't wait until they have it again next year!



Gracie and I are in this balloon on the right side.

Video of the Balloon Glow