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

What would you do?

I have a dilemma. Gracie broke one of her front teeth about a year and a half ago (She was 2). She was playing in the gym at daycare and tripped and fell on a toy. I was completely devastated! It took all I could do not to break down and cry right in front of her. I took her to the dentist to see if it was damaged. He said it would tighten back up on its own and that we could fix it with a crown later. At that point, she had never been to the dentist and it scared her to death! He wanted to wait until she was older and could understand more what was going on. Well...she's 4 now and I actually have her an appointment to get it fixed next week. However, she is still VERY scared of the dentist. They gave me a prescription to get filled to give her at the dentist. It is something that will make her woozy and not really care that she's at the dentist. Not to mention, it is going to cost me close to $200 to get it fixed.

I've had several people tell me they don't even notice it, but I do. Am I being vain? After all, it is a tooth she will lose in a couple or three years. Please tell me what you would do. And be brutally honest!! Here is a close up.

Playing Outside

Here are a few pictures of the girls playing outside. The playhouse is fairly new. We bought it this summer for Gracie's birthday, but I think Katherine actually likes it better than she does.

We miss you Meme!

As some of you know, Matt lost his grandmother (Meme) this past Friday night. She was a very important part of his life. He always made the effort to spend time with her when we were in town. He would help her around her house with whatever she needed and they would sit and talk for hours about everything that was going on in our lives and in the lives of everyone in Andalusia. She was opinionated, but she also would let you make your own decisions in life. She loved flowers. Her yard was always full of them. When we lived in Montgomery, she came to visit one time and helped Matt plant some flowers in our flower beds. They started out as little things, but grew to be huge! They never would have grown if I had tried to plant them myself.

Meme had a good life and a good quality of life for a long time. She lived on her own up until the last six or eight months and then she moved in with Matt's Aunt Calmese. The last time we saw her was July 4th. She was thin, but was in great spirits. We'll miss you Meme!!

Here is her obituary posted at Andalusiastarnews.com:

Susie Belle Threatt, AndalusiaMrs. Susie Belle Threatt, 90, of Andalusia, died Fri., Sept. 12, 2008, at her daughter’s residence.
Graveside services were held at 2 p.m. Sun., Sept. 15, at the Andalusia Memorial Cemetery with the Rev. Jim Seymore officiating and Foreman Funeral Home directing.
Survivors include her daughters, Calmese Veasey and Sarah Burgess of Andalusia; her son, Jimmy Threatt of Andalusia; 10 grandchildren; 16 great-grandchildren; two great-great-grandchildren; a brother, Clarence Grubbs of Comer, Ala.; and several nieces and nephews.

Faith of a Child...

I know I just shared several cute stories about Gracie & her friends, but I just couldn't not post this one:

We were riding home from dance last night and we were passing a field full of cows. The dialogue went like this:

Gracie "Mommy, I see cows! I saw them first! Mommy did God make cows?"
Me "Yes, Gracie, God made cows."
Gracie "Did God make everything?"
Me "Yes, God made pretty much everything."
Gracie "Why did God make mosquitoes?" (Good Question!)
Me "I'm not sure, but I know he had a reason."
Gracie "I'm going to pray to God."
Me "OK."
Gracie whispers, "God, why did you make mosquitoes, because they bite me." PAUSE "Ok, I'm going to trust you." PAUSE "Mommy, God spote (spoke)!"

Later on that night, we read a story about all of the great things about Easter. It is from a little girl's perspective and it mentions dyeing and hiding easter eggs, springtime, baby animals, and getting dressed up for church. But it says the best thing about Easter is Jesus. It talks about him dying on the cross and ascending into heaven. There is a picture of Jesus in the clouds. Gracie asks me where God is. I told her God was in heaven with Jesus. She sticks out her bottom lip in a pout and says "But I can't see God in OUR clouds!" I reassure her that, just because she can't see him doesn't mean he isn't there and that he is looking down on her and protecting her.

Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." Matthew 19:14

We as parents have the most awesome job in the world!

Short Stories

GIANT PIZZA

Gracie says "Mommy, why was our house really dark a long time ago?"
Mommy says "I don't know what you are talking about."
Gracie says "Maybe it was because a big pizza fell on top of our house. Remember, we had to use candles to see."
Mommy says "Maybe so, but that would have to be one giant pizza!"

I'm now assuming she is talking about a power outage.

BIG WORDS

1. I cooked cinnamon rolls for breakfast Saturday morning and am going to tell Matt that breakfast is ready.

Gracie comes running to me "Mommy, Mommy, I smell something delicious!"

2. Kiersten (Gracie's best friend since birth) is over at our house and they are taking a bath. Gracie keeps slipping down on purpose so she makes a big splash. I tell her she is going to get a spanking if she does it again.

Kiersten looks at Gracie and says, "When you do that, your mommy gets frustrated with you!"

TIME MANAGEMENT

The same night of the bath, I fed the girls hot dogs for dinner. Gracie is a hearty eater and downed her whole hot dog in about 10 minutes flat. Kiersten, on the other hand, could care less whether she eats or not so she had barely eaten one bite when Gracie jumps from the table and goes to play.

Gracie hollers from the other room "Kiersten, come play!"
I say to Kiersten "Kiersten, you need to eat some more of your hot dog before you go play."
Kiersten yells to Gracie "I need to finish my hot dog. I'll be there in twenty minutes!"

These kids are TOO FUNNY!!