The Burgess Family

Just a quick note...

2009-07-06T14:16:00.002-04:00

I know, I know, I have GOT to update my blog. I'm so far behind I can't decide whether to just start from now and go forward or to try to go back and update everyone. Hopefully, I will have enough time and patience to update over the next week or so. I have so much I want to post about! I don't think I can go forward without going back.

I also wanted to let everyone know that Wendy has joined the blogging world. Check out her blog and all the pictures of little Madison! I've added her to my friends list, but here is a link just in case:

www.thebuckelews.blogspot.com

Michelle will be so proud!

2009-02-21T10:53:00.006-05:00

Well...I did it! I have been reading all of Michelle's blogs about her new couponing hobby and I finally took the plunge and tried it myself. Last night, Matt and I went to CVS to pick up a prescription for Gracie. Michelle had already given me the info I needed to get 6-12 packs of Coke for a great deal, so I decided to try it. They were out of the soap I was supposed to buy to get an extra $4 off of my cokes, but I actually already had a $3 ECB from a previous purchase so I used that instead. After using my $3 ECB, plus getting $10 ECB back on my Coke purchase, I paid about $1.50 each for 6-12 packs of Cokes. I think I got a great deal!

Matt was with me and he is totally on board now. I even overheard him on the phone last night telling his Dad what a great deal we got and what great deals Michelle has already gotten. I am all about saving money, and I look forward to saving more!

Thanks Michelle!!!

Just a quick update on Matt...

2009-02-04T09:34:00.003-05:00

Matt seems to be doing very well. He continues to get around fairly well and refuses to stay on the couch. He even cooked dinner for us last night! He started physical therapy this week and has to go three times a week. His appointments are at 8:00 in the morning, so I take him and a dear friend of mine who is a stay at home mom has graciously volunteered to pick him up and take him back home so that I can go ahead and get to work. Thank you Heather!!

Yesterday was my first full day back at work. I think Matt was fine being at home by himself, besides just being bored. He is definitely not a stay in the house kind of guy. My parents left on Monday, but were a HUGE help while they were here. As of right now, everyone in the family is healthy (although Katherine had a note from daycare yesterday that she had been exposed to strep and pneumonia), and as soon as Matt is comfortable enough not to have to take any pain medicine he can drive.

Keep us in your prayers. Please pray specifically for his speedy recovery and for my work schedule. I haven't exactly worked out how I am going to get through tax season without his help. I'm hoping that he'll be able to drive and take care of the girls without too much difficulty in the next couple of weeks.

Surgery Update

2009-01-28T12:53:00.004-05:00

I just wanted to let everyone know that Matt's surgery went well yesterday. It was a long day, but we made it through. We had to be there at 7:30 in the morning and didn't make it home until about 3:30. He is actually doing a lot better than I expected him to be. I thought he would probably be pretty immobile for the first week or so, but he has been moving around on his crutches ever since we got home. He even went up the stairs last night so he could sleep in the bed. He's been complaining with pain a little more today than yesterday, but I told him that I thought the day after surgery was always the worst.

It has been a crazy last several days. Matt, Gracie and I all had a stomach virus over the weekend. I kept Gracie home from school on Monday, but took Katherine to daycare. The surgery was yesterday. About 4:00 yesterday afternoon, daycare called and said Katherine had a fever, so I had to go pick her up. So I have Katherine home today and Gracie at school. Nothing ever seems to work out exactly how we plan it, but I guess we do the best we can. My parents are coming in tonight, so I am thankful that they will be here the rest of the week and weekend to help out with the girls. Neither of the girls even care about me or Matt when Granny & PawPaw are around, so it will be a good distraction for them.

Keep us in your prayers and I will try to keep the blog updated!

He's not a kid anymore...

2009-01-21T13:21:00.002-05:00

Lori brought up Matt being hurt in a comment she made, so I just thought I would post about it so that everyone would know.

Over Christmas, we had a social gathering with my mother's side of the family. My mother has 7 brothers and sisters, so needless to say, it was a large gathering. There are also a lot of kids ranging from birth on up to their teens. Matt was outside playing football with all of the kids and he got tackled (even though I thought there was no tackling in touch football!) and slipped on the wet grass (it had been raining) and fell wrong on his leg. We actually thought he might have broken it, but most of his pain was in his knee. So...after about 5 hours in Andalusia hospital emergency room, we were reassured it was not broken but that he had probably pulled a ligament in his knee and he should follow up here in Knoxville when we returned home.

He could barely walk for 2 or 3 days, but it seemed to get better each day. He did go ahead and follow up here at an orthopedic clinic. They did an MRI and he found out he had actually torn his ACL. Apparently it doesn't grow back on its own, so he has to have surgery. They are going to move a ligament from the front of his knee to the side of his knee. We have scheduled his surgery for next Tuesday, January 27th.

He is expected to be in A LOT of pain the first 2 weeks. The nurse practitioner we spoke with said the first week is pretty much hell and the 2nd week isn't much better, but that if we can make it through those 2 weeks, he should be okay. Very reassuring, right?!?!

He will be on crutches for 6-8 weeks, then on a walking brace. The surgeon said he would not be fully recovered from this for 6 months!!!! We are praying that after 3-4 weeks, he will be able to go back to work and at least perform "light duty" tasks. The surgeon said we would work through this as we go.

Please pray for us. Specifically to guide the surgeon's hands and for fast healing. I am starting my busy season in the next couple of weeks and he is usually left with most of the child rearing in the tax season months. These are the times when I wished we were closer to home!

Tagged

2009-01-20T12:58:00.003-05:00

I have been tagged by Shonna to answer the hubby questions going around, so here goes!

1. What is his name? Joel Matthew Burgess

2. Who eats more? In volume, I would say Matt, but we probably eat about the same percentage of our body weight.

3. Who said, "I love you" first? This is sad, but I'm not sure. That was so long ago! We've been together over 15 years.

4. Who is taller? Matt, but it doesn't take much:)

5. Who is more sensitive? Me

6. Who does the laundry? Me, unless I haven't washed something he needs, then he does it.

7. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? I'm not sure if you are talking about while we are laying down or if I'm looking at the bed. If it's laying down, that's me.

8. Who pays the bills? We both work, but I do the online bill paying - Shonna, checks are so last century:)

9. Who cooks more? Matt, and he's better at it! He usually has dinner waiting for us when me and the girls get home. It's great!

10. Who is more stubborn? We both are!

11. Who is the first to admit they are wrong? Hmmm...neither one of us is ever wrong:)

12. Who has more siblings? Me. I have 2 brothers and 1 sister. He has 1 brother and 1 sister.

13. Who wears the pants in the relationship? We share the pants. Neither one of us is the "boss". We try to compromise and make decisions together.

14. What do you like to do together? The normal things.

15. Who eats more sweets? Probably Matt. He's a snacker. I just like to eat a lot of "real" food, although I do like cookies a lot!

16. Guilty pleasures? I'm like Shonna, I'm not sure of a "guilty" pleasure, but Matt likes to fish and I love to go to the movies and to go shopping.

17. How did you meet? A group of girls went to the movies to meet a group of guys (we were around 13). He asked me to sit by him. He hasn't been able to stay away from me ever since:)

18. Who asked whom out first? Matt did.

19. Who kissed who first? Matt did. I actually refused him the first time he asked:)

20. Who proposed? Matt did.

21. His best features and qualities? Hard working, caring, great father, loving, handsome, loyal.

22. Tag, you're it. Who do you tag? Michelle & Leslie (Sorry if you've already been tagged)

By the way Shonna, you skipped number 5. on your list. It actually confused me for a second:)

Santa Pictures

2009-01-14T11:25:00.006-05:00

I have decided that I have become a sporadic poster. I go a while without posting and then I do five in one day. Sorry!

I am FINALLY posting Santa pictures. As I've mentioned before, Gracie has been terribly scared of most anything and especially characters. For instance, she loves to go to Chuck E. Cheese, but will claw you to death trying to climb up into your arms if he even dares get within 20 feet of her. The last two years, I have had to be in the Santa picture with her to keep her from crying. I decided this year to actually book a session with Santa, so she would have time to talk to him and be around him a little before she was forced into his lap. My plan worked!! We first took pictures with Santa behind the girls' chair. They had NO CLUE he was even there. It was great! Then, he came out from behind the tree and began to talk to Gracie. He was such a nice guy. He called her by name, complimented her dress, joked with her. She ended up VERY comfortable with him as you can see in the pictures. It was a great success! Even Katherine did okay as long as I didn't make her sit in his lap, which I did, and I even forced the poor photographer to take the picture. Oh well, that's what memories are made of, right?

Just thought I would join in on the fun...

2009-01-14T11:22:00.002-05:00

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Family history - Family photo sharing

I thought this would be more of a shoe in...guess not.

2009-01-14T11:19:00.002-05:00

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celebrity - Collage - Morph

Madison Rae Buckelew

2009-01-14T10:24:00.003-05:00

I just wanted to let everyone know that Madison was born last night around 7 o'clock. She weighed a little over 7 lbs and was 20 inches long. Here is a picture I got on my phone from Wendy last night. Isn't she beautiful?!?!

She went to the doctor on Monday and her blood pressure was up. The doctor pretty much told her she could go home on bed rest or they could go ahead and have the baby. She opted for the latter:) She went in on Monday night and they started the induction. She hadn't progressed the way the doctor wanted to by Tuesday evening and she was having some issues with her epidural, so she ended up having a c-section last night. I spoke with Scott while she was in recovery. He seemed to be okay. He just said it had been a long day and Wendy would call me today.

I'm trying to give them their space, but I'm dying to talk to Wendy. I'm not sure how much longer I can hold off!!!

Gracie's 1st Sleepover

2009-01-05T16:57:00.002-05:00

Gracie had her first official sleepover company earlier in December. We've had people spend the night, but no one that wasn't visiting all of us. Anyway, they had a blast. It was her very best friend Kiersten whom she has known since birth. They are great friends and love one another a lot. They colored, made puppets, and ran from Katherine as she desperately tried to keep up with them. I thought I would hear a lot more playing coming from her room after "lights out", but they did great. They were up nice and early and we had muffins for breakfast. Kiersten had a Christmas party to go to so she had to leave a little early, but Gracie got to go spend the afternoon with her while I did a little Christmas shopping.

Don't they grow up way too fast? When did your kids have/go to their first sleepover?

Riding in the Car

2009-01-05T16:47:00.004-05:00

As many of you know, riding in the car for numerous hours with children can be somewhat stressful. We actually have two very good riders, thank goodness. We probably wouldn't travel near as much as we do if they weren't. I think it is mainly because we have just always traveled with them since they were infants and they understand that we can't do anything about it and they just have to be patient (Do I sound naive?) Nevertheless, boredom sets in on our long trips and this is how the girls entertain themselves...

I actually had a pretty funny one of Matt too, but I thought he might kill me if I put it on here:)

By the way, I actually only have one more post I want to do before I do my Christmas photos. Hopefully I'll get it up tomorrow and then I'll be all caught up!! If only...

Meet Jason Allen Todd!!!

2009-01-05T16:34:00.003-05:00

Ok, this is a little late, but oh well. Ashley wasn't due until January 31st, but little Jason decided he couldn't wait that long and blessed up with his presence on December 17th! He was 6 weeks early, but weighed an impressive 5 lbs 1 oz. He was on IV fluid for a couple of days, but after that he wasn't hooked up to anything except a feeding tube. He was struggling with eating from a bottle, so he had to stay a couple of weeks in the NICU. He came home yesterday and I know everyone is glad he is home. The commute back and forth to Mobile was pretty hard on everyone. Here is a couple of pictures taken when I was home for Christmas. Isn't he beautiful!

Babies are Blooming!!

2009-01-05T16:16:00.002-05:00

Thanksgiving weekend, I hosted a baby shower for my sister Ashley and my cousin Wendy. They were due within 2 weeks of one another and I thought I would take care of both of them while we were all home for Thanksgiving. Surprisingly, this is my first baby shower that I have planned and carried out practically by myself (my mother actually helped me out a lot). I had no idea how much work it was. I wanted everything to be perfect from the invitations to the food. I actually hand made the invitations, which was quite a task, but I thought they turned out great. I also made diaper cake centerpieces and daisy ink pens (Alana and Ashton helped me with those). There was also a clothesline with several little gifts on it. All of this was to go with my theme of Babies are Blooming! I had several nightmares that I forgot something or didn't invite someone. It was stressful, to say the least. It turned out great though! We had lots of family and friends there and lots of great food and presents.

Last Dollywood trip for 2008

2009-01-05T15:52:00.002-05:00

Right before Thanksgiving we went out to dinner with two guys Matt works with and their families. After dinner, we braved the night air to go see the lights at Dollywood. It was SO cold!!! The girls were all bundled up and they were still freezing. It was worth it though. The lights were AWESOME!!! Here are a couple of pictures we took while riding the cars, one of Gracie's favorite rides there. I'm actually not sure why I don't have any more pictures from that night, but here they are! (I think I was too cold to take my hands out of my pockets:))

Thanksgiving

2008-12-16T09:48:00.004-05:00

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!

2008-12-15T16:47:00.005-05:00

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

2008-10-28T11:27:00.008-04:00

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...

2008-10-24T08:43:00.005-04:00

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

2008-10-17T11:45:00.002-04:00

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...

2008-10-13T11:54:00.006-04:00

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!

2008-10-06T17:03:00.008-04:00

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!

2008-10-06T12:29:00.002-04:00

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.

2008-09-30T13:00:00.010-04:00

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

2008-09-30T12:25:00.006-04:00

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?

2008-09-29T10:59:00.004-04:00

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

2008-09-27T15:09:00.009-04:00

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!

2008-09-19T08:51:00.009-04:00

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...

2008-09-05T12:52:00.002-04:00

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

2008-09-03T14:42:00.003-04:00

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!!

Gracieism - That's my magic!

2008-08-28T08:57:00.002-04:00

About a year ago, I bought a journal because I wanted to write some of the things down that Gracie says that I think are sweet or comical. For those of you that know me very well know that has never happened. The journal sits in a closet somewhere and has never even seen a pen. It was actually a major step for me to even buy the thing! I've decided to start writing them on my blog instead. This way I can share it with others too!

The other day I took Gracie to buy ballet shoes. She starts back at ballet tonight and she has outgrown the shoes she wore last year. We were riding back home and were stopped at a red light. It was a rather long red light. Gracie, proudly sitting in her new high back booster seat, says "Abba Dabba, light turn GREEN!" Nothing. "Abba Dabba, light turn GREEN!" Still nothing. In a very small and defeated voice, Gracie says "I guess I'm not really magic." Not to be magic is devastating for a 4 year old, but she did not give up. She said to me "Mama, give me your magic!" I pretended to throw something at her and she said again "Abba Dabba, light turn GREEN!" Nothing. She proceeds to tell me that my magic isn't working either. Not to be deterred, she says she is going to grab someone else's magic from one of the cars next to us. Once she "grabs" it, she says once again "Abba Dabba, light turn GREEN!" Success!! She was very excited that at least someone's magic had worked!

It was also raining that day. Not too much, so I had the wipers on a delay. She decided she was going to make the wipers go on and off with her newfound magic ability, so she says "Magic, magic, turn the wipers OFF!" I, of course, turned them off without her noticing. She was so proud. The windshield was filling up with raindrops so I told her to turn them back on because before long, I wouldn't be able to see where we were going. She says "Magic, magic, turn the wipers ON!" I turned them back on. She beamed! I asked her in a very amazed voice "Gracie, HOW do you do that?" She said "That's my magic!"

State #2 - Virginia

2008-08-26T13:36:00.003-04:00

Last year I planned a surprise trip to Las Vegas for Matt's 30th Birthday. I invited Scott and Wendy to come along and we turned it into a surprise for both Matt and Scott's 30th Birthdays. We spent a long weekend there and we really had a good time. While we were there, we decided to travel the 50 states together over our lifetimes. When we were trying to decide where to go this year, there were several factors that came into play. First, Matt and I had spent a week in Hilton Head already, so finances were tight! Second, Wendy is about 5 months pregnant (it's a girl!), so we didn't want to do anything too strenuous or stressful. Third, we thought we would do a couple only trip since Wendy will have a baby next year that she probably won't want to leave with someone yet and we want some of our trips to be couple only trips. So...we settled on Virginia. We went to Smith Mountain Lake, Virginia which is in between Roanoke and Bedford.

There were some historical sites as you can see in the slide show. We visited the National D-Day Memorial. It has only been open since 2000. It was a very nice tribute to the troops that lost their lives that day. We had a great guide who had actually talked to several of the troops that had survived that day so he shared his "inside information" with us. Scott & Wendy also planted a flag in the flag garden in honor of his grandfather.

We also visited the Natural Bridge, which is the only natural bridge in the world. It was, at one time, on the list of 7 wonders of the world. You could see where people had carved their names in the rock walls, with dates as far back as the 1800s. Even George Washington had carved his initials there. It was amazing. In this same area was the indian village replica and the waterfall. We actually were not too happy when we got to the waterfall and realized we had hiked about a mile for barely a stream of water!! Oh well, I'm sure we all needed the exercise.

We visited a haunted house that had me and Wendy screaming at the top of our lungs! Scott was our fearless leader as the rest of us huddled behind him as he led us through the house. It was pretty creepy, but fun! We also went to a cavern that is about 30 stories deep. There was a huge crack in one of the "ceilings" that the guide said was caused by an earthquake. There was also an area that they had been giving tours in until they found out the floor was only about 3 inches deep! Thank goodness no one had ever fallen through!! At one point the guide turned out the lights so that we could see how dark it actually was in there. It was so dark you couldn't even see your hand in front of your face. I can't even imagine how scary it would have been to be the first person down there!

Booker T. Washington's birthplace was our last stop. We visited the place where he was a slave until he was 9. They have built a replica of what the farm looked like while he was there. The tiny house was amazing - we were told that around 8 or 9people lived there. I didn't realize before this that he was one of the founders of Tuskegee University. I'm not a real history buff, but his life story was pretty incredible!

We also ate a lot of good food and we stayed on the lake which Matt and Scott enjoyed. They fished during our down times and late into the night. We really had a great time and I can't wait to see where we'll go next year!

Happy Birthday Gracie!

2008-08-25T09:45:00.004-04:00

We had Gracie's birthday party at the Bounce House. It's one of those places that has several of those inflatable slides, etc. to play on. Every kid there had the time of their lives. They did not stop running, screaming, and laughing for the whole hour and fifteen minutes of play time. It was great! Katherine was a little scared of the big slide at first, but after she went down it (against her will, of course) a few times, she began to like it a little more.

We did a Barbie princess theme. I thought the cake turned out pretty. Gracie was distraught at first because she didn't want anyone to eat the Barbie cake. I guess she thought we could just take it home and keep it forever!

She also got lots of presents. We bought her a digital camera, which she loves. She has been taking pictures of EVERYTHING! She also got a fairy dress up costume and a jewelry box to put all of her earrings in (We had her ears pierced Father's Day.) She got lots of other stuff too, but I won't bore you with all of those details.

Her actual birthday is tomorrow, the 26th. I'm still denying the fact that I'm about to have a 4 year old!! I know Kindergarten will be here before I know it and I am just not ready for that!!

Happy Birthday Katherine!!

2008-08-18T11:01:00.017-04:00

Ok, I know this is going backwards, but I couldn't stand to not post Katherine's birthday. It was on 7/10 and we had her party at my parents house. We used the Abby Cadabby theme. I think she is such a cute Sesame Street character. Bear with me - I couldn't choose on the pictures:)

Mystery Mine Disaster...

2008-08-11T16:25:00.003-04:00

You will never believe what happened to me this weekend! My parents were here and we all went to Dollywood on Saturday. It was packed!! I guess people were trying to get one more trip in before school started this week. We had a good time. Gracie rode most of the kiddie rides and she played for quite a while in the water area. She also rode a water log ride with the four of us, which she LOVED! I can't wait until she is a little taller, because I think she will be just like me and love all of the roller coasters - the faster the better!

Speaking of which...Matt, Daddy and I wanted to ride the newest roller coaster they have, called the Mystery Mine. I had heard a lot of people say it was a great coaster and was really scary. I thought, hey, the scarier the better, right?!? WRONG!!! There is a point in the roller coaster where you go straight up (your back is parallel to the ground below) about 40 foot and then you go straight back down (your stomach is parallel to the ground below). Unfortunately, we never made it down. We got to the top and the all the lights went out and the car just stopped!! We were just hanging there...looking at the ceiling...thinking that it was to going to let go at any moment and we were all going to DIE!!! (At least, that's what I was thinking.) I also made the mistake of looking behind me and realizing that it was so far down, I couldn't even see the ground! My dad was perfectly calm, saying that even if the brakes let go, we would just go backwards, but we would stay on the track. I was thinking that he was probably right, but I sure didn't want to test his theory. After a few minutes, a voice over the loud speaker told us they knew we were stuck and they were coming to get us. They told us this about every 5 minutes for the next 30 minutes or so. There were 7 of us in the car and I don't think any of us were certain how they were going to get us down. We thought for sure we were going to have to rappel (sp?) down the side of the building. FINALLY, they came to get us in what Matt called a "man lift". It was a metal basket that was on a cable system that they brought up next to us. They lifted up our harness thing (OMG, I'm going to fall!!!) and we had to scoot over to the basket. From start to finish, we were probably in there about an hour. It was the scariest thing I think I have ever experienced (besides childbirth:))

I did get 5 day passes and a free dinner out of it:) I haven't decided if I'll ride it again. What would you do???

http://www.dollywood.com/mmine/defaultb.htm

We're Late!

2008-08-08T09:01:00.001-04:00

For about the last year, Gracie has been at the age that a lot of things that come out of her mouth are just so funny! It is amazing and comical to see her figure out how the world works. This is the latest story:

Background: We have a smoke alarm in just about every room in the house. For probably close to a year now, various ones have been acting up, beeping at us at random times. We thought this meant that the batteries were running low, so we have replaced them. That seems to work for a short period, but not too long. One actually started alarming at various times (mostly in the middle of the night!!) so Matt ended up just taking it down. For several months now, the one in the living room has started beeping in the middle of the night and just over the last day or two, the one in our bedroom has started beeping! (We obviously have issues, I know!)

So anyway, I was changing Katherine's diaper before we were leaving to go to daycare and one of the smoke alarms beeped. Gracie said "Mama, do you hear that? That means we are running late! When that thing beeps, it means we are running late! We have to hurry!"

I'm pretty certain she got the beeping from our alarm clocks, because we are avid snoozers. And I am always telling her we are late to get her moving faster (or because we really ARE running late:)). I guess she just put the two together. I LOVE this age!

Our Trip to the Beach...

2008-08-04T10:09:00.001-04:00

We just got back (well, a week ago) from the beach at Hilton Head, SC. We went with some friends of ours, Denton & Jessica and their two kids, Bryson (8 years old) and Dane (11 months).

We had a blast. I was anxious to get there to see what the Carolina beaches looked like. I've been told all of my life that Florida beaches were the more beautiful beaches and they were right! Florida beaches are more beautiful, but I liked the texture of the sand in SC better. We could actually walk on the beach without sinking a foot into it. It was more like dirt, with a little bit of sand on top.

Just so you know, Gracie adores Bryson! There were some other boys his age there with us off and on (they stayed at a different location) and Gracie kept telling me they needed to go home so Bryson would play with her instead!

The house we rented was right on a small waterway. Every time I couldn't find Matt, I knew just where to look:) Gracie caught a fish while we were there. She was so proud! As was her Daddy! (See the smile on his face)

Well...I'm finally blogging. Let me know what you think!