Black Friday

Mimi called last night and wanted to know if I wanted to go shopping this morning. I have always said NO because of the crowds, but this year I was excited about it. I called my Mama to see if she could watch the girls, but Hayden overheard what was going on and wanted to go with Mimi and myself. We weren't going to be buying anything for her so Mimi and I decided she could go too! Gracie on the other hand had to stay with Nana, she isn't much fun shopping, she doesn't like to be still that long.

I dropped Gracie off at Nana's about 10am and met Mimi at Belks. I got a new bedspread, since Hayden decided to cut a big hole in mine. I love it, it is so beautiful! Hayden had lots of fun helping us pick one out, she is definitely going to be a great shopper...like her Aunt Kim! Once we got done at Belks...Hayden looked at Mimi and said "I want to go to another store" so we left there and decided to have lunch at Applebee's. It was very good, Hayden had already decided she wanted shrimp. What can I say she eats very good and isn't picky at all, unlike her baby sister. She couldn't eat all of it so we got a to go box and brought it home. Once we got done with lunch Hayden says "I want to go to another store" so we went to Old Navy and got the girls a few things. While we were checking out she looks at Mimi and says "I want to go to another store" I guess you get the picture by now. That girl LOVES to shop! Finally after three or four more stores she decided she was getting tired and was ready to go to Nana's. We had so much fun shopping with Mimi today, it has been a LONG time since I have shopped like that! Maybe it is something we can do every year, except we need Aunt Kim to join us too! The official girls day out!

When we got back to Nana's house, Gracie was glad to see us! Nana said she was such a good little girl today. She played with Mama's little dog and all her toys I packed up for her. I made sure I packed all the loud and obnoxious toys this morning, after all those are the most entertaining. She took a 2 hour nap, I guess I need to find out Nana's secret and then ate a big lunch! I am so glad she was good because when I left she was screaming MaMa! I think Nana had fun today too, she says Gracie has an excellent personality.

While we were in town I decided to go by and see Mema and Pop too. Then I remembered that I had the to go boxes of food in the car, so I decided to take them inside and put them in Mema's refrigerator. We spent some time playing and Hayden always draws Mema a new picture for her fridge and we were all having fun until Gracie started fussing. I guess she was ready to call it a day, she was ready to come home to all her stuff. We loaded up the car and were almost home when I realized I left the food at Mema's house...Well needless to say I had to turn around and go all the way back to get it. Hayden was crying and begging me to go back because she really wanted her shrimp for dinner. I went back and Pop brought it out to the car so I didn't have to come back inside. When we got home she ate every single shrimp that was left and every single french fry too! I guess it was worth it to see her enjoy it so much!

Now I have two very tired little girls, so I guess I need to go get them in the bathtub and ready to night night! We had a great time today Mimi!!!

Happy Thanksgiving

We have had a wonderful Thanksgiving with our great family. We have so much to be thankful for! Today we went to Grandmama's to eat a delicious traditional Thanksgiving Day meal. We had all the good stuff...dressing, turkey, mac and cheese, and of course all of the desserts. I am pretty sure every one left with a full tummy! Hayden had a great time, she ate a lot of mac and cheese, she says Aunt Kim makes the best! She didn't want to waste a whole lot of time eating though, she wanted to go fishing with Pop. Pop and Hayden fished almost the whole time we were there. She sure did enjoy it!

Gracie didn't want Mommy to get to far out of her sight. She ate lots of mac and cheese and mashed potatoes and she seemed to enjoy the ham and turkey! Sometimes she can be a very picky eater. She will not eat anything green, but she will eat mac and cheese every meal! After we all got done eating, Gracie opened up a little and went outside with Aunt Linda and Hayden to play with the dog next door. Today was a great Thanksgiving as always!

We also got to see Katelyn today. I think her and Gracie are going to have lots of fun when they get a little older, and Gracie doesn't have to be within 2 inches of her Mommy! Katelyn is getting so big and so pretty! We all have so much to be thankful for in this family, we are all truly blessed!!!

Oh, we put our Christmas tree up yesterday, yes I know we did it before Thanksgiving, but Mark and I think that it was a great idea. There wasn't anyone at the tree farm and we were able to walk around and pick out the best tree they had! We also got to play with the animals they had, usually when we go it is so crowded, we just pick out a tree really fast and get the heck out of there. It was nice to take our time and watch the girls play with the goats and baby cow. Gracie thought the cow was funny and she wasn't to sure about the goats. The cow liked Hayden so much it tried to EAT her shirt and of course Gracie thought that was hiliarious. It was pretty funny, however the whole time we were looking for our perfect tree, Hayden kept saying "Mommy I just want to play with the cow." We did end up getting the PERFECT tree. I am so excited, we already have it decorated. Mark took Gracie with him for a little ride last night while Hayden and I put the lights on the tree. Hayden basically carried the lights around the tree with me, but it was very helpful so I could place them right where I wanted them. The only bad thing was is after we plugged in the last set of lights, they all went out, yes every light on the tree. So if you know me...then you know that I freaked out. I had to unplug each set of lights until I found the bad ones, but Hayden and I figured it out. Everything was fine, and we decided that we would try one more set of lights and guess what...EVERY light went out again, so we had to repeat the whole process. After that we decided we had enough lights, which we really did, but I always put a ton of lights on the tree(that is what makes it so pretty). When we got done Hayden and I stood back and she said "Mommy it looks beautiful." She helped decorate with the ornaments a little bit, she hung the fun ornaments like Burt, Ernie and Big Bird, those used to mine and Uncle Randy's when we were little. Then Mimi, Pop, Kim, and Artie came over to eat with us, so she decided she would rather play with all her favorite people. Which was okay because I hung all the ornaments that were breakable! We still have a few things to put on it tonight that she is excited about!

Pop picked out some really cute pajamas for Gracie:

They liked that baby cow:

That cow got Hayden's shirt and Gracie thinks it is really funny:

Sweet girls:

Our PERFECT tree:

Hayden's 1st Hunting Trip

Hayden went bird hunting today with Mark and Ms. Sue(our new dog). This is her first official hunting trip. Mark took her to Academy Sports this morning and bought her a new bird vest and whistle for Sue. She was so proud of her hunting attire, she is an adorable little hunter. Uncle Heath went with them to hunt, he shot the birds while Mark took care of Hayden and Sue. Sue did an excellent job, Mark was very pleased with his new dog. Hayden, on the other hand has decided she might not be such a big hunter. Mark said she was loving it for the first 10 minutes and after that she got some cockaburrows on her and she was DONE. For some reason she is terrified, and I mean TERRIFIED of the cockaburrows (I guess because of the ones on the beach when we go) even after they got home she wouldn't put her bird vest back on for some pictures because she thought that the cockaburrows were still in it. She ended up crying until Mark took her back to the truck, so he decided it was time to call it a day. It was the first time she has ever been hunting, so she really didn't know what to expect. I think that she did have a good time, maybe she will try to go again and love it.

When they got home, Hayden helped clean the birds(yuck). She is an excellent helper with everything. We did finally convince her that there weren't any cockaburrows in her vest so we could take a few pictures with the birds. She looks so proud! I hope next time she will enjoy it more, she was so excited about it all when they left this morning. Here is how the trip went:

Hayden getting ready to put Sue in the truck...
Sue is after those birds...

Mark says this is a pretty point(whatever that means)...

Uncle Heath shooting birds for Hayden...

The Hunters(aren't they cute)

Look at these birds...

She says they are really soft(I will take her word for it)...

She was so proud of how LONG her hair was...

Until next time...

Open House at GWA

Today I went for the open house tour at George Walton Academy. I can't believe that my baby is supposed to be in K4 next year. It seems like just yesterday that I found out I was pregnant for the first time. Mark and I were so excited when we found out that we starting our family, we couldn't wait to tell every one. I must say that Mimi and Pop had the best reaction when they found out they were going to be grandparents...and every one else was very excited too! I just can't believe that was almost 4 years ago.

I know that I should be happy that she is starting big girl school, but it is kind of sad because I feel like she is growing up way too fast. I did enjoy my tour of the school, it is a very good school. George Walton will allow her lots of opportunities that she probably wouldn't get anywhere else. I know she will be excited about it, especially the part that Mimi will be there everyday. She goes for her testing on January 30th and I hope she does well. I know she is smart enough, but she is very shy. I hope she doesn't just freeze up and not want to talk to any of the teachers or other kids. She may surprise me and go in there and not be shy and want to do everything. I guess I will just have to wait and see.

While I was gone, Nana and Steve came out and spoiled the girls. I am pretty sure they stayed outside playing all day. I think Hayden and Gracie wore Nana and Steve out today. They looked more tired than the girls did when I got back home. It is interesting now because Gracie wants to do everything Hayden does. Evidently Gracie enjoyed being outside too, her knees on her little pants were pretty nasty when I got home, she knows how to walk but still thinks she goes faster on her knees. Gracie is like her daddy, she is a very, very busy little girl. She is always on the go. If she is still, she is sleeping! I love it! I love all of it. I love watching the things that remind me of myself and Mark in our girls. Hayden is very shy and never really gotten into a lot of stuff, like myself and well Gracie is a lot like her Daddy, she isn't shy at all and always into something. I love my husband and my girls with all my heart. They truly do make me complete.

I try to be fair with both of my girls and spend time with them together and individually. I always have more time alone with Gracie, while Hayden is at Preschool, so now when Gracie takes a nap I try to do something that Hayden enjoys, which lately is me jumping on the trampoline with her. Although today she wanted to cut with scissors while I put all the groceries up. Trying to be a good Mommy, I told her to go ahead and get a piece of paper and she could go ahead and start cutting while she was waiting for me. I didn't have much to do before I could sit down with her. She usually cuts a piece of paper into tiny pieces and I just tell her where to cut next and clean up the mess...Well today she decided to cut on my bed spread. You would think I would have been very upset and punished her but I couldn't. I don't even know how these scissors cut into the bedspread, they are little kiddie scissors. She came in the kitchen and told me that my bed had a hole in it...I asked her what she was talking about and she started crying. I knew immediately after that what she had done. It isn't too big of a hole, but it is right in the middle, where I won't be able to hide it. She cried for a long time, which was funny because I never even got onto her. I figured she didn't need to be punished because obviously she knew how wrong it was without anyone telling her that. I just told her it was okay, but that we only cut paper not anything else. I sure do hope Grandmama or Mimi can repair it!!!

On another note, I had bought one of those leash things for Hayden when she was little. It was a Monkey book bag looking thing. I was always scared of her running away from me...Well Mark refused to let me use it and looking back on it...I am sure glad I didn't. Well, today Hayden put the Monkey on Gracie and was dragging her around the house playing DOG. Gracie was growling and really into it. Nana and Steve came in about the time all this started. I haven't heard my Mama laugh that hard in a long time. If you ever need to be cheered up or just have a good laugh, just call for a funny story or come visit my angels!

Last night I found Hayden going to sleep in her baby doll bed. This baby doll bed has been in my family for a long time. It has been passed down to all the little girls. I had to take a picture:

She looked very comfy!

Turkey

When I picked Hayden up from school today, she told me she had something very special to show me. She couldn't wait until we got home, so she opened her book bag and pulled out a book they made called How To Cook a Thanksgiving Turkey. I told her that we would have to wait until we got home to read it, because Mommy had to drive. When we got home and put everything up I pulled it back out of her book bag. It is a recipe book made by her class, each child had a recipe on how to cook a Turkey. It is absolutely the funniest thing I have ever seen! I laughed and laughed, it was so funny I had to call and read it to Mark. I can just see Mrs. Christie and Mrs. Sue's faces when these kids told them how their Mommy cooks a turkey. I couldn't wait to see what Hayden's recipe was, she was the last one in the book and I must say it was a great way to end the book.

This is how it went...

Recipe by Hayden Stancil

Mommy buys a turkey at the grocery store. She cooks it at home for 2 to 3 hours at 5 degrees or maybe 300. She puts tomato sauce on top. Daddy cuts it up and then Mommy puts it all in a bowl. I like it!

I figured every one could use a good laugh!

Sue

Sue is our new dog. She is 8 years old and is an English Pointer, a bird hunting dog. She is white with brown spots, I must say she is very cute and so far been very calm and shy. Hayden says she is very shy because she doesn't know us yet, but she will be okay. Mark took Hayden with him to pick up Ms. Sue. When they got to there to get the dog Mr. White(the previous owner) spoke to Hayden and of course she got behind Mark and looked down at the ground. Mr. White told Hayden that her and Ms. Sue would get along great because Ms. Sue is very shy too! Mark said that he had a good time with Hayden in the truck, he said she talked and talked and when she wasn't talking she sang him every song that she has learned at Preschool. I just laughed because she really does talk and sing everywhere we go too! When they got back home last night, being the good Mommy I am, I let Ms. Sue come inside so the girls could pet her. She was so good, she walked all around the house, let the girls pet her, and then she went to sleep on the living room floor. That is my kind of dog! Mark kept telling Hayden that he sure did enjoy spending the day with her and she would say "Me too." It was so sweet, he really is the best Daddy in the world and he loves to do things with his girls. Oh, and Gracie was very excited to meet Ms. Sue, she would pet her on the head and just squeal and smile!


I have already promised that when Mark gets home tonight, they can bring Ms. Sue in again, since it is going to be dark outside. Hayden keeps asking me "When is Daddy coming home?" I told her he will be here in a minute and she says "Well, I wish he would come on!"


I don't have a very good picture yet, but we did take this one last night.

Letter to Santa Claus

Yesterday afternoon Hayden and I sat down and wrote her letter to Santa Claus telling him exactly what she wanted for Christmas. She was so excited, she also had to draw Santa a picture to send. I wrote everything she said she wanted and lucky for me there were only a few things she said that Santa didn't already know about. One was a Barbie doll, so I told her that she already has several in her room that she doesn't play with and she says "OK maybe I will get those next year". I used to love Barbie dolls, but I was a little older than 3 before I got into them! Right now her main focus is ANYTHING that has a PRINCESS on it, which is so cute to me, I think I enjoy playing with all the princess stuff as much as she does. After all every little girl is a princess, right! When she got done with her letter, she was so sweet and said that we needed to do a letter for Gracie too! She is the most thoughtful little girl I know. She helped me with Gracie's letter to Santa, unfortunately Gracie doesn't get a lot of input this year. Gracie will be very excited about the gifts Hayden has picked for her. I bet next year will be very interesting! Once we got finished with the letters, I put them in envelopes and even let Hayden put the stamps on them. Yes, I wasted two perfectly good stamps, but it was so worth it to see how excited she was to do this all by herself. Then we all got in the car (Mommy, Hayden and Gracie) and went down to the mailbox and Hayden put them in herself and closed it up and said "the mail man will get those tomorrow". When we got back in the house I slipped into the other room and called Mark and told him to get the letters out of the mailbox when he got home. He started laughing and I told him this is something that we are going to have to do every year now. I always had to write a letter to Santa, actually Mama says that I always wrote several letters (I guess I needed lots of Toys). So today we are going to let her check the mailbox and make sure the mail man got the them. She will be so happy!!!

Oh, we also decorated our house with all our Christmas stuff yesterday! Well, except for our big tree, Mark has to have a real tree, so I have to wait a little longer for that. Yes, I know it isn't even Thanksgiving yet, but Hayden and I couldn't wait any longer. I have always loved the holidays, but I love them even more now because I see how much my girls LOVE it. Gracie is also fascinated with all of the new things out especially the lights on the little Christmas trees. Hayden decorated her Pink Christmas tree in her room the way she wanted it. She did an excellent job! It is called, I bet you can't guess...The PRINCESS CHRISTMAS TREE! We had so much fun, it was to bad Mark had to work, but boy was he surprised when he got home!

Christmas Pictures

Today Mimi and I took the girls to have our yearly Christmas pictures done. Gracie was well just Gracie, not interested at all! She kept knee crawling or walking away. Hayden was an angel as always! They are definitely the most beautiful girls ever, and as usual we got some great pictures. Gracie thought the ornaments were balls, so she was throwing them across the room. She has a pretty good arm! Mimi also took the girls shopping. It is so funny watching Hayden shop now, some of the things she picks out I'm not to sure about but I guess she has her own taste. I can only imagine the arguments in the future between us about her clothes and hair!

Thanks Mimi for everything! Here are our beautiful girls!

Thanksgiving Lunch

Today was Thanksgiving Lunch at Preschool. Gracie and I went to eat with Hayden. This morning Hayden was so excited about us coming to see her today. I had to pack a sack lunch for Hayden, so she informed me that Gracie and I had to have a sack lunch too. When I got to the Preschool, all the other parents had brought in McDonalds, Chick-fil-a, and Subway. I thought oh no Hayden is going to be disappointed. To my surprise she didn't even notice, she ate every bit of her sack lunch. She ate her apple jelly sandwich, she will not eat peanut butter on it at all. I guess she likes what she likes. She also had Doritos and Oreo cookies. At least I know for sure that she really does eat her lunch at school everyday. Gracie had gold fish, applesauce and a cereal bar. I figured she would eat something a little better for her for Dinner tonight. I don't think one junk food lunch is going to hurt anything.

When I got there we had to find Hayden's name on the table she was going to be sitting at. Gracie and I sat down and waited on her class to come in. As soon as she seen us she started smiling, as always. The classmates at her table with us were Kierstin, Tyler and Luke. It was funny, Hayden didn't even really talk to anyone, she was to busy eating her lunch. I think all of us parents talked more than the kids. They were pretty quiet today!

I had a great time. I am so glad I get to go and do all of these fun things with Hayden.

Pajama Day

Today was pajama day at Preschool. I bought Hayden a new set of monkey pajamas this past weekend because her Daddy now calls her Monkey instead of Punkin. I started calling Hayden, Punkin right after she was born. I would always tell her that she was Mommy's little punkin and that I will always take good care of her. Soon after I started the whole Punkin thing, Mark picked it up too and now I think every one calls her Punkin..well except her Daddy. It depends on what day it is sometimes she tells Mark "I'm not a monkey..I'm a punkin" and other days she tells us that she Punkin to Mommy and Monkey to Daddy. Anyway, she had some really cute Strawberry Shortcake pajamas in her room, but she decided that she was going to wear the monkey ones to school. I must say I was really surprised that we didn't have to go out and buy the princesses. She is all about the princesses, she does have some princess bedroom shoes but I didn't let her wear them to school. I was afraid her feet would get to hot in them all day, she is so hot natured. I wanted to put her hair in pig tails or up somehow, but of course that wasn't going to happen. In the last few months she has decided that she wants her hair to be curly and wear it down just like Mommy. Even after I beg and plead with her to let me show her how cute it would be, she always says "NO, I want to leave it down." There is nothing like arguing with a 3 year old about her hair. It really doesn't matter because she always so cute no matter what she has on or how her hair looks.

The Preschool also wanted them to bring their favorite teddy bear to school with them today. Hayden could care less about a teddy bear, but I found a princess baby doll outfit in her room and put it on a little white teddy bear and told her that the teddy bear is a princess bear, which seemed to work out pretty good. Sometimes I surprise myself with my cute little ideas! In order for her to take the thing that makes her most comfortable, it would have to be TIRED and there was no way I was sending it to preschool today. Two reasons TIRED wasn't allowed to visit Preschool today and they are...One, no one is allowed to touch TIRED and Two...If she lost it, it would be really bad. TIRED is much to special to take any chances, she holds on to it all the way to school and leaves it in her car seat. When I pick her up the first thing she does it pick up and start sucking her thumb. She did inform me the other day that her teachers will not let her suck her thumb at school. At first I felt sorry for her, but then went on to tell her that when big girls are at school they don't need to suck their thumb, that she is supposed to be having fun with all her classmates and learning all kinds of new things. Then I told her that she only needs to suck her thumb when she is going to take a nap or when she goes to bed at night.

Notice she has her shoes on the wrong foot, Mark says he always wore his on the wrong foot too, apparently the Indians can't track you down that way!!!

Hayden and Princess Bear:

Fireplace

Hayden and Gracie love to sit on the fireplace when Mark builds a fire. Gracie is not supposed to climb up there and sit, but the other night they looked so cute sitting there in their PJ's, so we took some pictures. Gracie was extremely happy! She is starting to take really cute pictures now, when she smiles and shows all those little teeth. Hayden has always taken great pictures.

Two cutie pies:

Now that's a happy baby:

Gracie decided that she really has missed riding in her stroller, so she found a new one to use in the house. It is actually Hayden's baby doll stroller, but she looked so cute playing in it. She can only go backwards she hasn't figured out how to go forward.

Hayden and Gracie also got to play outside a lot yesterday since the weather was so nice. They played with everyone...Grandmama, Linda, Thomas, Mimi, Pop, Kim, Artie, Heath and Alisha. Alisha got a new puppy and Hayden had lots of fun with it, she took very good care of it like a baby. They had so much FUN!

We raced Grandmama and Linda down the driveway on the golf cart, not really but Hayden thought we were. Grandmama told Linda real fast like that she wasn't going to fast down our bumpy driveway. Linda let us go first down the driveway and because she stayed far behind us, Hayden says we were first and WON. So when Grandmama and Linda met us at the end of the driveway, Mark asked Linda if she wanted to race on the road, but before we could say GO, Linda and Grandmama were already GONE. Hayden says Linda is a CHEATER!!!

While we were riding I looked over and and couldn't believe that Gracie's hair was blowing in the wind. She is finally getting a good bit of hair now, of course Hayden was almost 2 before she got a lot of hair too!

Cleaning the Yard

We have been cleaning our basement and yard up for the past month. We have had a dumpster for the past month also, and it is FULL. We had more junk and trash than anyone should have. Mark borrowed Uncle Richard's tractor to clean up around the yard and pick up trash to throw into the dumpster. I got up early this morning and went to take Santa a list of Hayden and Gracie's Christmas items(or at least that is what Hayden thinks happened). While I was taking care of Christmas lists, Mark and Hayden put Gracie down for her morning nap and started working in the basement and on the tractor. Hayden sits in her Daddy's lap and helps with everything, when he stops and gets off to do something, she is right behind him. She is such a great helper and she has helped every weekend in the basement. She doesn't mind doing anything, but she prefers to sweep. After I got back home and we all had lunch, Hayden and Mark went back out to work. Gracie and I stayed inside, she isn't quite big enough to help in the yard yet, but she wanted to be with her Daddy and Hayden. She kept sitting at the door calling for them, so I thought it would be a great idea to take her out to play on the tractor too! Well, except the fact that Mark couldn't hold onto both of the them and still drive, so instead we took some pictures. Gracie thought it was very exciting and Hayden kept telling her that she couldn't touch ANYTHING!!!

Gracie, look how little she looks on this big tractor:

Daddy and his girls:

Watch out Uncle Richard, Gracie is driving your tractor:

While Mark was making a trip down to the dumpster, Hayden decided she was going to follow him in her Gator. She put it in high speed and went through all the rough parts of the yard. You should have seen her bouncing around in that Gator! Well, all was good until she hit the one big bump and this is what happened....

Oops, she hit a big hole, but don't worry Daddy and Gracie will save the day:

She just needed a little push, but it looks like she has done this before:

and she is off again:

It was so funny, we couldn't help laughing at her, she just sat there looking at us like...what just happened and when Mark and Gracie pulled the tractor in front of her...her eyes were as big as they could get. I think Mark was proud, because after he got her out of the hole, she put her Gator back in high speed and hit that hole again and managed to get the front tires out but not the back, Mommy had to give her a little push.

Having kids is so much fun, you never know what they are going to do next. They always make us laugh whatever it is!

Fall

Yesterday I took Hayden and Gracie to visit Mema and Pop. They have a beautiful tree in their front yard in the Fall. Last year I was able to get some good pictures underneath it and so I thought I might try this year too. I got a few good pictures, but I actually think I like the pictures of them doing their own thing instead of posing (looks more real). Joanne(my aunt) and Kelli(my cousin) came over to help get the girls to smile. Joanne and Kelli were bouncing around like clowns, it worked on Hayden but Gracie was just looking at everyone like we were crazy. Finally, I decided to get in the pictures too and let Kelli work the camera while Joanne was running around the yard. It was actually fun watching my aunt act crazy, I haven't seen her do that since I was about 4 years old and they were trying to get me to smile for pictures. It always makes Mema and Pop very excited to see Hayden and Gracie! Mema tells me everyday that they are the most precious babies in the world, I must say I agree.

We also stopped by to see Nana and Steve, but by this time Gracie was way overdue for a nap. Hayden had fun hitting golf balls and playing kick ball in the backyard. She also has to feed all the birds when we stop, she looks just like Snow White, the way all the birds fly down and eat the seeds. I used to laugh everyday when I would pick her up from Mama's she would be outside feeding the birds like a princess.

Walking

Last night Gracie decided that she was going to stand up from her princess couch and walk across to the living room to the TV. She was so proud of herself and of course Hayden and I were like cheerleaders, cheering every step she took. She doesn't crawl anymore, she either walks on her knees or her feet. Not sure where the walking on the knees came from, it is a little different. Hopefully now she is going to take off and walk all the time. Every time she stands up by herself Hayden and I clap and act like nuts, so now when she does it she waits for a reaction (it is so cute). When she takes off across the floor she scrunches that little nose up and smiles the whole way (I love it)!!! Way to go Gracie Leigh!!!

Here are a few pictures, I wasn't able to edit them yet but they are cute:

Standing up ready to go...

There she goes...

Whew, I'm tired now...

Hayden and I have been putting Gracie in the bed with us in the mornings, since the time change everyone is getting up earlier. Mark used to put Hayden in the bed with me when she was little every morning before he went to work. She would snuggle up with me and go back to sleep and when it was time for me to get up and get ready for work, I would put her back in her bed. I loved my snuggle time with Punkin! Gracie on the other hand is like a wild baby in the bed, she doesn't want to lay down, snuggle or be quiet. She is constantly talking to Hayden and trying to climb on top of Hayden and I. Hayden says Gracie is no longer allowed to get in the bed with us, she has to stay in her bed because it is not nice to wake her up! The only time Gracie snuggles is when she is ready to take a nap, she will get in my lap with pooh bear and her cup, and when she is ready to give hugs and kisses I take all I can get!!!

As of this morning Hayden has been calling me MOM, I told her that until she is A LOT older I am Mommy. I am 30 years old and I still don't call my Mama...MOM!

Yearly Calendar

Today I had a few errands to run before I picked Hayden up from Preschool so I left a little earlier, but ended up getting finished with everything before 12:30. Gracie doesn't like to sit in car pool for too long, she starts yelling in the back seat. Mimi had something for me to pick up at the school, so I went by to get it and convinced Mimi to go through car pool with us today. I thought it would be a nice surprise for Hayden. Hayden was surprised to see Mimi and very happy too! I ask her if she got in trouble today and she said no but Grant did because he pushed her down and Paxton was mean to her too! Apparently on the playground they were running and Grant got a little to excited and pushed Hayden down, so he had to go on the yellow light and sit out and watch everyone else play. Mimi asked her what she did today and she said she made a bird feeder out of a doughnut. Mimi and I were a little confused, but she kept saying it was a doughnut with peanut butter and bird food. Well when we got home this is what I found in her book bag!!!

It is actually a bagel but to a three year old I suppose it does look like a doughnut! It was really cute and she is very proud of it, she is planning on making lots more.

Since it was such a beautiful day today, I thought it would be a good day to put the girls in their Christmas dresses Mimi and Pop bought them and try to get a couple of pictures for my yearly calendar. I try to put a picture that has something to do with each month, but last year Gracie was so little there are not many pictures of them together, so I thought I had a good plan. Well that plan went south fast. Hayden didn't really want to cooperate which made me agitated, so then Hayden got agitated and then Gracie got agitated... Well you get the picture! So we took a break and come inside got some juice and calmed down for a little while and went back out and tried again. I wasn't sure if there would be another perfect day like today. The weather is beautiful and warm, so nobody would be freezing and I wanted to do them outside like the Halloween pictures. I ended up getting some cute pictures, not sure if it is really what I wanted but it is something to work with. I have a whole new respect for photographers when they work by themselves, when one kid was looking the other was taking off across the yard, or crying, or pouting. Here is how our photo shoot went:

It started out with Gracie making faces and a fingerprint on the lens:

Hayden looking and Gracie eating grass:



This is actually one of the best of them together:

Hayden being silly and Gracie not even looking:

Gracie looking and Hayden not paying attention:

Here is Gracie but Hayden has taken off:

Hayden smiling and Gracie is crawling away:

Hayden looking beautiful except she is holding leaf:

I think I had a little too much light but it does make her hair look even more beautiful:

Good picture not enough light though:

Sun shining down on an angel:

Through it all they couldn't resist loving each other:

Pat-a-cake:

Finally, a good picture of Gracie:

Yes Mimi, Hayden is rolling in the grass in her new dress:

As you can see we had an interesting photo shoot! I thought everyone would enjoy this! Hopefully they will do better when we go to have professional Christmas pictures done, although last year the pictures were horrible, I guess if nothing else I could always use the one of Hayden rolling down the hill and Gracie almost falling over for our yearly Christmas card. I bet no one else would have anything like it.