"I'm buck-ed naked"

Every night, and every day for that matter, we follow a pretty structured routine. We do this because it keeps everyone well fed, well rested, and well, just happy.

Grace follows this routine to an OCD, er, to a T. Every night she goes potty, brushes her teeth and gets a bath. Getting her jammies on is when the real fun begins. After she gets out of the tub, I wrap her up in a hooded towel and she walks to her room. Once we get to her room she says the same thing to me that she says every night. Every night.

"Mom. You laugh and I will 'wrap' myself off and do the buck-ed naked dance. Okay?"

Then, I am required to laugh (not sure why this part comes first) then she rips her towel off in true flasher form and proceeds to dance around her room while singing, "I'm buck-ed naked! I'm buck-ed naked! I'm buck-ed naked!" She has recently added "I'm wearing jeans" to her repertoire as well. I have no clue where that part came from. Oh, the things that girl comes up with!

Also tonight, while we were sitting at dinner, Grace looked right at me and said "Mom, you're a genius."

Truer words have never been spoken, my sweet girl. ;)

Feed Me!

Mealtime has been taken to a new level at our house. From what my friends with 2+ kids have told me, subsequent children tend to do things a little earlier than firstborns. Eating has been no exception for us.

It seems that Bonnie is no longer content to sit in her high chair and watch everyone around her enjoy delicious solid foods while she is stuck eating gourmet purees. So, we now officially have a new addition to our weekly Pancake Saturday breakfast. Corey made banana pancakes this time, and Bonnie gobbled them right up!

At lunch, she expected nothing less than something she could pick up and eat with her hands.

What's this I see? Gracie is wearing pants? Telling her that she gets to match Bonnie works every time. So far. And yes, of course they are wearing matching Superhero Girl Power t-shirts!

Baby Losin is...

a GIRL!!!!! Ellison Sue "Ellie Sue" was born today at 5:04pm weighing 7 pounds 7 ounces and is 20 inches long. She is just BEAUTIFUL!!!!!

Congratulations to my brother, Stacy, Big Sister Emma, and all the grandparents on this little beauty! We love you guys and are SO happy for you!!!!!

8 Months Already

It seems like just yesterday Bonnie was born and poof...8 months have passed. Time really flies!

Bonnie is so full of energy and wants so much to be able to keep up with Gracie. She has an extremely loud and adorable voice, the best smile in the world, she loves Puffs, and she says Dada like it's her job. She also flat out refuses to sit still and is a little torpedo in the tub. I looked like a drowned circus rat after her bath tonight!

Happy 8 month birthday, Bonnie Banah! Mommy, Daddy, and Gracie love you SO much!

Simple Strokes

My mom has been in serious grandma nesting mode in preparation for the arrival of her 4th grandchild on Friday (or sooner?!). Actually, she hasn't gotten too much for the new baby just yet as his or her gender will not be revealed until his or her birthday. I am certain that will change, however, the second the doctor announces "it's a girl" or "it's a boy!" Especially if Baby Losin is a boy. Watch out, Baby Gap!

In the meantime, to scratch her spending itch she has been buying all sorts of things for her other grandchildren. Namely, chamois sheets from Pottery Barn Kids. Let's see...she's gotten a white one for Bonnie, purple ones for Emma, green ones to have at her house, and as you can see from the photo below, pink ones for Gracie. And as you can also see from the look on her face, Grace is in love.

As soon as I put the sheets and the matching pillow cases on her bed she climbed in, lied down, put both hands behind her head and declared, "Aahhh. This is my life!" I'm pretty sure she meant this is the life. :-)

Happy "actual" birthday, Mom! We love you!

Happy Birthday, Mimi!

Technically, Mimi's birthday isn't until Wednesday, but with the imminent arrival of Baby Losin to consider we decided to go ahead and celebrate a little early. Just in case.

We all (minus Corey, who has been at a bachelor party all weekend) packed up and headed to Roswell for cake, presents, and a little cousin play time. Emma and Gracie had a great time together as always, and they loved getting to help Mimi blow out her candles and open presents.

Could you guess that Emma's favorite color is purple?! I think she loves purple as much as Gracie loves pink. Grace loved getting to play in Emma's room. Emma has an amazing snow globe collection, and Grace couldn't wait to get her hands on it (carefully)! She also has an adorable vanity with all kinds of jewels and make-up...right up my little girly-girl's alley!

Emma's Nana and Pop Pop are also in town anxiously waiting for Baby Losin to get here, so they were able enjoy the birthday party with us. Nana was so nice to give the girls their bath...hopefully Emma didn't mind too much that Gracie hoarded all of the toys!

I have to apologize to Dave and Stacy for this one! Hopefully Grace's affection for wearing her princess gown dress over her jammies doesn't rub off on Emma permanently!

Happy Birthday Mimi! We love you!

The Girls

We finished dinner a little early, so the girls got to spend some time outside before baths and bed. Gracie even got to enjoy a Dora Popsicle...her favorite! The Bon was content with her Puffs...notice the left hand reach. Taking after her daddy, perhaps?

A Big Week for Bon

She said Dada! Not just the dadadadadada babbling she's been doing for a week or so. Nope. She actually looks at Corey and says in the sweetest little voice, "Dada." Suffice it to say he melts every time.

She can also wave "bye bye" on command. That started this past Saturday when I asked my mom and dad to come over to help watch the girls for a little while so that Corey and I could finish up some yard work. My dad went with us when I took Bonnie upstairs for her bath, and after they said their goodnights my dad waved "bye bye" to her. Well, we were all shocked when she waved back at him! She didn't just randomly flail her arm in the air; she actually flapped her fingers up and down trying to copy exactly what he was doing. 3 times! She is growing up so fast!

Bonnie also LOVES her big sister. She absolutely cracks up whenever she sees and hears Gracie. She also gets really upset whenever Grace gets out of her sight and tries so hard to figure out a way to get to her. I don't know, Bon...maybe crawling would do the trick?!

Spring is time for...

birthday parties! Today we got up, ate our usual Pancake Saturday feast, got dressed and headed over to Harper's 1st birthday party! Grace is friends with Harper's big sister, Handley, so she was extra excited to go to the party and was not at all interested in stopping on her way to the car to let me take her picture.

The party was at Harper's and Handley's house, and there was a ton of fun things for the kids to play with. There were also GIANT cupcakes! Grace ate almost a whole one all by herself and Bonnie may have had a little taste of the frosting ;)

I somehow didn't get to snap a picture of the birthday girl, but I must say that she looked adorable in her little birthday dress and matching bow. She also ate her birthday cupcake like a little lady. So cute!

Corey managed to get this pic of all the "big" kids eating pizza. I think it's safe to say that everyone had a great time.

Happy 1st birthday, Harper!

Easter Re-do

There was no Easter egg hunt today, but these two sure had a lot of fun getting to play together. Poor Emma finally recovered from her virus and Grace could not wait to see her. Mimi brought her over this morning, and she and Grace got into everything. What incredible imaginations they have!

Gracie was so tired after all the running around she did in the backyard that she went upstairs and got into bed for her nap before Emma even left! They had so much fun.

And this little one has gotten quite proficient at picking up and eating her Puffs. She even recognizes the container they come in and whines when I put it back in the pantry!

Let's go to the gazoo!

Spring Break is this week and all of our extracurricular activities have been cancelled...boo! The weather, on the other hand, remains gorgeous so we are trying to enjoy every second of being outdoors before rain is scheduled to arrive on Thursday.

So, Ceylese and I (and everyone else in Atlanta who didn't leave town) packed up all our kiddos and headed to the zoo, or the gazoo, as Gracie says. It was a lot of fun, and I have to say that the kids were excellent. No whining until, of course, it was time to leave.

The story of Easter continues...and Bonnie has teeth!

We woke up to find that the Easter Bunny had made a visit to our house! He left a trail of eggs down the stairs and all the way to the fireplace where he had filled the girls' Easter baskets with all sorts of goodies and candy.

He even hid chocolate-filled eggs all over the backyard. Every time Grace found an egg, she would gasp and then immediately pick it up and shake it to make sure there was something inside.

I've been getting told a lot lately what a "hoot" Gracie is. I'm not sure if that is code for "your kid is obnoxious" or if it's a compliment. I'm choosing to believe the latter. I love Grace's personality. She is funny, outgoing, and the absolute sweetest and most polite kid I have ever met. I ought to know. After all, I am her mother. :)

Easter Mass was no exception. We arrived at church about 45 minutes early to allow plenty of time to get there and grab a good seat before all of the "Easter Lilies" showed up. Easter Lilies is a term we Catholics call those folks who only attend church on Easter and Christmas. And I'm being very hypocritical by using that term. Actually, I would love to go more often but the 2 year old and the 7 month old make it difficult. Corey is great about going and is, for now, our May family representative at Christ the King every Sunday.

But, I digress.

We walked into the Cathedral only to learn that both the main church and the parish hall were standing room only. Luckily, they had added a third Mass in the gymnasium and there was plenty of seating. Score. And the Archbishop of Atlanta himself was conducting Mass. I was really fired up because I have never been so lucky as to attend a service where the Archbishop led Mass. It would have been even better if I had gotten to pay attention to what he was saying.

Again, I digress.

We walked into the gym and had our choice of seats. Having the 2 kids with us meant last row right by the door. Score again. As soon as we sat down Grace immediately made friends with the lady saving seats for her family next to us. She introduced herself to this woman and then pointed to me and said "this is Erica May." I didn't even know she knew my first name.

After a while, it was time for Communion. When you take Communion at the Catholic church, everyone, row by row, walks single-file up to the altar and is met by the Priest, the Deacon, or a Eucharistic minister. The Priest, Deacon or Eucharistic minister then presents you with the Host and says, The Body of Christ. You are supposed to take the piece of unleavened bread, say Amen, put it in your mouth, step aside and make the sign of the cross and then return to your seat to pray to yourself while the rest of the congregation receives its Communion. After we took our turn and the girls received their blessings, we sat back down to say our silent prayers.

Remember the part where I mentioned that the Priest, Deacon or Eucharistic minister recites the Body of Christ to each person during Communion? Well, Grace's little ears heard something different. The Archbishop was wearing a microphone and every time he said the Body of Christ Gracie echoed, Bonnie Grace. Bonnie Grace. Bonnie Grace. It actually did sound like he was saying Bonnie Grace because he was reciting it kind of fast! Corey and I (and everyone sitting around us) got a good chuckle.

We spent the rest of the service trying to keep the girls happy, which was surprisingly not too difficult considering it was about a thousand degrees in that gymnasium.

After church we headed over to Mimi's and Gramps's house for more Easter fun. Poor Emma had woken up the night before with croup (and spent a couple of hours at Scottish Rite) so she wasn't able to come over and play. Gracie was absolutely beside herself. I promised over and over and over again that we would plan something special with Emma this week as soon as she's feeling better. She reluctantly agreed and has been asking ever since if Emma is better yet so that we can go see her.

Bon had an especially fun time with Mimi and Gramps because she got to have her first taste of chocolate! Gracie got to do the same thing at her first Easter party at Memaw's and Pawpaw's so it was only fair.

And, as I was getting Bonnie ready for bed tonight I discovered that her two bottom teeth have finally popped through! That totally explains why she has been so much happier lately. Now we can try moving onto to more solid foods! Maybe more chocolate!? I think we'll just stick with puffs for now.