What's up with that?

Apparently Bonnie thinks that my mother is her mommy. I know we see her a lot, but really? Does she have to call her muh-mah? Now, every time I ask her to say "mommy" I get no response. But when I ask her to say "Mimi" she starts screaming "Muh-mah! Muh-mah!"

What's up with that?

Also, Grace apparently knows 1/3 of the Pledge of Allegiance.

I was reading her school's October newsletter this afternoon, and it said that the 3 year old class is currently working on that. So I said, "Hey Grace. Do you know the Pledge of Allegiance?" She replied, "Um, yes. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses."

I guess reciting the Lord's Prayer every night before bed is sinking in, too.

Plie, tour jete, and more

Well, Grace isn't exactly doing moves that are quite so complicated just yet, but she is, however, perfecting her curtsey. She even sang about doing a "backwards curtsey" all the way home from ballet this afternoon.

Glad to see she's enjoying her class and learning a thing or two, as well!

"They like it...hey Mikey!"

I have one child that refuses to eat anything these days, and another child who will eat anything she can get her hands on (except cheese). Where's the happy medium?

I'm not a big fan of sweets...maybe the occasional cookie or Snickers bar, so for the most part we really don't have a lot of those things in the pantry. It's not because I'm trying to deprive my family of any happiness; just simply because I don't think to buy that sort of stuff while I'm at the grocery store.

*Note to self to get a little dessert for Grace's school lunch.

Well, while perusing the aisles at Publix yesterday, I decided to deviate from the girls' usual breakfast appetizer of Cheerios (that is what I give them every morning to munch on to keep them quiet while I make their real breakfast) and get cinnamon Life cereal instead. Needless to say they loved it. And I had 2 happy eaters. For one meal at least.

Singing her ABC's to Bonnie while waiting for breakfast

A not so great Saturday

And I'm not talking about the Bulldog's loss.

The day started just like every other Pancake Saturday. We woke up to Bonnie playing and squealing in her crib (and turned off the monitor so we could get 15 more minutes of sleep!), finally got up and went into Grace's room and found her awake and playing in her bed, then the 3 of us went into Bonnie's room so the girls could "snuggle" before heading downstairs to make pancakes.

It was about 9am by this time, and Grace was ready to help her daddy stir the batter. She was standing on a kitchen chair at the island just the way she has done a thousand times before. Corey and I were right there. The next thing I knew, she was on the floor, screaming, and was covered in pancake powder mix. Of course we immediately picked her up and checked her from head to toe. She didn't have a mark on her, but kept saying that her forehead hurt. I called the KIDS hotline and the nurse asked a million questions and then told me to keep a close eye on her as well as a couple of specific things to look for.

Vomiting was one of those things. Which she promptly did after I hung up with the nurse.

Grace has never, ever thrown up in her entire life, so not only was her little head throbbing, but she was also very confused about what had just come flying out of her mouth.

I called the nurse back in a panic and she said, "Ugghh...I was hoping that wouldn't happen." Definitely not the most comforting words. She told us to take her to Scottish Rite. Grace and I left 2 seconds later. Corey called my mom to come over and watch Bonnie, and he met us at the hospital shortly thereafter.

Thankfully, she started acting much better once we got to the hospital. The doctor examined her and determined that she was fine, but wanted her to stay for another hour for observation.

Once we got home, she was acting perfectly fine...playing, running around, and acting just like she always does.

Another sign the nurse on the phone told me to look for was if Grace stopped to complain of pain in her head while in the middle of an activity.

She did just that. Of course, I freaked out and off we went back to Scottish Rite. This time my mom came with us and Corey stayed home with Bonnie.

Once there for the second time, she acted perfectly fine...for the next 2 hours. Then she started to complain of pain in her forehead again. Then she just got hysterical and was screaming about how much her head hurt and kept burying her head in my chest as if she couldn't stand the pain. She has never, ever screamed like that before. And I have never, ever been so scared in my entire life.

All that said, the doctor still wasn't convinced that anything serious was wrong, but he ordered a CT scan of her head just to be safe. I won't go into those details except to say that, thank God, and I mean that from the bottom of my heart, her scan came back perfect.

Now, she's back to her normal silly, sassy, awesome self and I will never, ever take that for granted ever, ever again. Ever.

A Mommy and Gracie day

Bonnie spent the night at Mimi's and Gramps's on Thursday in order to let Grace and me have a little one on one time.

Grace had been mentioning all week that she wanted to "go paint a plate." I later found out that the ponies on one of her My Little Pony dvd's have a party where they paint plates. So, of course we had to do it, too.

We headed over to Glazy Dazy that morning and then hit up our favorite lunch spot, McEntyre's, afterward. We had a blast and I can't wait to see how our plate turns out!

Keeping busy

Since Cobb County decided that the children needed a fall break a mere month after the start of school, I had an entire week to fill up to keep the girls (and me) from going stir crazy.

Today, we went to North Point mall with Mimi for a fun-filled morning of carousel and train rides. I got to sneak in a little shopping, too. Not for me, of course.

Princess is back

Don't ask me why Grace insists on wearing a princess gown over her jammies.

Or why said jammies are fleece footy pj's in the middle of a 90 degree heat wave.

This one just wants to exert her independence every chance she gets. And also wear footy jammies like her big sister.

A new and fun game

Apparently, Bonnie is no longer interested in merely whining to get me into her room.

During nap/quiet time today, I was working at the computer and I heard someone yell "Mama!" For a second I thought that it was Grace, but then quickly realized that the sound had come from upstairs. Not to be fooled by her seemingly upset tone, I grabbed my camera and found Bonnie just as happy as can be (just as I had suspected) standing in her crib waiting for me to come to the rescue.

Snuggle Puppy's rescue, that is.

Bonnie quickly figured out that throwing Snuggle Puppy overboard gets mommy into her room very quickly. Unfortunately for her, I've been through this before so her fun little game didn't last very long. Time to think of a new trick, little one!

"Sister, will you...

make believe,

play dress up,

tell me stories in the dark,

always be my friend?"

Or, in Bonnie's case...

"Sister, will you...

please let me color with your Tinker Bell markers?

I promise not to eat them (a lot) or color on your dress or crawl away with your picture as fast as I can and rip it to shreds..."

After Bonnie decided that she had sufficiently annoyed Grace the Artiste, she made her way into the playroom where she stood up all by herself!!! She was standing at the kitchen set and when I walked into the room, she just let go and stood there! She didn't plop down onto the floor when she got tired, either. Nope. She lowered herself all the way down and was so proud of her accomplishment. I was SO proud of her, too!

I give this crawling thing another month and then watch out...

How 'bout them...Gamecocks???

What happened, fellas? We got all decked out in our Georgia garb, and what a disappointment today's game was. I guess the pillowcase dresses I made for the girls were not good luck after all.

Clearly, these pictures were taken before the game because Grace and Bonnie were all smiles and jumping around yelling touchdown like cheerleaders. If they had been taken afterward, they would have been wearing different outfits. Maybe Florida dresses? JUST KIDDING. You wouldn't catch my precious girls donning those hideous colors.

Speaking of the UGA pillowcase dresses...did I mention that I made them?! I got my inspiration from Emma's adorable dress that she wore last week at the beach in honor of the Bulldogs. I loved her dress so much that of course Grace and Bonnie had to have matching ones. I have never in my life made an article of clothing, so I'm pretty excited about the way they turned out.

On a different note, I recently blogged about Grace and her new obsession with Spiderman. Suffice it to say that her obsession is still going strong. It is so strong that she has memorized nearly every word to the Spiderman cartoon theme song. And I have to sing it to her every single night before she goes to bed. Every. Single. Night.

I'll go ahead and share the lyrics for good measure. You can also find a clip of the theme song on You Tube and join me in having the tune in my head all the time. All. The. Time.

Spiderman, Spiderman,

Does whatever a spider can

Spins a web, any size,

Catches thieves just like flies

Look Out!

Here comes the Spiderman.

Is he strong?

Listen bud,

He's got radioactive blood.

Can he swing from a thread

Take a look overhead

Hey, there

There goes the Spiderman.

In the chill of night

At the scene of a crime

Like a streak of light

He arrives just in time.

Spiderman, Spiderman

Friendly neighborhood Spiderman

Wealth and fame

He's ignored

Action is his reward.

To him, life is a great big bang up

Wherever there's a hang up

You'll find the Spiderman!

**I should mention that I really don't mind singing this with her or having the song in my head most minutes of the day. I think it's so cute that she knows the words and I crack up every time she sings, "catches deese (thieves) just in time. Look out! Here comes the Spiderman!"**

Bonnie

Check out my baby girl at her 1 year photo shoot with Jen under the caption Miss B turns 1!

Preschool playdate

One of the little boys from Grace's preschool was nice enough to invite the entire class over to his house for a play date this morning. Or was it that his mother was brave (crazy) enough to host ten 3 year olds and their siblings?! Either way it was a great reason to get out of the house so we packed up and headed over to Mason's.

Both girls had a great time playing with all the toys that we don't have and will never have unless someone over here digs us a basement!

Bonnie's fashion show

Nana and Granddad sent Bonnie, or "Baby Aurora" as Grace has been calling her all day, the most adorable outfits for her first birthday. So, we decided to have a little fashion show to let Baby Aurora flaunt what she's got! She looked adorable (and like such a big girl in her jeans) if I do say so myself.

Thank you, Nana and Granddad!

Back to school...again

It's always hard to get back into a routine after vacation, but Grace handled her return to preschool very well considering she hasn't been in a week.

She was so excited to show me the "book" she has been working on for the last 2 weeks. This year is so different from her 2 year old class. Grace brought home artwork almost every day and I got to talk to her teachers a lot more. I don't have that luxury now because the school likes quick drop-offs in the morning and carpool in the afternoon. Pretty much anything I need to know is sent home in a "daily communication folder". So far, all good reports...fingers crossed that continues!

This is a self portrait and she even gave herself a little friend. I think Grace misses Bonnie while she's at school!

Slip slidin' away on Labor Day

While Corey took over daddy duty today, I got caught up on laundry. Of course the girls and I shared the majority of the dirty clothes since we were out of town for 5 days, but I am still amazed at how much laundry Corey can generate during that amount of time. I'll just say it was a LOT.

After a delicious and nutritious McDonald's pancake breakfast (5 days at the beach also means coming home to no food and subsequently a big grocery bill), Corey and the girls headed to the park. Then the pool. Then the backyard to play in the Slip 'n' Slide. I think Bonnie napped at some point during their fun.

A couple of things I've been meaning to jot down about Bonnie include:

She LOVES the pool and pretty much anything water-related (except the beach). She also LOVES everything Mickey Mouse and Dora the Explorer. Her favorite song is the Hot Dog Dance and every time she sees Dora she tries to sing the theme song of the Dora cartoon. It sounds something like, "Doo doo doo daaaaaaa!" She also says "cheese" when you take her picture!

Beach, Harbour Town, and Goooooo Dawgs!

I was told that the best time to find sand dollars was early in the morning. So, Grace, Emma, Aunt Stacy and I all headed down to the beach first thing on a mission to come back with buckets full of them.

Apparently, Hurricane Earl, who according to Emma is responsible for pushing all the bad weather out of Hilton Head, decided to give us a beach full of starfish instead. I have honestly never seen so many starfish in my life. Both girls found at least 4 a piece. I even found one, too! We put them in our buckets and brought to the condo, but unfortunately, they all "escaped" back to the ocean in the middle of the night :-)

After the beach we all got decked out in our Bulldogs gear, packed everyone up and headed to Harbour Town. Grace remembered the playground from out trip back in June, and was anxious to show it to Emma.

Bonnie and Grace thought it was pretty cool to swing side by side!

Next up was lunch at the Crazy Crab. Even little Ellison is sporting her bulldog dress!

I want to make sure that I note that it was at the Crazy Crab in Hilton Head when I discovered that Bonnie loves Coleslaw and fried shrimp! I only wish I had gotten a picture of her eating it!

Of course we had ice cream from Scoops after lunch.

Then Mimi, Grace, and Emma trekked up all 114 steps to the top of the lighthouse.

One more walk on the beach before it was time to say goodbye to Hilton Head...

Thank you, Mimi for such a fun girls' beach trip! We love you!!