Fun with the girls

Between packing and entertaining kids (and a few other things), I haven't gotten to spend nearly enough time keeping up with my photo editing and posting them on the blog.

I did manage to go through Day 1 of my brother's family's visit back east, so I'll share a few pictures of the fun the girls had with each other.

Suffice it to say there was lots and lots of squealing when they all saw each other.  It was adorable.

Happy Father's Day 2011

Thank you for these two little miracles...

...and for being such a wonderful father to them.

Happy Father's Day!  We love you so very much and appreciate everything you do for our family.

Happy Father's Day to Gramps, Granddad, PaPa, Uncle Dave and Uncle Josh, too.  As the girls' card to Corey says, "You {guys} rock!"

So much fun, so little time (to blog).

My brother and his family are in town all the way from California, and if this picture is any indication of how much fun we are having with them, just multiply that by about a billion.

And you know my parents are in heaven having all four of their granddaughters together again.

 

So far, I have taken 222 pictures of their visit.  I am sure there will be more.  And I will post a whole lot of them in the coming days so get ready!

Counting down the days.

We've got about 20 days until the big move.  And a lot to keep us occupied (other than packing) during those 20 days.  Lots of pool dates are in our future, and one HUGE surprise arrived on a plane from Sacramento this evening that we will see directly after camp tomorrow...

After we dropped Grace off at camp this morning, Bonnie and I headed over to Old Towne to meet Amber, Reid and Charlotte for a little dip in the pool.  Bonnie loved the one-on-one time.  Not with me, though.  Oh no.  Girlfriend was all about swimming with Miss Amber today.

We had a great time and being able to order lunch and have it delivered to me poolside makes me want to join a country club immediately.

Unfortunately, Corey doesn't seem to agree.  

Charlotte and Bonnie

Dumping water on my legs.

Watch out cul-de-sac!

And I thought for sure that the highlight of Grace's summer so far would be Circus Camp.  Boy was I wrong.  

When we got home this afternoon there was quite a large package from Nana and Granddad on our doorstep.  I knew exactly what it was (a BIG WHEEL!!!!), and immediately became giddy with excitement over revealing to Grace what was inside the box.

Her reaction did not disappoint, and seeing her ride that thing around the garage brought back so many memories of my childhood when I would throw on my favorite Wonder Woman Underoos and ride my Powder Puff Big Wheel until my legs were about to fall off.

Suffice it to say that this was my her favorite birthday gift.

Thank you Nana and Granddad for getting us our new Big Wheel! :-)

Happy 4th Birthday, Gracie!

Four years ago today I held my brand new baby girl in my arms for the very first time.  And four years later, she is just as amazing as she was on the day she was born.

I was once told that Grace is "such a joyful person."  That statement couldn't be any more accurate.

Our big girl is truly a joy to be around.  She is almost always happy and is probably the most considerate and sympathetic 4 year old I know.

In fact, just tonight as I was tucking her in bed, she kept asking me if daddy and I were going to "watch and talk" (that is Grace-speak for hang out in the den and watch television and chat).  I kept answering her that yes, we were going to "watch and talk" (really, we're going to pack some more) after I told her goodnight.  Well, it finally dawned on me that she might be ready for me to leave the room so I asked her if she was ready for me to go.  She just said, "Well yes, but I didn't want to hurt your feelings, Momma."

She always manages to find the beauty in things, as cliched as that may sound.  She really never has a negative thing to say about anything or anyone.  

When she was sick a couple of months ago with that horrible fever virus, I would ask her all the time every now and then how she was feeling.  She would always say the same thing, "I feel good, Mom."  Even though I knew she felt terrible.

She has such a positive attitude and a great big heart and I could just burst with love over my sweet girl.

Ok, I could go on and on (perhaps I already have), but now I'll get to the fun part...Grace's birthday!

Corey and I were exiting our room this morning to go to Grace's room at the exact same time that she was exiting her room to come and get us.  We all stopped in our respective doorways and looked at each other for a minute when Grace just screamed, "I'M FOUR!!!!!!!!"  And then immediately ran down the hallway and jumped into my arms and gave me the biggest hug ever.  Corey was next.  Then she was off to get her birthday crown.

She was so excited to get downstairs and open presents and then meet Mimi and Gramps at church.

"The Helper"

After church we all went to Grace's favorite lunch spot, the A-O Cafe, aka, the OK Cafe.

Then, it was home for more presents with Mimi and Gramps.

On the phone with Emma

Then a little run through the sprinkler.

Picked out the ensemble herself, of course.

And more birthday cake after dinner.

Happy, happy, happy birthday to you, sweet Grace!  I LOVE you so much and am so incredibly proud of you.  I hope your 4th birthday was as wonderful as you are!!!!

Packin' up.

The girls just got back from spending two nights in a row at Gramps and Mimi's house.  Do I even need to say how much I missed them?


Not only do I rarely let them spend the night out, but two nights in a row is almost unheard of.  And the fact that they went together?  That is even more rare.


Of course I am very grateful for their help, and Corey and I know that our girls are in excellent hands when they go over to my parents' house.  Because of them, we were able to get a lot accomplished.    


And not to mention that from the looks of these pictures, Grace and Bonnie had a pretty good time.

Boxes everywhere...

"Moving is not for organized people."

You'd think I was trying to win some sort of award for getting out the Slip 'n' Slide and the mini blow-up pool this morning.

Maybe I was.

Or maybe I am just intentionally ignoring the fact that we are moving in one month and I have an entire house to pack.

Either way, the girls didn't care.  They were just thrilled that they got to splash around for 2 hours this morning outside without their daddy having to be there to help their mommy get everything set up (and then subsequently put away).

I had all of these visions of my packing process going exceptionally smoothly.  I thought that if I did a little bit every day we'd be in really good shape.  The problem is, I can't pack everything at once and that is driving me absolutely crazy.

I thought that I'd be able to go room by room and place everything neatly in little boxes labeled "Kitchen" and "Family Room" and "Playroom," but I've found that you can only do that to a certain extent (especially when there are children running rampant all day).  I liken it to packing for a trip - you have to wait until the morning you leave before you can finish packing and by that time you're just sort of throwing things in bags.

I was complaining about it to my best friend, Ceylese, the other day and she just said, "Moving is not for organized people."

Truer words have never been spoken.