Hair-a-polousa!

We did a little sculpting on Adam's hair this morning. It's "Wacky Hair Day" at school so we decided to go BIG with the "Faux-Hawk"! Let me just say, it took a village to raise that hair people! He actually, sort of, reminded me of Sonic the Hedgehog. He was too cute! Afterwards, he asked me for two tattoos! I had to put my foot down.



The big surprise came when, AFTER doing his hair, when I remembered that Adam has an appointment with his ENT (Ear, Nose and Throat doctor) today. Lovely. Thank goodness I didn't give-in to the tattoo request, huh? Can you imagine the stares would have gotten (and maybe might still get) in the hallways of the hospital? I would have certainly (and, again, might still) got the "what-the-*%#$-kind-of-mother-are-you?" look at least one or twenty times. :O)



I'm just glad that he'll be missing naptime at school today because if that child lays his head on his pillow, for any length of time, it will most assuredly be stuck there for the remainder of the day. We might've had to call-in the paramedics to remove it because I wasn't lying when I said it took a village......there is so much gel, Stiff Stuff, Hair Glue, mousse, and hairspray in that boy's head that if you try to bend one of those spikes of hair, it will just break right off. It took me 10-minutes just to wash the cake-on hair products off my hands this morning. I hope he really likes his hair that way because it might just be stuck like that for the next coulpe of days/weeks.



Here is Adam the Hedgehog:








See, isn't he cute?! Not that I'm ready to rush right out and get his head shaved, mind you, but I do think it looks pretty cool. :O)

As for other family news, Adam is seeing the ENT today to discuss his tonsilectomy on July 7th. Poor little guy has had so much trouble with his tonsils this past year. I know it will be such a relief for him to have them out. He's had to go through 5 bouts of strep and roughly 6 cases of tonsilitis/pharyngitis so it's long overdue.

Gracie is having a blast this summer. She and all the kids in Adventure Camp are going to field trips galore!! She has a busier social calendar than any of us.

Adam will be starting montessori school in the fall (willingly, I hope). I'm sure that, eventually, he grow to like it and I say that only because, ever since taking a tour of the school, whenever we pass the building on our way to Gracie's tae kwondo class, Adam points to it and says, "Hey Mommy, you see that school right there?" "Yes, honey, I see that school", I reply. "Well, that is NOT my school. Right Mommy?" Oui! So far, he's not buyin' into all the "Rah, Rah" talk from us about how GREAT the school is......looks like it might be a rough transition.

Let's see, what else is going on? Oh, Navy, Gracie's beta fish (the fish that has lived for TWO and a HALF years now), nearly kicked the bucket last week. (Un)Fortunately, he has made a full recovery. Yay! (Dang it, so close!)

Outside of that, not much is happening around our house these HOT summer days! It's about 500 degrees here so we spend much our our weekends up at the pool, swimming in soupy hot water - yippee!

Hope you and yours have a heatstroke-free and fabulous Fourth of July!!

Hau'oli la hanau Kalakie!

Translation: Happy Birthday Gracie

We celebrated Gracie's 7th birthday this past weekend and boy, was it fun! She originally wanted to have a slumber party, that is, until she found out about the "No Boys Allowed" rule. That's when she opted instead for the BEACH PARTY BLOW-OUT, Hawaiian-style.....eat your heart out Frankie and Annette! We had sand and surf, as well as tiki torches, leis, parrots, fake palm trees, grass skirts, and Don Ho.....okay, maybe not Don Ho but we did have Tiny Bubbles (in each favor bag)! That counts, right? It was a little hot, not quite as nice as it probably was in Maui on Saturday but not too bad. We rented a pavillion (aka Tiki Hut), which kept us shaded most of the time. However, not enough to keep the frosting from melting off the cupcakes. Oh well, it didn't seem to phase any of the kids so" 'A'ole Nui " (polynesian for "No Biggie"). The kids swam like little fishes and played in the water-spray area. No one got hurt or threw-up so, in my book, huge success! :O)

On a more serious note (to Gracie), I can't believe you're 7-yr old!!

I blinked and you went from this tiny little angel:























To this beautiful little girl:






















I'm so proud of you! You're smart, thoughtful, and kind. You're passionate about everything you do and fearless when it comes to meeting new people and making new friends, singing, acting or performing on stage. I love your larger-than-life personality, your infectious laugh, your beautiful smile and the wonderful hugs you give so freely.

I'm very proud to be your mommy and I love you dearly!

Happy Birthday Sweetie!

Love - Mommy

The results are in...

We had a great time at the Powder Puff Derby this morning. We had to be there at 8 am to check-in for our 9:30 race. Lots of waiting around and then Gracie's car didn't race until the very end. Needless to say, it was a very LONG two and a half hours until her name finally came up on the racing board.

It was now her "heat". The three cars to race were carefully positioned at the top of the track. In the first race, her car was on Track 3. "On your mark, get set, GOOOOOOOOOO..." - they were off. Gracie's car came in just a fraction of a second behind, taking second place. Then came the second race, on Track 2. Woo, hoo...this time she came in first!!! Finally, the third race. Could she take first place in 2 out of 3? YES!!! Gracie was the winner in her "heat". I've never seen such excitement!

Since Gracie was one of the last 10 cars to race, we didn't have to wait long (thank goodness) for the final results. Gracie's car came in at a very respectible 22nd place. Not too bad for a first attempt at derby car racing. This actually worked out well because if you made it to the finals, you had to report back at 1 o'clock to for the Championship Race, which would have interferred with her very busy social calendar. She would not have been very happy to have missed a birthday party and a trip to Grandma's and Grandpa's house. So, 22nd place worked for us.

You'll notice that there are pictures of two derby cars in this post. Well, that's because you simply can't build a car for one child and not the other so this is a picture of Adam's Superhero Derby Car too. When his time comes to race, he'll be an old pro at pinewood derby design. :O)

It was touch and go there for a minute, ya'll

It's been SO long since I posted that I forgot my user id and password!! Yikes! After 4 failed attempts to sign-on, here I am. Whew!

January, February and March have been pretty dang hectic around the Colwill house. As some of you know (because you were hit-up to order/buy), this was Gracie's first year to participate in girl scout cookie sales. Woo-hoo!!! As a result, we have covered just about every square mile of our ENTIRE town (well not every SINGLE square mile but go with me here for dramatic emphasis), parts of Dallas, and have shipped boxes of cookies as far as Chino Hills, CA (thank you Uncle Gary) and even overseas to the troops in Iraq. Wow!

I'm SO proud of Gracie and the effort she put into selling those doggone cookies. She has peddled over 600 boxes, 88 of which were sent to the troops overseas. On behalf of the soldiers, a big shout-out to K-K and her WBS gang! Thanks so much for all your help too! All in all, Gracie worked her little fanny off and loved every minute of it, especially when the homeowners had a dog or cat. Of course, there were moments along the way where an ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT was in order but, after a stern talkin' to, I quit my complaining and sucked it up for the troop. Hey, I didn't have on the right shoes that day, okay?! My feet were killin' me! :O)

We have finally delivered all the cookies, completed our troop booth sales, turned in the money and, as of Tuesday, are officially DONE!

Words cannot express how happy I am about this. You have no idea! I am already dreading next year as we set the bar too dang high. What was I thinkin'? In hindsight, I would have handled that MUCH differently.

As for Adam, he has been exploring the many complexities of golf. As with most sports, he is quick to pick up the techniques and has already cranked a ball from our driveway ALL THE WAY down the block and across the street to our neighbor's house, that's 6 houses down people!!

Note to self: No more golfing in the front yard, lest we have to start budgeting for future window repairs.

Did I mention that this has prompted a trip to the PGA Superstore? Yes it did and now Adam (and Gracie, right) share their very own set of clubs. I'm sure as soon as our weather is nicer, and busy season (in the graduation business) is behind us, they'll be out on the links with their Daddy.

I don't know if you are aware but tomorrow morning is the Powder Puff Derby folks and this is serious business!! Anyone familiar with the derby?

The participants (all ages of girl scouts) build a pinewood derby car and race it on a gravity fed track. The fastest car wins! Gracie and her Daddy have been diligently working on the construction and design, as well as the aerodynamic-ness (is that a word?) of her "Flower Power Derby Car", as she has christened it - a name I know all you Wii Mario Kart enthusiasts can appreciate no doubt. Well, tonight is the official weigh-in. Once the cars have been weighed in by the racing officials, the cars are impounded until the race day. Can you believe that in the past, people have actually stooped to cheating after weigh-in to make their cars faster and THAT is why they have to impound the cars?! Shameful, just shameful! See, I'm tellin' you, this is serious stuff ya'll!!

Well, gotta go but I'll get back to you soon with the derby results and maybe a picture or two of the "Flower Power Derby Car". Oh, I'll also post about our spring break trip and the beaver tail tale.

Until then.....

Remember me?

Wow, I can't believe its been MONTHS since I last posted!! Time flies and, surprisingly, memory fades because after two failed attempts to sign-on this morning I was really beginning to worry that my last post would be my final post. Seriously, people, it was touch-n-go there for a minute.

Obviously, I need to catch you up on all the family happenings from Halloween through Christmas but first, so as not to be miss yet another holiday greetings opportunity, I thought I was take a moment to wish you all a very Happy New Year! It will be a quiet celebration for us this year, which I welcome with open arms because we've been going, going, going, non-stop since Halloween.

I have to say that 2008 has been a pretty good year for us. We're really fortunate that we've not been too badly affected by the market swings and struggling economy of late, however, I know that has not been the case with everyone reading this post. My thoughts and prayers are with each of you for a much better 2009.

That being said, I decided to sit down and count my 2008 blessings. In David Letterman fashion I give you:

My "Top 10" of 2008

10. Falling gas prices! Hallelujah!

9. The Chik-fil-a Peppermint Chocolate Chip Milkshake. Truly ya'll, a little bit of HEAVEN in a cup! I swear sometimes I can hear the angels sing. Can I get an Amen?

8. Our trip to Disney World - need I say more?

7. Gracie being in the JC Christmas parade! Holla!

6. The wonderful news that we'll be welcoming a new little niece or nephew in 2009! Congratulations JE&H!

5. Seeing Gracie on stage at her very first Piano Recital, in front of an audience of 30 or so parents, standing there with complete confidence and a smile worthy of a toothpaste commercial as she thanked everyone for coming and then announced that she would be playing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star".

4. All the wonderful Dallas Children's Theater plays that we have attended over the year, with and thanks to Kay-Kay. Especially, the performance of "Lily's Purple Plastic Purse", which so happened to be the first play Adam ever attended. At one point during the performance, I looked over at my rough and tumble little boy and he was tearing up at the part where Lily was crying because she'd lost her perfectly purple plastic purse. Such a sweet moment.

3. All the wonderful holiday moments throughout the year - making Valentine's for all the kids' friends, coloring Easter eggs and the always eventful Easter egg hunt that follows, fireworks on the Fourth, birthdays, Halloween, thanksgiving and, of course, the very well appointed gingerbread house we decorated this year. I'll post a picture in the coming weeks or in April, whichever comes first.

2. The single cup coffee maker we got for Christmas!! Shout out to Marv and Betty for this super FAB gift! LOVING IT and just a little shakier as I adjust to the ever-increasing level of caffeine that's flowing through my veins this week.

and most importantly (insert a Paul Shaffer drum roll here)...

1. The blessed gift of waking up every single morning to the sweet faces of my precious family. I love you all and am eternally grateful to God that you are a part of my life and love me in spite of all my (many) imperfections!

Happy New Year to all! Don't forget to eat your black-eyed peas! I'm headed to the grocery store right now!

Look out world, Adam is 3-years old!! Here is how his super special day started (yesterday):

"Aaaaaadam.....sweetie.......wake up, honey. Today is your birthday, buddy. You're 3-years old!" With that, his eyes popped wide open, he stood straight up in bed and said, "I not little anymore Mommy! I big boy!! See?" There he stood, in his Lighting McQueen pajamas, giving me his best muscle-man pose, looking so cute I could've just squeezed the stuffing right out of him.

One year and a whole lot more hair later, here is our big boy:




Now wait just a dang minute....how did THAT get in there?!!















That's MUCH better!!





Happy Birthday to my sweet little boy! You have brought such joy to our lives and we love you crazy bunches!

Your totally devoted fans -

Mommy, Daddy, Gracie, Duncan and Shooter

Home Sweet Home

We're home!! Did you miss us? We went to Disney World for Adam's 3rd birthday!!! We had a FANTASTIC time! The kids are ready to go back and, I must admit, I wouldn't mind jumping right back on the plane for a repeat performance, however, since I'm not Oprah, we'll just have to relive the moments through video and pictures for a while.

THE RECAP:

As I mentioned, the trip was great. This was Adam's first time on a plane so,naturally, I wasn't able to book a non-stop flight to Florida. Instead, we had to catch a connecting flight in Atlanta. Now, this would have been fine except that David was already in Florida for his conference so I was traveling with the kids by myself. Normally, this wouldn't be a big deal except that my curious little 2-yr old is going through a "gotta see-it, touch-it, poke-it, hit-it, jab-it, smell-it, taste-it, ride-it, throw-it, squish-it, kick-it" phase right now soooo, the pre-flight "what-if's" were stressin' me out like you wouldn't believe! That being said, like any good mother, I was packin' some heat ya'll - an entertainment arsenal loaded with coloring books, puzzles, the laptop, Skittles (I was desperate), and a deadbolt lock w/keys (Yes, they will actually let you on the plane with one of these, however, a toy pirate gun - umm, not so much, but we'll get to that later). When we arrived at the airport, oh, there were about 20+ people in line to check their bags and, of course, there was only ONE baggage clerk! What is up with that? It's just like that at the post office! Anyway, we sat in line for, no kidding, 30-minutes. After the first 10-minutes I was seriously considering loading everyone back into the car, calling David and telling him to give Mickey and Goofy our regards because we were stayin' home! When we DID finally make it to the counter and the agent asked, "At any point in your travels, has your bag been left unattended?", I wanted to crawl over the counter and strangle her! Are you kidding me?! Maybe just briefly during one of the one hundred times I had to jump out of line to chase Adam through the Terminal! FINALLY, we checked our bag, undressed and redressed for security and got on the plane without further incident.

One down, one to go.

In Atlanta, on our way to the bathroom, Adam decided to hop a ride on a flight attendant's bag as she was pulling it through the airport, much to her surprise. My first reaction is to look at Gracie for some sort of explanation as to why on earth her brother would do such a thing and she simply rolled her eyes as if to say, hey, don't ask me! Thankfully, the flight attendant was kind enough to accept all three of my apologies. People in Georgia are go nice! Anyway, we successfully boarded our next flight thus completing the 2nd leg of our trip. We were now in Florida! After a long wait for our bag, and bit of body surfing atop some random suitcase on the baggage carousel, we were finally reunited with Daddy and on our way to the hotel. Whew!

Most of that day was spent traveling so when we arrived at the hotel, it was dinner time. We hooked up with our friends, ate dinner in the hotel cafe' and hit the pool. We stayed at the Pop Century Resort. We love this hotel because not only do the kids love it but it's on Disney property so we have our own shuttle service to and from the parks.

This is a picture taken outside our hotel room.

Saturday

First thing Saturday, while Daddy was still working the conference, we headed for Magic Kingdom.

The kids had a blast! They rode the Dumbo ride, the race cars (Adam drove a car for the first time), Buzz Lightyear, Skyway, and the dreaded teacups! Does this ride make anyone else sick or is it just me? Gracie was laughing her fanny off at the fact that Mommy was about to heave!

After riding the Winnie the Pooh's Adventure, we spotted Pooh, Tigger and Darby. So, while Adam snoozed in his stroller, Gracie got some one-on-one time with storybook crew.

I'm sad that Adam was sleeping because the boy loves him some Tigger ya'll. Oh well, maybe next time buddy.

Around dinnertime, we headed back to the hotel to meet Daddy and tell him all about our day at Magic Kingdom.

Before our trip, I'd made reservations to have breakfast with some of the Disney characters and, boy, am I glad I did because we'd have never gotten in otherwise. Sooooo.....

Sunday Morning/Afternoon

Sunday, we headed to Disney's Hollywood Studios. It was a really big day for us because Daddy was finally finished with his conference!! Yay!

We started the day having breakfast at Hollywood & Vine with Jo-Jo, Goliath, and two of our Little Einstein friends, Leo and June.

The kids danced in the aisles, got their pictures taken with all the characters and had their autograph books signed; a big treat for everyone!

Then we were off to hit the rides! One of the coolest was Toy Story Mania. A huge hit with the kids because not only did you get to wear really cool 3-D glasses but you got to shoot things to score points during the ride. We rode this one twice!

Part of our group did manage to ride some of the adult rides. The Aerosmith roller coaster and Tower of Terror got the votes for biggest thrill rides......I wouldn't know because I was too chicken to get on either one of them.

Did I mention that Adam discovered the Power Rangers while we were at Disney? Oh my goodness!! My heart goes out to Gracie, who has since been dubbed "the bad guy" in many of Adam's fight scene re-enactments. In fact, he has scrapped the whole "I wanna be a fooo-ball player!" and now runs around the house in his new Red Power Ranger outfit (yes, we caved!!!) and has taken to power-punchin' Gracie every chance he gets, poor thing. : (

Sunday Night

Once we'd seen and experienced all there was to do at the Hollywood Studios theme park, we scrambled back to the hotel, ate a quick dinner and then got the kids dressed in their Halloween costumes for "Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party". We had to buy special tickets for this event since its held "after hours" at Magic Kingdom. You basically have the whole park to yourselves.

The characters were all dressed up in their costumes and the kids got to trick-or-treat down Main Street. They had the best time!! The party lasted until midnight and there was SO much going on that neither of the kids slept a wink or even complained about being tired. I would do this event again in a heartbeat and recommend it to anyone that hasn't been to Disney World during the holidays. Gracie must have told me that she loved me about 20 times that night, which means she was having the most awesome time ever!!

At midnight we headed back to the hotel for some much-needed sleep!

Monday

I don't know what on earth possessed me to make an 8 am reservation for Monday morning but I just couldn't pass up the chance to have breakfast with Donald and ALL his Safari friends at Tuskers House in Animal Kingdom!! It was to be our last day of park fun so I wanted to go out with a bang! Needless to say, I wasn't the most popular person in our Party of 7 that morning. Everybody was so cranky! Dang!

Here are some cute pictures with Goofy and Daisy.

We spent breakfast and the first part of the day at Animal Kingdom. The kids played in the Boneyard, we went on a Safari and then tried to go on Mount Everest, the greatest Disney roller coaster ever made (I'm told) but it was "CLOSED FOR TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES". Guess we'll have to try again next trip.

We wrapped up our tour of Animal Kingdom and then left to spend the remainder of our day at Epcot. We rode Mission Space, Nemo, Test Track (super cool) and then, there it was, the most incredible ride I've ever been on in my ENTIRE LIFE..........Soaring!! I could have gone on that ride 50 times and never tired of it. Even Gracie, who was very skeptical at first, fell in love. For those of you that haven't been on it, you sit on what looks like a long bench swing that is perched in front of a giant IMAX-type movie screen and you "soar" all over the countryside as if you're on a hand glider. It was breathtaking!!! What a great way to end the trip! We truly saved the best for last.

Tuesday

We left very early for the airport and were homeward bound.

The End

Well, that about sums up our trip. Oh, there WAS that one incident that happened to us at the Orlando airport.....remember earlier when I mentioned the pirate gun and airport security thing? Well, turns out that when our carry-on bag went through the x-ray machine, one of the guards threw his hand up in the air, signaled the other guards nearby, ordered all of us to move away from the conveyor belt, whereupon he seized our bag, opened it up, and pulled out...............yes, you guessed it, our weapon of mass destruction - Adam's plastic toy pirate(s of the Caribbean) gun! I was instructed to remain still while our not-so-pleasant security guard checked with his supervisor to see if we were going to be allowed to "keep" the toy gun. Seriously?!!! After about a 5-minute discussion between the two men (again, seriously?!), the guard brought the gun back to us, put it in the bag, and told us (very sternly) that "Under NO circumstances are you to remove this item from your bag at ANY point during your flight! Do you understand, ma'am?"

And now, like they Annette and Cubby used to sing at the end of EVERY episode of the Mickey Mouse Club......

M-I-Ceeee

See ya real soon!

K-E-Yiiii

Why?

Because we like you!

Mmmmmm

Oooooooooo

Uuuuuuuuu

Ssssssssssss

Eeeeeeeeee

See ya back here real soon! Good-bye

Adam tee-tee'd in the potty this morning!!! Praise the Lord!! Can you hear the angels singing?

Goodbye Pampers, helloooo Spiderman underwear!!

I'm so proud of you little man.

'Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.

He spotted her across a crowded restaurant. Her long dark hair and big brown eyes were hypnotizing. He couldn't help but stare at her. She had a smile that lit up the room and she saw him watching her every move as she swayed and twirled around her table. She got up to try her luck at the quarter "toy grab" machine but walked away sad and empty-handed. Was she 5, maybe 6? He didn't know and it didn't matter, she was older and she was beautiful. As she was leaving, their eyes met....he knew at that moment, he was in love. She lingered outside the door. In desperation, he leapt from his chair and followed her. When he opened the door and saw her standing there, he was paralyzed by her beauty. He tried to say "hello"....to somehow find the courage to speak but he was silent. He stood at the doorway and watched at she was buckled into her booster chair and driven off into the night, never to be seen again. Sad and dejected, wondering if maybe it was the diaper that came between them, he returned to his table and ordered a double-shot of chocolate milk wondering if they'd ever cross paths again.

Yes, this was the scene at dinner last night. While it was the cutest thing that I've ever seen, I must admit that deep down inside, I felt his little heart break as we stood at the door and watched her leave. Our precious little 2-year old, our budding Casanova, in a span of 30 minutes, fell head-over-heels-hook-line-and-sinker for this little girl. Now, Adam can be quite the love-em-and-leave-em little flirt but this time it was different. After a few sympathetic, "Aww, that's so sweet!" and "Look, he's really sad that she's gone, aww!" comments from the hostess and two waitresses, I realized at that moment that I'm going to be an absolute wreck when my kids start dating! As a parent, naturally, you want to shield your kids from heartache, rejection, bullying, etc and if I wouldn't have been, most likely, arrested for doing so, I would have chased that little girl's car down and made them stop so Adam could say "hello" and gaze upon her sweet face one last time. No wonder your kids want nothing to do with you when they're teenagers. : )

First Day of School

Yesterday, as many of you know, was Gracie's first day of 1st Grade so Sunday we girls left the boys at home and went out for a back to school manicure and pedicure. This was to be her very first nail spa experience and I must say, she behaved just like a little lady until they started scrubbing her feet ......she couldn't stop giggling. "It tickles, Mommy!" She had all the ladies next to us laughing hysterically. She LOVED that she got to pick out her polish, sit in a big cushy massage chair, have someone bring her bottled water and pamper her like a princess for the next 45 minutes. The girlfriend had NO trouble acclimating, let me tell you! It was truly a sight to see. : )

She wanted all of you to see her toes so, without further ado, here they are:




The center of the flower is actually a rhinestone!

The remainder of Sunday evening was spent preparing lunches, doing laundry, laying out clothes, loading the backpacks.....all the many preparations that go into getting ready for that first day of school. Thankfully, we knew what to expect this year and were, emotionally, ready for the send-off. It helped that she has REALLY been looking forward to seeing all her friends again so she was totally excited about going back. She's so grown up!!! : (

I know, I know, she has tennis shoes on! Trust me, it was a big disappointment when we discovered that she has P.E. on Mondays (no flip-flops allowed on gym days). She didn't let it get her down too much though.

When I picked her up from school she told me all about her teacher, Miss Buckles. "She has 3 sisters and 2 brothers. She has a REALLY big family, just like Daddy's! Her favorite color is blue. I know that's a boy color but that's okay, I still like her. She is 23 years old! How old are you, Mommy? (....moving right along.) She was born in Sugarland. I want to move to Sugarland because they make sugar there. She likes cheese, cheese on hamburgers, cheese on crackers, cheese sandwiches, cheese on chips, cheese dip, cheese, cheese, cheese and, you know what, she is VERY smart! She is going to teach us how to spell things!"

That about sums up Gracie's first day! I'm so proud of her for being so brave and I have no doubt that she'll have a wonderful year. Well, I'm off to fill-out the mountains of paperwork that came home in her backpack yesterday. Apparently, this "homework" is due Friday! Does it ever end?

PS - Good news about Adam! Remember, I told you that he was moving up to Miss Barbara's class and she is an expert at potty-training? Well, Miss B said he tee-tee'd in the potty yesterday!! Woooohooooo!

Way to go lil buddy!!!!

The Countdown Begins

I can't believe I'm actually posting twice in one week! I really enjoy sharing these stories, photos and family activities with everyone, it's just finding the time to sit down at the computer and actually type it all out that is tough but, hey, so far so good, right?

We're all gearing up for school to start on the 25th. We'll be attending Gracie's "Back to School Night" Thursday evening where we'll get to meet her teacher and tour her classroom. She is so excited about going into the 1st grade. Ask her, she'll tell you ALL about it! : ) Adam will be going to the same daycare/school but will be moving up to Ms. Barbara's class (I love her!), where they'll begin potty-training boot camp baby!! Can't wait for the day when diapers no longer appear on my weekly grocery list.

August is also the time when we register for all the "extras" in our weekly schedule, i.e. piano, tae kwondo, dance, little gym and, possibly, soccer tots....whew, I'm worn out just thinking about it. These are the many activities we "consider" in the Fall. Gracie has been pretty adamant this year that she does NOT want to take piano (boo) so we're thinking about letting her take a little break from it. Instead she wants to try a Musical Theater class, which she says "if I don't like then I'll just switch to a Hip Hop or Jazz dance class." She told me that she might be too shy to take the theater class.....riiiight, that child doesn't have a shy bone in her body! Oh, and how could I forget Girl Scouts! Did I mention that I volunteered to be an Assistant Troop Leader? Ugh, what was I thinking? Now, I'll be attending the Kick-Off Training Seminar for Girl Scouts this weekend. By the way, I'm putting the word out early......Gracie is happy to be your GS Cookie Connection this year so get ready to place your order for Thin Mints, Somoas, Tag-alongs or whatever tickles your taste buds. Cookies go on sale in January (I think). : )

As for Adam, he has been in Little Gym all summer and LOVES it! He's a maniac on the uneven bars! The only "issue" we have is when they bring out the bouncy BALLS. While other kids are innocently trying to learn how to throw and catch with their parents, our son is PUNTING the balls into the rafters! It's a parent participation class so we spend most of "ball time" running interference between the ball and some poor unsuspecting victim's face. When the new fall semester begins, he'll be moved up to the older class and, guess what, no parents are allowed. We have to sit and watch the fun from the designated "waiting area". Oh, I can already see it now.........one of us (either me or David) is going to get chewed out by another parent when their child is smacked in the face by a 90-mile per hour ball flying across the gym. Hence the need to sign him up for Soccer Tots. Hopefully, this activity will provide the "sports" outlet he craves.
Gracie will test at the end of September for her Junior Black Belt!! We're so so so proud of her! Once she earns that belt, she'll no longer be a "Little Ninja". She'll earn her "whites" (white uniform) and join the older class. A Junior Black Belt is the same as a Senior Yellow Belt.

Well, that about wraps up the latest news. Here are a few pictures we've taken over the past couple of months.


Thanks for hangin' in on this lengthy post.


Our trip to the museum:









What IS this thing?











I want to be a fireman.....














....no, maybe an astronaut




















Bobbi the Builder









Rubber ducky you're the one!













Okay, first you go like this and,
Voila!, you've got your bottle of milk!







The Dinosaur Dig!!!








Look what I found!








She does all the work, I take all the credit!!










Trip home from the museum! : )







A few more of my favorites!


The Build-Up....





Okay, there's a stick of gum.....









I don't know, why DID the stick of gum cross the road?










because it was stuck to the chicken's foot.....ha ha ha ha, now
that's funny!!!




Just goofin' around:




Dadda Montana!

The Lesser-Known Marx Twins

Monsters Under the Bed

Well, thanks to Uncle Brian, the kids now have bunk beds! Yea!!! Since we do not yet have sheets or a bedspread for Adams bunk beds, they are both sleeping in one room. Gracie is sleeping on the top bunk and Adam, who is finally in a "big boy bed", is on the bottom bunk.

Of course, as fun as the new sleeping arrangements are, they still offer NO protection from whatever imaginary monster lurks in the darkness of the night. Therefore, our typical evening routine consists of conducting a thorough "monster sweep" of the room, turning on the two night-lights and the closet light, tucking in and giving kisses, prayers and......I'm ashamed to say it......turning on the TV. Yes, we choked under the pressure of our precious 6-year old. "But Mommy, it will make me not scared if I watch a movie before bed!" (Insert the sad puppy look here.) No one is safe from "the look" I tell you, no one!! Of course, the TV doesn't stay on all night but for the first week or so I must admit, we did find ourselves trekking up and down the stairs in the wee hours of the morning to appease the frightened cries of our child by turning the TV back on. Oui, that was a looooooong week.

Thankfully, we have moved past THAT phase and will soon be able to, hopefully, inch the TV out of her room altogether. Wish us luck!

I love this video.....rest assured, we recite a newer version of this "oldie but goodie".

It's been a while!

Wow, has it really been four months since my last post? My how times flies!

It's been very hectic around our house, as usual. Gracie completed Kindergarten and is VERY excited about going to the first grade. She's growing up so fast!! As a matter of fact, yesterday, she lost both her first and second tooth all in the same day. I got an excited call from the daycare director saying that her "two loose teeth came out", however, one of them fell out and went straight down the drain. :( The only problem with this statement was that there was actually only one tooth that was loose so I was immediately curious as to how she ended up with two missing teeth. The now worried director put Gracie on the phone to find out just what happened. As Gracie explained it, "Mommy, I hit the wall with my face and they fell out. I'm okay but it feels very weird having no teeth there anymore." She was concerned that the Toothfairy would not be happy that she'd lost her lost tooth. I told her that a quick note explaining the accident would make everthing right with the world again....no worries. When she got home last night, she wanted to show EVERYONE (within a 5-mile radius of our house) her missing teeth. I promised I'd post a picture for all to see on our blog today so, here she is in all her toothless glory. : )

Adam's 2nd Birthday!

My Promise to Post, Post

I know it's been FOR-EV-ER since I last blogged. I'm so sorry. I'm sure quite a few people have, by now, given up visiting our site altogether.

Well, let's not waste another minute then.....

As you can imagine, I've got tons of pictures from all the many things that have happened since September. My adventerous little boy turned 2 in October (I can't believe it), my precious little girl has advanced two (or is it three?) belt levels in Tae Kwondo and then, of course, there was Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, Valentine's Day, President's Day....okay, I'm getting carried away. Thankfully, I haven't missed Easter, right? Oh, AND it snowed in our lovely little town - not just once but twice!!

Whew, I've really got my work cut out for me. I know you don't believe me but, really, I'm going to get right on it because my New Year's resolution this year was to GET ORGANIZED...... thought I'd change things up a bit this year since I can't ever seem to stay on the "diet" wagon. : ) I must say that, so far, I've done a pretty good job too. We had a rocky start to the New Year with Adam getting brochitis, which then proceeded to wind it's way through our entire house and, just when we thought we were in the clear, along came the flu. Both kids were even vaccinated but apparently the powers that be somehow missed the strain this year. I know there are a lot of you with me when I say, "REFUND please!"

Anyway, with the help of my wonderful husband (thank you honey), I've cleaned out the upstairs storage closet, totally Elfa'ed out Adam's closet (I'll post a picture later) and, by the way, if you haven't discovered Elfa shelving yet, I HIGHLY recommend you head to the nearest Container Store and check it out. It's AMAZING!! Back to what I was saying, we've cleaned out the garage, had the front door refinished, and replaced all of our smoke detectors (Adam calls them fire trucks....I know, I keep trying to tell him that they wake us up if there is a fire so we can CALL the fire trucks but he just keeps calling them fire trucks anyway). Oh, AND I've started menu planning for the week.....this is a HUGE money saver for us AND I don't have to think about what I'm fixing for dinner every night.

Are you bored yet? : ) Okay, I'll stop and post more later.

Balloon Festival

We made our annual trek to the balloon festival. We usually load up the radio flyer and get there in time for the Sunrise Launch.....the weather was nice (a little hazy this year) and the crowd wasn't bad that early in the morning. Since Adam is usually up and ready to go EVERY morning at 5:30 am, we had no problem making the 7 am launch. Adam keeps us punctual for all morning appointments/events.

There were lots of very unique balloons this year, as you'll see in the following photos. My favorite was the daisy, hailing all the way from Georgia. I think the kids liked the tree and/or cow best of all. David's favorite was the Flat Earth balloon.

As always, we had a wonderful time and were amazed at how the festival continues to grow each year. Maybe, one day, it will be as spectacular an event and the one in New Mexico.

On our way to the festival. The wagon is a "must have" and comes with us every year.

The balloons are airing up...getting ready for take-off.

Anxiously awaiting lift off! This is actually one of the few times Adam stayed within the

designated spectator area.

Did you see that flying tree, Daddy?

Here are a few of the balloons!