YES!!!!!

Gracie is finally shaking her head YES, and she means it. It might not sound like a big deal but it's a BIG breakthrough in communication for us. She is such a determined little girl and she knows what she wants. She and I would both often get frustrated trying to "communicate" and the addition of this one little head shake has helped a ton!

Last weekend we had a fun (but really quick) visit from Aunt Gwen, Uncle Dwight, Sarah, Jenny, Claire, Gabi and Mina. Jenny was asking Grace a question and she got a hearty head shake yes to whatever the question was.....I'll give Gabi the credit for teaching her :) Thanks buddy.

Gabi might be a California boy, but he's a farm kid at heart. He couldn't wait to come over and drive the tractor. (I was too busy keeping track of Grace to take pictures, I guess). He took a few rides, went to visit the horses and played in the yard with the girls. It was so fun to have him here. He's about 9 months older then Grace. When I watch (and listen to) him it's hard to believe how much she'll change in the next 9 months. He's a kid, not a baby. He talks in full sentences, uses utensils and can run an ipad by himself.....(that has the potential to cause a lot of arguments between siblings at our house).....in the last week Gracie has seemed so much older to me, and Maggie has been talking a lot about kindergarten, what happened to my babies??





Poor Mina! Maggie wanted to hold and love on her all the time. She was a good sport and such a happy girl!!


Gracie even got to try out the tractor....maybe we'll have 2 little cowgirls.








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JAKE OWEN!!!

Last night we took Maggie to the Wayne County Fair to see Jake Owen. She used to think she and Ben Ries were the only 2 people who knew who he was, now she knows there are lots more. She loved the concert. It was nice that it was at the fairgrounds so the kids didn't have to sit they could dance, sing, run, bounce, etc....and the weather was perfect!





















Surprise, surprise.....she came home very dirty!





Miss Lauren is out of town, but she was SO excited to see Collin. They tried to call Lauren, but I'm not sure she could hear much of what they were telling her.


Lots of dancing...


If you look close, you can see Maggie's pink hat on the left side of the picture, she and dad went up front for a closer look.


Silly Girl!!


I'm not sure JJ was really into the dancing!





Lots of attitude....and maybe a little air guitar!

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How do you know...

....when Gracie is ready for a nap.....



We were playing on the front porch, I finished watering the plants, turned around and this is what I found. I better get a softer door mat.

Yesterday the girls and I took a road trip to visit Grandma at church camp. We got there in time to watch them practice their play for a little while, have lunch and spend the afternoon. It's always fun to be there. I have such fond memories of Camp Moses Merrill, I was a few days old the first time I went there with my mom and dad and all the years since hold alot of special memories and even more special people. Maggie was a little disappointed that Aunt Joyce wasn't working in the kitchen, apparently she thought she was always there....



Yes, that's right. Her choice of craft project is pretty funny and a bit ironic...


Gracie just wanted to make a mess.....surprise, surprise!


We made a stop to visit the horses on our wait out. They had just gotten done for the day and Maggie thought it was really funny that they were getting showers.





Maggie wanted Grandma to teach her one of their songs....



We got home just in time to head to our last night of Bible School. What a fun week we've had. Maggie keeps asking how long until next summers Bible School.



The other night the rain missed us :( but when we came out of church there was an AWESOME double rainbow. The kids were all in awwwww (so were the grown-ups).

Tonight we're taking Maggie to the Jake Owen concert at the Wayne County Fair. We bought the tickets months ago, when Barefoot Blue Jean Night was her favorite song. Thankfully it's still her favorite song and she can't wait to hear him sing it in person. I hope she isn't dissapointed!

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The mess, Bible School and the rest of our week...

In my last post, I mentioned that I thought there was a mess in my future.....I assumed Grace would be causing the mess. Well I'm happy to report that Grace has done awesome. She's been wearing her panties around the house and has only had a couple of accidents. Her bum is looking MUCH better, not all the way healed yet, but bearable, she seems much less miserable. BUT there was a mess.....a BIG mess!

Monday, after lunch, I was standing at the kitchen counter working on something and all of the sudden a drop of water landed on my arm. I looked up to see a big water stain across the kitchen ceiling! WHAT??? I ran upstairs to find the toilet in the girls bathroom overflowing. The last time I remembered Maggie using that bathroom was Sunday afternoon. As I entered the girls bathroom I could see the water on the floor, water was squishing out from under the linoleum and everything was wet. I threw down as many towels as I could come up. At the exact moment I found the batroom mess, Grace peed on the floor at the bottom of the stairs and was SCREAMING and clinging to the baby gate and Maggie was in the shower, hollering that she needed help washing her hair. I was a touch overwhelmed. I called Arnie and asked him to come home and help me. 30 minutes later, Grace was happy and dry, Maggie was cleaned, dried and dressed and Arnie had plunged the toilet and it seemed to be working again. Now I can laugh about it, really it's not that big of a deal, but in the moment I was pretty frustrated. I need to give it all some time to dry and then it will be time to paint the kitchen ceiling and maybe this will be the excuse I needed to tackle the bathroom floor....SO, I did have my mess, just not the one I expected. By the way, when I asked Maggie about the toilet, she said, "ya, it was overflowing a little, but you told me to take a nap, so I went and laid down."  Really, the one time she chooses to listen to me when I tell her to sleep???

Sunday night Maggie and I started Bible School at church. It's been a fun and exhausting week. Maggie is loving it and is really starting to be comfortable in our church here. I have a group of 11 rowdy, naughty and loud boys. They wear me out but it's been fun to be there, and I'm enjoying getting to know a lot of people who I've only ever had time to say hello to on Sunday morning.

We have a camping theme....there are tents all over church. Maggie is convinced people are sleeping in
them every night.

Cell phone pictures, not so great....

This morning we beat the heat with some friends at the movies. We saw Winnie the Pooh, Maggie might have been too busy eating popcorn to notice the movie.

 Grace is still loving her water table....or at least she loves dumping water out of her water table...

Look at those eye lashes....

This is the family living on our front porch, I can't wait for them to learn to fly so I can knock down their nest....Mama bird isn't so fond of Grace playing on the front porch.

We're in for a mess....

I know, crazy right. Who in their right mind puts underwear on an unpotty trained toddler?? Apparently, we do.

On Saturday Gracie had an allergic reaction (we think) to her swim diapers. It's bad! Her poor little bottom is raw (that's an understatement but I'll spare you the details). She doesn't want to sit down at all...her car seat, her high chair and changing her pants cause SCREAMING, lots of SCREAMING. After a trip to the doctor yesterday for some steroid cream and an antibiotic to reduce the chance of infection (open wounds and poop are not a good mix) we decided to go sans diaper for a while. It's helping. She seems more comfortable and her rear is starting to look a little better. It's causing us to be much more vigilant about the potty training we've been casually working on and she's doing great, so far. Yesterday afternoon and evening she only had one accident. Maggie and I had Bible School last night, so poor dad was tasked with the first evening alone. I left a dozen pairs of panties out for him and was shocked when I came home to the still clean pile. So far this morning we've only needed one pair....I certainly expect some real messes in our near future (they're just panties, if the mess is serious enough we can cut them off and throw them away).....I better get the carpet cleaner out and ready. Wish us luck! Hopefully after a few days of this craziness we'll be able to go back to our pull-ups.

I have a couple of cloth swim diapers on order...that could be a new adventure as well, I hope they seal up tight!

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Did you know...

...that a spider web isn't just a web, it can also be a habitat. Well, now you do, thanks to Maggie.

I haven't posted for several days, because it's been a pretty normal, fairly boring, kinda quiet week around here. It's been extremely HOT, so we've mostly played inside or been in the pool.

Grace has become very attached to her blanket in the last week, I don't know what the deal is. She wants it all the time...she calls it Bubby and clings to it, begs for it and yells about it. I hope it's just a phase, it's getting old.

Here are a few pictures from our week...

Grandpa & Gracie needed to have a quick business meeting...

Maggie and I did a few projects this week, while Grace was resting.

Gracie has been trying so hard to figure out the little slide, and this week, SHE DID IT....over and over and over....

up she goes...

....and swing your legs....

...and down she goes!!! Yippy!

Round and round and round...

It was so hot, I had a momentary laps in judgment and said it was ok to play catch in the house...

....I put my foot down when it came to batting practice.



Today we made some slime....Maggie played with it for a least an hour.

Monday, Maggie got to spend the whole day with Grandma Betti and Lucy. Grace and I
went to play with some friends. I think Grace was a little confused about where her
big sister was.



Little girl, BIG Popsicle.

Tomorrow night we start our week of Bible School, things will be a little more hectic around here. It's been a nice break but I'm ready for a little more chaos.