Such a beautiful day!

What a perfect day. The windows are open, the temperature is just right and we're playing in the backyard! I don't want to hurry winter, but I'm definitely looking forward to fall.

Yesterday, Grace had her 4 month check-up and shots. I went in knowing that I would be told I had a happy, healthy and huge baby girl on my hands. Thankfully, I was told that, she weighed in at 18lbs 5oz. (99+%) and she is 26" long (92%), they checked her height twice because they didn't think it was possible that she'd grown that much since her visit in June...but indeed, she had! She's meeting or exceeding all of her milestones and doing great. The doctor did expressed some concern about one of Grace's eyes, she doesn't open it quite as far as the other and though we'd never really noticed, she doesn't seem to look at things on her left side as frequently as things on her right. The doctor suggested we see a pediatric opthomologist in the near future, and refereed us to a great one in Omaha. My mommy intuition tells me it's nothing, maybe her neck just doesn't turn as well to the left (look at her dad!) but I'm glad the eye doctor could see her on Friday and I will be happy to have my theory confirmed or to have an idea of what we can be doing to help her. She seems to be having a harder time getting over her shots this go-round and she and Maggie both have coughs and runny noses, so my prayer is that not only are Grace's eyes just fine, but that by the time she has to sit through the different tests on Friday she's feeling better and has a happier disposition.

Arnie left this morning on a golf trip, so the girls and I are on our own until tomorrow night. I have a shoot tomorrow morning, so I'll have a little dose of the real world when I have to get myself, Maggie and Grace ready for the day, drop maggie at preschool, get Grace settled with the sitter and get out to the studio. I know, I know, most people pull that off every day...kudos to them! We'll see how I do.







I can't believe I didn't give this picture it's own post the other night...Maggie got her finger STUCK in a wiffle ball. Really stuck. She wasn't nearly as freaked out as I'd have expected. She and Grandma got a little soap and she was quickly freed. I'm glad she wasn't too upset about it, because I was laughing really hard and I'd have felt bad if she was crying.






Last night Gracie was coughing so I got out the sleeper she used when she was brand new, to help prop her up a little. She looks like a giant in it now...


Everyday is the 4th of July at our house. We usually have to say the Pledge of Allegiance several times a day and today Maggie reminded me that I needed to keep my hand on my heart and stay quiet until she got the flag put away!



Grace and I hanging out in our outdoor office while Maggie made us some lunch in the playhouse.

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Back to work...

My summer of no work (well, almost no work) has been fun, but now it's time to get back at it. The girls and I stayed in Omaha so I could do a session last night and another one this morning. I haven't decided exactly how much I'm going to work going forward. I definitely want time with my girls and the freedom to come and go, but taking pictures is also my sanity. I guess I'll have to find a balance, I'm not always great at that, but I'll try. I need to put that beautiful new studio to work.

The girls and I will head home tomorrow after Gracie goes to the doctor and I go to a meeting. I'm anxious to see how much Grace has grown, I know it's a lot.

Tonight Mom, Dad and Vadim are at High School orientation....WOW! I can't believe it's time to go back to school already or that it's time for him to start high school. He's going to be a Millard South Patriot...I hope they're ready for him :) I know he'll do great! He's grown up a lot in the last few months, I can't wait to see what's ahead for him.












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Uncle Deem is HOME!!!

Vadim is HOME! We sure have missed him and it's nice to be all back together again. We've spent the weekend just hanging out and playing.



Uncle Deem and Gracie spent some time getting to know each other. She thinks he's pretty funny and he thinks she's stinky :)


Deem and Maggie have played lots of baseball and soccer in the backyard. She is so glad to have him back...except at bedtime, while he was gone she got to have Hannah sleep with her.

Friday was Laura's 25th Birthday...so we also had a birthday dinner and spent some time celebrating her.












Maggie got a strike in Wii bowling!!!!

Yesterday afternoon we went to Aunt Trisha & Uncle Jeff's to go swimming and have a cook-out....











Keep-away is a serious game in my family. I doubt they would admit it, but some of these 'older' boys are probably a little sore today.


Grace and Ellie watched keep-away and wonder what in the world was going on over there.


"Mom, what is this little thing? Hmmmmmm...Maybe I could try to suck on his thumb?"



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A frog, really?

Yesterday on the way home from school, we had this conversation....

Maggie: "Mom, for my next costume, I want to be a frog."
Me: "Really, a frog? how come?"
Maggie: "because this time I want to hop everywhere instead of bzzzzzzzzzzzz." (last Halloween she was a Bee)
Me: "We can look for a frog costume, but I'm not sure where we'll find one."
Maggie: "MOM, we can look on the Internet."

Duh, why didn't I think of that! I'm not going to search just yet, I have a feeling by Halloween she might change her toon, but you never know.

I think Maggie missed her playhouse the most while we were in Mexico. (and maybe her rain boots)

Maggie wanted to pretend to be a baby and lay in the crib with Gracie.



Maggie is going to be so SAD when Brandon leaves for college.  It's like having a big brother around. Maggie
doesn't really like bread, but today she wanted a PB&J sandwich in her lunch (and she ate it all) to be just like Brandon.

 Tomorrow morning we'll head for Omaha.  Mom, Dad and Vadim are home and we're so excited to see them all and to introduce Uncle Bug to Little Miss Grace.

My beach babes....

BIG GIRL!

Gracie is growing so fast, some mornings I swear she looks different then when I put her to bed the night before.

Last night we decided it was time to give baby food a try.  I mixed up a little rice cereal and bananas and sat her in the highchair.  I didn't expect much.  The books say one way to know if your baby is ready for food is how they respond to the spoon.  Well, Grace saw me holding it, grabbed my hand and pulled the spoon into her mouth. She was ready and eager. She'd eaten the little bit that I mixed up within a few seconds.

Notice her grip on my little finger.

Today I did 2 things I've never done before...
This afternoon I made my first 2 batches of baby food, peas and sweet potatoes. I'm going to attempt to make Gracie's food, at least for awhile, we'll see how it goes. Not because I'm some health nut or worried about what's in baby food, but just because I can and I think it probably is a little better for her. After having made a couple things, I feel bad about what we fed Maggie. I didn't even like smelling Maggie's food, much less tasting it and the stuff I made for Grace tastes pretty good. I gave her a couple of bites of peas tonight and she didn't necessarily agree, but I have to assume she'll decide she likes it sooner or later.


Doesn't look so bad.

 Then tonight I wanted to make BLT's for dinner but I didn't want the whole house to smell like bacon....so I cooked it on the grill. It worked GREAT (maybe everyone else already knew you could do that, but I sure didn't).  The bacon was really good, the house didn't smell, and there was no mess to clean up. I'm not sure I'll ever cook bacon in the house again.

I was like a regular ol' Betty Crocker today :)  okay, not quite, but I made it through bacon and baby food. 

This afternoon I heard some whining coming from the bathroom...I hollered at Maggie to see if she was okay, she said she was having some trouble with her stool...when I rounded the corner this is what I found. By the time I got back with the camera, she was crying because she was stuck.  She didn't appreciate how hard I was laughing.

Maggie is going to be really sad when Brandon leaves for college. She likes having him around. He was a little disappointed that she had to go to bed tonight before some of his friends got here to watch a movie (I think maybe he was hoping she'd be a bit of a chick magnet.) 

Reality Bites!

We made it home.  The trip was fairly uneventful.  Getting through customs was less of an issue then I prepared for (I had to get our luggage, 2 suitcases and grace's car seat, and get it, the stroller and the kids through the screening).  I was very relieved to see Arnie in the Omaha airport, it was nice to know I wasn't on my own anymore.

A little Jake and the Neverland Pirates on the airplane.  When the lady sat down on the other side of Maggie, she looked right at her and said "Como te llamas?" (what's your name?) the lady looked at Maggie like she was speaking a foreign language :)

 A quick snack in the Phoenix airport before our next flight.

Grace was tuckered out by the time we got home.  During the second flight she was pretty fussy, I think she was just tired of being held.  As soon as we got off the plane she crashed.

It's nice to be home. Today we got back in our "normal" routine. Maggie went to preschool and Grace and I ran a few errands.  I hate the unpacking, mail opening, bill paying part of getting home.  It definitely looked like 2 boys had been living here (Brandon Keech has been staying with us for 5 or 6 weeks now), there wasn't a fruit or vegetable to be found and there were several packages of cookies and bags of chips in the pantry :)