Talking to God...

Our oldest daughter Gracie is what we like to refer to as a "fearless drama queen". The term was actually coined by my brother-in-law Colton and we found that it suited her perfectly. As she has grown up, she has taken to climbing trees to the highest possible limb, or jumping from one piece of furniture to another, even if they are not within actual jumping distance. She swims into the deep end on the "noodles" in our aunt and uncle's swimming pool (all by herself!). Gracie likes taking risks, even with her parents standing there protesting loudly. That is where the "fearless" part comes in. The drama queen part probably needs no explanation at this point. It is not to say that she is a bad girl, or not fun to be around, but she certainly has her way of doing things. She fights her battles and stands her ground, on everything. I hope later in life this will work out for the better...

If you don't know Gracie, then before I tell this story you should know that she is bursting with personality. She can be so silly and funny, and in the next breath so dramatically upset. She has an endless amount of questions and stories (the other night while Keton and I were on a date, my mother-in-law said that she stayed up for two hours just talking and telling stories....not my daughter!). Truly, she is so fun to be around and just an absolute blessing. Last night when I was putting her to bed, she did the cutest thing ever, and I just had to share it this morning.

When we put them to bed, we usually try to read a story and play with the girls before we let them talk each other to sleep (or cry each other to sleep depending on the night!). So Gracie and I were reading, and then I was saying goodnight and asked her to please pray and talk to God before she went to sleep, "Because God always wants to hear from you hunny." Well, she sure took that to heart...

Gracie: "Um hi God. Can you come drive here and sleep next to me? My mommy is here too!"

(I am giggling at this point)

Gracie: " Um God, tomorrow can we ride our bikes and laugh and play?" She pauses while receiving the answer. "Oh mommy, he said yes we can!"

Me: "Oh good, well if God says it is ok, then it is!" (She gives me a look that clearly states I am interrupting her conversation with the Almighty).

Gracie: "God, do you have a daughter? What's her name? "

God (Gracie put on a low manly voice to imitate him!): "Grace."

Gracie: "Oh! What is your baby sister's name?"

God: "Grace too."

Gracie: "God, you have to come up with a different name."

All of this was of course done with her pretend phone placed up to her ear (i.e. her hand acting as a phone....). So this was Gracie's phone call to God. I had tears because it was not only so cute, but so Gracie. I love her little personality and I adore the little girl she is becoming. It is moments like these that I want to take a mental picture of and never let it go. I thought sharing it with all of you would be a way for it to be remembered.

What stories do you have???

One year already...

So here I am again. It has been so long since I blogged I almost forgot I even started this blog. Forgive me! I have returned to share the news that our darling Stella has turned one. IT HAS ALREADY BEEN A YEAR! This news came as quite a shock to me. I had tears while picking out food for her party. Perhaps it is because she is my "baby" and perhaps it is because this is the last for us. Unless God has other plans (we do know that he has a sense of humor!). Here are some pictures of the event, which went off without any tears or protesting from the little one (unlike her dramatic sister:) ).

It was a wonderful celebration and a time to enjoy the moment. We have been enjoying the summer with evening swims at our generous aunt and uncle's pool, daily activities with the girls, lots of ice cream and frozen yogurt, pounds of fresh fruit. and late nights with extended bedtimes. I have been on a mission to provide my family with healthy food and summer is such a great time to start this project! We have always tried to eat well and be active, but it is easy to get side tracked when you have full schedules and sleep deprivation attacking you at every turn. My good friend Jill inspired me to begin this project with my family, and we are enjoying all that it entails! So I suppose you could say that the girls were pretty happy to be "allowed" some chocolate cake at Stella's birthday party! Who am I kidding, Keton was pretty excited too...

Keton and I will also be celebrating our sixth anniversary on Monday, so we have been taking time to celebrate that as well. It seems like only yesterday that we were completing all of the wedding preparations and becoming husband and wife. Time has just flown by, and we were just saying last night how wonderful it is to have the blessings we have. As I write this blog I am bursting with the joy of having a wonderful, loving husband, and two beautiful little daughters.

Thanks be to God.

It Is All Over Now!!

I realize it has been FOREVER since I blogged. Perhaps you think our family has dropped off of the map. In a way, I suppose we have. Or at least, I have. As you can see below, Stella is now a moving baby! So we have less time than before and basically that means we are working in negative time now. Blogging has fallen into the "if I have time" category and that area has developed into a large black hole. I know you moms out there get what I am saying!

Even with all of the craziness, and lack of sleep, I still LOVE being with my wonderful husband and the girls. Stella has become independent and is able to get around the house now. But she is so different than her sister! She likes to cruise around at a safe distance from mom or dad. Gracie was GONE as soon as she could move. No looking back, see ya later, trail of dust behind her. I love that my girls are so different in personality and even looks. They are unique little characters and it is just such a joy to watch them grow! Here is a little video of Stella taking her first crawl (dad was there with the camera!).

Do any of you parents remember when your first child started crawling? Were you filled with joy and awe? So excited to be seeing them move for the first time? We were. When Gracie took her first crawl we thought it was the most exciting thing we had ever seen. And then when a week went by and our bottoms had not graced the cushions on the couch, we thought maybe this was not so great. And then the first steps happened, and again, we were elated! Our baby girl is walking! Then a few weeks went by and we realized that this was going to be hard work. We fell into bed at night and were asleep before our heads hit the pillow. Anyone else have this experience? Yeah, I thought so. Needless to say, when Keton sent me the video while I was at work, I had a tears for how excited I was to see her grow, and a few tears because I realized how much our world had changed. We are trying to prevent her from walking, at all costs!

The cool thing about it this time around though, is that we have a little police woman to "tell" us when Stella is doing something that is not okay. Built in alarm systems are pretty cool. Even though we may be sitting a little less these days, we are having a wonderful time watching Stella discover new territories and new items to put into her mouth. This weekend she started standing as well...OH NO.

To summarize our lives recently, I would just say that we have been busy with joy! We had all of the cousins together this weekend and they played their little hearts out! I believe one of the most beautiful sounds in the world, is the sound of children playing. The laughing, yelling, talking all rolled into one is just music to my ears! Here are some pics from our days lately....

It even took me several days to get this blog finish...ahhhhhhhh. Time is so precious! Enjoy your free time!

Time with my first "baby"...

I have always loved dating my husband. We went on wonderful dates before we were married, after we were married, and we continue to go on them even now that we have little ones. As many of you know, for the first two years of Gracie's life we lived away from family, so going on dates was an absolute rare occasion and we treasured every moment! The dinners, or nights sipping coffee at Barnes and Noble and actually having adult conversation were welcomed! We savored the nights we had the chance to go hear live music at a beautiful hotel in Arizona, and taste some great wine. And of course the rare weekends away in Sedona, or at a friend's wedding. Every date with Keton is an experience I truly cherish. On a daily basis we struggle to get out entire sentences or stories with the girls around, and so when we can just sit and take each other in, it is special. I even remember a date we had back in our CT days, where our wonderful friends, The Houle's, watched Gracie and we went out to a lovely dinner. We were so excited to just have a nice dinner to ourselves (and it was the first time I could handle eating, since getting pregnant with Stella). Even though our dates are a little more regular now that we have family who are more than willing to take the girls, I still treat each one as a special opportunity to see my husband as just that, my husband. Not Daddy, but hubby. Has anyone else out there realized that you fall more in love the longer you are married?
Last night we went to dinner for our friend Christy's birthday, and it was great. Good food, good wine, good conversation, and stolen moments where we could kiss or hold hands and just be together. Keton, you are my all. I love you with all of my heart, and I am so blessed to be married to you. Thank you for all of the moments. I never get sick of being with you, and you are always making me laugh (and everyone else around you!).
For those of you out there who have not dated your husbands in a long time, schedule a date right now. Enjoy the loved ones in your life.
Are you booking the babysitter yet? :):)

What truly is important....

Keton and I are amazed at the amount of little girls in our lives, from our own, to our two nieces, to our friend's little girls. Estrogen is everywhere for us, and I am sure Keton is just itching for a guys golf session right about now. We spent the weekend with our girls of course, and also with our little niece Isis, and with one of the newest members to the girlie clan, baby Riley. She is the cutest little peanut! Just look at her next to our giant Stella. They are exactly 5 months apart...

We have decided that we are blessed to have two girls that can be sisters together, and even more blessed that they will have a lot of great girlfriends in their lives. What an opportunity for them to share a bond with so many lovely little girls! And speaking of little bonds, today we got to see a beautiful example of what true friendship is. We took our daughters and niece Isis out to eat this afternoon for a special treat. Since they were so good, they each got a balloon of their choosing.

But as we were getting out of the car to go into the house, silly mom let Gracie's balloon go! As it was drifting up into the sky, I thought of ways to distract Gracie so she would not notice her missing balloon. Right. She saw her red balloon floating through the clouds, and the lower lip began to tremble. Isis, standing there with her balloon secure in her hand, went to comment on Gracie's loss. I quickly tried to change the subject and keep Gracie from being sad. Isis caught on immediately. She let her balloon go too, and shouted, "Oh no Gracie! Now mine is gone, tooooo!" It worked. What a true act of love and friendship. She gave hers up, just to save Gracie from tears. And as you know, giving her balloon up was a true sacrifice for a young girl of 5. I told Isis how proud I was of her. And how grateful I was for her act of kindness. Isn't it funny how much we can learn from little kids? How many of us would give up our "gifts" for our friends? Loved ones? Anyone? This morning I was listening to a pastor speak on our problem with possessions. He was saying that what we won't give up, what we cannot part with, that is what controls us. How true. If only we were all like Isis, freely giving up what we want, just to make others happy. I find the more I own, the less "freedom" I feel. This little lesson today has inspired me to go de-clutter. In fact, I think I will start right now...

What can you do without? What do you need to give up?

Gracie is 3!!!!!!

Talk about feeling like you are getting older. Try having (I know, some of you do!) your little "baby" turn 3 and start saying things like, "I am going to my room now!" (cue door slam...). Or, "Mommy, don't squeeze my tummy or I am going to yomit all over your clothes." Okay, so I might be guilty of squeezing her a little too hard. I cannot help it. She is turning into a little girl before our eyes, and I cannot find any way to make it slow down!!!!!!!!!!!

She turned 3 on Feb. 12th...here are some highlights and pics!

She is such a joy for us!!!!!!! It was a wonderful time with family and we are so thankful that Gracie has so many loving people in her life. Although it was kind of a 5 day spoil fest, we enjoyed every moment of it (even the inevitable breakdown around 7:00pm the night of her birthday, mainly due to present and cake overload!). Stella enjoyed the partying too, since she is bound to get some attention when everyone is around!

As I see them growing older everyday, I find myself thanking God for the blessings that they are, and usually I sneek in a little prayer asking that he slow down the growth process a little. We have told our friends that are yet to be parents to "Enjoy every moment, it goes so fast!", and this week has made me realize that this statement could not be more true. Part of me is sad at the sight of Gracie turning into Miss Independent, but the other part of me is so proud of her. I love the little girl she is becoming, and I am so overjoyed to have her as my daughter. I am thankful to her as well, for she has made me realize how important it is to slow down and enjoy the moment when it comes to Stella. I see her starting to sit up and begin moving herself around, and I truly have to hold myself back from pinning her to the ground and refusing to let her move! If I can pass off a bit of advice today, it would be to SLOW DOWN. Love them, enjoy them, and remember that when you wake up tomorrow, they will be a little different, and a little older, and the magic of yesterday is gone. Lucky for us, there is more magic ahead with the coming years and attractions! But I will always miss the way Gracie was, even just one year ago.

Happy Birthday Gracie. I love you. We love you. And most important, God loves you!!!!!!!!!

Many more birthdays for you sweetie...

Funny things kids say...

You know it always happens when you least expect it to, or want it to. Suddenly your cute little toddler gets an idea and words just start coming out at random. Often embarrassing, but mostly cute, and before you go write it down somewhere you forget what it is they said. Gracie has so many moments like this, I could fill a book. That got me thinking. Perhaps I should try to write some down or share some, just to keep those moments alive. For instance, when I was pregnant with Stella, and rather "voluptuous" which is just a nice word for "full", Gracie would shout out "Biiiiiiiiiiiiggggggggggg Mama!" wherever we were. Which of course embarrassed me to no end, and my reaction just fueled her fire. She would just get louder and louder and keep shouting it with even more emphasis on the "BIIIIIIIIIIGGGGGGGGG!" part. As a side note, it did not help that Keton could not contain his laughter either, which certainly did not help the situation. Looking back, it was just so darn cute and I am sad that it has passed. Then there was the moment she learned to say "flamingo" but it came out as "f*%#!@ go!" My brother-in-law encouraged her to say this word on a daily basis, and made her "impress" all of our friends and family with it. Proud moment for mommy. But sadly, now she can say "flamingo" they way it was meant. At the moment she is into her feelings and generally says things that are hilarious on a daily basis. The other night Keton was listening to me tell him how Stella would be my little bookworm and he asked Gracie what she would be. She didn't miss a beat as she smiled at him and replied "I'm gonna be dangerous!" We just laughed and Keton told her that, "No Gracie, you are going to be my good little girl that does her homework on time, right?" To which she replied, "Homework? I'll do that ummmmmmmmm, maybe later." OH BOY. We have it coming. She sure is an individual. Can't wait for high school.

My blogs will be a lot different by then.

All of Gracie's cute sayings lead me to ask, what will Stella be saying that is cute? What will her little voice sound like? How will she be different, or will she be similar? It is such a joy to watch them grow and develop into the little people they were meant to be. We are blessed. And truthfully, the Gracie-isms of the days make us smile over and over.

What funny things do your little ones say?