Summer Fun

We have a wonderful neighbor girl that lives behind our house! Her name is Maddie. She is 10 and loves to hang out with Grace. They play together every time they are out at the same time. Maddie came over and played in the sprinkler and the little pool last week. They set up an obstacle course to slide into the pool. I am so glad we have neighbors that have children! We love our other neighbors but its just not the same.





The last two days Grace has went to her friend Jeremiah's house to play in the sprinkler and on the slip and slide. The slip n slide was a first time thing for her. She really liked it and wants one now. Jeremiah is her "boyfriend" so she says. Dylan is Jeremiah's little brother. I was told that the two boys got in a little fight yesterday about who's girlfriend Grace was. Too cute! I just hope these two kids are friends for a long time.

Day with Dave, Sidinia and the Goodwins

We went to our friends Sidinia and Dave's and then went up to Sidinia's mom and dad's to help dig "hens and chicks". Grace loves Sid and Dave SO much and is always very excited to spend time with them. Sidinia's mom and dad are really nice folks and love Gracie too.

Sidinia pushing Grace on the swing

Dave pushing Grace on the swing

Bunnies, Eggs, and The Pony Express

Friday was CRAZY!!! Grace invited four friends over Tori, Trevon, Jeremiah, and Dylan. We started out the day with making Bunny S'mores. These are leftover craft kits from my daycare days and are so cute.
Next the kids played while they waited for the pizza rolls to cook, that we had for lunch and were a big hit. They were extremely rambunctious and LOUD.
Jeremiah and Grace play fighting
Trevon, Jeremiah and Grace "arresting" Tori
They kids relaxing for a "second" while I got the eggs ready to color. Coloring eggs was so much fun and not as messy as I thought it would be.
After all the eggs were colored and had their stickers applied we walked up town. My friend Becky had let me know that the Pony Express was coming to town. The horses and mules were very neat to watch and then the excitement happened. They robbed Casey's General Store!!! Casey's had a can up there for donations that went to kids with disabilities and they came in and "robbed" that money. The riders then send the money to the charity. The kids thought it was very cool to watch a "robbery".
The Pony Express
Thanks Bryce for letting the kids pet the mule...although the kids thought it was a horse.

All in all it was a great day. We can't wait to have everyone over again.

Baseball Time

Grace and I went to watch "her brother" Gage play baseball Tuesday night. Gage is the son of a great friend of mine Jennifer. Gage has called Grace his little sister ever since she was born. Gage played left field and was up to bat once that we saw. It was very cold so we left right after he made it into home. Gage made a couple nice throws and hit the ball straight to center making it to first base. He was then hit home. I hope it warms up so we can catch a few more of his ball games.

April Fool's!!!

I don't usually participate in April Fool's Day. However I decided to take part this year. I started out by posting on Facebook that I was moving. It was sort of nice to see how many people were concerned about that.

After reading Jaime's "chocolate covered cotton balls" story I got my own idea. I decided to do the cotton balls and add something of my own...GREEN OLIVES!!! My first victim was my husband, I gave him a long story about how the mini marshmallows I had used swelled up in the hot chocolate. He took one and then Grace did too even though she had watched me dip the cotton balls. He gave me a classic face and a not so nice response. My next unsuspecting victim was my nephew Ashley. Poor guy was just here to do his job, he is a Schwan's man. I asked him if he liked chocolate covered peanuts and of course he loves them. His reaction was the funniest thing I have seen and heard in a looooong time. I love you Ashley!!! My next victims were the poor kids and two adults at Impact Youth Group. Some of their reactions were excellent. I had a lot of fun and no one was hurt.

Leave me a comment about your best April Fool's Day prank, either played on you or one you pulled on someone else. I will drop your name in a hat and send you a prize relating to all the fun we had.

Preschool Concert

Tonight we went to watch Grace sing at her Preschool Spring Concert. This was so much fun to see all the kids and listen to all the songs they know. Grace had a large group of admirers, she is so lucky to have so many people who care about her! Grandma Martha came and Grace saw her and yelled out "Hi Grandma Martha!" as Grandma was walking in to take her seat. Grace also yelled hello to everyone in our row that she knew. Grandpa Jack, Grandma Linda, Derek, Haley, Grandma Diana, Grandpa Wade, Grandma Martha, Raina, Uncle Dylan, Daddy and Mommy, were all there to watch her and her friends sing. It was great hearing all the songs and they even did an ABC Rock song that had sign language to go along with it. All the kids did very well, and we are so very proud of you Grace Marie!!!

FR:Owen & Jasmine

SR:Kasyn & Grace

BR:Sawyer, Aleea & Emma

Owen(cousin) he is not happy to be here and Grace

I like this one because Kasyn and Owen look so sad and Grace looks so happy?!?

Lexi, Grace and Jasmine...these three are going to be T.R.O.U.B.L.E

And last but not least this is the infamous "boyfriend" Jeremiah. They are good buddies and sadly Grace is not happy about school next year already because Jeremiah is one year older and will be attending Kindergarten :(

Friday Madness!!!

It started out as a lazy easy going day. Brooks and I were cleaning house and Grace was messing it back up. Then I got one call that asked "can you pick up my son from school and take him home for me?" Sure why not. I took him home and picked his sister up, Tori, who goes to school with Grace. She came over and they had a great time doing the usual dress up stuff. We took her back to her house and arrived back to our house to MAYHEM!!!

Haley had arrived with her boyfriend's twin daughters. Patience is the one who has a Drama Queen attitude, she also gets very mad very easily that it is almost funny. Raina is a little but not mush more calm. Raina and I bonded some what more than Patience. She loved on me all night! Grace was a little jealous of the two calling Haley "Mommy" and kept correcting them that her name was Haley. She was also very very lovey with Haley all weekend. We had a total mess in about ten minutes, toys toys everywhere. They sang, danced, dressed up, played dollhouse and partied like it was 1999. They took a bath together which the twins did not like at all and then got popcorn and a movie. The girls did not go to bed until 11:30 or later so it was a long night for everyone! The next morning the girls were treated to Uncle Brooks' famous biscuits and gravy which we all gobbled up!

We love the girls and can not wait for them to come back!

Grace decided at some point to be Spider Man!!! She looks very tough!

Lexie dropped by and joined in the fun of dressing up! She is so beautiful!

Grace, and the twins Patience and Raina

Raina, Grace and Patience enjoying their evening snack

Cinnamon Rolls/Knots

My friend Kellie Anderson makes these amazing cinnamon rolls/knots. I love them. She gave me the recipe a long time ago but I didn't understand the directions. So we made plans and got together on Thursday afternoon/night and made them. We had a lot of fun making them with Chef Grace's help of course and just being able to visit. Kellie also made fun of me for taking pictures too but I don't care I took them anyway!!!

Kellie and Grace

Grace and Mom "knotting" the cinnamon rolls

Grace's messy hands

The finished product (with a few missing of course)

Kellie, Grace and Jessie enjoying the rolls/knots

Delilah is staying the WHOLE night!!!

Delilah is one of my old daycare kids. She is the daughter of one of my very good friends, Shantal and Eric. She came and stayed the night with us Friday night. Grace was very excited, she LOVES Delilah! They played lots of "house", took a bubble bath and got to finally use Grace's "Cool-Bake Oven" she got for Christmas. This thing "bakes" the cake using the cooling from ice you put in the little tray at the bottom of the oven. Kind of strange but it worked and the girls liked the cakes.

The done cakes

Grace icing her cake

Delilah icing her cake

The finished products!

Christmas Time

This is Grace in her Christmas dress on the block that her Grandpa Jack made her. When he first made it for her she could barely sit on it!

Sunday at church we made crafts and got ready for the Christmas program. The program was very interactive. We had Mary and Joseph played by Lee and Sheila Franck, The Angel played by Nancy Slack and The Shepard played by Mark Slack. The children were the sound and action affects along with the congregation. It was very entertaining. Grace, Carley, and Emily were the "heavenly host of angels" and "flew" about the church amongst many giggles from the girls that ended up making most of the adults giggle as well. Grace in true fashion also made faces at her cousin Derek too. It was a very nice program and you could tell that the adults and kids worked very hard.

After church we had birthday cake to celebrate Jesus's birthday. It was a great time of fellowship.

Craft time
Joseph and Mary with the children
Joseph & Mary

Lee & Sheila

The Angel
Nancy

The Shepard
Mark
Char (our awesome Sunday School teacher), Jo, Kayli, Jennifer, and Haley.