The Graduate

Well sort of. It was Hayden's graduation from preschool last night except she really isn't graduating. She misses the cut-off for kindergarten by about 2 months so she will go back to Miss Shari's preschool next year. It was a lovely ceremony though. Miss Shari announced all the graduates and who their parents are then they sang songs that they had learned this year and recited nursery rhymes. Then each student got up and answered questions like what their favorite color, shape, and book are and their favorite thing about preschool this year. Hayden's was snack. I think she liked going this year. She went twice a week and each day I would pick her up and ask her what she learned. Her answer was always "I don't know" and then some days while she was playing around the house she would surprise me with a song or rhyme I didn't know she knew or once it was the entire pledge of allegiance. I'm impressed with how much she seems to know about the alphabet and her letters after only 1 year of preschool. she recognizes most of them and even tries sounding out words sometimes. I guess she did do more than just snack all year at school.

This is Hayden and Miss Shari. We like her a lot. She was Gracie's teacher in preschool as well. Gracie finishes up 1st grade next week and then she's done for the summer. She's pretty excited to be done although I have a feeling she will get bored pretty fast. She likes school and especially reading. Softball starts next week so that will fill a little of out time anyway.

We don't have any big memorial day plans for the weekend. We usually never do except for the annual cemetery tour with the Averett's. We spent last weekend branding cows so hopefully they're taken care of for a while. We've been getting the yard in shape and were hoping to plant some trees tonight actually but I just looked out the window and it's snowing sideways. (grumble grumble) So I guess that's what we'll do this weekend. Exciting as always.

Back to the Ho-Hum!

Well since our vacation ended we've gone back to our same old boring ways. We ended up at the Doctors office last week and Gracie and Chandler both had strep. This is Gracie's 4th time since the fall and it's getting really old. She wouldn't even open her mouth for the nurse to swab her throat and she bit her dad's thumb when he tried to force her. (serves him right!) So luckily the Dr. said with the looks of her throat and her history it has to be strep. I'm going to buy stock in the company that makes amoxicillin. So after missing school for a week for vacation, Gracie ended up missing another 2 days for strep plus a soccer game. We only made it to 2 games this season and the last game she was dragging after being sick. Not that she's all that aggressive with the ball. I got a picture of her the only time she touched the ball but I cut her head off!

That's her I swear. She really likes playing which makes me happy. It can't all be about dance.(Sorry Billy Jo) I think she was a little better this year. She didn't chase quite as many butterflies around. Softball starts soon. I think this year she plays coach pitch which reminds me we had better start practicing. Here are a few more pictures of the 2008 soccer season.

In this one she looks down and ready and really knows what she's doing. I didn't include the next shot where she's scratching her bum. That's my girl!

Our California Adventure

Well we've had this trip planned forever and we've looked forward to it for so long and it now it seems like it was over in a flash. We had so much fun!!! Before we left I was dreading the drive with 3 little girls but it actually wasn't that bad. We left on Friday after school and work and went as far as Mesquite the first night. Let me just say thank heaven for the portable T.V./DVD players. I can't even imagine what it would have been like without a movie marathon in the back seat. My parents had rented an awesome beach house for the week in Encinitas that was big enough for my entire family. (Thank you Grandma and Grandpa!)We fit 15 of us comfortably and we only took up the 1st floor. We spent our first day there on the beach and the kids loved it! They found tons of seashells! Greg was obsessed with looking and found some really cool ones. We waded in the water but it was pretty cold so nobody really got too far in. Then we spent the next 5 days at Disneyland, California Adventures, Sea world, and Universal Studios. We got great tickets at Costco and saved a lot of money getting them there. Then we got up and left Saturday morning and went as far as St. George and came back home on Sunday. My sisters family has done this trip a few times so they knew right where to go and how to get there and we all had 2-way radios to communicate so that made it really nice. There were a few times Greg got a little stressed out, like when we were right in the midst of LA's gridlock freeway traffic and he swore his left arm was going numb but we all came out of it alive.
The girls were all so good. Chandler wasn't crazy about the rides. Some of them are pretty dark and noisy even though it's just a car ride so most times one of us just sat it out while the others rode. My parents stayed home when we went to California Adventures and kept her so that was really nice. Gracie and Hayden had a blast! Gracie was a lot more daring than I thought she would be and went on one roller coaster 5 or 6 times and even went on the big one that goes upside down and loved it! Hayden really wanted to go on the Tower of Terror so I took her on that and it scared her to death! I asked her the next day if she wanted to go on it again and she said "NEVER!" She wasn't always tall enough to go on some of the bigger ones but she never got too mad or sad about it which was a relief. We got a lot of autographs from a lot of characters. I think the only ones we didn't get were Cinderella and Sleeping beauty and I think Grandma Linda was more excited than the little girls to see them meet the princesses.
It was just a really nice vacation. Now we'll know what we should and shouldn't do next time and I think Greg would even go back now that he knows the roads. I asked him what we had to look forward to now that it was over and he said "Nothing! Absolutely nothing!" It was a little too enthusiastic for me. I guess we'll just have to look forward to the summer and warm weather and yard work :< and scrapbooking the 333 pictures that I took on this vacation. That will keep me plenty busy until the next vacation.

Well after all the fun and excite-ment with Gracie's birthday parties last weekend, this past week turned out to be kinda rotten. On Saturday we had a little party with friends from her school. Nothing fancy, just pizza, cupcakes, ice cream sundaes and a couple rounds of pin the paw-print on the puppy and musical chairs. (We've really got to get a little more original next year) And if 8 little girls squealing and giggling for 2 hours straight doesn't test your nerves I don't know what will. On Sunday we had the family party. I always love it when both of our sides of our family have a chance to get together. Again, nothing fancy. Hamburgers, hot dogs, potato salad etc... Unfortunately Chandler had been up all Saturday night throwing up but I assumed it was because she had eaten too much popcorn that night so I thought we were okay to go ahead with the party. Not the case because then came the diarrhea along with the horrible diaper rash that always accompanies the runs with babies. So first I got it because of course I'm the one who ended up with throw up all over my pajamas, hair, and pillow from poor Chandler and I was down for 3 days, then Greg got the diarrhea half of it(TMI I know), then Hayden threw up in her bed, then the phone calls came from all my family thanking me for the fun party and the stomach flu. It's no wonder they don't visit often! Then just when i thought we were in the clear and everyone was getting well, Chandler's left eye started looking super red and gooey! I took her to the doctor and yes you guessed it, PINK-EYE!! And not only that, but also an infection in her left ear. I wasn't aware that ear infections often show up with pink-eye. So as of right now we are all well and hopefully not harboring any disease. Luckily Gracie had a really good time and didn't get anything. That would not have made a very good birthdy present and she doesn't do sick very well. She moans the whole time and says "Why, why, why do I have to be sick" over and over. So sorry to everyone who came to our party and left with the gombu. Not a great party favor.It's a good thing we don't have another birthday until July. Maybe by then everyone will have forgotten and want to come to Chandlers party.

Today Gracie Jo is SEVEN!

I can't believe she's so old! It honestly seems like it was not that long ago that we were living in Logan and walking across the street from our little apartment to the hospital for a scheduled c-secion. Gracie was the ideal first child. She was always such a good baby and continues to be a good girl to this day. She is such a sweet, loving, caring person. One of her very favorite things to do is spend time with her entire family. She loves to play with all her cousins and her sisters are her very best friends. She has her moments when she isn't entirely pleasant but most of the time when you see her there's a twinkle in her big brown eyes and huge smile on her face. We have been so blessed to have Gracie in our family and watch her grow into the wonderful young girl that she is . She is such a good example to her younger sisters and is such a big help to her parents. We love you Gracie!!!!!

Today is also another important birthday! Gracie Jo was born on her Grandpa Joe's birthday. Which is why her middle name is Jo. He says he's turning all of the birthdays over to Gracie but we wanted to give him a shout out anyway. Happy birthday Duffer! This is him and Gracie on the day she was blessed.