In Grace's Words

"Mommy, I love you more than a bear!  A bear is scary!"

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Grace came inside from playing with Son & Collin...

G: "mommy, come outside"

Me: "in a minute"

G: "but you are a girl and I am a girl.  And the boys outside are playing football!"

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Big Girl

I cannot believe how quickly by baby girl has grown.  She was looking especially grown-up today wearing a messy bun hair-do left over from a trial run in her Princess Sophia costume.

She is growing into a stunning beauty.

This picture is of her waking from one of the last naps she will ever take in her crib.  Her "big girl bed" was delivered today, mommy is not ready for this!

Sweet Big Brother Moment

Something that melts my heart like nothing else is Collin being a sweet big brother.  

Perhaps it is because I never had a brother or an older sibling, or maybe it's just because I love both of them so dearly, but my heart bursts in moments like these.

I had finished baths and asked Grace to sit in her chair and wait for me to come read her a book.  I was cleaning in the kitchen and heard Collin go into her room and ask, "do you want me to read you a book?"

Priceless moment :). I love these two!!

And yes...I did stop them mid-book to remove the blanket from the back of the chair because it didn't match the chair ;). Then continued taking a million pictures, creating memories for them!

Trick Riders

As the weather cools we are spending more and more of our "stay home" days outside, something that we all love.  Collin and Grace both love riding bikes/trikes, and one of their favorite activities lately is "doing tricks".

They love putting on shows and performing together.  Collin reminds me of myself because he makes detailed plans of exactly what each person will do, then gets upset when the other "actors" do not follow his script.

Collin has many trick moves that he loves to incorporate into the shows:

Standing on the back of the big wheel & turning the wheel with his hands...

Anything with no hands...

Standing on the trike on one foot...this picture looks much more dangerous than the actual trick did at the time!  Mommy should have asked him to get down instead of snapping pictures!!

And don't forget about Grace, who is never more than a few steps behind big brother :)

Trying to turn the wheel with her hands...she couldn't quite reach.

Standing on one foot...again, bad mommy failing at safety watch!

Last, but not least, riding off the (very gently sloping) curb...

Love these babies and their "tricks" :)

Trike-A-Thon

This week Collin & Grace participated in their first ever Trike-A-Thon at their school!  They had a blast and mommy was able to watch the whole event.  We talked it up before at home, so they were both really excited to "race"!

Gracie's group included all of the two's classes at the school.  She ride her tricycle for half of the event, and then switched it up by pushing a baby stroller in the second half :)

 Her teacher made them all team shirts and gave them matching sunglasses - of course Grace had to be purple!

Taking a "thirst aid" break with sweet friend Braxton.

Class picture - we LOVE Mrs. Rice!!

Collin's group was next and included 3 of the Pre-K classes.  He stayed on his bike the entire time and was more serious than his sister.

He had a blast weaving in and out of his little friends trying to go faster and faster. He is my competitive little boy :)

Waiting not-so-patiently to get back on his bike after the lemonade break.

VPK Lunch Bunch Class Picture :). We LOVE Mrs. Padgett & Mrs. Acree!!

What a fun day!

Nails By Grace

One if Grace's favorite things is to play "paint nails" - and honestly it's one of mommy's favorite activities too!  Today I let her paint my nails and I think she did a great job for a 2 1/2 year old!

 Fortunately it is peel-off polish!

My kids don't do that

You know those hilarious pictures that you see of kids covered head to toe in diaper cream, baby powder, lotion, and other substances that are to be applied by mommies only?  Well, that's not my kids.  I survived over 4 years without any such pictures of my own kids, and honestly I just thought that it would never happen to me...

I am not by any means trying to say that my kids don't make messes...they do...really really big messes.  They even got into the diaper cream, baby powder, and lotion before.  But my kids are not quiet and I instantly ran into the room as soon as I heard that "so loud squeal because we are doing something that is totally forbidden" laughter coming from down the hall and caught the mess before it got out of hand.

Not this time...

I was preparing dinner and the kids were supposed to be playing in their rooms.  I could hear Collin playing and just assumed grace was with him since she is never more than a few feet behind him.

I started to smell something minty and became suspicious...walked to the kids bathroom...and found this.

Of course the first thing I did was grab my camera.  I have to admit that it was really hard to keep a straight "you are in trouble" face while snapping pics of this messy girl.  And it was probably pretty confusing to her because once she realized that I wasn't taking pictures because I was happy she turned into this...

From this day forward I can no longer rely on the fact that I don't hear conspiratory laughter to tell me that all is well.  Apparently they do occasionally operate alone!

By the way, that WAS a brand new tube if toothpaste...and 2 days later I am STILL trying to wash the toothpaste residue from her hair.