The Many Faces of Gracie

While I was trying to take pictures of Gracie's new haircut, I realized she if full of different face, it only took 5 tries to get a smile.

Hair Cuts

We all have Bangs (except nate). Last saturday night I cut the girls bangs. What do you think?

Happy Birthday Rori

Rori turned 5! I am so grateful for Rori, she has such a sweet spirit and has a great understanding for how people feel. This year Rori wanted to have a friend birthday party. Which was fine with us, but Nate had one request. He ask that Rori put on the invitation "No gifts please." This was a hard decision for her to make but as Nate talked to her about why it was a good thing she agreed to go along with the request.

I am so proud of her. She is growing and learning so much! I wish I could be the one to take credit for who she has become but I think it is just who is she is. She has taught me so much about who I am and what is important. There have been many time that she has taught me about missionary work and the importance of it. Our lives are so blessed because of Rori! Happy Birthday Rori we love you!


For Rori's Birthday this year Nate got her a amaryllis bulb. It was a lot of fun to see her open it. She asked Nate why he go her an onion.

He told her about the amaryllis, and how it would last for 28 years. She then told Nate that by then she would be married and Nate would be old! I am excited for the next 28 year and so glad that Rori will be part of it.

New Look...

Well, I finally did it! We have a new look, and I am ready to blog again. Please stay tune for many new blogs!

Second Birthday

Gracie turned 2! Over the last couple of day I have remembered all the fun moments we have had with Gracie. She definalty is very unique. She loves to tease, and laugh with Rori.


She is also very strong willed. I have had to learn alot about how to direct her and help her learn to be the best she can. While also learning alot about my self and Nate.


On her birthday we would ask her how old she was, she would respond "four" finally my Dad asked her how old I was she said "two".


I love being a Mom, my Girls have changed my world and taught me so much about the meaning of life.


Happy Birthday Gracie we LOVE YOU!

Canning Remains

After I finished canning on Friday I set the water tub outside for a few minutes before I dumped it and Rori and Gracie put it to good use.



I wish they would have got in the water on a day I did not do their hair. Oh well, I know that one day I will wish I could open a jar filled with the memories of my children.


ps Thanks Cali for taking the pictures!

Canning

Today I spent the entire day canning tomatoes and peach jam. This is the first time I have done jam and I think it was pretty enjoyable. It is easy compared to apples.



I just had to post the pictures to remind me off the beauty so I can now face the mess of neglected children and a canning kitchen.

Hardwood Floor

For years I have hated the light color of carpet we put in our house. It showed stains and daily wear horribly. So Nate let me get hard wood floor and installed for me too. At first Rori was very upset that we took her carpet out, but yesterday she found the benenfits of hardwood. You can lick up your spilled fun dip packet.



As for Gracie she does not care where she sits or even if she has clothes, life is good as long as she has George the Monkey.

Bug Bite

This is what happens when you get a bug bite on your eye! A little while ago Gracie had a rough night sleeping and we had no idea why until we woke up to this. Poor little Gracie! Nate loved the fact that it was Sunday morning which meant Gracie aka the Hunch Back of Notre Dame could ring the bell at church.


Luckily after a few days her eye returned to normal with no problems.

Bountiful Harvest

One of Nates' favorite times of the year is when he can eat the food he has grown. Each year we try to do a little better with the garden. This year the girls helped through out the entire process. I has been a lot of fun watching the enjoy the garden. Now if the the squash would slow down just a little we would be in great shape!

Catching up

I can not believe I have taken a month to post something new. I guess I have finally slowed down or maybe just gave in to my desires...

So here we are camping a few weeks ago. I just though I would share this moment as summer seems to be fading quickly.


The kids seemed to really enjoy being outside and the weather was great. Not to mention Grandpa and Grandma parry are some of the greatest great grandparents in the world, and yes Abby really slept this way for about and hour!


Ron made a rope swing for the kids and Arlene is always busy helping with some sort of craft project! It is great to be around family and to see how important family is.

Share your memories

Well here we go...

Here are the directions:
1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!
2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

Not so Pretty

Well Nate decide about a month ago to remodel my master bath! I was super excited, for about a year the shower has been leaking into the wall. So we figured we better get it fixed before it got to bad. As we got into it we found out it was already bad. The water had leaked all the way to the exterior particle board.

We figured it would take a while to dry out so Nate has been breaking up the floor so that we could take the shower pan out and try again. As he was jack hammering. Gracie sat outside the bathroom telling us that she was scared.

Everyday she walks by the bathroom she tells me "Daddy Broke."

Look Alike

Jessica is always asking my mom if she looked like Gracie when she was little. So we took a picture of them together to see what we thought. I was surprised to see a lot of similarities.

The Course

Over the 4th of July Ron and Arlene had all the family over for a sleep over and breakfast. While we were getting ready for breakfast, Grandma Arlene had the Rori and Joey make an obstacle course.

What good sports! I think almost everyone ran the course (except those with the cameras).

As for the sleeping out part. We were laying on the Grass and Barry stood up and ran to the porch and pulled something off his face. When he got back I asked him what it was, "just a daddy long leg" he said. So I squirmed a bit. When Nate had the same thing happen, I protest sleeping under the stars. I still sletpt out, well more like tossed and turned all night waiting for the daddy long legs to crawl on me. I guess in the end it still was fun.

The Zoo

Well we made it to the zoo. My parents and Annikan can along for the trip. I am not to sure that Grandpa was as excited as the kids .

This was the first year Gracie really seemed to enjoy the animals. Of course the elephant seemed to be Gracie's favorite.

She kept pointing and saying oot ooh. I asked her what was wrong ans she pointed to her nose. and then to the elephant.

One of my favorite things about child development is the discovery process that children go through. It was so much fun to share this moment of discovery with her.

Then of course we had to ride the carousel which seemed to be a favorite for all the kids. Even the waiting in line part was not to bad.

Legacy of Love

I just wanted to let my Grandparents Bill and Barbra know how much we love them. As I folding clothes a while ago I folded a pillow case that smelled like my grandparent spare bed room. I remembered all the night I slept in the spare room. I was flooded with year of memories and suddenly became so grateful for all they did to love me, and to see my girls continue to basks in the love of family.

Grandma and Grandpa we love you and feel so blessed to have you in our lives.

Gracie and Instructions

One of Gracies favorite things to do is get dirty. After a long day of playing I asked Rori and Gracie to get in the tub. I turned on the water and went to get some other things done. A few minutes later Rori was yelling for me. I ran to see what was going on and this is what I found...

I think I need to start using two step instructions. As you can tell from the picture Gracie saw no problem with this situation. In fact after looking at her shirt she was probably just using common sense...the shirt was as dirty as she was.

More to come...

Just wanted to let you all know I have not given up on the blog! Life has been pretty busy lately and I have put my self on restrictions...no blogging...because I want to change my background but I am building it from scratch so it is taking time. Plus I will not let me self work on it until my house is clean. As you can tell I am on week two and my house is still not clean but I am getting a little bit closer. Hopefully I can post again soon.

PS my photographer friends I need new pictures of the girls if there is any takers. I love the ones Carrie did last year, but my girls are growing up!

No Instruction Manual

Over the last week Gracie (and I) had some real challenges placed in her way. I began working at Dancing Moose Montessori a few weeks ago. When I started working there Gracie also began to attend the 18 month old class for 2 hours a day.

Starting in May I began to introduce Gracie to her teacher Miss Sam and the environment. From day one Gracie has refused to make eye contact with Sam. The first week of school Gracie cried everyday. I considered this to be normal, she has only been left with family since the day she was born.

Week two I thought I would see a little bit happier behavior. Instead Gracie began to really protest any contact Sam would make with her. As the week went on Gracie decide that school was okay as long as Sam was not in the room.

In desperation Sam began to let Gracie attend the 2 yr old class. Which was great in Gracie's mind (and mine). She had adapted to school.

Week three, a behaviorist is now at the school. To Gracie's dismay Miss Sam asked Cheryl (the behaviorist) why Gracie hated her and what she could do to help the situation. The behaviorist decide it was worth it to see if they could find the "antecedent".

Sam went to get Gracie from the other class. When Gracie saw Sam she clung to the new teacher. Poor Sam had to pry Gracie way from the teacher and take her screaming to her room. For the next hour Gracie cried for me. (Which, by the way, I could hear from three rooms away.)
My motherly instinct kicked in and I went to find out what was going on. I was reassured that this was best for Gracie and it would help her adapt to the environment. Which in my mind she did fine in the environment. The behaviorist and the school director all asked me to give it a few days and to see if she could adapt.

I agreed thinking that it would be okay for Gracie to figure some things out without me to protect her and I could watch everything that happened on the monitor outside her room. The next day we went to school and my baby lost it. Which in turn caused me to lose it. The entire two hours Gracie cried, and screamed and sobbed. She would sit in a corner with her hands in her mouth just sobbing. When they went outside she would lay in the grass and just cry mommy between her whimpers. The entire time this the happened the only comfort she recieved was from the behaviorist. Who would walk over tell her "stop"...."No crying" and walk away making sure her back was to Gracie.

Now keep in mind my parenting style is very motivated by my child's emotions and the connection they have with me. Which from my prospective was being destroyed. Well the two hours ended, I got Gracie, and again was assured that this was the best thing for her and not to give up.

When I got home that night all I could think about the was trauma Gracie experience and how I did not protect her. After many discussions with Nate, and many hours of tears (on my behalf) I logged onto my favorite parenting sites and decided that if there was no change by day three, I was done. I would ask that they put Gracie back where she was comfortable.

So day three came and the same thing happened... but it ended after about 5 minutes. She stopped crying, she left the corner, and she began playing with Miss Sam. I was amazed. I had just learned something about myself, my Gracie and my parenting style.

I have spent a lot of time the last few days evaluating my parenting style and have talked a great deal with behaviorist and have decided that I definitely have some weak points in my parenting style that I need to fix in order for Gracie to reach her full potential.

She is very strong willed, and I am not constant with her because of that. I have also learned some really great strategy's to help me. I have learned how wonderful and bright Gracie is. She is such a joy to me. I love her clever personality, her love for learning and even her stubbornness. (Which I am sure did not come from me.)


Being a parent is such a wonderful opportunity to grow and change as we adapt to fit our children's needs. Now Gracie is still adjusting to Miss Sam and is still having a hard time telling me good bye, but is growing leaps and bound in her ability to problem solve and figure out the world without me by her side. I think Gracie is officially a toddler and no longer my baby.