My Girl is 2!!!

I'm finally getting birthday pictures put on. Better late than never I guess! It's been a busy week for us! Grace's birthday was obviously Saturday and then mine was today so we've done a lot of celebrating! I'll go into more detail about mine at a later date because this post is all about my little girl!!!

Here's my big 2 year old! I can't believe my baby is already 2. My Mema (Dad's mom) flew in last Friday and was able to stay out here with us Friday and Saturday night and I was soooo excited that 1) she was able to come for Grace's birthday and 2) that she was able to stay with us and spend lots of time with her great granddaughter! My dad didn't know she was here, because she wanted to surprise him on Saturday when he showed up for the party. Boy was he surprised!! It was priceless!

Here's my little tiny hiney trying to sneak into her presents!! Mom and Dad bought her the little dollhouse bookcase, which I absolutely love! I have wanted one for her room since I first started seeing them, so Mom decided it would be a good gift from them.

Here she is again in front of her bookcase holding her little storybook bear (which is highly creepy by the way...sorry Mom!). I've got her room re-arranged now with her bookcase in there and I'll post some pictures sometime soon.

Here she is peeking out the window! She kinda likes it!

I didn't really have much of a theme this year, other than bright colors. Her little invitations were dye cut cupcakes and cute as buttons so I knew I was going to have cupcakes instead of a cake. So, I took an invitation into Shelby Lynn's in Springdale and told them I wanted cupcakes shaped into a "2" and the colors to match the invites. They did an excellent job! Mom and I went last Friday to Party City to find plates, tablecloths, etc. and found all the bright colors so we just mixed an matched! I was pleased with how it turned out!

Here's her "2"! Isn't it adorable? I was extremely pleased! We also made punch!

Here's Grace and her Mimi (Gene's mom) checking out her new Mini Cooper that Gene's parents got her. She loves the thing, but was a little destructive trying to drive it in the house! It was taken outside pretty quickly!

Just a snapshot of a few guests. Tanner brought his little girlfriend Katie with him so we could all meet her. We all told her she was incredibly brave for taking us all on at one time!! She handled it well though, and she's cute as can be! Granny and Courtney were able to drive up from Alma and I was so glad they were able to come!!!

Here's Mema and myself just checking things out. It got really packed and noisy in the house, and I was trying to remain calm!!

Here are three of my girls! Teresa, Steph, and Crystal. So glad they were able to come too! I work with Crystal at the pd and her daughter Abby will be 3 in July. I think Saturday was the first day she and Grace had ever really been around each other! It was cute to watch them play!

Present time!! She got so many great things. She got lots of new spring/summer outfits and a few great toys and some stuff for her room. Oh she also got like 5 new movies, which is great considering she loves watching movies!! Mom got her that little decorative pillow that matches her bedding!

More presents, and you can also see Katie and Tanner better in the background. Cute huh!?!

Why yes I'm a princess, thank you for noticing!!!

Time to blow out the candles...notice that was plural now :(.

Mmmmmmm......yummy cupcake!!!

Yea, she was pink for about 24 hours because of the icing!! It's ok though, she loved it!!

One of her presents from us was a little Dora umbrella, and once she figured out that it opens she carried it all over the place. As you can see below, even to the potty!!!

Ok, that's it! I actually have a ton more, but I tried to pick the best ones to post! I promise that Gene and Corey were there too but Corey was in charge of the camera so he was always behind it and Gene doesn't do crowds so he stayed back out of the way most of the time!!

The adorable little outfit came Friday afternoon from the Geren's in GA and it was absolutely perfect for her birthday outfit!! I'd been stressing about what to put her in, and hadn't had a chance to shop for a new one so when I opened her package from Aunt Cathy and saw it I knew it was perfect for Saturday and she just looked so precious!!! Thanks Geren family!!!!

Early Birthday Presents!!!

I will be celebrating my 24th birthday this Thursday the 26th, but I've already received a couple of things! My grandmother flew in this past Friday from Ft. Worth, TX to stay with us and spend time with her only great granddaughter! I made a yummy meal Friday night of lasagne and Butterfinger Cake and Tanner came out and ate with us and to see Mema.

Mema had already given me a beautiful windchime that is made out of wood and it looks like it's even bamboo. I'm not typically a fan of windchimes, but this one is so unique and pretty and it has the softest prettiest sound so I can't wait for Gene to hang it ouside for me!

Tanner had called me when he was on his way and told me he had my birthday present, and that he couldn't figure out what to get Grace. I was totally expecting like a gift card to Old Navy or a CD or something. Boy was I wrong.....
He bought me an iPod Touch!!!!! I was so so so so excited!! I had been talking about how I wanted one, and he was up at work the other night when we were talking about it. I guess he was paying attention!! So far I have all of my music on it and I'm working on getting the applications I want. It has been so much fun to play with and learn how to use! It's like a little mini laptop because it picks up wi-fi so I can get on the internet too! Too fun!

I'm still at work, just waiting for 10 o'clock to roll around so I can go home! Hope everyone has had a good Monday!

Coming Soon...

Ok, I promise I have tales and pictures of our busy birthday weekend but our internet has been running slow the last few days so I haven't even attempted to upload the pictures on here yet. I have put some on Facebook though, so if your my friend on there you can see them!!

Till then...

Just a Little Light Cleaning...

NOT!!!! I did a lot of serious cleaning today. I took the day off work so I could clean, clean, clean. I started about 8:30 this morning and finished around 8:30 tonight. I'm exhausted and really need to go to bed, but I still have wet hair from my shower and I hate going to bed with wet hair.
So, I'll share some pictures from today. This one and the next one actually need to be switched to be in sequential order but oh well. Grace is feeling better, and hasn't had a fever in 2 days!! However, her antibiotic makes her tired, so late morning after it's had plenty of time to get into her system she starts dragging. I had already been cleaning for a while and was working on putting the sheets back on our bed when she crawled over in the corner on our decorative pillows with her baby and fell asleep! She looked so precious and yet so uncomfortable so I picked her up and laid her on our bed and she took a little nap!

I know, she looks so sweet! Of course baby had to be there with her too! She was a good girl today while I cleaned. Gene was outside all morning cleaning up the yard and the porch then he had to run to town so it was just me and Grace most of the day and she just occupied herself and let me do my thing. Occasionally she wanted to help, but I didn't mind! Well, that and every 10 minutes she had to go potty! I swear I spend most of time in the bathroom these days!

The picture above this one is her sitting at the table with us for dinner tonight. We asked if she was ready to eat and instead of going to her high chair she climbed up into a chair at the dinner table. Wow! She's not a baby anymore...

Her outfit came from her brother! As soon as they got home from school they headed upstairs to clean their rooms and of course Grace had to follow! About an hour later Corey and Grace come walking down the stairs and Grace has on Corey's green basketball jersey (which he's tied in the back), her orange panties, red socks, and some big bead necklaces that were in Corey's room. Oh, I laughed hysterically! He had also pulled her hair back into a ponytail! I actually had a flash of the future...I was picturing her as a junior cheerleader in high school wearing a basketball player's jersey and headed to a pep rally. I almost cried.

I became fully aware that time goes way too fast and that my daughter isn't going to stay a baby forever. I don't like it. As much as I'm looking forward to watching her grow and become a young woman, I'm also dreading it. I want her to stay a baby for the rest of her life and always want me to rock her to sleep, and run to me and say "hold you!", and pick her nose and stick it on me somewhere, and suck on a paci, and giggle when her bubbas chase her, and I could go on but I'll spare you. Point is, I'm not ready for this. I'm not even sure I'm ready for her to be 2. I mean, we're already off the bottle, the diapers (just about), and before long we'll be off the paci. Seriously, she's a child now, not just a baby. Ok, I have to move on...

Perfect example of my statements from above....she's wearing big girl panties drinking out of a cup with a straw...not a sippy cup. This is also her new favorite thing, wearing her daddy's shirt. As much as I hate saying it (ok, I don't REALLY hate saying it, but)....she's a MAJOR daddy's girl my friends. Big time.

I'm tired of typing now so I'm going to bed. Good night!!!

Whitney Caroline Designs Giveaway!!

I just checked out Whitney Caroline Designs blog and she announced that she is doing a giveaway!! It's a super cute memo board! So....hop on over and check it out!

I've got more to blog about, but I stink and need a shower because I've been cleaning all day and Grace is about ready for bed. So..........

Doctor's Visit

Grace's temperature never got above 99.5 this morning but I went ahead and scheduled her a doctor's appointment. After waiting for almost an hour to be seen, the doctor said she has some drainage in the back of her throat and a slight ear infection in her left ear. The infection isn't really bad, just a little redness so she went ahead and prescribed some antibiotics to knock it out!
I'm very much relieved and Gene is going to the doctor tomorrow because his fever keeps coming and going. So, hopefull by tomorrow afternoon they'll both be on the right road to recovery!

I'm taking off Thursday to do my major house cleaning for this weekend for Grace's party so I only have a 3 day work week this week and I'm super pumped about it!!!

Happy Monday...evening!

Fever

UPDATE: I just checked on Grace and her temperature was down to normal, but I went ahead and gave her more medicine to make sure it doesn't spike back up throughout the night. We'll check her again in the morning and if it does back up or she is still acting/looking sick then I'm scheduling her an appointment.

Well, I'm sitting here on the computer waiting for midnight to roll around so I can go upstairs and check Grace's temperature and give her some more Tylenol. My poor baby girl doesn't feel good and I hate it.

Gene is still not feeling good today and wasn't able to go to work this morning and we didn't get out of bed until 11 this morning. I was lazy around the house and didn't go pick Grace up till about 2:30 from Mom and Dad's. I had bought tickets to go see Larry the Cable Guy tonight back in December to give to Gene for our anniversary. We were both really looking forward to going, but he told me this morning that he wasn't going to feel like going. I was majorly bummed. So, I called Steph to see if she had plans and she didn't so she was my fill-in date!! More on that in a minute...

When I got to Mom and Dad's I could tell Grace didn't feel good and Mom said she'd been really clingy all day and she just wanted to sit in her lap. By the time we made it home her little eyes were all red around them and she just looked so pitiful. I gave her some Triaminic because she coughed a little bit. Gene actually was starting to feel somewhat better but definitely not good by any means. His fever had broken and his throat wasn't as sore but he said his chest was burning really bad and it felt like there was an elephant sitting on it. He also was incredibly weak and his whole body was sore. I felt so helpless cause I couldn't do anything to make it better.

Steph got here and we left around 6:45 to head to Barn Hill Arena for the show. Ok, first of all, I can never keep Barn Hill and Bud Walton straight so I wasn't exactly sure where we were going! We figured it out though by following the crowd of people! We parked WAAAAAAY down by Bud Walton though and walked ALLLLL the way up the hill to Barn Hill. It was freezing outside. I didn't have a coat. Smart I know! We made it in though after waiting in line for about 30 minutes....in the freezing cold. The show was great!! I laughed so hard I was crying.

Right after it got started I checked my phone and had 3 new text messages from Gene. He was informing me that Grace had a 101.2 degree fever and he had given her some Tylenol. Oh boy. I started worrying about my girl and truth be told I wanted to leave right then to come home to her. But...I didn't. I put complete trust in her daddy to take care of her. He did! He put her to bed just before 9 and she's been out ever since. She's due for some more medicine at midnight so I'm going to go up and check her temp to see if she needs it. I'm really hoping she doesn't, but we'll see. I really don't want to have to wake her up but I also really don't want that fever getting up either.

Pray that she and Gene get to feeling better and that this week goes smoothly and everyone gets/stays well!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

It has been a very very good Valentine's Day! My best ever maybe! The day started off great because Grace slept in until just before 9 this morning, therefore, I slept in!

Our power came back on just before 1 am Friday morning. Thank goodness! I didn't sleep hardly at all Thursday night because I got home from work late and Gene and Grace were both asleep in our bed and hogging the whole thing! She has to sleep with us when the power's out because it doesn't stay warm enough in her room with her door closed and we don't have a monitor without power. So, I laid down on the couch and tossed and turned for over an hour stressing about the power issue. I was finally about to drift off when all the lights came on and the dishwasher kicked on. It scared the daylights out of me, but I was SO excited I jumped up and started my laundry. Is that pathetic or what?! Anways, I laid back down but it was too hot because of the fireplace so I went upstairs to Grace's room and laid down in her "big girl bed." Once again I had just fallen back to sleep and Gene came in and woke me up because he was sick and coughing and didn't want to be breathing on Grace so I went and got into bed with her and he moved to the couch. I finally got to sleep around 3:30. Gene's alarm clock then went off at 6 to get the boys up for school so I got them up and dozed somewhat till about 7:30 when I finally just got up.

Yesterday was a day of errands. Grace and I went with Mom to an eye doctor appointment then we went to Target and she got Grace's birthday presents from her and Granny. Too cute! You can't see till next weekend though after her party!

So, last night Grace and I came home and lounged around the house with her daddy. She started getting really cranky because she hadn't had a nap all day so she got a bath and was in bed by 8:40. I followed closely behind her and was definitely out before 10. Gene still wasn't feeling good so he ended up sleeping on the couch again all night.

This morning we all got up and pretty much didn't do anything all day. I did get all of our laundry caught up and the bed made, but that was about it!

Grace has still been in panties during the day and a diaper at night and we've only had a few accidents. She pretty much has pee peeing down; she'll tell us every time she has to go. It's the other that we're still struggling with! She gets embarassed while she is going so she doesn't like that we sit in there with her. She still is trying to go in her panties so we have to pay close attention and watch for the poo poo signs! I'm proud of her though and I don't think it will be much longer before she has it mastered!!

Mom and Dad had planned on having her this weekend some, so they had a Valentine breakfast and movie matinee and came and picked her up after the movie was over. Our cousins, Chadd and Jeannie, are out at Beaver Lake right now and we don't get to see them much so Mom, Dad, and Grace went out to have dinner with them then Grace is staying the night with her Nana and Papa!

Gene and I didn't have any plans because 1) we're going to see Larry the Cable Guy tomorrow night and 2) Gene's still sick and feels like poo. So, I decided I was in the mood to cook and lasagne sounded good! We both took showers and ran to town to get some groceries. Once we made it home I started dinner and Gene laid down on the couch. I was so pleased with the way it turned out, and I think it's probably the best lasagne I've ever made! We ate and were completely stuffed!!

There are so few pictures of Gene and I together it's sad really so I told him we had to take a Valentine's picture! Bless his heart he feels so bad and didn't hardly have the energy to smile so he looked so pitiful! I told him we had to take another one and that he had to open his eyes and not look so pitiful so......

He did, and this is how it turned out! He's such a goober and started giggling whenever I was looking back through them and realized what he'd done!

We finally got one that I was pleased with! I just love him so much! I hate that he's so sick though. He's burning up one minute then freezing cold the next and he can't quit coughing. He's very rarely sick and I told him that if he's not better by Monday I'm forcing him to go to the doctor. Even if I have to drag him kicking and screaming!!

He can't afford to be sick because next week and next weekend are very busy for us! I've got a ton of house cleaning to do to get ready for my baby girl's 2nd birthday party!!! I'll give more info later! Right now I'm off to finish watching a movie with my hubby!

Happy V-Day!!!!!

Parties & Panties!

Ok, so I planned on sitting down today and doing a nice little post about what's been going on in our lives lately and as soon as I was signing in our power went out...........again. Hey and guess what?! It's still out as of right now! It went out at 9:20 this morning and it's 8 pm and it's still out. My father in law did talk to the power company and they said it might be back on tomorrow. I can only hope!

So, I'll just do a brief one here at work to give a little update. I've posted some pictures of my little punkin!

Oh yes, this is my little girl in PANTIES!! We're trying a new approach to potty training and so far it's going really really well. When she wakes up in the morning I take her diaper off and put some panties on her! We started it on Sunday and as long as we are at home she keeps them on instead of a diaper. She's only had about 4 accidents total. Other than that she tells us every time she has to go potty! I'm just so proud of her!

I've mentioned before I'm sure that she doesn't like to stand still long enough for a picture so you'll notice the first one is running towards me and me snapping it really quick and this one is her running away! Isn't that the cutest hiney you've ever seen?!? You can tell she thinks she's hot stuff in her big girl panties, and it just makes me so proud to be a mother!

Here's another running picture. Yes, those are socks she's running around with. I had just got home from work and taken them off and she snatched them up and took off! Gross I know, but what are ya gonna do?!?!

Last Saturday was my niece's birthday party at Chuck E Cheese. Grace had never been before and she had a HAY DAY! She absolutely loved it! Sarah (the birthday girl) is really good with Grace and she went up through the tunnel and down the big slide with her! She played almost all the games and wasn't ready to leave!

Here she is going down the slide in the toddler room. She didn't hang out in there much, she's too big for that stuff!! ;)

This was the first time she climbed up to do the slide and she was a little hesitant to go down by herself so she was reaching out for her daddy to help her! She figured it out very quickly after that though and kept running circles back and forth. She then figured out how to walk up the slide so she did that over and over! After they had cake and pizze Chuck E Cheese himself came out and she wasn't so sure of that. She really liked the idea, but not the actuality of it! Too funny!

Besides the birthday party and the panties that's about all going on right now. Oh yea, and our power outtage, wouldn't wanna forget that! It is my Friday at work though so I'm hoping that the power does in fact come back on tomorrow. Grace and I are supposed to go with Mom in the morning to her eye doctor appointment then Gene and I are getting our taxes done tomorrow afternoon. Then if all goes well I'll be home tomorrow night doing laundry and housework!

We don't have big plans for V-Day, but Gene and I are going to see Larry the Cable Guy Sunday night and I'm pretty excited about that. I bought Gene the tickets for our anniversary back in December. He's super excited about it!!

I'll keep ya posted on the potty training progress!!

Back in the swing of things

I'm actually at work right now, so I can't put up any pictures but I have some at home I'm going to put on as soon as I get a chance.

We are slowly but surely getting back into the swing of things at home. Our power went out at 7:20 last Tuesday morning and it didn't come back on until 11:00 this past Monday morning. A total of 6 days and about 3 and a half hours without power. It was not fun. Luckily, we do have a fireplace so we had warmth, but we have an electric heat pump system so we didn't have hot water to bathe with. I was taking showers wherever I could! One night I took one up here at work, then Friday Grace and I went to Granny's in Alma where Mom and Dad were and I took a shower there Friday and Saturday and also did a lot of our laundry while there. We were quickly running out of clothes and with no power in sight I didn't know when I would be able to do it at home.

A friend of ours had a generator and after their power came back on (a few days before ours) they let us borrow it. We only hooked the tv and dish up to it though because it wasn't really powerful enough for anything else. All of our food had already been thrown out from the fridge and we were keeping the necessities cold in an ice chest outside. We also have a gas grill that has a burner on the side of it so we were able to cook also. It still wasn't fun though.

Monday morning Grace and I went to Teresa's house to do more laundry because Gene was out of clean uniforms for work and I was due for another shower! I was in the middle of a load when Gene sent me a text that said our power was back on!! I started jumping up and down I was so excited! I threw the wet clothes that had just finished in the washer into a trash bag and sped home to finish drying them and to take a shower in my OWN bathroom! I also started the dishwasher and another load of clothes! I did laundry all day Tuesday and I'm not sure I'd ever been happier to do it.

So, needless to say my diet was all out of whack because I was just eating whatever I could with the circumstances, not only at home but also at work because 95% of Springdale was without power so when I was at work there was no where to go to get food. It was just miserable!

I'm getting back on track now though, and tomorrow I'm going major grocery shopping to stock back up on everything!

The boys and I had dentist appointments today and we all got cleanings and had x-rays done. I found out that during Spring Break I will be having some wisdom teeth removed. Oh what fun! I also have a root canal that needs a cap and a hole in a filling that needs to be fixed. Colt also has 2 cavities and Corey will have to be re-examined when he gets his braces off.

I actually was down for a vacation day today for the appointments, but we were in and out of the office a lot quicker than I thought we would be so I decided to come on into work so I didn't have to use my vacation time. I'm starving right now though, and am fixing to run and get some dinner.

Hope everyone has power back and has had a good week!!