It began at the Bistro

Presents and more

2012-02-16T16:55:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we went to Harrisonburg to make plans for Glen's dedication that will happen in the next few months. When we arrived we were welcomed by a gift bag from a very kind lady in my mom's Sunday School class. I have met this woman and have talked to her a bit, but I would not say that I know her well. So the fact that she took time out to do gifts like this for Glen (and also Grace when she was born) mean so much to me.

Shirley is a very talented woman with a very giving heart, and here is evidence of both.

Grace found the hat and decided that she needed to put it on, and it fit.

So we tried on the sweater, and it also fit. Glen will partake of these items in a year or two.

So we have the sweater, and the hat, and finally the blanket that they are sitting/laying on which all three are a duck theme. There is a duck button on the sweater and on the blanket there is a large yellow duck. I am looking forward to when Glen can put these items to use.

Yesterday Grace was playing in a dirt pile in the front yard. And the sun was shining on her and the colors (especially of her hair) was just stunning, so I decided to try to capture it with a camera.

It did not quite work, but I got some good pictures of Grace.

Here I had fun taking colors out of the picture. I kind of like the effect.

Glen now has a name for his hairline. The boy has a hairline which goes from ear to ear and is a ring around the back with a bunch of light fuzz on top. At church this past Sunday his uncle Mike dubbed this hair style as "the Picard." I laughed so hard! I love it...My son is sporting the Picard :)

Valentine's Meal 2012 (When Lana Learns What Valentine's Is Really All About)

2012-02-15T09:54:00.000-08:00

Matt and I have a tradition. We do not really do gifts on Valentine's Day. Our celebration is to make a meal together that we would not attempt on a normal day, and certainly not attempt alone. So we spend a few days in January planning the menu. On the morning of Valentine's Day we go grocery shopping. Then spend the rest of the day in the kitchen together cooking, dancing, singing, etc. It is wonderful and has brought to light many wonderful recipes that I have used many times since.

Until this year it has pretty much been just Matt and I. For the first two years, it was just Matt and I. Then the third year we had a two month old who was pretty content in her bouncy seat and so it was still kind of just Matt and I. Last year we had a one year old who tried to help but for most of the preparation she played or slept. So once again it seemed as if it was mainly just Matt and I.

This year was a wildly different experience. With a newborn and a very active two year old we had to re-look at our menu and also what Valentine's is all about. In the past it has always been about being a couple and lavishing our love on the individual that we married.

This year I learned that Valentine's is not just about the individual that you share rings with, it is love for those in your family. Sharing the celebration with Grace and Glen did not make the meal prep tedious or a challenge. It was a joy to experience it with our little ones for we are celebrating our love for them also.

Valentine's also looked very different than it did in past years. To start off it was not as "glamorous" as it was before (however glamorous as you can be when cooking all day). I got a shower in the morning (a rare event) but Grace hid my comb so I never got to comb my hair all day. Glen decided to spit up on Matt's pants and my shirt throughout the day. Grace had a very disastrous blow-out of a diaper which led to an immediate bath for her. And there was an abundance of water, brownie mix, pudding powder, and other items on the floor from Grace helping. But there was also a lot of playing, singing and dancing not only with Matt but also with Grace. Joy abounded.

In making the menu for the meal we made sure to add at least one item that Grace could help make.

We made a chocolate trifle for dessert. Grace helped make the brownies, and the pudding. She also checked each of the items for quality :) Her face shows that each part was good!

Glen had a very important job this year. He was the supervisor. He sat back and watched to make sure that everything got done as it should.

He did such a good job that Grace just HAD to give him a hug.

Our meal this year was simply following the ABC's...Alton Brown's Cooking. Each of our new recipes came from Good Eats. First we had Broiled Salmon with a Beurre Blanc sauce (Beurre Blanc is a spicy butter cream sauce...VERY GOOD!). We also had home grown green beans, homemade bread, and a ceasar salad where the dressing was made from scratch. Finally we finished off the meal with the chocolate trifle which is brownie, pudding, cool whip, and heath candy bars layered over and over and over. Very rich, very good, and a dish that Grace could help the entire way through.

By the looks of it, Grace approves of the meal.

What a wonderful Valentine's Day it was. And to celebrate with my three Valentine's rather than just one...oh, how special that was!

Around The House

2012-02-07T09:52:00.000-08:00

We have a baby swing out for Glen. He has been put in it a few times. He tolerates it but I do not think that he really likes it, so we have not used it often. This morning Grace decided to put it to good use. I believe that she thought that her truck needed a good swing. She placed the truck in there, then stood there for a few minutes pushing the truck. I do not understand how their mind works, but I have a feeling it will keep me on my toes.

The nursery was kept pretty much the same from when Grace was in there to when Glen took over the room. Minor items were changed (such as Glen has a name plate made out of legos by his uncle that is in the location where Grace's used to be). When this was Grace's room above the crib there was a wall hanging that had bears, flowers, and butterflies. It was not extremely girly and it went with the nursery so I was going to keep it there.

A week or two ago a friend of mine gave me some clothes for Glen. In the bag was not only clothes but also blankets and wall hangings. This wall hanging of trains was in there and it went with the colors of the room so well that I decided to switch it out and give each of the children their own special wall hanging.

Isn't it nice? I think it looks wonderful in the room.

My Daughter and The Chore I Hate The Most

2012-02-05T08:15:00.000-08:00

I hate to do dishes!

I will do almost any chore before I decide to stand in front of a soapy sink full of dirty dishes. I do not know where my aversion to this chore came from, but it is there. Yes, I will do dishes, but I will not like it...and I will try my hardest not to do it often (the dishwasher is my friend).

But in steps my daughter. She loves to "do dishes" a joy that she learned from my mother. She pulls a chair up to the sink and plays in the water and soap suds and is happy as a lark for quite a while. All of this as she is soaking her clothes, the sink (and surrounding area) and the floor. But that is minor since all of those areas can be cleaned and wiped up easily.

So recently if I walk past the sink, stand near the sink to do something in regards to cooking, or if I run water to wash my hands I start to hear a chair scrape across our tile floor while a little voice is saying in the most pleading tone "dish, dish, dish." How can I deny her.

So I do dishes...and the kitchen is looking a bit better.

Thank you mom for teaching Grace this (yes there is a bit of sarcasm there).

But thank you Grace for helping me do a chore while I see your joy of doing dishes.

My Loves!

2012-01-31T12:36:00.000-08:00

I love this sight!

Photographer

2012-01-30T15:25:00.000-08:00

There is a new photographer in town that you might want to consider for your next special occasion.

A few months back I dropped my iPhone and it cracked the screen. So I got a new iPhone. My old iPhone worked pretty well, but not the best. So we bought a cover protector so that the glass would stay put and not cut anyone, and I gave it to Grace to play with after we made it so that she could not make any calls or anything like that.

What she does like to do with it is play games (or at least turn the games on and listen to the music it plays). And take pictures. Here is a view of her life through her pictures.

Mommy holding Grace's baby doll.

Glen sleeping

Grace's new kitchen

The bouncy seat, Glen is not happy!

Really cool picture of the piano

Grace has one sock on (she loves to take pictures of her feet as you will see)

Grace has no socks on

Daddy eating breakfast

Grace's lone lucky charm

Grace has sneakers on

Our living room

If you are into abstract art, and do not mind feeling a bit dizzy this might just be the photographer for you. I hope you enjoyed looking through her artwork.

Little Brother

2012-01-29T12:53:00.000-08:00

One of my neighbors has a son that is almost exactly a year older than Glen. She has been very generous to provide Glen with some very, very cute clothes. This morning for church Glen wore (under his long sleeved shirt) a undershirt that proclaimed the truth...that he is the "little brother." And if you look at the last photo on this post you will see that his big sister loves him very much!

Early in the morning, late at night, and many times in between Grace needs to hug her little brother. Here is a very awkward photo that tried to demonstrate that love.

Photoshoot

2012-01-18T17:26:00.000-08:00

Updated pictures of Glen have been requested, so here they are.

He was very sleepy when I started this photoshoot. I think that this first one is my favorite while he was sleeping.

But this one is very adorable with his fingers poking through the blanket.

Just makes you want to kiss his cheek :)

He has been a very concerned and serious baby (at least with his facial expressions).

Either he is worried or plotting to take over the world...or maybe worried about taking over the world.

I am not sure what to say about this one.

I think that this one might be my favorite of him awake.

What a little cutie pie!

Second Week

2012-01-14T17:27:00.000-08:00

Matt went to work this week, so I had the two kids all by myself. We had our moments, but for the most part things went better than I expected.

Grace loves to touch, hug, lay beside, and talk to the baby. We read a lot of books, do a lot of puzzles, and play with blocks while I am nursing. Grace does not seem to mind.

Today Grace decided that she wanted to read to the baby!

One of our neighbors gave Glen an outfit, but they also decided that Grace needed a big sister gift. So they got two rubber duckies, one for Glen and one for Grace. Glen's is a pirate ducky. Grace has a rubber ducky that is dressed up like a cat. She loves her rubber ducky and plays with it often.

Another thing that she plays with often (that allows me to care for Glen on my own) is her new train table. While Grandma Sue was here, she and Matt took Grace to the mall. They did not make it out of the bookstore since Grace discovered the train table there and needed to play with it for quite awhile. So it was decided that she needed her own at the house. Thank you Grandma Sue, Grace loves it and plays with it each morning.

This picture is a week old, but I thought I would share it. He looks so serious...

Life is good.

First Week

2012-01-09T11:42:00.000-08:00

It is hard to believe that one week (actually over a week) has passed already since Glen has come into our lives. But what a week it has been!

We came home from the hospital and my mom and dad arrived that evening (Sunday). They stayed till Tuesday afternoon. Matt's mom and dad arrived on Monday night and stayed till Saturday. Grace was beside herself the whole time. Having grandparents here to play with, and what a treat...to have all FOUR grandparents here at one time!

One of the goals that Steve and Sue made sure to do was to love on and play with Grace mainly. They wanted to see and hold Glen of course, but their goal was to play with Grace and make her feel special during this crazy time. Between playing piano, playdoh, cooking, trucks, etc. She felt very special and loved. (With all of the activity I am not quite sure she realized that there was even a new baby in the house.)

But of course, we can not forget about Glen. He was loved and hugged on, and if he was awake for it...I am sure that he felt special too. Above is the first of many Glen/Glen pictures. That is a picture of my father holding my son. I just think that is a great picture.

My mom and dad with their youngest grandchildren (Grace and Glen).

I even caught a few snuggles with Glen too. That is, when I was not napping or when he was not in the arms of loving relatives :)

Glen and Grandpa Steve. Glen got really good at reading Clive Custer books with Grandpa!

Yes Grace, you are beautiful and such a big helper for mommy (at least most of the time :)

Matt's mom and dad, also with their youngest grandchildren (Grace and Glen)

Sue getting some great cuddles from Glen.

Doing what he does best. Sleeping!

During this week, Grace discovered that she can peddle her trike around the house. The funny thing is that her legs are so, and the peddles are so that she can either peddle or turn but she can not do both at the same time. But she is loving the freedom that this provides.

Close up of a beautiful sleeping baby.

We went to Firehouse Subs for lunch one day. This picture was too cute to not add.

Which brings us to today. My first day with my little girl and my little boy while Matt is at work. So far it has gone well, and I am counting my blessings. However, I realize that I am going to be taking life moment by moment for struggles and challenges will come...but they will also go. I am glad that it is so far so good right now though.

Thank you to all of the friends and family, far and near, who have helped though actions, words, and prayers during this time. Your support has meant more to us that you could ever imagine.

Glen Matthew

2011-12-31T09:54:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday, December 27th I got the information that if nothing had happened by December 30th (and there was room for me) I could be induced and have my baby that day (or soon after).

December 29th Mike, Amy, Austin, and Adam came to Roanoke to take care of Grace just in case we were able to be admitted. Matt, Amy and I did not get much sleep at all since we had to be awake at 4am to call the hospital. We woke early and called the hospital and they told us that the floor was full and they would call us if there was room, otherwise we needed to call my doctor and see when the next date would be.

They called at about 7:30 and asked me "Mrs. Daniels, would you like to have a baby today?" I said "Yes!" They told me to come in right away, and we were on the road within 5 minutes :)

The doctor broke my water, and at about 11:00am they started my Pitocin. By 4:14 we had a baby!

Hello Glen Matthew

We have waited for you for a long time

You have the sweetest little legs

And the smallest little feet

Though your sister seems to be more interested in her soda...

She really does love you!

She likes to touch your head and feet

A happy family of four

Sweet kisses. A great way to end a long post.

Welcome!

2011-12-30T13:39:00.000-08:00

Matt and Lana are proud to announce the arrival of Glen Matthew.

He is 21 inches long and is 8 lbs 13oz.

It's Hopefully The Last!

2011-12-29T17:21:00.000-08:00

This is Amy, making a post for Lana.

There has been a request or two for a belly pic of Lana. I took it upon myself to take some pictures and get a post done.

Lana is 39 1/2 weeks in this picture, and feeling VERY done!

I took another picture that was cute...

although she did kiss her brother, in the picture it looks like she bit the belly, it really was a kiss.

The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

2011-12-17T12:12:00.000-08:00

The Good:

On Wednesday our church held a Christmas coffeehouse. Matt played with the church's praise band, there was the traditional singing of the Christmas carols. Grace ran around and played (and ate much sugar). Once we were getting ready to leave and starting to pack up, Grace discovered the rug that had toys for the kids to play with. There were puzzles and pipe cleaners with pony beads. She was instantly drawn to the colorful beads and with a little help from a sweet child in our neighborhood (she tied off the end so the beads would not slip off) Grace strung up a whole pipe cleaner with beads all by herself.

I was very amazed. I did not think that she had the attention or the fine motor skill to do that kind of work. I guess I was wrong, and I guess I need to get some beads for our house since she still seems to love putting them on and taking them off (we took her string of beads home and she has continued to play with them each day).

The Bad:
On Friday morning Grace was playing in the house and I was trying to start to wash dishes. Before long all I heard was a frantic cry. Grace was standing by a chair with her back toward me. So I scooped her up and tried to cuddle and comfort her as much as I could. I did not know what was going on at this moment but I thought it best to get her calm before assessing the situation. When she would not calm down any after about 30 seconds to minute of cuddling I decided that something was really wrong so I pulled her away from my shoulder and looked at her face.

At this moment my breath was taken from me, because all I could see was blood streaming down her face from area around both her eyes. So I ran to grab a tissue and start blotting at the blood to see where the injury was. I breathed a bit easier when I realized that she had two cuts under her eyes and that her eyes were not the injured objects. But the cuts did not look nice at all.

Frantically I called Matt at work and asked him what I should do. I took a picture with my cell phone and sent it to him e-mail so that he could help me while knowing a bit more about the situation. He agreed that we should see a doctor. So he called the pediatrician and got us an appointment at 2 pm, or if we could leave right now they could see us right away. I left the lights on at the house, I grabbed her shoes (I did not even put them on her feet), I flew out of the house as fast as I could.

We got to the office and they saw us right away.

This is the picture that I sent Matt while at work. Not pretty (and it does not help that she was in middle of a blink when I took the picture). So Matt got the picture and put it up on his computer screen to look at it. A man who sits near Matt saw the picture and heard some of the phone calls and asked what was going on. Matt explained that Grace had an accident. His co-worker responded "And why are you still here?"

Matt thought about it and agreed. He got to the pediatrician's office just as we were starting to meet with the nurse practitioner. It was so good to see him, and have him help me with caring for Grace at that time.

The Ugly:

So the nurse practitioner glued Grace's cuts shut. Yes, glue. On some injuries they still do stitches or staples, but on a lot of injuries that are not too bad (but bad enough) they use a special kind of super glue that is made for this. She said that we should wait a week till the glue comes off then start putting on some non scaring cream (though she does not think that it will scar much anyway, but with the location we should not take our chances).

So now we have a beautiful little girl who looks like she is practicing to be a football player. And many bruises to look forward to. All of her Christmas pictures, 2 year old pictures, and new family of 4 pictures are going to show the events of this day.

However, when I look at her and all of her glued, scabbed mess I am so thankful to God that the injuries were as minor as they were.

Dr. Appointment

2011-12-13T16:31:00.000-08:00

Went to see the doctor for my regular check up regarding Glen.

This is the start of my one week visits (the end is near!)

All is good. He is measuring well. Heart beat is good. He is very active.

I also got checked by the doctor this morning and found out that I am 1cm dilated. I realize that this does not matter much since some women walk around for weeks being partially dilated. But it makes me happy to know that my body is moving in the right direction for me to have this baby in my arms. Also it makes me very happy that I am farther along (in this regard) than I was when I went into the hospital to deliver Grace.

Now the waiting game continues...I just hope that Glen makes his move soon.

Christmas Happenings

2011-12-11T18:02:00.000-08:00

Also known as...Keep Lana's Mind Off Of This Pregnancy

I am so ready to have this baby. And I think that I am starting to convince this baby that it might be time to come soon (well, we will have to see how my convincing skills are with an unborn child).

But so that I do not dwell on this topic, Matt and I have been keeping busy with our usual Christmas happenings.

First we went to the wagon and tricycle gathering. GE purchases many, many, many wagons and tricycles for the Salvation Army to give out to the needy children of the area. However, they need to be assembled. So they order pizza and invite all workers and families to come and put together these items. I did not get much assembly done, but Grace made sure that each tricycle and wagon were comfy to sit on and ride in. I guess you could call her the quality tester :)

Two days later we went to our second usual Christmas event which is simply called Christmas Boxes.

GE takes donations for the Christmas Food Basket event, and use the proceeds to purchase bulk goods from the local food pantry. Sometimes, other interesting items are purchased. One year, for whatever reason, the food pantry had a pallet full of electric razors. "Sure, we'll use 'em". All of these purchases are brought to a warehouse, where GE volunteers and their families package everything up in large boxes. They used to be baskets, but people got too generous for the contents to fit. Each of these boxes usually end up weighing in at about 60 pounds, and delivered to local people in need.

The official count was 502 boxes filled that morning. Grace loved riding the cart (and the boxes) through the packing area where people were placing items in the boxes. She also met a very nice lady named Miss Julie who carried her and helped Matt push the cart to where it needed to go. Later in the process, Grace would climb around the top of the boxes, pushing the lids closed, and holding them shut for the tape. She had a blast.

I was wondering how these events would work with an active and determined two year old, but being enticed (bribed) with the idea of wagon rides, throwing away trash from the wagon/tricycle assembly, and donuts, does amazing things and Grace was very good through most of the events.

Caroling With The Bells

2011-12-06T16:35:00.000-08:00

Last night Matt and I did our first of many Christmas type items (that are planned and put on the calendar mainly to keep my mind off of this pregnancy).

We went caroling with our handbell choir. There was no singing done, but many carols were rung. We went to one of the local hospitals and played on their oncology, labor and delivery, pediatric floors, and also the lobby of the hospital. Many nurses, doctors, patients, and family members came into the hallways to hear and see our caroling. One person even Skyped us, I am guessing it was to a patient that was stuck in bed.

Many people thanked us and told us how wonderful it sounded. I was just happy to be there and to see smiles on their faces. Toward the end of our journey it was getting kind of rough for me to help with all of the setting up, tearing down, moving from floor to floor, etc. But all in all, I am glad that we did it and I look forward to doing it again in future years.

Fun At Mamaw and Papaw's Part 4

2011-11-28T11:21:00.000-08:00

One of the last days that we spent at my mom and dad's (during our extended stay recently), mom decided that she needed to bake bread. During that time, Grace also decided that she needed to bake bread. Mom was a good sport with this.

Grace got her own bowl full of dough to mix together.

Then it was time to mix mom's and Grace's dough together.

After a little bit of time, the dough was ready to be kneaded after the first rise.

You must always remember to smack the dough (to get out the air bubbles, but hey...it is also just fun!)

Then Grace got her own special dough to play with. And a rolling pin too!

After her nap, she woke to see what she had made earlier. A large square flat loaf of bread.

It passed the taste test!

YUM!!!

Like Father, Like Daughter

2011-11-24T10:10:00.000-08:00

The love of Legos of all shapes and sizes!

These very large legos have been at my parent's house for quite awhile. But recently the grandkids have discovered them again and Grace thinks that they are just the best thing ever. And she puts her whole self in trying to move and stack them (and she almost always succeeds!)

Today, with some help, she built a little fort. We played "Three Little Pigs" and knocked down the fort a few times because the wolf "blew" it down.

With a little help, she also built a chair, just her size and once again perfect for knocking down when she was done with it.

This is a toy that Matt loves. First, it is legos(ish). Second, they can be transformed to almost anything.

She is loving them.

Fun At Mamaw and Papaw's Part 3

2011-11-21T18:05:00.000-08:00

Grace likes chocolate

Mom and dad keep some of their more prized snacks (chocolate) away from the grandkids in a dresser that is located by dad's chair. We were busy in the house and Grace was very quiet. When we found her we realized that she had gotten into mom and dad's stash of chocolate. When this was discovered, mom pretty much laughed then asked for a camera for a photo of this action.

Fun At Mamaw and Papaw's Part 2

2011-11-19T18:33:00.000-08:00

"Mom, Grace has some markers and is in the living room with them"

"That is OK"

"Mom, Grace has a pen and is marking up things in the house"

"That is OK"

"Mom, Grace is decorating your yard stick with a pen"

"That is OK. And she is doing so well drawing on it. I will sign her name and age to it so that I will know when she did it."

Let me tell you, if I were to do that when I was young...it would not have been the same reaction.

But I must say, she did do a very good job staying on the narrow stick and decorating the whole thing.

Dr. Appointment

2011-11-15T13:27:00.000-08:00

First, some pictures of pretty flowers that we have at home. Matt, your plants are beautiful!

Went to the OBGYN today and all is well with Glen. Measurement is good, heart beat is good, all is well. Funny thing is that for the second appointment I have lost weight rather than gained. Typically women gain weight at this point in their pregnancy but I have been losing. However, since my drastic change in my diet due to gestation diabetes the nurse and the doctor say that this is normal.

Amy claims that I am going to weigh less after delivering Glen then I weighed before I got pregnant with him. I think that if this keeps up, she just might be right.

Fall In Roanoke

2011-11-14T04:29:00.000-08:00

I must say that Matt and I might just live in one of the most beautiful places during the fall. We have a mountain in our backyard, and a mountain ridge out the front. So when the leaves change we are surrounded by gorgeous color.

However, this year I think that the most beautiful sight that we have is the maple in our front yard!

When the light hits it just right it looks like a flaming, red fire. It is just spectacular!

It is still one of Grace's favorite places to play.

"I just want to swing!"

"Almost"

"Swing, swing, swing :)"

"And guess what else? I am now tall enough to pick the leaves off of the low branches! I pick them off, throw them in the air, and watch them fall. The fun never ends."

I love fall, but I am glad that it is soon going to be winter. For winter means closer to the time of Glen's arrival...

Fun At Mamaw and Papaw's

2011-11-13T15:54:00.000-08:00

It has been said that grandchildren are treated differently than the children. It is also said that grandchildren are able to get away with a lot more than the parents were as children.

This is the first of many upcoming posts that will chronicle that exact fact. The difference of the treatment of Grace vs. what I would have been able to get away with as a child :)

Fun At Mamaw and Papaw's #1

Grace Likes To Do Dishes...

Starting Over...Again

2011-11-08T10:07:00.000-08:00

About two months ago we got Grace used to her toddler bed. Involved was many nights of sleeping in the bed with her, sitting by the bed while she fell asleep and comforting her when she woke up. It was a trying time but worth it in the end.

This past weekend we were in Harrisonburg visiting family. My parents had a crib that Grace had slept in since she was about 6 months old. We had been having no trouble of her sleeping in the crib in the past, even when she was sleeping in the toddler bed at our house. Well, this time we put her in the crib and she screamed and screamed and would not sleep. Matt, mom, and I all took turns with her during the night because she would NOT got into the crib. Though I was not sure that was the only reason that she was throwing such a fit, we decided to take down the crib and see if it would help.

She did not like having the mattress on the floor during her nap, but that night she slept well. Yes, I did have to lay down with her. Then she napped the next day (once again with me next to her till she fell asleep). And she slept well the following night (I slept some of the night on the floor next to her).

I feel like I am training her again on how to sleep in a toddler bed. But I think we are making slow progress. And if she can get used to it, it will make our trips up north just a bit nicer for all involved.

Second Try Is A Charm?

2011-11-01T13:52:00.000-07:00

I had a OBGYN appointment today and all was going well in the morning. We were all fed, dressed, happy and ready to go on time. Then I got to the car and all I got was a click, click, click.

I called Matt frantically telling him that the car would not start. I put the phone on speaker and let him listen to the click, click, click. He told me that it sounded like the battery :( I was starting to be late for the appointment at this moment and I was not happy that my car would not start, and life was just not looking good for me. He offered to drive home and pick me up or at least take care of me, and I jumped at the offer.

I then went to my neighbor's house and he came over to see what was wrong with the car. He agreed that it was the battery. He drove his car over and tried to jump it three times. It still did not work, but I was glad that he tried to help me.

I called the doctor's office and told them that I would not make my appointment and had it rescheduled for almost three hours later.

Matt (my knight in a silver armored car) drove up and he DID get my car jumped. He took the car to an auto shop and got the battery changed. The man at the battery shop even told Matt that there was still enough charge in the battery that we should run it a bit longer. Matt did not bat an eyelash, he said that he wanted a new battery to make his pregnant, emotional wife happy :)

We did get to the appointment on the second try. All is well with my blood sugars. All is well with Glen.

Life is good and I should be able to start my car in the future!

Happy Halloween

2011-10-31T11:05:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween from our little lion...

RAWR!

Oh How A Child Makes You Worry...

2011-10-26T12:47:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Grace was playing like usual and before I knew it she took a face plant right into the edge of a chair. Screaming ensued. I quickly gathered her up and tried to console her so that I could assess the damage. I could not see much wrong until I noticed the large amounts of blood coming from her mouth.

Now this is a great fear of mine...any mouth wound.

I got the bleeding down a little, and started to play with her teeth to see if any were wiggly. None felt looser than the others so I thought her teeth might be ok. But the bleeding would not stop, it just slowed greatly. I blotted it, I gave her milk and water to drink (that were very cold), I kept her calm, I could not think of anything else to do so when I exhausted all of my ideas and it was already a half an hour after her nap time, I put her down for nap.

She woke up happy but her bed showed signs that her mouth did not stop bleeding :( So I started the frantic calling that a mother does when she does not know what else to do. I called Matt, he did his best but he could not do much from work. I ran to the neighbors and asked advice. I called the pediatrician that she goes to and talked to a nurse. The consensus was that if the tooth was not loose (which it was not) then it was just damage to the gum which would heal quickly (not quick enough for me). The nurse said that if the bleeding did not stop by the next day that we should go to the dentist.

That night I worried, but I could not do anything. I fed Grace applesauce and anything else that was soft that would not harm her mouth any more. We did A LOT of cuddling (I do not know if it was for my benefit or hers). And she had a normal night.

She woke this morning. No bleeding. She ate well and even begged for graham crackers and ate them well. Her gum does not look the best, but it looks better than yesterday. Her tooth is still not loose :) Her tooth is still the same as all the others (so it did not shift or die or anything obvious, at least not yet). I think that she just hurt her gum, but oh the worries of a mother.

She is happy as can be, and I am slowly recovering.

Pregnancy Picture

2011-10-22T16:32:00.000-07:00

While driving home from Walmart today I came to the realization that I have not even thought about doing weekly pregnancy pics like I did with Grace. With Grace we took pictures every two weeks or so...I have not even taken one with Glen yet and I am almost 30 weeks!

This pregnancy has flown by, and my lovely (almost) 2 year old has kept me from dwelling on the pregnancy like I did with her.

Without further ado...here is the lovely picture.

Not much longer...

Thankful

2011-10-20T08:13:00.000-07:00

This morning I woke up thinking how thankful I am for GE.

First of all with everything going on recently in the US, I am very thankful that Matt has a job.

But in addition to that with all of my prenatal and recently my gestational diabetes testing and education classes I am thankful that Matt has something called FWA (flexible work arrangement). This means that he can go in an hour early or work an hour longer and use an hour during the day for the appointments.

I am also thankful for Matt having so much personal business time. This is time that is built into his hours that is to be used for doctors appointments or whatever is needed at the time (if he uses an hour then the hour is given back to him in one year, so it is a constant amount that is coming and going, but Matt has been known not to use much of it in the past).

This one is going to sound strange but I am thankful for the turnover in staff in the past few years. About two years after Matt began working at GE many of our friends/his co-workers left in droves. That was not fun, but it allowed for a great situation for us. Let me explain...Those that left were all of the single, or very newly married individuals. So now most of what is left is all of the family men/women who have wife/husband and kids at home. When Matt tells them about an appointment that I have, or how we are sick, etc, his boss or whoever he is working on a project with at the time tells him that unless he has a meeting that he HAS to be at, or a project that he HAS to be on site for (which is rare) they tell him to go and take care of family. They understand little ones, they understand the importance of family. I have especially heard of this coming from his manager who, as long as he is told ahead of time, does not mind Matt working from home or using FWA. I have baked this man a cake for my gratitude in all of this.

I am thankful for GE and how understanding they are....

I am not thankful that they are sending him out to Kuwait during my last trimester :(
But we will survive!

The Move Has Been Made....

2011-10-16T17:26:00.000-07:00

To Grace's big girl bedroom. Welcome to her room, I will give you a quick tour around.

First you will notice that there is no question at all about who's room it is. If you look above the door there is her Grace sign that was made by her uncle for her nursery.

To the left of the door you will find a reading corner. Complete with books, bookends that Matt picked out for her, stuffed animals, and a picture of her and her cousin Ellie reading books.

To the right of the door you will see Grace's dresser, shoe rack, and vanity which is now her play table. Grace loves to just sit in front of it and stare at herself in the mirror.

To the right of the window we have Grace's bed, complete with 3 stuffed animals, pillow, and two very special blankets. With such a wonderful bed as this it makes me wonder why she chose to spend her nap time today on the couch in her room...?

And this is the couch that Grace decided was worthy of her nap time today. Matt asked to have a sitting area in Grace's room so that we can read books to her. We already have a glider rocker in the nursery for the new baby, so we decided to move the couch from the nursery into Grace's room. It fits well, and she has loved having it in her room (it has gotten more use in this room than it ever did in the nursery already).

I believe that this room will always be a work in progress, much like the rest of the house is. But, it is a very nice room already and Grace seems to enjoy it. When she walks in the room or is playing in the room you usually can hear her saying "guys" which in Grace speak means "butterflies." She loves pointing them out and touching them.

She is beginning to be such a big girl.

Just A Swinging

2011-10-08T17:46:00.000-07:00

We have a maple tree in our front yard. We have always loved that tree. Grace recently discovered the lowest branch on the tree is just the right height for her. Every day when we go out to the front yard she makes sure that she spends a little time hanging and swinging from the lowest branch.

What will this girl think of next?

New Header

2011-10-08T16:32:00.001-07:00

Quiz....

Can you find Grace in all of the doll babies? Who am I kidding, she is a doll baby herself :)

Dr. Appointment

2011-10-04T17:33:00.000-07:00

I had a Dr. appointment today for Glen. He is doing just fine. Measurements are good, weight is good, heart beat is good.

I had to do the glucose drink today to test for gestational diabetes. I failed the test. So I have to go in on Tuesday of next week and do a longer and more in depth test. I had to do the same thing when I was pregnant with Grace, but I am still not looking forward to it. I also hate the idea that I might be gestational diabetic, but this is a minor problem for pregnancy and we will learn how to work with/deal with it if that is the case.

But on the up side, I am close enough to the end of my pregnancy that I am starting to see the doctor every two weeks!

Pumpkin Patch

2011-09-26T17:42:00.000-07:00

Matt and I decided that this year might be fun to start a family tradition. In the last month or so he had been talking a lot about a pumpkin patch that his family visited in North Carolina. I had been hearing a lot about a local pumpkin patch called Layman Family Farms, but I wondered if it would hold up to Matt's expectations.

We got there about 2:00 on a Saturday and as a surprise to us, it was not very crowded.

We paid our admission, got our wrist bands, grabbed a map of the corn maze and headed out. We decided to try the corn maze as our first activity.

Following our fearless leader, we headed into the deep jungle of corn....

But our leader got sidetracked many, many times. Quite often she found parts of the ground that needed to be swept or cleaned. Or she would find large dirt clods that needed to be carried from one location to another.

So every once in awhile she had to have a guiding hand from her daddy to help her along in the maze.

Next we discovered the corn crib. It was like a huge sandbox but instead of sand there was corn kernels to play with. It took a bit for Grace to get up the courage to go in and play, but once she got in there we could not get her out (and we were finding corn kernels in the most interesting of places for the next few hours).

Then up the hill to the cow train. Grace did not want to ride this alone so Matt was nice enough to fold himself in half and stuff himself into one of the cow train cars for a ride around the field. Once she got to ride on her daddy's lap she was as happy as a lark.

We could not leave the cow train station without riding on the tire horse swing. These were so cool, and they were each made out of one complete tire. Grace fit in the seat very well and had wonderful hand holds with the ears. She enjoys all swings but this one she could do on her own.

Finally it was off to do what we came here for. A hayride to find the perfect pumpkin.

Mommy, I want this one!

We did not get the bumpy, mutated one. We got a nice, "normal" pumpkin. Grace seemed just fine with it. She had to hold it on her lap on the hayride back to the barn.

Oh, I forgot one thing that Matt did that we did not get pictures of. He had the chance to shoot two pumpkins out of a pumpkin cannon. He tells me that they explode very nicely.

Finally it was time to go. Matt stated that the pumpkin patch was not exactly what he remembered, but it was a good place and fun to go to. I do feel that we have started a new family tradition.

Greek For A Day

2011-09-20T12:55:00.000-07:00

Matt and I have always enjoyed visiting the local finds and "tourist traps." Which Virginia and especially interstate 81 have many of (mostly historical and wonderful). Friday we decided to stay local though and experience our own city.

In the past four years I have heard about a Greek festival being held in the city. I have seen banners and billboards but have not paid much attention to them. Well, last Sunday I was listening to the radio while getting ready for church and I heard an advertisement for the Greek Festival this year. It would be held Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I thought that if we desired to, this could be a fun thing to finally go to.

Friday comes along and after Matt comes home from work we decide to jump back in the car and go to the Greek Festival. It was a lot of fun. We listened to a live band play Greek music (Grace and I danced). Then we watched a group of people in authentic dress dance Greek dances. We got some wonderful food (which Grace did not partake of :( We ate Gyros, and Greek fries, and some wonderful desserts that we have no idea what they were called.

Grace's favorite part of the festival was trying to walk up and down the ramp and stairs to the kitchen where they were preparing all of the food. She also enjoyed touching and playing with the plastic fencing that kept the festival contained. Finally she really enjoyed just standing and staring at the port-a-potties. She did not touch them or use them, she just liked to look at them.

I think that it was a great way to end a long work week.

Church Picnic

2011-09-18T17:49:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday our church had a picnic at the picnic shelter just beyond our church building. It was a potluck so everyone brought food, there was ladder ball to play, cornhole to play, and they had part of the parking lot coned off for chalk drawing and twister (for the younger kids).

Originally Grace only had eyes for the gravel and would not leave the area where loose rocks could be found. Later she discovered the wonders of the chalk and was very busy with that. Finally she discovered Twister and joined in on a game that was already being played. I do not think that she quite understands the rules yet.

After a fun game of Twister, Grace decided to be her daddy's cheering section as he played a game of cornhole. It was a good thing too because it just might have been her cheering that helped his team beat the other team. Good job Matt!

After the game, it was time to eat. I picked many, many things off of the tables for Grace to try and to eat. What did she end up eating? Cheese and grapes! She ate all of the grapes that were available. She would not eat anything else (though there was some wonderful food there). Oh well, at least she ate.

Then off to play again. This time Grace went up the hill and found a group of about 10 older kids playing football and she decided that she needed to join in. They were very good about it and let her have the ball every now and then. She thought it was the best thing ever.

Finally we relaxed in our chairs and waited for the bonfire and sing-along that was to happen after dinner. We sang, and ran around some more.

It was a great experience and Matt and I had a chance to talk to some people in church that we usually do not have a chance to talk to much. I am glad that we went. More than that, I am glad that Grace had a good time and wore herself out while there.

12 hours later

2011-09-16T09:21:00.000-07:00

I am starting to think that I should have waited 12 hours to write my last blog post.

I mentioned that I feel horrible in the evenings recently and that I am very, very ,very tired. This morning I woke to a very sore throat, runny nose, stuffy and achy head, and just miserable all over. I have a cold :(

Which is not typically bad but I can take almost no medicine for it. It has prevented me from sleeping much. Ok, enough with the whining. I am blessed that I have a husband who has a wonderful job that allows him to work from home, and rescue his pitiful wife.

Yes, Matt came home at 11:00 today. He sent me off to bed to get some sleep them promptly took care of putting Grace down for her nap. Since then he has been working hard at his computers. I do feel blessed, I do feel better, I just hate being sick.

I mainly wanted to write this post, not to complain and whine, but to explain that there is nothing more serious happening to me than a bad cold.

Not Much To Say

2011-09-15T17:59:00.000-07:00

It has been awhile since I posted last so I thought I would give a bit of an update.

Not much has been going on around here,
Grace is getting used to her toddler bed and doing well with that
I believe that Grace has the start of a cold (fun, fun...)
I have been very, very, very tired lately
I also have felt horrible in the evenings (I think that I try to do too much during the day)
Grace is enjoying her two story time days (and learning that she needs to sit during them)
Matt is enjoying playing his guitar more often and even went to play with the praise band last night
Grace is getting more words every day
ex: shoe, sock, vroom, up, cracker, juice, truck, and many, many more

Life is normal, not much to say.

Big Girl Room

2011-09-08T14:24:00.000-07:00

So Matt lost his man cave....

All so that his daughter could have her own room when Glen arrives. What a great father he is.

It will be a little bit before Grace moves into the room (October or November), but in the meantime we decided to paint and decorate the room to get it ready (anything that we can do ahead of time is a good thing these days).

It was decided to paint her room green and have purple flowers stenciled on the wall. It was a grand idea until our toaster oven melted two of the stencils that we were planning on using. Back to the drawing board.

Then my sister bought a new house. Left in the house from the previous owners was a butterfly mobile. When Grace saw it she was transfixed! So it was decided that my sister's son would not enjoy the butterflies as much as Grace, so she got them.

New idea, paint the room green and stencil butterflies... Done!

38 and a half butterflies all fluttering around her new room. The above picture shows the finished product of the whole room as if it were cut down the window and laid flat.

Hard at work stenciling. It got messy and tedious at times, but it was worth it.

A finished butterfly. I am so grateful for Lowes and their sample paint cans. I got very small cans of paint for the butterflies and still did not use even half of the samples but at least I did not have to get a gallon or anything.

We did red butterflies to match her toddler bed, purple butterflies to match her purple floral curtains (also from my sister's new house), and blue to match her curtains and also to tie everything together.

I think that they look wonderful. Grace goes in the room and babbles as she looks around the room and points to the butterflies. I think that she is going to really enjoy this.

First Day Of Story Time

2011-09-07T18:37:00.000-07:00

Recently, especially on facebook, there have been many pictures of my friend's children and their first day of school, kindergarten, preschool, etc. Well the closest that I have is Grace's first day of story time. Today we went to the library to have our first day of story time.

She enjoyed the stories. She liked the dancing, but she did not know what to do with the egg shakers or the bean bags that they used during the songs. The lady in charge tried to hand out the eggs and Grace took one only to put it back in the basket, very proud of herself for cleaning up. It took a couple of tries for her to actually keep the egg in her hands. The same goes for the bean bags, but the difference there was once we got to our space on the carpet she promptly gave her bean bag to the boy next to her. Sharing is good, but she did not have a bean bag to do the bean bag dance with. Oh well!

I think that story time is going to be a very good thing for her. I am glad that she is finally old enough to participate.

Big Girl Bed

2011-09-05T17:37:00.000-07:00

Matt and I were lucky enough to have a toddler bed available to us when Grace out grew her crib.

Grace really has not out grown her crib, but about a month ago she discovered that she could swing her leg up and hook her heel over the edge of the crib. I was not going to wait for her to realize that was the first step to getting out of the crib (the hard way). I also realized that we would need to make this transition sooner than later due to the arrival of Glen in a few months. I wanted her to be used to her new bed before the rest of her life got turned upside down.

So on Sunday after church, lunch and a nap we all three got into Grace's room. And all together (yes, Grace was "helping.") we took down her crib. Then in the same time frame we put together her beautiful red toddler bed (yes, she "helped" with that one too).

She got in, she laid down, she bounced, she climbed over the railings, she explored. She loved that she had access to all of her stuffed animals and pacifiers that were usually locked up in the crib. She showed off by climbing in bed, picking out each item one by one and handing them to us. Then taking each item from us one by one and putting them back into bed...over and over and over!

The first night in the bed she was not too happy. It took about 45 minutes to 1 hour of singing, rubbing her back and sitting with her to get her to sleep...then she woke up at 4:30 am :(

Nap was a little better, 15 minutes of rubbing her back.

Tonight I was in there for 5 minutes before she was out. I think that she is getting the hang of this, she did not fight or fuss at all. In fact she saw me leave but she was already so sleepy that she did not even cry. I type this hoping that I am not jinxing anything...4:30 does come early, I hope I do not see it again tomorrow morning!

But this is one of many transitions that we are trying to do for Grace before October/November so that she can be used to the changes before her little brother gets here. In the next blog you will hear all about her big girl room that we just painted this past weekend.

Grapes and other news

2011-09-01T08:10:00.000-07:00

Grape season is upon us. We got lots of help from my family when we went to Harrisonburg last weekend. We took a cooler full of grapes and came home with 10 quarts of white grape juice!

Then after that, the next week I made 6 pints of grape jelly and am about to make about 6 more tonight from our concord grapes. Matt loves the jelly. I sent him to work with a loaf of bread, a jar of peanut butter, and a pint of jelly. Not much of any of that returned home :)

We still have more grapes. I am debating on working them up some more, or just letting the season be and allowing the birds and bugs to have at the fruit.

My favorite thing about grape season has to be what Grace does. When I am working with the grapes she will hide under the grape arbor and eat all of the low hanging grapes. When I was cutting bunches of grapes she would run by the cooler, select a bunch for herself, then hide under the arbor and eat every last grape off of the stems. She loves her grapes!

_________________________________________________________________________________

This morning she was pulling out toys to play with me. She pulled out this toy

In the past I had to kind of direct her to the correct spot to put all 10 pieces in. This morning she did it all on her own with no help from me at all (except to get the pieces out). I was very proud of her.

She has a few new words that I would like to document here.
Real Word - - - Grace Speak
I love you -------- I love (or she might just kiss you)
peach ------------ appa (apple...she does not know her fruit yet)
apple------------- appa
She is starting to say more names (at times) such as grandma, grandpa, mamaw, papaw, and others.
She is getting more words every day so I know I am missing many of her new ones. But these were the ones that I have been hearing the most.

The Dress

2011-08-24T04:10:00.000-07:00

I met the person named Dovanna in a very strange way. I had a house with three bedrooms and one roommate. A friend came to me and told me that she had a friend that needed a place to live, could she rent the other bedroom. I agreed to meet with this friend and see if she might be a good fit for us. She came to see the house and to meet me, and she brought her sister (and it did not take long for her sister to remember that she knew me from a previous place that I had lived). Her sister did most of the talking for the hour long tour and "interview." But though she did not say much Dovanna seemed nice enough, I would have her as a roommate.

I am so glad that I did. She was a wonderful roommate. She also became a great friend. The type of friend where you go years and moves from country to country without talking, but when you do reconnect it seems as if no time has passed :)

I had not really talked to Dovanna for probably 4 years, then out of the blue she calls me up one day in May. She wanted to catch up but more importantly she wanted to know if I was given white material would I be able to design a dress of my choice without a pattern. She had seen me do this while we lived together. I said probably and that is where the conversation pretty much ended.

A month later she calls again and asked if I remember her asking about the dress. I responded yes, and asked if there was a need for a white dress to be created. She said yes, she just got engaged that weekend. Would I make the dress for her? I thought and thought. I went back and forth on the idea (since she lives 3 hours away and fittings might not be too easy). I told her to look closer to where she lived. Then I finally told her, it would be an honor. I would love to do it!

We originally thought of designing a dress for her. So I was coming up with ideas and sending them to her over e-mail. And she was sending me numerous e-mails of pictures and patterns that she liked. After about 3 weeks of the back and forth, I pointed out to her that every e-mail of pictures that she liked included one pattern. And with that pattern she always wrote something along the lines of "I really like this one." So I pointed this out to her and asked if she just wanted me to make this dress. She agreed and off we went.

She bought the material and all that was needed and we spent the first fitting getting sized, buying extra notions that might be needed, and just talking and giggling the entire time.

Now let me just say, this is not a typical wedding. She is getting married in her parent's back yard with only immediate family there. They will have two receptions afterward, but since it is an outdoor wedding in the fall, and she is just a wonderfully unique person...she did not want a typical wedding dress. But I must say, this dress is "her." It fits her body type, her style, her personality, everything....just perfectly!

It was a challenge to make at times, and it included a lot of trial and error. But in the end, I can say that I did my best and I think it looks wonderfully (she says the same.)

Without further ado. Here is the picture of the dress:

I still feel very honored to be able to be involved in her wedding in this way.

Rearranging the Downstairs

2011-08-17T17:32:00.000-07:00

Grace is staring to eat more and more on her own. That means messes under her chair (and yes, I know that you can put a plastic mat underneath the chair to catch the messes but I am certain this girl is talented because each time I have used it, the mess goes everywhere BUT the plastic mat. Then after the meal she promptly picks up the mat and drags it around like a superhero cape....) and carpet is not a good mix for that. Also Grace is getting more and bigger toys.

Put the two problems together and what do you get? Well, I personally get a weekend of moving everything around in the house. Matt and I decided to put our kitchen table in the breakfast nook that we have in the tiled kitchen. But first we had to rebuild his plant shelves and clean up that area.

Then we put all of Grace's toys (or at least most of them) in the former dining room which is now her playroom.

Then we moved things around in the living room because we lost some shelving due to the new plant shelving in the kitchen. So in the move we made Grace's desk available. She loves it!

She spends at least 10 minutes each day coloring or pulling out her crayons and putting them back (and yes, we have already had a drawing on the wall situation. Mr. Clean Magic Erasers are amazing!)

It was a lot of work. It was a lot of mess. We are still not done. But I am so happy with the changes that we have made in this house.

Sleeping Beauty

2011-08-16T18:21:00.000-07:00

On the way home from Harrisonburg once I looked back to find this...

How adorable!

Iowa Vacation (Part 6)

2011-08-11T14:25:00.000-07:00

In which, it is Friday.

We ate breakfast and flew out on this day. Not much to say except that Steve and Sue joined Chris, Katie, Ellie, Matt, Grace and I for one last breakfast during this vacation. The flight was fairly uneventful. So I will get on to the other reason for the post....non-day-specific activities :)

Grace and Ellie loved the toys that were available to them at Steve and Sue's. They had Duplos, wood puzzles, and cats to name a few items :)

But the best was when Grandma Sue got down on the floor to play with the girls.

Some days it is just a two pacifier day!

Grace, shoes go on your feet...not your hands!

Laser lights, hours of entertainment for cats, children, and adults alike.

Grace attempted many times to put Ellie's socks and shoes on her feet. Only a few times did she succeed.

Grace loved to feed Ellie. The trick to this game was she would let Ellie have one tiny bite of the cracker, then she would eat the rest of it. She chased Ellie around the house trying to feed her that one bite.

My beautiful little girl.

One night we went bowling. It was fun to play, and to chase the girls around the alley.

Grace loved to touch the balls. Fortunately they were too heavy for her to pick up or do anything with.

It was a fun vacation. I am glad that we all got to spend a week together and make these memories!

News For Today

2011-08-09T11:30:00.001-07:00

It Is A Boy!

Glen Matthew
Due January 4th

According to sonogram...
healthy and very active!

Iowa Vacation (Part 5)

2011-08-09T11:03:00.000-07:00

Thursday morning we woke up early and dressed for a long day of trips (some we knew about, and some were a surprise to us). Had a breakfast at IHOP which actually was a very good thing since Grace was not quite in the mood to eat at the moment, I was able to take her pancakes with us and feed them to her on the road.

Chris and Katie drove separately, so we all piled into our respective cars and headed down the road to a location unknown to us. After about an hour of driving we began to see signs of "Welcome to the Field of Dreams." It was not until we were turning into the parking lot that I realized that we were at the movie set location of Field of Dreams!

Now we realized one more reason why Steve and Sue wanted to watch Field Of Dreams earlier on in the week.

We all got out of the cars, but the surprise did not end there, Steve went to the trunk of the car and pulled out three baseball gloves a bunch of baseballs and two soft nerf-like balls for Grace and Ellie. And off we went to play baseball on the movie site :)

Grace and I chased after her ball, but more than anything we ran the bases. We also went to the cornfield and took a step or two in, but we did not disappear into the corn like the players do in the movie.... :(

Yes, that is the house and the bleachers from the movie! I think that was the neatest surprise that they planned for us. Very unexpected and very memorable.

Following the trip to the Field Of Dreams, we piled into the cars once again and this time our car (Matt, Grace, Steve, Sue and I) went to Backbone Park for a picnic lunch while Chris, Katie and Ellie headed back to Waterloo for Ellie's nap (and unknown to us all at the time...to change rooms at the hotel).

There were not many people at the park at all so we had the playground structures all to ourselves and Grace loved it that way. She ate on the run (literally). She went up ladders, down slides, back and forth on the swings, and chased bubbles. It was a great time and a wonderful end to a great day trip.

And to finish off (a quote from Field of Dreams...a good one to end today's post with)

"Is this heaven? No, it's Iowa!"

Iowa Vacation (Part 4)

2011-08-03T17:23:00.000-07:00

Wednesday we woke early and all got as spiffed up as we could. This is because we were going to have family pictures taken for the first time in three years! We all piled in the van, drove across the street, and went to the Sears Portrait Studio. The pictures turned out great. The girls did not want to cooperate at the same time (so a picture of them together was a challenge, but for them both being one and a half, I think that they did pretty well.

As you can tell, Grace had fun at the photo shoot dancing and laughing. I think that we got some great family pictures.

After pictures we went out for a quick bite to eat, then to see Sue's work place. We got the full tour of the law offices and most importantly Sue was able to show off her beautiful grandgirls to everyone.

Then we headed straight to the Grout Museum. The name of this museum was the source of great laughter from Matt and I earlier in the week. We were trying to imagine a whole museum dedicated to grout. Different colors of grout, different tiles that you use grout with, ways to clean grout...you get the idea. I am still not sure why it is called the Grout Museum but it has nothing to do with what is between tiles. It is a collection of 3 or 4 museums. We went to one that focused on pioneer, multiple wars, but the upstairs was world war II, and some of wars of today (I may be missing some, but those were the focuses). There was a large exhibit of the Sullivan Brothers. These brothers were very famous because there were five of them who enlisted all at the same time. They chose to serve together during the war. They also died together during an attack on their ship.

The museum was very nice and also a good cool place to go during this very hot week. But by the end of the second floor of exhibits I was very tired and Grace was too. So we went back to Steve and Sue's place to rest and relax.

That night we went out to a very nice restaurant. Grace would only eat if she was climbing the stairs up and down and up and down and up and down. But at least she ate and she was happy!

Iowa Vacation (Part 3)

2011-07-25T17:38:00.000-07:00

Tuesday...by this time we are realizing that the days are flying by and we do not have much time together. But we will make the most of it!

In the morning we went to a park that had a section dedicated for Grace and Ellie's age group and another "big kid" part. I believe that Grace could have stayed there all day. She had a slide that had stairs going up to it, she had a swing, life was GREAT for her.

We left the park for nap time (and after being in the sun most of the morning, I think that we all wanted/needed naps).

After the kids woke up and ate lunch we headed out again for a dairy farm. We learned how they milk, process, bottle, etc. They make a little of everything at this dairy (butter, milk, chocolate milk, curds, ice cream, just to name a few). Their name is MooRoo, their logo is a Kangaroo with a calf in it's pouch. Very cute and they do keep kangaroos on their land for tours. The tour was very informative but the highlights of the dairy farm was when we got to pet the calves and also we got to bottle feed one of the calves.

At the end of the tour we got to sample their milk and ice cream. It was a great hit with all of us (Grace went after it like crazy and would not let me have much of my ice cream).

Such a very fun trip.

Sorry about the flipped pictures. I have tried many times to get them straight and right, but blogger or the computer will not allow it. But I figure, at least I have the memories written down (even if they are sideways).

Iowa Vacation (Part 2)

2011-07-25T14:06:00.000-07:00

Woke early Monday morning (not hard to do when you have a little one who has an internal alarm clock that goes off at about 6:30 am every day) and headed to Steve and Sue's place. We decided to try to beat the heat and do some adventuring early that day. So Grace and Ellie (Chris and Katie's child) were presented with their official Iowa sun hats, and off to the Nature Reserve we went.

First we went to the welcome center where the girls got to explore and at one point turned into "animals"

Then it was time for a hike. The trail that we chose was full of stairs which made Grace very, very, very happy. She was our leader for most of the hike and very proud of that fact too.

Though it was extremely hot, it was nice to be in the shade and to be out in nature (even for a short bit). After wearing the girls out on the hike we headed back home to put them down for naps. Steve and Sue had decided that while we were in Iowa we needed to see movies that took place in Iowa. For instance...The Music Man, Field of Dreams, Michael, etc. So they chose that today during lunch we would watch Field of Dreams. We had all seen the movie before but it was nice to see it again.

But before we got to the movie, we "kids" had a surprise up our sleeves too! This past July was Steve and Sue's 40th wedding anniversary. So to celebrate we stole her address box, copied every address, and contacted each one. Then waited for the letters, notes, cards, and congratulations to come in (which they did) and put them all in a scrap book for them. I believe they were a little surprised about it all :)

After the movie, the girls woke up, some adults took naps, many card games were played. It was a nice lazy afternoon.

The evening ended with a nice dinner at a Japanese Steakhouse.

I was hoping to get to write about two days with each post, but Grace is getting into the mail stack...must go rescue the bills!

Iowa Vacation (Part 1)

2011-07-24T16:20:00.000-07:00

Last time I wrote, I told of our Harrisonburg vacation to my side of the family. We were home for a total of 4 days then off to Matt's side of the family in Iowa!

On Saturday we woke up, had a wonderful breakfast, then paced and cleaned the house till my friend came to take us to the airport. The flights went very smoothly (Roanoke to Detroit, and finally to Cedar Rapids, IA). We picked up a car and drove an hour north to Waterloo where Matt's mom and dad live. We had already had quite a day, and we were all covered with airport grime :( But, when we got to the house we got to visit with Matt's aunt and uncle from South Carolina who happened to be visiting at the same time, and of course visit with his parents! Matt's aunt and uncle were there to drop off some items that were left for Steve and Sue (Matt's parents) by his grandfather. When they got this piece of furniture, I bet they did not expect it to come complete with a doll inside...

We had a good evening, a wonderful home cooked meal, and some relaxation where we were finally not moving (either in car or airplane!)

Steve and Sue were kind enough to provide us with a crib at the hotel and also at their house. Grace slept great the whole trip (it also helped that we wore her out every day, but that is another story). However, the cribs were not only used as a place for sleeping, our adventurous daughter decided to turn it into a trampoline...that stopped quickly (but not before we snapped a few pictures)

Sunday morning Matt, Grace and I woke early to go to church with Steve and Sue. It is a smaller church, but it is very nice and friendly. I also really liked the pastor. She is a story teller and you have to love a pastor that uses two references appropriately in her sermon to Harry Potter! I kind of felt like a star at the church, everyone knew we were coming so everyone wanted to say hi and see the adorable granddaughter that they keep hearing about.

Afterward we went to Red Lobster for lunch. It was during Grace's nap, but no worries...the grandpa mattress is always available!

Well rested from the nap that she had the entire time we were out to eat, we decided to go to the Ice House Museum. Waterloo is very close to the Cedar River (in fact you cross it many times to almost anywhere). Well, Cedar River freezes in the winter and many, many years ago (during the days of the icebox) a lot of ice was hand cut (also later done by machines), packed with sawdust (for insulation), and stored to be sold and sent to households. However, it does not stop there. They also sold ice from Waterloo, IA as far away as the Indies! The museum was very interesting and I am so glad that we got to go, but man...for being an ice house, that place was HOT! I also have to mention that they no longer keep ice in that building. However outside in the shade it felt better and also provided a chance for some pictures by the river.

Cedar Falls

Soon after we arrived back to the house Chris (Matt's brother) his wife Katie and their daughter (only 5 weeks older than Grace) finished their long drive from Arkansas to Iowa! We were very happy to see them, and the fun with the two one and a half year olds was now able to begin!

After a wonderful meal of brats, hotdogs, potato salad, and many other items, it was time to head back to our hotel to get some rest.

That just about finishes through Sunday, Grace is getting cranky so I think I will have to wait to write about the other days and go start the bedtime routine.

Harrisonburg Vacation

2011-07-12T18:16:00.000-07:00

This past weekend has been wild, crazy, busy, and oh so much fun.

Thursday Grace and I woke early and hit the road by 8:00 am. This was because I was going to meet with one of my friends at my parent's house in Harrisonburg. My friend recently got engaged and has asked that I make her wedding dress. I accepted and this was our first meeting of...ok, what do you what to wear and do we have all of the materials?

Friday Matt joined us and he had a blast playing many games with my brother-in-law.

Saturday and Sunday were just filled with craziness as usual. I believe that it involved an oil change. I helped my sister make a quilted wall hanging. And Grace played on the trampoline and in the kids pool with her cousins quite a bit.

Monday, yes we stayed till Monday...that is odd but it was for a good reason. My nephews have their birthdays 5 weeks apart so my sister chooses one day in the middle and celebrates both birthdays on one day. So this was their birthday celebration. We had a special lunch, then we all packed up and went out to the Massanutten Waterpark. It was so much fun. I was not able to do any of the slides since I am pregnant, but Grace and I were fine going down the frog pond slide, playing in the sprinklers, wading in the edge of the wave pool, and riding the floats around the lazy river. She was so busy and running everywhere, she played for two hours straight then fell asleep when we stopped to get a drink. She slept for an hour, then was busy once again. It was such a fun time, I am glad that Grace found many things that she enjoyed doing.

Good weekend. Glad that we were able to be part of it. Even if my garden welcomed me back with 7 quarts of green beans to be canned, and 5 quarts of tomato juice. Happy to be back!

Header

2011-07-03T19:05:00.000-07:00

Three years ago (two days from now) Matt and I got married! It was a wonderful day, but it was also the last time that we had a family picture taken of the extended Kiser family. Now lots has changed since then...the boys grew, the adults have changed a little, and of course we got a new member to the family (Grace!)

So we decided that it was long overdue for a new picture. Much talk about who we should get to take the picture was passed around. Then we had to figure out the hard part...when we could get all of the family members together, and what we would wear.

With two days notice, we chose the beginning of June and greens, browns, and blues. A family friend who used to do quite a lot of photography was willing to take our picture. He was wonderful in getting the kids to smile, taking a lot of shots, and afterward giving the boys rides in his airplane :)

So with that said, the header is compliments of the talents of R. Burkholder who was kind enough to give permission for me to use it in my blog. Following are just a few more shots that were taken at the same photo shoot.

Once again, all thanks to our wonderful photographer.

As a personal side note: Steve and Sue, do not worry we will be bringing the picture CD with us. Also these pictures are an example of the green, blue, brown color scheme that I suggested for our family photo. What do you think? Do you still like that idea, or do you have other suggestions?

Weekend Celebration/Hike

2011-06-21T17:10:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was both my birthday and also father's day. So Matt and I decided to have a weekend celebration with one big trip.

First we decided on the menu of the weekend. I got to choose for Saturday since it was my birthday. I chose breakfast casserole, and fettuccine con carbonara...YUMMY!

Sunday's meal was eggs, sausage, and toast for breakfast and Greek hamburgers with homemade tzatziki sauce.

Usually we only celebrate with food, but this time Matt and I decided to celebrate with a trip. My requirement was that we be outside and together as a family. Matt wanted to go somewhere we could hike and have history. Our neighbor told us about Roaring Run, so we thought we would check it out.

It used to be an Iron furnace that was in use in the mid-1800's. The furnace was really cool to wander around. But the most fun part was the hike along the river.

Grace took very well to her leash. I know, some people think that it is horrible to put a leash on your child. However, Grace is very independent, and I heard that this hike was very easy. So we thought we would put the leash on and let her wander (to our allowance). She had freedom to walk and run, and she ended up hiking the whole way to the end where the waterfalls were.

This is one of the many mini waterfalls along the way. It made the hike somewhat loud, but what can you expect with a hike called ROARING Run?

Grace loved the rocks, stumps, leaves, and dogs along the way. She was so happy to be down and exploring.

Run Grace, Run!

Checking out the river from one of the many bridges along the hike (yes, I have a tight hold on her so that she would not get too close to the edge/water)

Beautiful scenery!

Matt got some wonderful pictures :)

And at the end Matt took a fairly good one of me in front of the large waterfall. We put Grace in the backpack to go back to the car. She did not mind, she was pretty worn out from all of the excitement on the way up.

Afterward, we set up some chairs in the parking lot and ate a little bit of a snacky lunch. Here Grace is, in her sized chair, eating crackers.

It was a perfect outing for me, it was a perfect outing for Matt, and Grace seemed to love it too. What a great weekend!

18 month check-up

2011-06-20T12:31:00.000-07:00

Today was Grace's 18 month check-up.

All is well. She is 24 pounds, and 32 inches tall.

40-50 percentile for both height and weight :)

No shots today so it was a nice visit.

Just wanted to document the stats.

It Came From The Garden

2011-06-17T18:20:00.000-07:00

Matt and I have been blessed with an early growing season in our garden...

At least for the squash and zucchini!

For the three years that I have had a garden at this house I have tried to grow squash and zucchini, but each year I have gotten NOTHING. That is until this year. I do not know if the change came because we started from plants (rather than seed), composted more, or because I newspapered early so that weeds would not get to the plants. But whatever it was, we have been getting one or two squash/zucchini every day since Sunday.

We have been enjoying them, and Matt is experiencing the wonders of my creative culinary skills :)
So far we have enjoyed: sauteed squash, stir fry, chocolate zucchini cake, and a zucchini casserole.
On the menu for the future: More of the above, different casseroles (there are so many in the E. Shank Cookbook :), grilled squash and zucchini slices, and maybe crab cakes...and who knows what else will come to mind as I am in the garden gathering our bounty.

I am so happy!

(if anyone else has an idea for squash or zucchini, let me know. It seems we will be eating one or two a day from now till the season is over for them. But this is a great way to get our veggies :)

First Baby Picture

2011-06-15T07:59:00.000-07:00

About two weeks ago we had our first appointment for baby Daniels #2.

Not much out of the ordinary to report. Healthy, strong heart beat of 164.

Things are going well with this pregnancy, and I am starting to feel much better :)

Just thought I would share the picture. Enjoy!

Quack

2011-06-14T06:44:00.000-07:00

Grace's new favorite word is "quack"

I was talking to my sister Amy yesterday and while on the phone I said:

"Grace, what does a duck say?"
"Quack"

"Good job Grace! What does a dog say?"
"Quack"

"Grace, what does a cow say?"
"Quack"

"Grace, what does Aunt Amy say?"
"Quack"

The laughter got louder and louder as this conversation continued.
So when Matt got home I had to tell him this story. So I said:

"Grace, what does a duck say?"
"Quack"

"Grace, what does a cow say?"
She thought for a minute then loudly proclaimed "MOO!"

I was happy to hear that she got it right, but it ruined my story that I was trying to tell Matt.

Memorial Day Weekend

2011-06-07T17:38:00.000-07:00

It is scary to think, but I believe that we are slowly becoming the "typical American family."

At least in the way that we celebrated Memorial Day weekend.

Well, we mainly worked on the garage shelving (which was already talked about). Then we celebrated the long weekend of Matt being home with some wonderful food (which is not surprising to anyone who knows us).

We began with sushi (not to worry we got the kind with no raw meat...pregnant people everywhere are very happy that they came up with that concept!). The next day we ate stuffed peppers that Matt was surprised that he liked so much.

Finally (what makes us "typical") on Memorial day we pulled out the grill and cooked some wonderful steaks. Yum, yum, yum!

But what makes this post special is what was going on while we were cooking or building. Grace in all of her cuteness was enjoying her pool (another thing that makes us "typical"...we pulled out our pool on Memorial Day weekend :)

She had a blast!

We will be using that pool a lot this summer.

What Can You Do With $100.00?

2011-06-02T18:02:00.000-07:00

If that question was asked to Matt and I, we might respond with "Make garage shelving!"

Because that is exactly what we did.

My sister needed some basement shelving. She found a snake in her basement and it was suggested that they get the boxes and other items off of the floor. So Matt decided to help build the shelving. Matt had a plan for shelving like this in his mind for about a year and a half (ever since our garage shelving broke). So he showed the plans to my sister's husband and off they went to build. The shelving turned out wonderfully.

About two weekends later it was a rainy weekend at our house. I knew we were going to be cooped up so I suggested that Matt start our shelving. After a $60.00 trip to Lowes to get the starter lumber we were on our way. Chiseling, sawing, and other dust producing activities ensued for the next many weekends. However, we were finally able to put up section after section and slowly see our garage get cleaner and more organized.

True to our nature Matt and I were scavengers for this project. A neighbor was replacing their wood railing for outdoor steps. We got permission to take all the wood that we wanted from there. Another neighbor was replacing their playhouse for the children. More wood for us. We used wood that was being saved for us at my parent's house. And wood that we randomly already had in the shed. Not all of the wood matches, but that does not bother me at all (most of the wood is being covered with stuff anyway!).

This past weekend Matt and I went to Lowes once again to get $40.00 of wood to finish off the project. It is done now! For $100.00 (and a lot of time and cleaning of reclaimed wood) we built five 7 foot high, 3 foot wide, and 2 feet deep sections of shelving that is adjustable and sturdy as can be.

I am so happy, I almost have my garage back!

Greenway

2011-05-31T17:36:00.000-07:00

About a month ago a friend of mine was on summer break from college. She wanted to go on a walk with Grace and I, so she introduced us to the Greenway of Roanoke. I have been wanting to try out this area since I have hear many good things about it. However the website is unclear about where to park, where some of the trail heads are, etc. So I felt it was kind of the thing where someone introduces you to it, and life is great.

Well we had a wonderful walk, and the Greenway was wonderful! Two weeks later the MOMs group that I belong to was planning a stroller walk on the Greenway.

We were flooded out of the direction that I went last time, so we went the other way and explored that side of the Greenway. Now let me explain, the Greenway system is one that (when finished) will start in Vinton, go through Roanoke, and end in Salem. It will be walking paths that go by rivers, parks, neighborhoods, etc. Usually when walking in this area I pass at least 3-4 wonderful playgrounds that Grace just begs to play on.
While walking with the MOMs group we did stop and have our kids play on the playground for awhile before heading back.

This past Thursday my friend Jennifer and I wanted to get our kids together for a play date. I suggested the Greenway. Jennifer had never been on it, and like me, was waiting for someone to introduce it to her. So we walked a short while and then had the kids play on the playground. We ate a snacky lunch then headed back. It was such a wonderful trip. I plan to go back, even just by myself.

The one main thing that Grace has learned from all of this is what playgrounds are for. She never noticed them before but now we can not pass one (even while driving) without her pointing to it and making noises. She wants to stop and play!

Not Much To Say

2011-05-15T17:34:00.000-07:00

Grace is cutting 4 teeth at this moment.

I am feeling the yucky part of early pregnancy.

Matt and I are building garage shelving (well, I am helping as much as I can...which usually involves keeping Grace out of the way)

Life is good, but not much to say.

Playing In Harrisonburg

2011-05-11T16:21:00.000-07:00

One weekend while we were visiting in Harrisonburg, Grace and I went with my sister's family to a new park called A Dream Come True. It was very, very nice. There was a bike trail around the edge, swings, water fountain, and noise makers all around. But to make the park even better it had at least two play areas that were designed for specific ages. As you can see in the picture below Grace is walking to the 5-12 year old playground. She did not play there, she stayed with the 2-5 area and was very happy.

In the 2-5 playground there were tunnels, slides, steps, a little rock climbing wall, well let's just say that if you can imagine it, it was probably there. Grace loved the slide. She could have gone up the steps to get to the slide, or gone up the rock wall. Which one do you think she preferred? Yes, that would be the rock climbing wall, and her legs were so spotted with bruises the next day because she was determined to climb that wall no matter what.

We had a wonderful time. And what made it even better was that Matt and Mike were able to join us at the park after we had been there for a bit. So they were able to play with the kids. And Matt got to see this face as Grace came down the BIG slide all on her own!

One year my mom decided to get a bounce around for her house. It is kind of like those moon bounces that are at fairs. We set it up when the kids need to get their energy out and it is not quite nice enough to run around outside. This is a video of Grace's first time in the bounce around. Since then she has become a master of both the bounce around and also the trampoline (which is also at mamaw and papaw's house)

Fun, fun, fun!

Trying to get the blog header

2011-05-03T09:11:00.000-07:00

I must say that doing a photo shoot with a one year old is not easy. Especially when you are trying to have that one year old hold up a piece of paper.

My blog header might be the best picture of the bunch, but here are a few cute ones that I thought I would add also.

She has no idea what is coming!

Who Would Have Thought?

2011-05-02T17:39:00.000-07:00

Grace has many dolls.

Grace has many stuffed animals.

Grace has many toys.

There is no question that she has a lack of any of the above.

Since she was born I tried to get her to love a "lovey" that I bought from Target. It is soft, silky, has a teddy bear head on it, etc. Well as much as I have tried, that is not the object that she has seemed to cling to.

What has she chosen you might ask?

Well, it is over 30 years old...

And it is very well loved by her mother...

It is Butterscotch Bear from my childhood.

I must say, he did hold up very well from all of the loving that I gave him as a child.

But who would have thought that she would by-pass new items to cuddle with an old toy?

At night and also nap I usually find her with one arm curled around this bear. And when she wakes up she is usually holding him when I get her out of the crib. Once Grace went into the master bedroom and found Matt sleeping so she (somewhat kindly) laid Butterscotch on top of Matt. I guess he needed a toy to sleep with too.

I guess she does have a lovey, just not the kind I was expecting :)

Easter Party

2011-04-23T17:58:00.000-07:00

Today Matt, Grace and I went to an Easter party at our church. I was unsure of how this was going to go. Grace had been to an Easter egg hunt two days prior so I was sure that she would be fine with that part, but I knew that there were other activities offered. It turned out that the party went wonderfully!

We started with some coloring as all of the kids started to arrive. Grace has been really enjoying scribbling, coloring, and actually eating (when I am not looking...which has happened twice) crayons and colored pencils. So this was a very fun activity. However, taking the crayons away to move on to the next activity was not so fun.

Our next activity was an Easter egg hunt. We were able to get 22 eggs per child (that is a lot of chocolate). Fortunately Grace still does not know that there was candy in the eggs. She just simply thought that they were fun rattles.

Grace was wonderful at picking up the eggs and putting them in the basket. However, she decided that she was done after 16. So I picked up the remaining 6. The eggs were very obvious and just tossed in and open field. Wonderful for the age group.

Next activity was a snack craft. They told the story of the empty tomb and we "built" the story out of food. A half of a doughnut for the tomb, a doughnut hole for the boulder, teddy grahams for the women who visited, a cookie with pretzels for wings as an angel. It was a great activity.

In pure Grace fashion, she did not wait to build the whole scene...
She did not wait for the story...

She began to eat each part of the craft as it was placed in front of her on the plate

And it was good!
We then had story time where we listened to two stories. Or at least tried to, before she decided that it would be more fun to run up and down the hallway.

Which is a good thing that the next item for us was game time. Which involved balls that have handles on them so that you can hold the handle and sit on them and bounce, but these balls had bunny slipcovers on them. Grace decided that she needed to pet and hug these bunnies.

She also needed to kiss them.

We also played bunny bowling. She did pretty good rolling the ball from a sitting position. But it was not long before she decided that it was more fun to knock them down without the ball (mainly using her head).

The day was wonderful, but what I was most amazed at was she did very well at taking turns with others.

Happy Easter to all!

Pigtails

2011-04-14T13:51:00.000-07:00

Today I decided to try doing something with Grace's hair. After a trip to Walmart to find ponytail holders small enough for her hair, we were ready to experiment.

I think they are very cute. Also, she has kept them in for about 3 hours at this point (longer than I ever expected). What do you think?

Stacking

2011-04-04T13:29:00.000-07:00

Recently Grace has enjoyed her wooden blocks more and more.

She really loves stacking them.

She has been able to stack seven of the small blocks (the two top ones in the picture above) in a tower before it falls over.

Look at that concentration. Now I am being pulled away from the computer to help Grace with a puzzle.

Saving Money

2011-04-03T14:27:00.000-07:00

I must admit, it is not much of a surprise, but I married a dumpster diver. No, he does not go after food, but you can bet that when colleges let out he is looking for good finds.

Last year he found a hair cutting kit. Clippers, many different sized gauges, etc. all you need to give a man a good clipper cut. We have had this kit for almost a year, and today he came to me and said..."can you give me a haircut?" I very hesitantly agreed (thinking in my head...I hope I do not scalp him!)

He gave me a quick overview of how to work the clippers and said start slow. So I started slow and continued slow, even after he told me that I could go faster. The longer I went the more confidence I got. In the end I had enough confidence to take off the guard and clean up his neck and cut out his ears.

I must say the haircut turned out very well. I think that I will take the advice of my sister of where she does about 3 haircuts at home, then has her guys get one real good haircut at a barber shop. I enjoyed giving Matt a haircut but I think that every once in awhile he will need to get professionally cleaned up. But in the meantime this is going to save a bit of money (which always makes me smile!)

Underwear!

2011-03-31T16:19:00.000-07:00

It isn't what you think - honest.

I have snagged my wife's keyboard to bring you the multi-syllable word of the day.

Underwear.

Actually, Grace brings the word of the day to us. We were all in the living room, after having watched Pixar's 'Cars'. We've seen it before, and it still was a good movie. It leaves you with a happy feeling at the end. Afterwards, Grace, Lana and I were giggling and talking and having silly fun with an empty Kleenex box. Grace wanted down, so she could fetch her box. Although, being just a box, she quickly lost interest in it. And wanted back up again.

Grace walked over to Lana, and held her arms out. Lana didn't want to pick her up. Grace, apparently feeling snubbed, walked over to me - arms out. I picked her up, and she giggled. She promptly pointed the spoon that she had in her other hand at Lana, and very clearly proclaimed: "Underwear!" Lana and I were both surprised, but we all started laughing. Grace laughed too - she even covered her mouth when she did so - just like her mother.

Kids are funny, ya know?

For the best sleep...

2011-03-29T17:39:00.000-07:00

Get a good mattress.

And according to Grace, Papaws and Grandpas make the best mattresses ever!

How can you not have a great sleep when you are snuggled up with a Papaw or a Grandpa.

Dad and Steve, thank you so much for being so willing to help my daughter get some good sleep.

I Can Do It!

2011-03-23T17:29:00.000-07:00

Beautiful, Beautiful Saturday

2011-03-21T11:40:00.000-07:00

What a great day to have a picnic with a wonderful neighbor!

Generous To A Fault

2011-03-16T11:08:00.000-07:00

Dear Grace,

I know that you love to share. You share your toys, you share your food, you did not have to share this sickness.

It saddens me to see you not feel well, but if only I could feel well too I might be able to take better care of you. You are trying to take care of me though. This morning I was laying on the floor and you would walk up to me, hug me, wipe my nose with a tissue, hug me again, try to stick the pacifier in my mouth, hug me once more then go off to play. I believe that you went through that routine about three times.

However, as things go, you got sick on Monday. I got sick on Tuesday. Your dad should be very worried because if trends continue, his turn is tonight. But, if that does happen...who will be around to take care of us as he has done today?

Grace I love you, please get well soon (and I plan to do the same). This is one "not fun" time that I am having with you.

Much love,
Mom

March 14

2011-03-15T06:27:00.000-07:00

March 14th is a memorable day. It is my nephew's birthday (happy birthday Shannon). It is 12 days after my sister's birthday (happy birthday Amy). It is one day before the Ides of March (Sorry Julius Ceasar). It is pi day. And I could go on and on and on, but none of those reasons are the reason that I will remember this day.

This is the first day that Grace got sick...and I mean really sick.

Yes Grace has had colds. Yes Grace has not felt well after shots. And yes Grace has spit up or "thrown up" before (but those were tiny streams that I could just easily wipe away without thinking twice about it).

Yesterday Grace was not feeling well so we spent most of the day cuddling and watching VeggieTales. Last night about five minutes before Matt got home Grace got sick. I am talking about...grab a bucket, oh I wish there were a towel under us, undress Grace in the bathtub because she is that messy, smelly, yucky sick.

She is still not well. We will have another cuddle day. All I can say is that this is an adventure that I will not soon forget.

Recently

2011-03-10T11:48:00.000-08:00

Life has been normal (or as normal as it can be with a one year old).

Grace has had a cold for the past two days so she has been a little off, but that is not stopping her at all. She has many new tricks up her sleeve recently.

Here is a quick list of some of the new things that she is doing.
She has discovered how to do and undo zippers. This means that she will not keep any of her coats zipped up, she can unzip all of the bags that I have her toys in...so the hallway is covered with toys that she now has access to, and she can now open up Matt's office bag!

She waves hello and bye bye almost all the time. Also, it is not just a normal wave, she puts her hand in the shape of a sign language "E" and moves it back and forth much like you would to turn a door knob. It is very cute.

Last night she was eating banana and I decided to try something new. So I placed a plastic fork on her tray. Without much ado she picked up the fork and began stabbing the pieces of banana. And yes, then the banana made it's way to her mouth. She ate with a fork! Now granted she also used her hands, and every once in a while she would pick the banana off the fork with her hands and eat it like that, but for the first time eating with a fork by herself it was not too bad.

If I can remember them all I will try to make a list of her words here.
uh-oh, da da, ma ma, gin (again), hi, bye. I am sure that there are more, but this is a good start.

She loves to dance and will dance whether she is standing or sitting.

Oh, and everything that she can get her hands on is a "phone." She will put it up to her ear and babble. However, when someone tries to talk to her on the phone she will say nothing. Strange, but true.

She is a sweet little girl who is always on the go, and always wants to know what you are doing. And she is starting to copy just about everything we are doing....

New Stuffed Animal

2011-03-05T17:29:00.000-08:00

Back in January, Grace and I went to the library (granted this is not an uncommon thing for us to do).

This time while we were there the librarian showed us a poster for the Winter Reading Program. I thought, we read about 4 books a day anyway...why not just write them down and join this program.

We kept reading as much as we normally do, but it was harder than I thought to write down all of the titles. Or to keep up with "I read this title 5 times, but this one only 3." But I did my best to keep all my records accurate.

On Thursday Grace and I went back to that particular library and handed in our forms to get...

this hedgehog!

She seems to like him

He is a cute little finger puppet. I think that Grace will love playing with him.

Valentine's Dinner

2011-03-01T08:35:00.000-08:00

I know that I am a bit behind on my holidays...for goodness sake I have not even blogged about Christmas! But here is Valentines at least.

Matt and I made a menu of Boeuf en Croute, festive salad, corn (mainly for Grace), and Tiramisu. As usual we had cheese, grapes, sausage, and strawberries to eat with crackers as the day progressed till dinner (we usually do not get a lunch due to all of the cooking).

After looking at the menu we realized that we had two challenging items (the Boeuf and the Tiramisu) and two simple items (the corn and the salad) which ended up being the best for us. We still got the challenge of cooking something new. We still needed to work together to make the dinner. But we only had to focus on two items so we could spend more time playing and dancing around with Grace, who was always trying to help!

Well, Grace seemed to have a great time that day (the header picture is from Valentine's dinner). The dinner was wonderful (we have made the salad many times since). The roses that I got from Matt and Grace made a nice centerpiece to the table. It was just a very special day for all three of us.

I hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's day also.

Videos

2011-02-19T13:42:00.000-08:00

Here are some videos of what has been happening around our house lately.

Sue, I thought you might like to hear what your piano sounds like after the move happened.

Grace has loved playing in her rocking chair. She fell in love with rocking chairs while at Chris and Katie's during Christmas. Only recently has she learned that she should not stand up in a chair that moves.

High 60-low 70 degree weather has let us assemble her playhouse. This was her first time investigating it. She loves the doors!

Haircut pictures

2011-02-14T09:35:00.000-08:00

Grace learned a few things this weekend. To name a few....

She can now climb up on our kitchen chairs and sit very proudly upon them
She can drink from a straw
and she has been practicing going up and down stairs quite often (especially at church)

Here are some pictures of her after her haircut

She loved playing with the blinds while Matt and I were making dinner

Happy Valentines Day!

Haircut

2011-02-08T10:27:00.000-08:00

Saturday Matt and I took a trip to Harrisonburg. While there we decided to finally get Grace's hair cut for the first time. The bangs were getting long and in her eyes, and then she has this weird hairline in the back that I wanted an opinion on what we should do about it.

It was nice that they had a police car to play in while we waited.

Looking a little shabby just before the haircut. This was during the two minutes that she allowed the cape to stay on her.

The cape was much more fun to play with (which was good since it distracted her while she got her haircut).

But she was good, she did not cry the whole time and really did not care what was happening to her hair.

No, this is not an after picture...this is actually another "before" picture.

But it was so cute I just had to add it in.

After the haircut everyone said one of two things:
1. They never realized how shabby her hair had gotten, but she looks so much better with it all cleaned up now.
2. She looks so much older. To which I respond "Yes, she looks almost 15 months old now!" ha ha ha

To those who will ask, yes I did save some of her hair and it will be going in her baby book.

Missing

2011-02-03T05:15:00.000-08:00

Now for a very short post, because that is all that Grace is allowing me these days.

Grace is now getting all four of her one year molars. Teething, drooling, and cuddling included.

Now for the missing part of the post...
When an item is missing from the kitchen where do I look? The dining room? Nope. The Living Room? Nope. Any other room in the house? Nope...
I look in the car, and I usually find success. Grace has not really clung to an item that she has to take everywhere (except her pacifiers). But she has discovered that she likes to play with kitchen items and when we leave to go somewhere if she is playing with one, it needs to go with her.

In the car I have discovered: a plastic cup, many lids, many bowls (none of which fit the lids), straws, a spatula, and a funnel, and many others. Add a sink and a fridge and I think that I could have a mobile kitchen :)

As mentioned in a previous post, Grace always keeps things interesting.

New

2011-01-27T07:39:00.000-08:00

Life is always a new experience with a little 1 year old around.

Here are some of the new things that she has been doing recently:
She is now taking only one nap a day (which I have to admit, I love!) She goes to bed earlier and wakes up later. And there is only one time of the day that I have to worry about messing up her schedule in order to run around town with her.

She is getting 2 of her 1 year molars in (both top). So this will make 10 very sharp teeth, which she reminds me of when I check on the progress of the teeth.

She is saying Da-Da more often and correctly.

She is now holding and biting off things such as bananas, fruit bars, etc.

I know that there are many other new actions that I am sure I am forgetting at this moment. But needless to say she is getting bigger, smarter, and more curious by the day...which means that my job is getting more challenging :)

Climbing Adventures

2011-01-19T13:26:00.000-08:00

In October I got mad. The floors creaked and cracked and popped so much that no matter where we walked upstairs it would wake up Grace. So one night in October I got Matt to agree with me and we began to rip up the carpet in the hallway. Then Matt screwed down the boards better then they were and he glued the seams. No more squeaks in the hallway. Now to do the master bedroom, guest bedroom and nursery.

So for two months we have been ripping up carpet, screwing down boards, gluing sections, and living as normal as we can with the chaos that was happening in our house.

On Tuesday the carpet men finally came to put down new carpet. That meant that the baby gates had to be put away for a short while. Grace instantly was drawn to the stairs. She went up them at least 10-15 times that day.

But she was not selfish. She made sure to share the fun of the climbing of the stairs with her most cherished toys. She took a spoon, a bowl, a lanyard, and a pen up to the top of the stairs. On her final adventure up the stairs she walked across the living room as if on a mission, leaned over as she went through the doorway (to the location where her stuffed animals and dolls are kept), grabbed the penguin by the beak and without missing a beat or slowing her walk headed for the stairs.Once on the stairs she paused for a photo shoot as if to say "yes, this is my penguin and we are going on an adventure." Then up the stairs she went....again!

The carpet is now down, and the stairs are blocked off again. She will just have to find many other adventures to have with her toys. There is surely no lack of adventure with Grace around.

The Apple Does Not Fall Far

2011-01-17T06:38:00.000-08:00

With having parents who are avid readers...

She did not have much of a chance. She does love her books, especially "Dinosaur's Binket"

News Flash: Last night Grace learned how to make waves in the tub by scooting her body forward and backward. She also learned about slapping the water to make a real "splash bath" (thanks Matt for teaching her this). And one more, she climbed up all of the stairs today. All by herself! Yes, I was very close behind in case she would lose her footing.

What a Year!

2011-01-08T05:06:00.001-08:00

Dear Grace,

What a year it has been! You have completely changed our lives and made them so much richer and better. You are growing, exploring, and changing everyday. Some of the accomplishments that you achieved this year have been:
rolling over
sitting
standing
crawling
walking
saying your first word (uh-oh)
getting 8 teeth
and many, many other things.
But the main things that make my heart sing are all of the smiles, laughs, cuddles, and hugs that you give me and your dad everyday.

We are looking forward to many more amazing years.

Love,
Your Mom and Dad

Quick Stats

2011-01-05T13:46:00.001-08:00

Grace had her 1 year appointment this past Monday.

She is finally feeling better after having a cold and getting 5 shots on top of it all.

At the doctor's office we found out that she is:

20 pounds 2 ounces

29 3/4 inches tall

and her head is 18 inches

She is doing well.

Very Late Greeting

2010-12-29T12:50:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas (very late) from the Daniels Family
and Happy New Year

First Playable Snow

2010-12-24T13:43:00.001-08:00

Last week we got about 4 inches of snow. Which in turn closed schools, closed businesses, but more importantly made Matt work from home. Around lunchtime Grace and I convinced Matt that it would be a good thing to take a break from work and play in the snow.

We all got bundled up.
Matt and I threw snowballs at each other. Grace was handed a snowball but was not impressed.

However, she did like being held as we went for a walk on the snowy streets of our neighborhood.
Making snow angels was a new and strange experience. Not her favorite event of the day.
This was not Grace's first snow. But, during the other snows she was only about 2 months old. So this is the first one where she could get out, touch, play, and really experience the snow. Her first playable snow.

To Texas We Go: Part 4

2010-12-21T08:00:00.000-08:00

And now the conclusion...

After the service we arrived back at the hotel to find out that the long anticipated package had arrived. Dad had overnighted us passports and Matt's international driver's license. When looking at the passports we discovered that Matt's most recent one was three months expired. Ugh...no driver's license, and now an expired passport. How in the world are we going to get back to Virginia? On our good looks and charm? At this moment we did not want to worry about that so we got into some more comfortable clothes and went out to eat with the family.

Matt's aunt, uncle, and cousins also got a room at the hotel. So after dinner we all went to their much larger and adjoined rooms, to play games/watch sports/talk. It was very nice to relax and begin to get to know these people who are now family to me.

The next morning we woke bright and early and were ready to head back to the airport. We got our tickets, checked our bags, then off to the security checkpoint (the part we have been dreading for two days now). All three of us stood by the security officer and told him our story. The license was lost...yes we did report it to the airlines... no we do not have any other id...yeah, we do have a check card in his name...here is an expired passport (smiling hopefully)...and here is an international drivers license, yes it is expired but it DOES have his picture in it...no, we do not have his social security card...please, please, please, we just want to go home. After pleading from all three of us and showing them everything that we could find that had Matt's name on it, they let us through with the warning of DON'T LOSE ANYTHING ELSE.

The flights were uneventful. Once again Grace slept from before take-off to after landing.

I have never had such a wonderful stress-free flight before.

Home has never felt so good.

*Two weeks later we received a letter. Inside was Matt's driver's license. It was mailed by an airport security officer located in Florida. I am guessing that it desired to go on vacation to a nice sunny spot...alone!*

Happy Birthday Grace

2010-12-19T16:38:00.000-08:00

I can not believe it has already been a year!

We love you sweetheart.

To Texas We Go: Part 3

2010-12-18T11:10:00.000-08:00

Saturday we spent time with Steve and Sue (who arrived very late the night before - 1:00 am maybe? Who knows, I was asleep). Then had lunch out with the whole family (all of Matt's aunts, uncles, and cousins). The lunch was long on talk, and short on refills. We all went back to the hotel to change for the service, then we were headed to the church. Yes, the morning seemed to go by that quickly.

When we arrived at the church, this was the image that welcomed us as we walked in. Richard (Dick) Daniels...this one image shows quite a bit of his career history. He was a former cook in the marines, and he spent many years working for the Boy Scouts of America (that is symbolized by the ribbon with the silver beaver on it. It is quite an honor to receive that award).
As I mentioned in the first post about our trip to Texas, this man was one who never knew a stranger. He would befriend and help anyone that was in his ability. That was seen in his memorial service. As expected hymns were sung, scripture read, and tears shed. One of the most touching parts of the service was when two marines marched in, held out the American flag, had taps played, and respectfully folded it - presenting it to Steve.

Now about my comment of him being friends with everyone, there were four pastors present, and involved in the service. That alone is impressive, but even more so is the fact that each of them had personal memories and stories to share about Richard Daniels. They were not going by a script, they were not just following lines that are said at each service. No, each of them had special encounters or stories that they experienced personally with him.

Then I looked around the church and I realized that all in attendance are probably not even a handful of individuals compared to all of the lives that he has touched throughout his lifetime. *This realization made me realize that I need to be more like him and maybe be more outgoing and keep up with relationships a little better.* But back to the story...

The church in Houston does not have much land around it. I do not know if that is the reason for it or not, but that is my assumption. The church built what is called a columbarium. Right outside the church is a little water garden with a wall to respectfully remember those whose urns are placed within.
It is a very beautiful and peaceful location. Matt, Sue, Katie, and I all sat out there at one time or another during the reception.
I am so glad that I got to know you, even if it was for a short time. I am so happy that your stories, your ideas, and even you will live on through your children and your grandchildren who loved you so much.

To Texas We Go: Part 2

2010-12-14T18:26:00.000-08:00

Soon after we landed I called my dad again to see if he got my frantic message. I finally got a hold of him and asked him where he was, his response was "I am in your house, going up the stairs...what do you want me to do." Oh, what a sigh of relief that was. I asked him to get all the passports that he could find, and anything else that looked official and send it overnight to the address of our hotel. That was all we could do for the moment, so we might as well enjoy our time in Texas now that people in Virginia were working to get us back.

We got to the hotel and checked it just in time to get a message from Chris and Katie that they were at the airport waiting to be picked up. So, once again Matt, Grace, and I piled into the mini-van that we rented and went to pick up Chris, Katie, and Ellie.

At the airport we walked into the baggage claim to quickly be welcomed by Matt's brother (Chris) and his family. It has been close to 2 years since we saw them last, and during that time we both had children (little girls who are five weeks apart in age). So the entertainment at the airport (and actually most of the weekend) was watching Grace and Ellie interact (aka: pat the other person, pull their clothes, pull their hair, push them down, steal their toys, try to "hold" hands, etc)

The cousins meet for the first time.

On Friday we mainly just spent time with Chris, Katie and Ellie and relaxed. Here are just a few shots of what happened.

Starting early into a life of crime

Just can't figure out this safe...what IS the code?

Oh no, they caught us!

We were framed!

Just like dogs, sometimes high chairs just need to go for a walk too.

The girls cuddling up with Uncle Chris.

Holding hands while out to eat with the family.

Almost all of the great-grandchildren of Richard Daniels (Matt's grandfather) playing in one room.

And finally, who can leave out one of the biggest highlights of the weekend? Learning how to play with the iPhone.

End of part 2

Wagon Rides

2010-12-13T06:48:00.000-08:00

For the past two years Matt and I have enjoyed participating in many of the charity events that GE offers during the Christmas season. We usually try to be part of Christmas wagons and also food boxes. To read about what these events are, or our experiences with them 2008 is here and 2009 is here.

This year we did not get to participate in the food boxes, my side of the family was holding their Christmas over that same weekend. But we did get to go to Christmas wagons.

I did not get much assembling done. In fact I got NONE done. This is because I was chasing around a little girl who suddenly discovered that she LOVES wagon rides!

There was another 1 year old at the wagons event. She and Grace were walking up and down the vast expanse of the old Kroger that this was being held at. While toddling around a lady came by with a finished wagon and asked if we wanted a ride. So both of the girls got placed in the wagon and off they went. Grace's face just lit up. She was squealing and laughing the whole way.

Once we got to the location where the finished wagons were supposed to be, she did not want to leave. She tried to either stay in the wagon or get in a different wagon for another ride. So I realized that we needed to begin toddling and wandering between all of the tables where the wagons were being assembled and once one was finished there was no doubt that Grace would be near by to pat the wagon, hold on to it, and look up at the adult who was holding the handle as if to say "please, give me a ride" (add in adorable puppy dog eyes).

She rode in many, many, many wagons that night. She pushed wagons, and walked all around.
I think that we might eventually need to get her a wagon :)

To Texas We Go

2010-12-12T08:29:00.000-08:00

It is a sad fact that sometimes family gatherings are held due to loss in the family.

Last January Matt's grandmother passed away. He made a solo trip to Texas for the memorial service. Grace (who was about 4 weeks old at the time) and I stayed at home. When Matt arrived after the weekend with the family we got to see pictures, and hear stories, but it is just not the same. I wish I could have been there for Matt during that time. I wish that I could have met that side of the family.

This past November, once again, we received the sad news that there is yet another loss in Matt's family. His grandfather passed away on Veteran's Day. I only met his grandfather twice, and talked to him on the phone a handful of times, but I felt like I knew him still. This was a man who never met a stranger. Everyone was a friend and he was open and as helpful to everyone (as possible) in return.

When this news came, I knew that there was no question....we were all going to Texas.

I started to ask traveling advice from all of my friends who have traveled with young ones. I began to stock up on travel snacks, formula, oatmeal, anything that I could think of to feed Grace on the run, or something that just needed water added (that we would be getting from the flight attendants) in order to make a drink or meal for her. Yes, I began to stress out. I had so many lists going of what I needed to buy, what I needed to pack, what I needed to lay out to use, what needed to go in this bag, what needed to go in that bag, etc. Looking back, it was actually very humorous.

When plans were made, it was discovered that we had a week to get plane tickets, car and hotel reservations, and pack. Once again...yes, I began to stress out! One thing that helped was that Matt has a cousin in that location who has a little one. So she let us borrow a high chair, playpen, and a stroller (less stuff for us to pack/check/worry about)

At 3:00 am on Friday, November 19th, Matt and I had the unfortunate task of waking up Grace (usually it is the other way around). A quick breakfast, some very last minute packing, and we were out the door for a 6:00 am flight out of Roanoke. We had two legs to this trip. We went from Roanoke to Atlanta and then from Atlanta to Houston.

Roanoke to Atlanta:
We got through security easily enough, and got settled on our flight. I could see the looks of the other passengers all thinking "Oh no! There is a baby on this flight..." Grace was wonderful though. She fell asleep before we took off and stayed asleep for over half of her first flight. When she finally woke up I asked the flight attendant for some hot water and made her some oatmeal for breakfast. She was contently eating while we landed.

At the Atlanta airport Matt and I were about to sit down to enjoy our own breakfast while we reorganized everything (snacks, toys, tickets, etc.). While moving everything around we realized that Matt had somehow misplaced his Virginia driver's license. We dumped out our carry-on luggage, all of our pockets on our coats, the stroller, the car seat, and anything else that we had with us...NO LICENSE. Ok, no big problem...I still have my license. I can do all of the driving, we do not have to go through another security checkpoint before we get to Houston. But, they would probably not allow Matt to get back on the plane to return to Roanoke if he has no ID....BIG PROBLEM! We called the airline and reported his license lost. Then I got a grand idea, call my family in Harrisonburg. I had five minutes before our next plane took off to call my father and leave a frantic message. I told him of our problem and asked him to go to our house, get Matt's passport. I hung up hoping that my message was clear and that he would be able to help in time.

Atlanta to Houston:
Grace slept the whole time from before take off to after we landed. I had to wake her up to get her off of the plane. We picked up the car with no problem (used my license to be able to get the car...and realized that I - yes I - would have to drive the horrible Houston roads. Ok, Houston roads are not all that bad, but I am used to driving on the same roads that horse and buggies drive on...that is my speed of driving). And off to the hotel.

End of part 1.

Change To My Blog

2010-12-08T08:14:00.000-08:00

I hate having to do that word verification step to be able to sign into something. This is why I am apologizing already.

I am sorry that I am starting to make anyone who comments to my blog have to do that.

I am not trying to prevent you from commenting. I hope that you continue to comment, and comment often. I am trying to prevent the two or three spam comments that I am getting daily to my blog.

If it helps prevent the wave of spam that I have been getting, I will continue to have my commenters sign in with those weird words. However, if I see no change... I will go back to the way it used to be.

Thank you for your patience.

Laundry

2010-12-01T12:14:00.000-08:00

Grace loves to "help" with laundry...

What a big helper she is!

There is a little bit of me in her!

2010-11-30T16:43:00.000-08:00

So Grace looks like her daddy. No question there.
But where did that uncontrollable poof at the back of her head come from?
Well, that would be me...just look at the picture below of me when I was young.
Sorry Grace, that was not the best trait to get from me.