Afterwards...

As promised, we spent the last two weeks at home lounging for most of the time. Gracie is spending this week with my mom, but they haven't moved too far from the couch there. :)

Gracie in her new outfit! Yes, she is

apparently becoming a teenager quite quickly!! :(

We had a very nice and peaceful Christmas this year. Gracie was very excited that Santa brought her the EXACT doll she asked for. Imagine that! Santa is good! She worked very hard to leave out cookies and milk for Santa. She also insisted that we leave 18 carrots out for the reindeer. She thought they each deserved 2 carrots! Those reindeer must have worked awfully hard this year.

Gracie on Christmas morning with her doll stuff.

Gracie has also been very busy reading. Her goal is to be able to design a brick on the wall at her school. In order to do that, she must receive 150 AR points this year. Before the Christmas break, she had almost 70, so she is a little less than half way there. Since the break began, she has read 5 books that I know of. She read the entire Wimpy Kid series this month. She also read Anne of Green Gables, The Voyages of Dr. Doolittle, and will begin the Charlie Bone books this week. We are very proud of her accomplishments so far, and even more excited that she has set such a high goal for herself and is working so hard to accomplish it.

Happy New Year to everyone!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Boy, how time flies when you really want it to go slowly. This year seems to have passed in a flash. I can't believe it will be over in only 3 weeks. With that said, we are SOOO ready for Christmas break! Gracie and I have already begun dragging out of bed this week...a sure sign that a break is right around the corner.

We spent last weekend shopping for the holidays. I shopped with my mom on Friday night and Saturday, while Gracie and John shopped on their own. This is the first year that Gracie really wanted to buy presents. She bought everyone in our immediate family (meaning John and I, my brothers, my parents, my neice and nephew) gifts this year. She made a list and carried her own money to purchase everything. John said she was very decisive with what she wanted. He couldn't change her mind. :) With the exception of one or two minor things, we all completed our shopping in one weekend.

We are thrilled to being staying home for the holidays this year! We spent the entire week of Thanksgiving Break on the go, and I really was worn out afterwards. I am looking forward to spending some MuCh NeEdEd time on the couch. Gracie will spend the week after Christmas with my mom at her house, so it will just me John and I. I am seriously considering wearing my PJs all week long. ;)

This is a picture of Gracie we took earlier in the year. It makes me laugh so much. She is such a nut! She will have a fit when she finds out we used it on our Christmas cards this year! ;)