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! ;)

Holidays and Miley

Wow! We have been very busy bees indeed! Since my last post, we have dealt with some pretty big medical issues, traveled what seems like the whole world, and enjoyed having friends over. That is just this week!

Emily and Gracie before Miley Cyrus

The week began with friends coming to stay with us from Georgia. They have a daughter right around Gracie's age, and we took the two girls to see Miley Cyrus and Metro Station on Wednesday night before Thanksgiving. They left early Thursday morning to travel back home for Thanksgiving with their family. We really enjoyed having them over though.

Gracie reading during the game

Thursday night after eating with my family, we left to travel to Kansas. We stopped Thursday night in St. Louis, and we finished traveling on Friday morning. We spent some time with Justin, my nephew, who plays football for the Jayhawks. We attended the much anticipated Border Showdown in Kansas City on Saturday afternoon. Although the Jayhawks lost, we had an excellent time. Gracie loved meeting Justin just as much as she did when we met Jeremy.

Gracie and Justin after game

I am not sure what Christmas holidays will bring, but I am sure it will be as adventurous as this one was!

New hair

After a LONG wait for Gracie's hair to grow out so she could put it in the much coveted pony tail....she decided she didn't like long hair any more. Tonight we cut it off! Oh well...it is just hair. She looks totally cute, and I personally prefer her with short hair. Don't tell her though...we may have to let it grow again if she finds out! :)

Football, Soccer, Halloween, and more...

John and Gracie at Memphis ZOO!

We have been very busy over the last month. Gracie is still playing soccer and softball. The weather has not been very cooperative, and her games have been moved all over the place. Soccer will end next weekend (Oct. 31). She is going to take the spring season off (or at least we think she is). Softball season will end November 1 due to all the changes. We are all looking forward to some time off from our sporting events.

Gracie and Jeremy ~ Our Favorite Miner!

A few weeks back we took Gracie to see her cousin, Jeremy, play football over in Memphis. She had never met him before, so she was very excited. We are going to see his brother, Justin, play in Missouri in November.

Princess Gracie

Gracie has decided to be a princess for Halloween this year. It takes forever for her to decide on something, so I was impressed we got this far so soon. The costume looks great on her. She will be with my parents during Halloween this year because John and I will be at the Vanderbilt vs. GA Tech game in Nashville.

In full force...

This week, Gracie went back to school after being sick awhile. She seems to be doing much better, but she still has an awful cough. The flu has hit full force here in Nashville, and so far, we have been very lucky to avoid it.

Gracie also began softball this week. We had practice on Wednesday night, and she will practice again tomorrow afternoon. She has a new coach, and we are very excited about the new season. We think this will be a much better experience than it was in the spring.

Today, we had a soccer game and pics. Our team lost, but they sure played hard. Those kids run their little tails off on that soccer field. It is a blast to watch! They have so much fun and work so hard. They definitely deserve their snacks after the game.

We found out this week that Gracie is qualified for the gifted program at school. We thought she was, but it was finally confirmed for us. She will begin classes for that program this coming week. I am quite skeptical about all this, but I am trying to give things a chance and be optimistic.

To say we are busy is quite the understatement. Some days I feel like I am running so fast I might actually meet myself in the middle somewhere. :-)

Sickness...

Gracie has been quite sick since Wednesday of last week. She developed adenoid virus, which most people have never heard of. Anyway, she missed school Wednesday through Friday. We thought she was getting better, but then she woke up this morning sick again. It just seems like an endless cycle.

On another note, soccer is in full swing again. The team has won the first two games. This week the game was ugly, but they won anyway. The kids are having fun, and that is all that really matters anyway. Gracie begins softball again this week. Her first practice with the new coach is Wednesday. She is busy as a bee with guitar lessons, softball, and soccer. We also try to through in a little schooling every once in awhile. :-)