Cooking is Fun!

Grace starting "cooking" when she was about 2 years old. She loved to stand up at the counter and start throwing things into a bowl and mixing. It didn't matter what it was or how it was going to taste, it was simply her own creation. It was fun for her and, I assume, good for her imagination. Well, she got the urge to do this the other night so we gave in. Although it is probably a really great hands-on activity for fun at home, it is not a terribly fun clean-up! We gave in anyway and they started mixing. I think the ingredient list ended up being flour, sugar, water, 1 egg, a random mixture of spices, a gravy mix, food coloring, green onions, and chocolate chips. I think that was about it. Lyla kept tasting it and spitting it back in her bowl. I tried to get a good pic of that but couldn't really get her face. It was going okay until Lyla started mixing with her hands! That is when it started dripping on the countertops and floor. I was okay with that, until she dumped the whole bottle of green food coloring into her bowl! I had no idea food coloring smelled sooooo bad! Then I started to freak out a little when that started dripping all over my tiled (with grout) countertops. That's when cooking time ended. Thanks to a lot of cleaner with bleach the green came out of the grout! At least their imagination grew a little that night, right?

Gymnastics!

This is Grace at gymnastics. She doesn't usually want to get ready to go on Monday mornings but once we're there she loves it. She is ready to move up to the next class but we'll probably wait until Lyla is old enough to move too. On this day Grace got a ribbon for participation. That is what the last picture is. She was receiving her ribbon and giving us a traditional gymnastics "ta-da".

Dress Up is fun

Joni wanted to get some pictures of the girls dressy up for a birthday party invitation that she was making so this is what I got. They didn't really do much posing for us but they had a good time. Reesi went a little crazy with some perfune at one point and I thought we were all going to be sick but Joni took it away just in time. Grace liked the lipstick as you can tell from her pics. The girls are convinced that we should be able to play with Reesi EVERY day now that we live close to each other. They are definitely enjoying our new location!

She's CRAZY!

What can I say? She's crazy! I was trying to get some "sweet" pictures of her but this is all she would give me. That's our Lyla.

Who needs good weather to have a picnic?

After everyone left the party on Saturday night, Joni, Reesi and Larry hung around for a little while. The girls took a quick bath together and then it was snack time. Mimi gave Reesi a little pinic basket so she wouldn't feel left out when Grace was getting presents, so the girls wanted to have a picnic, of course. So, we got out the goldfish, cheese, grapes and apple juice and they had a nice little picnic in the kitchen floor! Joni and I tried to get the perfect little picture but it's nearly impossible to get 3 little girls to all smile at the same time! My pictures prove that! I guess that's how memories are made!

Party #2

We had Grace's 2nd party on Saturday evening at our house with family. Eric and I spent all day cleaning and picking up! Our house only looks that good when we're having company. ha ha Mom and Dad took the girls to McDonalds and to play with Reesi while we cleaned up and got ready. Of course, the girls loved that! We had a 2nd cake which was still a rainbow theme, as Grace had requested, but this one was a "rainbow of flowers". They were so good! When I brought them home on Friday the girls just kept going on and on about how beautiful they were. Grace said at one point that they were "more beautiful than I ever thought they would be". She kept going over to the counter to look at them, at least that is what I thought she was doing. But then she told me that "I can't keep my nose off of them". They also tasted better than just about any cake I've ever had. If you live in the Nashville area I'll give you the name of the girl that made them. They were awesome. Anyway, the party went well. Grace had fun playing with her Papaw (Eric's dad) and enjoyed seeing her Aunt Angela (Eric's sister) too. My parents, Joni, Reesi, Julie and Jason were also there. Again, Lyla kept getting mad when anyone would say it was Grace's birthday or Grace's cake. She finally smiled when Mimi (my mom) gave her a present of her own to open. Grace got a Leapster from Mimi and Papoo, a Disney easy bake oven and handmade blanket from Papaw and Grandma Gardner and a new outfit from Aunt Julie and Jason. It was a good night!

Birthday Party #1

Well, we had our first "friend" party ever! In the past we simply have had family over for our birthdays, but this was a big one. Grace turned 5 and for some reason it seems really big to me. So I let Grace pick out what she wanted to do for her party. She invited her close circle of friends from church and preschool and we decorated sugar cookes, had a special rainbow cake, and played on a GREAT play system at a local party place. It turned out great. The kids had a great time. I did make one mistake though. After decorating sugar cookies for their activity they had no interest in eating cake too. Oh well. I sent home several pieces of cake with the moms of our friends. Grace got some great gifts from her friends and she's been playing with them constantly. Lyla has had a hard time with this birthday concept though. She just doesn't understand why it isn't her birthday too. We even caught her on video throwing wrapping paper at Grace and storming off camera when she couldn't open a present of her own! She didn't get too short-changed though. I gave her a small gift and so did my mom and her grandma and papaw. Over all, I think the party went well and Grace had a really good time! Now my baby is offically 5 years old!