Friday, October 28, 2011

Thursday/Friday

Not too much to report today.  Gracie had a good day at school and daycare yesterday.  She got to play outside for a while yesterday afternoon.  She also had a baby visit daycare for a while yesterday so I got to hear all about the baby last night.  Gracie had a good night and slept well.  She did wake up a couple of times, but went right back to sleep.  I think the cooler nights agree with her. 

There was remnants of chocolate pudding on my pillow and I knew it was from Gracie -- that's how we get her meds in her in the morning and many times she is still in bed when we give them.  Anyway, last night I said, who got chocolate pudding on my pillow.  She giggled and quickly replied "Jason".  Jason is her cousin that we hear alot about.  :)

Gracie is not a big eater in the morning, matter-of-fact, she eats the pudding for her meds, but many times that is it.  Last night Gracie's daycare mom sent home some homemade banana bread that Gracie just loves.  Breakfast this morning consisted of 2-1/2 pieces.  Guess I'll be needing that recipe.

Tomorrow Gracie gets her FluMist vaccination bright and early in the morning.  Hopefully that will ward off the flu germs for the season.

Have a great weekend.

Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie

Thursday, October 27, 2011

"Nuthin"

Gracie had a great day yesterday and a great night last night.  She spent the day playing and just hanging out at daycare.  I think she needed one of those days.  She was a happy girl last night, but would get really irritated, like she was frustrated and kept rubbing her back.  I'm always hyper nervous when she rubs her back, because her meds can cause kidney stones if we don't keep her hydrated enough.  I finally pulled up her shirt to see what was going on and there was a big ole bug bite.  Now what bug exists in the middle of October that can get under two layers and bite her.  Good grief.  I offered to put some Calamine lotion on it, but she declined.

The rest of the evening we just played and hung out.  She seemed extra tired and at one point, she took Jeff's hand and my hand and walked us to her room, pushed us onto the bed, crawled inbetween us and just relaxed...oh yeah, and requested a tent.  She loves when we all put a blanket over our heads and pretend we are in a tent. 

Gracie slept great last night.  She did wake up around 1:30 a.m. with a coughing attack, but it was short-lived and she went right back to sleep.  This morning, she was all snug as a bug in bed and did not want to wake up.  When she finally did wake up, she was not ready to get up, so she was laying on the bed playing with a train car that has a conducter on it.  She kissed the conducter.  Shortly after that, Jeff came in the room and she gave him this huge smile.  I said "Gracie, you gave the conducter a kiss, you gave daddy a big smile, what do you have for mommy?"  Without missing a beat, she looked me right in the eye and said "Nuthin".  I didn't even know she knew that word.  Now how do you keep a straight face with that type of response? 

Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Catching Up

Gracie is doing well and has had a great week so far.  Here are some highlights:

Saturday:
  • She enjoyed a lazy morning with mommy and daddy at home.  She promptly dragged both of us to her bed and then snuggled inbetween us.  She was one happy little girl.
  • She visited Aunt Sheila, Uncle Chris, and Cousins Kayla and Jason who took care of her while mom and dad went on a date.  She had a great time.  When we went to leave she started to fuss because she thought we wanted to take us with her and was only too happy to say goodbye to us.  As bedtime approached she wanted to "See Mama", but when I actually returned to pick her up the emotions were a little overwhelming for her and she burst into tears.
Sunday:
  • Gracie was tired out from her fun day on Saturday and didn't have a ton of energy.  It was a beautiful afternoon but the only thing she wanted to do was be pushed in her stroller.  Jeff and I have been dealing with colds and I think Gracie was perhaps feeling a little under the weather as well.  A telltale sign that she has a sore throat is when she puts her hand down her throat and tries to make herself vomit and she tried that a couple of times on Sunday.  Other than a cough, she seems to be fine now though.
  • Gracie and Mommy just hung out as daddy was working all day. 
Monday:
  • Gracie wore her pumpkin shirt to school.  One of the words on their word list this week is pumpkin and during story time, Gracie was the example of pumpkin.  She played outside at daycare and had a good day.
  • At bed time I asked Gracie what her favorite part of the day was, she told me "music" and "school".  I took that to mean she liked music time at school.  She also said "daddy" and signed "playing".  Jeff has been working long hours, so I think she really enjoyed playtime with him when he got home from work.
Tuesday:
  • At school during story time they made a witch's stinky soup.  It was a song about how they would throw bats, or pumpkins, or scarecrows, etc. in the soup and after they would put the new ingredient in they would stir and plug their noses and say "P.U. Stinky Soup".  Gracie enjoyed that immensely.  We did it at home last night too and she really got into it.
  • Shortly after getting home we had some fun visitors that dropped off a pumpkin filled with goodies for Gracie.  Thank you to Julie and your three little goblins.  It made Gracie's night.  She was so thrilled to have little visitors that she kept giving them all hugs!
Gracie hasn't been sleeping great as she is still coughing all night long.  Poor little bug -- although she has been in a great mood.

Hope you are all having a great week.

Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie

Thursday, October 20, 2011

A is for Apple

Gracie has been having a really good week.  On Tuesday she had a fun day at school and at daycare.  She was in quite the happy, teasing mood when I picked her up at daycare and that just continued into the night.  Gracie, Jeff, and I celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary by ordering pizza and just hanging out and playing.  Later Gracie and I were talking about family and I told her that daddy, mommy, and Gracie were a family.  A little bit later she called Jeff into her bedroom where we were hanging out and she gave him a big hug, then she pulled me into the hug, and then her little voice said "family".  It was so sweet.  A little bit later, she signed the letter A and then verbally told us that "A is for Apple".  They are learning about apples at school this week. 

Yesterday Gracie and Jeff joined Gracie's class for a field trip to an apple orchard.  It wasn't Gracie's day to go to school but she was invited along.  I am a little envious as I would have loved to have gone along.  She had a fun time, she brought an apple home, she also got to go on a wagon ride, pet bunnies and goats, and got to see chickens.  Jeff said that EVERYONE knows Gracie.  Jeff met the bus load of kids at the orchard and many of the kids and the adults too all greeted Gracie.  They also got to go through a corn maze and stamp a card at various stations through the maze.  The only thing that really didn't sit well with Gracie is that they were all sitting in an area to learn about apples, but the plan changed and they decided to have the wagon ride first.  Our dear Gracie doesn't do well with transition and she was very unhappy as she wanted to sit and hear about apples.  She made a fuss about getting on the wagon, but once there enjoyed herself.  The apple orchard was covered in walnuts....ugh.  So Jeff ended up having to be extra diligent about washing her hands after she pet the bunnies or touched anything. 

Last night Gracie and I were home alone when she went to pull a crystal dish off of one of our stands, I very firmly said "Gracie no", but her listening ears weren't working and it fell to the floor and just shattered everywhere.  This on carpet no less.  I was so scared she would step on it with her bare feet that I picked her up and put her in a chair and I told her she had to stay there.  Gracie stays no where, she just doesn't have it in her to sit anywhere for any given amount of time and even though I didn't get mad, I think she thought she was in trouble.  It was quite a mess to clean up and it took a while and she didn't move a muscle.  When I was all done, I went over to her and I said "Gracie, I'm not mad that you broke the dish, it is just a thing, but I'm disappointed that you didn't use your listening ears when mommy told you no."  We've been talking alot about using listening ears and she touched her ears when I said this.  Her face was very sober.  Then I told her the reason she had to sit and not move is so that she wouldn't get cut while mommy cleaned up the mess and that I loved her very much.  I got a smile then.  I think this was a very good lesson for her and I don't think it is one she forget quickly. 

Gracie is home with daddy again today and they went to the library for story hour and then came and visited me for a few minutes.  She was all smiles.  I think she is enjoying her time with daddy. 

Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

The Weekend and an Allergic Reaction

Gracie had a good weekend and got alot of mom and dad time.  On Saturday, it was just Gracie and I and we had a good day playing outside, we even did a little shopping for some necessities and some food.  Gracie kept telling me "store" and "food".  When I asked her what kind of food we should buy, she told me "chicken".  Which just happens to be her favorite food in the world.  She took all of a 20 minute nap and was ready to play some more.  We had a good day and Gracie was in a great mood. 

On Sunday, Gracie was quite grumpy in the morning, so we sent daddy to church, as I was pretty sure that she wouldn't go to Sunday school.  We watched church on TV - the Sunday Mass.  It's amazing how she will sit on my lap for that, but doesn't do so well in actual church unless it is music time. We met daddy at the mall for lunch, helped him pick out a new winter coat -- which Gracie found to be very fun.  Gracie wanted to wear all the men's coats and walk around.  She was quite the little goofball.  We went home and took a 90 minute nap and she was in a good mood all afternoon.  When it was time to go to bed, she kept telling me she was awake and she was.  She finally fell asleep at 11:00 p.m.  This was a mere 2-1/2 hours after her regular bedtime.  I'm not sure what was up with that as she was in a great mood.  She was restless all night long, but awoke in a fairly good mood.

On Monday morning as I was about to get her dressed, I noticed she kept itching her neck, then I noticed hives all over her stomach and back as I went to take her pj's off.  The hives had a welt like appearance as they were in big patches.  So her neck, stomach, and back were covered but nothing else.  I have no clue what caused them, the only thought that might be a possibility was that she wore Jeff's new coat around the house, perhaps there was something on that, although she was totally clothed when she did.  Knowing Gracie's history with anaphylactic reactions to some allergens, I kept her out of school and daycare to monitor and be ready to get medical attention if need be.  I gave her some Benadryl and other than it making her tired and grumpy that seemed to do the trick.  She didn't have much of an appetite at all for lunch.  She did inform me she didn't want her banana, but she wanted "pears".  So I got her pears and she ate some of those.  By about 2:00 p.m. her hives had pretty much cleared up.  We went outside for a walk, but she wasn't very energetic.  She enjoyed a stroller ride as well.  At one point she wanted to go "bye, bye" and was so tearful about it as she went to the car, that I put her in her seat and we just took a drive around town.  I even got her an ice cream cone at McDonalds and her appetite was nice and hardy for that.  She also was very talkative all day.  I loved that. 

Gracie ate a huge supper last night and I could tell she was feeling so much better.  She still had a bit of a hard time falling asleep, but had a good night and did not want to wake up this morning.  She is back to school and daycare today.

I hope you had a good weekend too!

Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie

Friday, October 14, 2011

Healthy and Happy

Gracie has been healthy and happy and we've had a peaceful existence the last couple of days.  She is so observant these days, just today on our way to daycare she informed me there was a flag.  I couldn't see any flag.  So when I questioned her on it, I was shown that it was way off into the distance and indeed there was the American flag flying proud.  Last night she was watching a hand me down video that she hadn't seen previously.  It had a couple of songs in it that are on a cd of hers, when she heard them she got all excited and pointed to her room, which is where she usually listens to her cd player of kids songs.

Gracie has really been enjoying the Halloween decorations around town this year.   The other night Jeff and Gracie took a walk, she came running in the house all excited saying "Mom, see. Mom see." She was pulling on my hand that I had to go outside. I asked her what I needed to see and she said "Corn Candy." The neighbors two doors down have a ton of Halloween stuff in their front yard and one is this giant blow up piece of corn candy. So I had to go see it. Last night when we got home that was the first thing she wanted to go check out again. I love how excited she gets.

Gracie has been sleeping pretty well, she was up alot last night coughing, but would fall back to sleep very quickly.  

I have a hard time finding winter boots that aren't too heavy and awkward for Gracie, but offer good support for her.  I had been researching and researching online, trying to find something that would work for her.  I came up with this pair made by Crocs that looked like they fit the bill.  I ordered them online and they came yesterday...perfection!!!!  Gracie loves them too.  I just know we'll be spending more time outside this winter than we have previous years.  Now I need to find the perfect mittens...we've got some that will work, but I think we need some with zippers...her fine motor skills are a struggle for her so she doesn't do so well helping put mittens on.  I've found an online site that makes mittens for people with special needs - I think I'm going to check into those.

Gracie got a new book at the school library yesterday:  "The Diary of a Worm".  Gracie really likes it and Jeff and I have found it to be a hoot.  I thought the humor of it was a little over Gracie's head, but she really likes it.

We're looking forward to the weekend.  Have a great one.

Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

She Slept the Whole Night Through

Gracie has been having a good week, her nose has stopped running, she still has an occasional cough, but it is soooooo much better, and she has been enjoying her days at school and at daycare and enjoying the mild Fall weather.  We haven't been able to take our evening walks because it is turning dark too early.  By the time supper is done, it's dark out.  This does not sit well with Gracie and I've been letting her watch a DVD in the evening.  We're going to have to figure out some fun things to do indoors. 

Gracie has been participating a lot more in school this week.  Not only repeating words when asked, but commenting spontaneously at times as well.  This is a big step for her and means her comfort level is increasing.  I wish her teacher and speech therapist could hear her talk at home, she is quite the jabber box when she wants to be...I love it.

Gracie Skyped with Grandma and Grandpa D. last night and had a few things to say, but was mostly quiet.  She is so funny, she can't wait to Skype with them, then becomes very shy at times.

The best news of the week for me is that Gracie slept through the night last night.  She did wake up briefly at 4:30 a.m., but that doesn't count because she immediately fell back to sleep and I'm up by 5:00 a.m. anyway, so I got a full night sleep for the first time in at least three weeks.  It felt AWESOME!!!!

Gracie was in a great mood this morning and was so happy to see her buddy Kayla (9 years old) when she went to daycare this morning.  She was stuck to her like glue.

Hopefully the week will continue to be a good one.  I just love having Gracie feel good!

Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie

Monday, October 10, 2011

A Weekend Outside

We had a very fun weekend of outdoor activities.  We pretty much spent out whole weekend playing outside.  On Saturday we woke up and headed out the door shortly after breakfast.  We took a walk, we played in the leaves, we mowed the lawn and leaves and bagged them up for the compost pile. We took them to the city compost pile.  Upon arriving there, Gracie got all excited and said "a farm".  Well not quite. 

After nap, we decided to take her to this little zoo and hiking area about 10 miles away, but when we got there at 4:10 p.m. we were disappointed to find that the zoo closes at 4 p.m.  So we hiked a little way to a picnic area with a playset that had a slide and swing.  On the walk through the trees I kept telling Jeff to watch for walnuts (I'm even more cautious about us even stepping on them being I saw Gracie licking the bottom of her shoe the other day).  We get Gracie up to the top of the slide and then Jeff spies a walnut right by where she would come down.  I of course go to investigate and find walnut guts smeared down at the bottom of the slide.  Okay there will be no sliding all the way down this slide.  We let Gracie go halfway down and let her go to the swings instead.  A little girl named Haley spies us and comes over, she goes down the slide through the walnut juice, now she is contaminated...Gracie is excited to see this little "friend" and goes to hold her hand.  We work so hard to help Gracie have peer interaction and here she is very social with Haley, and she is contaminated with walnut guts that could send us to the ER.  So I wipe Gracie's hand down and explain to Haley why I must do it.  Haley seems to get it and then points to a big allergic reaction around her neck from her necklace.  Haley asks if Gracie can talk and how old she is.  I tell Haley that Gracie is 4 and I watch Haley's eyes get very big.  Haley is 7 and a little smaller than Gracie.  We didn't stay very long and part of the reasoning was just my own nervousness with the whole walnut thing.  I hate that I have to be so careful about that.

We were outside until well after dark, we did a little garage cleaning and Gracie had great fun just hanging out in the garage and listening to music.  We would occasionally have to take a walk to the end of the block and look at the big blow up pumpkin or the Halloween lights and decorations along the way. 

On Sunday Jeff had to work, so Gracie and I went back to the zoo to see the animals.  Her favorites were the eagles that kept giving her a stern talking too.  Gracie loved this, she would laugh and give it right back to them.  The turkey vulture seemed to be putting on a show for Gracie and I think that might have been her most favorite animal of the day, followed closely by the owls and the cow that licked her hand. 

After the zoo we headed to the mall to pick up socks, Gracie is outgrowing all of those too.  Then lunch and home for a 20 minute nap.  Then it was back outdoors, but it got too hot for Gracie.  I put her in the stroller and took her to the local schoolyard playset that she loves so much, but she didn't want to get out and play.  That never happens, so we zipped back home and I stuck her in the tub to cool her off a bit.  That did the trick, suddenly she had a ton of energy again.  Gracie was excited to see daddy come home for supper and she had a good evening. 

Gracie fell asleep very quickly last night and slept through until 3:30 a.m., she was awake for 30 - 45 minutes and then fell back to sleep.  She is sleeping so much better and doesn't cough all night long.  She is breathing much easier too.  She did wake up with a bloody nose this morning and every time I thought I had it stopped she would blow her nose and it would start up all over again. 

Gracie was excited to go to school this morning.  With smiles she told me "Gracie bus". 

I hope you had a great weekend too.

Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie

Friday, October 7, 2011

A Six Word Sentence

The most exciting thing happened earlier this week and I forgot to write about it.  Gracie, Jeff, and I were taking a walk.  It was almost dark out and there was a very loud continuous quacking type sound.  I'm pretty sure it's from some bugs, but it kind of sounds like ducks.  Anyway, I commented on the noise, Gracie thought it was ducks and said "I want to see baby ducks!"  A full six word sentence!!!  We were so excited.  We are hearing more and more 3 word combinations, but this was a full sentence. 

Gracie had a good day yesterday.  When I went to pick her up she had her school pictures.  Could the photographer not have tamed her hair a bit...she has two pieces of hair sticking up on either side of her head that look like horns...or does my precious angel really have horns???  Hmmmm.  I don't think so.  I also want to know what is with her sort of stoned look.  She's not even really looking at the camera.  However, to you frequenters of my blog, you know what a hard time I had picking out her outfit...well I did great there, the color looks fantastic on her.  Anyway, she was very excited to show me her pictures so I made a big deal out of them and she was very excited to go home and show daddy them too.

Ever since my boneheaded move of not buckling Gracie in her car seat early this week, Gracie and I have a chuckle when I pick her up at daycare and put her in her car seat.  She sits back in her seat and I say "Gracie, what do you think?  Should we buckle you today?"  She laughs and adamantly shakes her head yes!!!!

Gracie's cough continues, as does her runny nose, but she slept much better last night.  I am so thankful for that.  She did wake up once to "chat" a bit, but it was short-lived, oh yeah and she also woke up to ask for her "blankie".  I thought she was cold so I covered her up.  She then looked at me and said "Gracie's blankie".  Ah-ha, yes, the very one that is tucked under you, girly-girl!  :)

Gracie has a no school day, which I think will be good for her.  I think we are all ready for the weekend.

Have a great one.

Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie

Thursday, October 6, 2011

The Cold That Just Won't Go Away!

Gracie continues to be in a good mood despite her cold.  She had a fun day at daycare, even got to go to the library to pick out some new books.  When I got to daycare to pick her up she was hanging with the big girls listening to tunes on the computer.  She loves hanging with the big girls (third graders) and they are soooooo good to her. 

Gracie's nose continues to run and she sounds like a faucet with every breath she takes.  Her cough is still quite bad, although it continues to sound productive.  I just hurt for her though.  Last night we were taking a walk around the block when a coughing attack hit, she had such a hard time catching her breath and was doubled over, I was sure she was going to either faint or throw up.  I scooped her up and she got a piggyback ride the rest of the way home. 

Gracie had only one pair of shoes that fit her and we realized that after she spilled water all over them the other night that we probably should have a second pair, so Gracie and I headed to the shoe store last evening.  We were the only ones there and it is the only shoe store we go to...you can't beat Stride Rite in my book...so they know us.  She ran into the store, ran up to the counter and was so excited to see both of the sales staff.  They treated her like a queen, she loved it.  We had our punch card full - which means a free pair of shoes so we got a plain pair of black dress shoes along with a pair of colorful tennis shoes. 

Gracie slept very well last night until 1:00 a.m., then woke up and was little miss chatty.  She finally fell back to sleep at 2:30 a.m.  YAWN!  She awoke in a good mood this morning.  I hope she had a good day at school.

Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

A Good Day, Despite Her Cold

Gracie had a really good day yesterday despite her cold.  I got a note from her teacher letting me know that Gracie independently climbed up the slide at school and went down it all by herself...twice.  She said she wanted to do it more, but they ran out of time.  When I told Gracie that Ms. Linda told me she had done this, she got all excited and started clapping, so I'm pretty sure they made a big deal out of it at school too. 

Gracie also brought home a picture that she painted using apples.  It was cute and she is always so proud of her projects.  It doesn't hurt that Jeff and I ooh and aaah over them.  Gracie also had a good day at daycare and when Jeff picked her up, she wanted to go for a ride and listen to tunes with daddy. 

When I got home she was in a great mood, but wasn't very hungry.  She didn't want supper, but did help me eat my blueberry bagel.  Later she had room for applesauce and pudding.  I suspect with her cold, nothing really tastes all that great.

I love laying down with Gracie at the end of the day, as that is when she is most talkative and I get to hear things about her day.  Last night she told me "It's Tuesday".  Yes, I said in shocked surprise, it is Tuesday!  I think they go talk about what day it is at school and she remembered.  Last night she also kept yelling "I love you" to Jeff who was in another room.  I will never tire of hearing her say those words.  Her pronounciation isn't perfect, but her tone is pure sweetness.

Gracie slept a little better last night in that when she would wake up coughing, she would fall right back to sleep.  She seemed to be having a fair number of dreams or nightmares though.  At one point she let out a blood curdling scream.  I'm not sure she even totally woke up with that one.  I just assured her that mommy was there and she calmed down and continued sleeping.  The cough is still very intense and now she has some major nasal congestion too.  She seems happy though and awoke in a great mood.  The hug I got this morning was exactly why I love being a mommy.

Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie "cough-cough" girl

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Cough, Cough, Cough

Gracie has come down with another virus of some sort.  I initially thought it was the remnants of her last one, but she has a sore throat, congestion, a runny nose is starting, and the cough is just nasty.  She coughs all night long and if that doesn't keep her up, she has trouble sleeping because she can't breathe.  Last night was rough to say the least.  We slept with her sitting up on me for awhile, then we bounced, but her 53 lbs. is getting difficult for me to bounce too long.  Then we slept on the couch for awhile with her sitting on top of me, we tried different pillows, and the bottom line is we both got little sleep.  Thankfully she awoke in a good mood.  The first thing she showed me upon waking was her pretty pink fingernails.  Her daycare mom polished them yesterday (all except the thumb, since Gracie is a thumbsucker) and Gracie is soooooo proud of them.  They do look pretty. 

Gracie came home from school in her "extra set of clothes".  Not sure what happened and school doesn't either.  They said she must have sat in something.  They also said she had a good day.  When she got off the bus she looked very sad and just not herself.  She ate lunch, took a nap, was pretty quiet for awhile and then started to be happy again.  We're not sure if the cold was just getting her down or if something else happened.  Oh how I wish she could tell us. 

On the way home from daycare, I did a totally boneheaded move.  I put Gracie in her car seat and we headed down the road, all of a sudden Gracie stands up and starts coming toward the front seat.  Ahhhh yes, mommy forgot to actually buckle her in.  I said, "Oh no Gracie, did mommy forget to buckle you?"  Followed by a quick "Could you please sit down?"  Gracie was very obedient and sat right down.  She also found this terribly amusing.  So as soon as it was safe to do so, we pulled over and got her buckled.  This is a first for me. 

Gracie had a good evening.  She ate a good supper and then we went out to play for a little bit.  She loves to stand up in her play set and drive it (it has a movable steering wheel attached) and play either boat or train.  She always asks us "tickets please?".   Our neighbors down the street have a huge lighted pumpkin in their yard - she loves that.  Next door to that is a ghost on a stick, she's not as fond of that.  Or maybe she's just not fond of mommy saying "boo" when we are next to it.  Hmmmm. 

Gracie brought home from school a cute little tool box she made out of construction paper, it had a paper hammer, wrench, and paint brush in it.  She loves showing us her projects. 

It's supposed to hit 80 here today, we'll have to get outside and enjoy it this evening.

Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie

Monday, October 3, 2011

Outdoor Fun!!!

It was an absolutely beautiful Autumn weekend with colorful trees and mild temps.  We decided to take advantage of it, forget any house work or projects that needed to be done, and just enjoy it.  You'll see from Gracie's face, she had a great weekend.

We went to the pumpkin patch and picked out some pumpkins to take home, went through the corn maze, had a great time watching butterflies and grasshoppers, and just had a blast running in the open space.  At one point when in the corn maze some boys were running around (a little too closely for Gracie's comfort level as one almost knocked her down), one yelled who wants to be the corn maze monster now.  Gracie yelled "me".  Although they didn't pay any attention to her, mommy did.  So Gracie practiced saying "GRRRR" and pretending she was the monster.  It was great fun.



























On Sunday we were invited by our friend Carly to visit her family farm, complete with miniature horses, chickens, a dog, a cat, apple trees, and some wonderful people.  Gracie had a blast!  She loved feeding oats to the horses, even though in some of the pictures she looks a little tentative.  She enjoyed the chickens and the louder the noises the animals made the happier she was.  She talked about the horses and showed me how they ate out of her hand all night long.











Then Carly treated Gracie to her very first convertible ride.  I wasn't sure how Gracie would respond to it, but she absolutely loved every minute of it.  To those of you who know her well, Gracie does a sort of happy dance when she is really excited, this consists of her sort of flapping her arms and legs.  Well she was doing the happy dance!


We had a fantastic weekend!  Gracie has had some rough nights as she seems to cough all night long disrupting her sleep, but she must be getting enough rest as she is ready to go during the day.  I enjoyed all of the smiles I saw from her on the weekend.  I got alot of voluntary hugs and kisses during the weekend, I think that is another sign that she was having a great time.

Enjoy the mild week!

Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie