Gracidotes

Modeling the bracelet and necklace she made. The kit was a Christmas present from her cousins, Ashton and Hunter.

Grace's DNA dipped heavily into both of her Grandmothers' gene pools. Somehow, I ended up being the most uncrafty person I know. Fortunately, Grace has much more artistic inclinations. She loves a project and is so happy when she is busy creating something. While Grant is napping, I get a project or some art supplies out for Gracie to play with. Lately she is most fond of her water color set and her scissors. She will sit in one place and cut out her pictures until her hands hurt from the work.

Trifecta of joy: coloring, singing, Minnie hat

One of the many perks of having Fall babies is that they always have a doctor's appointment around flu season. I never have to make separate arrangements or trips for them to get flu shots. I started prepping Grace for her flu shot a little while before Grant's 1 year appointment. We talked about how shots hurt at first, but that the hurt doesn't last very long. She was very attentive during Grant's round of immunizations. A couple of weeks later, I took her in for her birthday appointment. I reminded her that she would be getting a shot. "That's OK, Mom. It will hurt for a minute but then I'll feel better. I might cry a little bit." I assured her that it was fine to cry a bit and gave her a high five. Her appointment went quickly, and then it was time for the shot. The doctor told me that they could also offer the immunization that is a puff up the nose. Gracie interrupted our discussion about it to inform the doctor that she was going to be brave and that she wanted the shot. He looked at me, eyebrows raised. I told Grace that she could get her medicine in her nose, where it wouldn't hurt very much, or that she could get it in her leg where it might hurt more. She insisted on getting the shot. I looked at the doctor. He shrugged his shoulders. Grace cheerfully got up on the table and laid down when the nurse came in. She cried a little after the shot, but quickly recovered. She even gave the nurse a hug and a "Thank you!" on the way out. 

It is good to be Brewster

Brewster is not only the current bedfellow of choice, but he is the golden boy of all her toy things. She dotes on him. After they get out of bed in the morning, she carefully wraps him in her babas, tucks him into a basket, and then places the basket into a box with a handle for safe transport. He is toted around all day long, mentioned in every prayer, fed imaginary bites of nearly every meal, given rides in the stroller, and rocked whenever there is music playing.

 A mouse in the house

I'm 99% sure that Grace is responsible for this. My husband is crazy for gourmet cheeses. This is a large block of Swiss Havarti Dill he chose during our last trip to Sam's Club. There is a slight chance that Cori took these bites. It wouldn't be the first time. But Grace can reach the meat and cheese drawer now. And those bites are a dainty Gracie size. I'm pretty sure it was her.

And then for your viewing pleasure:

Current Bedfellows

The kids are on a pretty good schedule these days. Our bed time routine goes through seasons of adjustments, but at the moment, we've got something that works. An integral part of this routine is the presence of certain bedfellows. 

Gracie's set up is still a bit involved. She sleeps with two babas (burp rags), Brewster the Sharpe puppy and a little happy meal poodle toy she has named Pauly. The babas must be spread perfectly across her pillow. There cannot be any wrinkles. And Brewster and Pauly get tucked in very carefully. If it isn't too late we read from a book. Lately we have been reading "chapters" from her Beatrix Potter book. Then its bedroom lights off and hall light on and she is off to La La Land. If she gets up in the middle of the night, something that happens at least every other night, the whole entourage is packed into our room. We then pack it all back to her bed and get her settled in again. We've been working hard on eliminating her 2 AM visits. She has done really well this week. Last night I woke up to her crying. She was standing in her bathroom, half asleep, doing her potty dance and struggling to get her pjs down. As I was helping her back into her bed she said, "I tried to do it all by myself." Sweet buggy.
Usually Cori and I are able to tag team bedtime. We do pjs, toothbrushes, and prayers all together. Then the kids fight over who gets to have Daddy put them in bed. Cori takes the winner, I appease the loser and by 7:30-8:00 Cori and I are enjoying some time to ourselves. Grant is pretty easy to please. His favorite bedtime book right now is a big "My First Words" book. He has two favorite picture spreads that he fast-forwards to. One shows all kinds of trucks, cars, trains, tractors, trains and airplanes. The other shows all kinds of animals. He points at different pictures and makes different noises. After reading, we turn out his light and try to have some cuddle time. We grab his blanket, and his favorite bedtime buddie- a yellow Chevron car. If we somehow forget to grab the car, he reminds us by saying "guck, guck, guck, guck" (truck) relentlessly until it is in his hands. Then we sit in the rocking chair and try to sing to him. I must emphasize the word try because our efforts are usually interrupted by Grant poking his finger into our eyes and laughing hysterically about it. He loves poking eyes. It is very annoying. Once my eyes have had enough I plop him into bed and he is set for the night. Grant rarely wakes up during the night.  

Conspicuous by his absence from this post so far is our beloved Mr. B. He was Gracie's best friend of all time up until about 8 months ago. He currently resides in Grant's room, patiently waiting for the tides of interest to change again. 

Groovy

Like all little kids, these two love music and dancing. I record little ditties on our piano for the kids to play back and dance to. Grant really likes to get into it. He taps his foot, runs in circles, and has this great Stevie Wonder thing he does with his head. 

Blessings

A Warm Day The temperatures climbed to 32* on Thursday. I took the kids out for a while to get some sunshine. We took a walk around the block, me with Grant in a stroller and Grace with her bunny rabbit in a dolly stroller. Unfortunately I managed to lock us out of the house-- it was actually kind of Grant's fault-- but that gave us a great excuse to hang out at our next door neighbor's house for a while. 

Medical Science without which I would have been child bearing toast a long time ago. Most recently we learned that my previous miscarried pregnancy was dangerously abnormal, as was my recovery from the D&C. I'm so grateful I found a new great new doctor here so quickly. After a couple weeks of tests and another procedure (which was performed in clinic-- very uncomfortable, but better and cheaper than spending a whole day doing an out-patient procedure at the hospital), my body is responding normally. We're not completely out of the woods yet, but we'll know in the next week or so. We are optimistic that things are going back to normal. In the meantime, I've officially and statistically become one in a million. I can't deny Heavenly Father's hand in this statistic either. My blood tests strongly suggested that we were facing one of two complicated situations- the words "anti-cancer treatments" and "chemo- therapy" came up in that conversation. The problem that was actually found ended up being something that made no sense but was more easily treated. My doctor asked me more than once if we were from Mars. I guess it was a quite strange but in a way, quite miraculous. 

The greater religious community of Northern Nevada who, we recently learned, were praying for our family last week. When I called my mom to explain the medical situation we were finding ourselves in, she immediately began packing a suitcase and clearing her schedule. She was talking with her trainer- also a good family friend- about why she was planning on coming our way, and this sweet woman put us on the prayer list at the Catholic church. Soon after, the other ladies my mom works out with learned and before the end of day our family was also on prayer lists at the Methodist and Presbyterian churches in town. The world is full of so many wonderful people. We were really touched and felt the strength of every one's prayers.

walls and floors

In stark contrast to how things worked out in our Petoskey house, we decided to have some small renovation projects completed prior to our move in. The plan came off without a hitch-almost. 

Most of the work was on the main floor. The dining room was painted a deep coral color and had white pile carpeting. The kitchen, laundry room, half bath and breakfast nook were floored in the linoleum pictured above. The family room and living room were carpeted in this pinkish taupe colored stuff. Most of the spaces had a very rosie feeling to them. And some of the carpet had grease stains from the lazy boys and reclining couches that had existed for years in the same places. 

We decided to repaint the dining room a deep khaki green. And we had almost all the flooring replaced on the main floor. We put laminate flooring in the living room, and in the large space that flows from the dining room, back through a hallway that includes the half bath and laundry/garage entry area, the kitchen and the breakfast nook. Then we replaced the rosie taupe carpeting in the family room with a more neutral shade.

One of the qualifying conditions for the flooring company we chose was their availability to complete the project before our move in date- Monday Dec. 29. We got into town very late on the 28th. Around 11:30 PM or so, Cori and I left Aunt Sara with the kids at the hotel and went over to our new house to check on the progress. The flooring was definitely not finished. The picture above of the kitchen was taken that Monday morning. Had we known earlier we could have arranged some different plans with the driver of the moving truck, but it was too late. The house was VERY full that Monday. There were two or three guys working on the floors, three moving guys filling the available floor space with furniture and boxes, and then after we had to check out of the hotel, three more adults and two little kiddos who needed to help with everything. 

Things got really interesting when the city came and turned our water on. The flooring guys had not shut off the water at the toilet, and once the house water was turned on we had a veritable geyser gushing a flood of water all over the new floor and down into our basement bathroom. This resulted in another week of minor work before the floors were completed. Everything worked out in the end. And I didn't have to move any heavy furniture. 

A little peek. Left-Cori standing in the doorway that separates the living and family rooms. There are french doors that hang there. Right- the dining room.

We also had the guest room and the master room repainted. The painter got things a little mixed up with our colors in the master suite, but other than that she did a great job. To give you a taste of the bold colors the family before us preferred, take a gander at the walls in the kids' rooms.

We didn't paint over these creations. Not because we are especially fond of them, nor because we would do anything remotely similar if given the chance. But Gracie is enthralled with her flower and butterfly room. She just loves it. She really loves the fishy room too. They are fun for now.

I am almost done hanging and organizing things on the main floor and will give a more formal tour soon. 

making an honest woman of me

We finally have our own legitimate internet connection. Don't ask me how I've managed some time on line in the last few weeks we've lived here- and I won't have to lie to you or incriminate myself somehow. I was desperate, Okay? 

Right now I'm busy playing with our new computer. But tomorrow... let the regular posting begin!

Baby its cold outside

The temperature outside at 7:30 AM

-18*

The predicted high for the day

-3*

Why I'm not packing up and moving West this very instant

Blue skies and Sunshine

Not that I plan on spending any time outside. The sunshine just makes the lows of winter more tolerable.