Little Gracie

I took Gracie to the doctor today for her 12 month well baby check (she is actually almost 13 months) and found out she only weighs 18 lbs. 13 oz. She has only gained .4 oz. in the last 3 months. We have to move her back into the backward facing carseat and she will not be happy about it. She is in the 11% for weight. So CRAZY!!

Pumpkins + Knife = Jack-O-Lanterns

We finally got around to carving the pumpkins. My dad gave us the pumpkins from his garden several weeks ago and they are finally with faces on our porch. The boys (and Gracie) had a great time. Benjamin was excited to "get out all the gunk" until it was actually time to do it so I got all the guts out of each pumpkin after Taun cut the tops off. Benjamin wanted his to be eerie (What does that mean, Mommy?) and Alex wanted his to look like him. Gracie just had a great time watching everything going on.



Taun carved Benjamin's pumpkin.



I carved Alex's pumpkin with his direction.



Gracie even got in on some of the fun.



The kids with their jack-o-lanterns.


Here are the finished Jack-o-lanterns on the porch.

Gracie is ONE!!

This is Gracie and her "twin" cousin, Caleb. They were born on the same day. Aren't they the cutest "twins" ever??




She got lots of great presents from everyone which included: toy cars, clothes, stuffed animals, toys with lights, and a doll stroller that is also a walker. Maybe whe will learn how to walk soon. (Let's hope not!)



Gracie wanted NOTHING to do with her cake. She did not want to touch it or eat it. It was kind of funny. Needless to say I did not have to clean up much.

Just the other day we took advantage of one of the warmer days and we went to the park. There is a park about two blocks from our house so we walked over there and had a great time playing. The kids played on the swings, the slides, the monkey bars and there is a little rock wall that they climbed. We love the warm fall days and know they are soon to be replaced with the cold winter days. It was fun!

"Fishing"

We went "fishing" with my family for family night a few weeks ago. We had a great time even though no one caught a fish until the very end. My nephew, Taylor caught a fish about a half hour before we had planned on leaving. He was so nice, he let Benjamin reel it in.

Look at these Kids!

I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father who has blessed me with these 3 beautiful spirits. Some days are challenging but I am blessed each day because of them.





Benjamin is 5 and he is so HELPFUL!






Alex is 3 and he is SILLY!






Gracie is already 11 months old! Time FLIES!!

5 new posts!

Please check out all 5 new posts. We have been busy and now we are sharing with you what we have been up to.

Gracie can CRAWL...FORWARD!... FINALLY!!

Gracie has been moving around for quite awhile but she has only going backwards. She seemed to be content with that until last Thurs. or Fri. she began crawling forward and now she can really move. She goes everywhere and she loves it. She is such a joy and I can't believe she is almost 1!

Short Stuff Preschool is now in session!

As many of you know, I have started teaching preschool from my home. We started on Sept. 7 and so far (3 days) it is going great. I have 5 kids in each class (that includes my own 2 boys) My neighbor is kind enough to watch Gracie for me during the 3 year old class. I am hoping that Gracie will nap during the majority of the 4 year old class but if not she will just play and so far the kids have been able to ignore her for the most part. I have some cute kids enrolled and I hope they enjoy coming to "Short Stuff Preschool"

Thanks to my mom, my sister, and Taun, I was ready to start school on time. My mom and sister cut all the cute vinyl for me and then my mom came for a few days and helped me put the finishing touches on the walls. I think it turned out so cute. It is a great space, even though we had to move our family room. We tore down a wall in the basement to make a bigger room for the family room and it looks great. Thanks to my dad for all his work and to my brother for laying the carpet. we were finally able to cover the wall that said "I hate my mom and bad." Someone must have been really mad.

Benjamin Riding Bike

This summer, my brother Todd, taught Benjamin how to ride his bike without training wheels. He loves to ride his bike now and will not ride it unless he has his helmet and pads on. What a good little boy!

Tabiona 2010

The kids and I went with my family to Tabiona for the annual Newell Reunion. We always have a blast up there and this year was no different. The kids were able to ride their bikes all over camp and go fishing. This year we even played in the river. It was freezing water but the kids sure enjoyed being in the water.




Gracie spent alot of the time either in the pack-n-play or in the exersaucer. She loved being able to be outside all day.




Grandpa enjoyed watching the kids play in the water.




Gracie and Grandma stayed as far away from the water as they could but close enough to see the kids playing.





Alex LOVED the water...it was hard to keep him out of it.








Benjamin loved being in the freezing cold river water...as long as he could stay on his feet!





We had a great time celebrating my niece Mikaela's Birthday while we were there. The kids all made a birthday crown and some of them were happier about it than others.