17 Months

I love one-year-olds!!! I love that they learn something new everyday. I love watching them figure out the world. I love hearing them laugh and babble. I love how they are gaining independence. It is definitely a favorite age for me. Here is what I love about Gracyn right now.~She is picking up words at a rapid pace. She is very verbal and will try to say most any word you tell her. About 1/2 of them come out understandable. My favorite right now is "In dere!". If you ask her where anything is, she will point to its direction and tell you "In dere!". This morning, when the dog had gone downstairs she even said, "Down dere". Love it!!!

~She loves Daddy, probably the most of any of the girls at this age. They are all Mamma's girls, but Gracyn likes to hang with him. All day long, while he is working if we hear a sound she will say with question, "Daddy?". She also points anytime she sees something of his and says, "Daddy".

~She calls Addison "Sissy Addie". I don't particularly like for Addison to be called Addie, but I don't mind it from Gracyn (or her Grandpa, who has almost always called her that). She calls Reagan "Sissy Rea-Rea". We didn't give her either of these names, that is just how they come out.

~Her current most prized possession is the Yogi Bear tattoo she got on her arm from our camping trip. She holds her arm out and says "YoYo" to anyone who will take interest. Addison tries to teach her words and wanting to shorten "Tattoo", she keeps telling her "Show me your Tat!". Nice. Today, I asked Gracyn if she was all done with her tattoo, and if she was ready to wash it off. She grinned really big, shouted no at me and ran away. I guess she is keeping it for awhile.

~She sleeps through the night about 1/2 the time now. However, she gets up at 5:45 or 6:00am everyday. It is making me crazy. She used to be my late sleeper, and the big girls got up early. Now she is up and they are sleeping in. I am sure it is a conspiracy they have, in an attempt to make me a morning person.

~Gracyn loves to dance, play with babies, build puzzles and read books.

~She is still nursing. We were down to 2 or 3 times a day, but camping, and my nursing her a ton in an attempt to get her to sleep, set us way back. I would like to be done by her 18 month birthday. She only nurses on one side, and if you have nursed a baby, you know, that creates a little bit of asymmetry for the mama!

~She will only let us carry her on the right hip. What is it with her and right sides? If we switch her to the left, she screams and tells us no.

~Gracyn usually hangs out on my bathroom counter while I get ready in the morning. I have a built in vanity. I sit on the bench and she sits on the countertop. She plays happily there, until I pull-out the blow-dryer. She hates loud noises, including the hair-dryer. As soon as she sees me pull it from the drawer, she nods her head up and down and tells me "Sissy". I put her down and she runs off to find the big girls. She always stays with them until I turn it off.

Love watching her grow! Love this time where she is a little bit baby and a little bit big girl. Love seeing her personality develop. I am one blessed Mommy.

Jellystone

Last weekend, we set out for our first ever Guess Family Camping Adventure! I had been doing some research on the Jellystone Campgrounds in Estes Park. Several other neighbors and friends wanted to go, so off we went. I wasn't quite ready (and probably will never be) to camp in a tent with my crew, so we rented a cabin. It was perfect. Just a small room with 2 sets of bunk-beds, a small fridge and a bathroom. Thankfully 2 of the couples we went with are veteran campers, so they guided us through meal planning and the ins and outs of camping. It turned out to be a great weekend. Perfect weather, tons of activities for the kids, great meals, and fun by the campfire each night.

Yogi Bear comes out every morning to raise the flag, greet the kids and start the day.

Reagan won "Candy-Bar-Bingo"! She was so proud and she had a whole loot of candy. Don't tell her, but her Daddy ate most of her winnings throughout the course of the weekend!
Addison LOVED hiking!

The whole crew hiked up the mountain behind our cabin several times. The girls were great at it. We saw tons of chipmunks and bunnies, and thankfully no bears or snakes. The chipmunks quickly learned that hanging around our cabin was the place to be. The kids kept them well fed.

Gracyn was a champ. She did great.

Our neighbor had been to Jellystone with her family the week before we all booked. She scooped out the best cabin for us. We were the only ones with this huge deck and such a big private space behind us.

There were lots of fun times on the playground.

Here are 8 of the 11 little girls that made up our group.

My kids were FILTHY!!! They played in serious amounts of dirt. In this picture Gracyn put her head on the metal cage that goes over the campfire. She got plenty of soot from the night before!

Did I mention they were dirty. Those clothes that Reagan has on went directly to the trash.

If you have been reading long, you are familiar with my children's fearlessness and love of climbing. There was a huge boulder behind our cabin that was probably 12 feet tall. All the girls climbed all over it all weekend. I looked up once and saw Reagan swinging from a tree, at least 13 feet high. She launch herself off of the rock and on to a tree limb and was swinging from it. I quickly took a picture and then told her NO MORE!!!

The whole crew at night. 8 adults and 11 little girls. Time for Smores and Jiffy Pop over the fire!

Gracyn DID NOT sleep well throughout the trip. I believe this picture was taken around 9:30 at night, when I took her in and attempted to put her to bed. She was WILD. She loved grabbing the rungs from the top bunk and swinging from them....it seems she has learned a thing or two from her big sisters. She was also launching her body across the bed and doing full forward rolls, pretty impressive for 17 months!

Sunday morning we got cleaned-up (sort off) and headed in to the town of Estes Park. We had a great lunch, several desserts and toured the town. Here are Mackenzie and Reagan waiting on some Bluebell Ice-Cream. That is a rare find out of Texas, but there is a little shop in Estes that carries it.

Our first trip was a big success and I think we will do it again next year. Not too often though, camping is fun but lots and lots of work!!!

Aloha!

My super-creative neighbor Lyndi and her kindergarten-teacher-extraordinaire mom Miss Marmie hosted their annual end of summer bash for all the kids. This year they had a luau for the kids and their American Girl Dolls. The two boys present, brought stuffed animals....I think even at the ages of 2 and 4 they are taken back by all the girls. The party was such fun for the kids. Here are my favs!!!

*Aloha Bingo

*Ring Toss

*Hula Dancing on the back porch

*The Limbo

*Fabulous blue-jello ocean desserts

*Blue Hawaiian cocktail drinks for the Mommy's

*Yummy Hibiscus cupcakes

*Goodies to take home

*Storytime with Marmie

Thanks again Mackenzie, Presley and Miss Lyndi, we loved it!!!

First Day Cuteness

Reagan is off to school! I took her at noon today and she was a champ!!! I guess after two years of drop-offs and pick-ups at the campus for her big sister, she knew just what to do. She was so proud carrying her back-pack and her homework from her teacher! She decorated a large piece of construction paper with our family picture and her artwork, which will be laminated and used for her snack-mat all year! We hung around for a few minutes, but she didn't' need us to. She got busy right away, exploring and playing with things around the room. I pray that she has a great year, that she learns more about Jesus, that she makes new friends, and that her first experience with school is a positive one!

Eating my Words

Look who is riding the bus! Not a great picture (my child dropped my camera and cracked the lens), but it is all I have from her first bus ride. Addison was relentless!!! She begged, and begged and begged some more. Everyday she asked if and when she could ride the bus. Her friends were on it, and she wanted to be too.

So, after 4 days of the begging, and me driving in circles from drop-off and pick-up only 3 hours apart, I began to cave. Add to the circular driving, that they don't let kindies go through the carpool lane and I have to park and take everyone out, and I gave in completely. Especially since Gracyn wasn't getting much naptime with our shuttling and for some reason Reagan despises going up there.

I still take Addison at drop-off, but she happily rides the bus with all her friends in the afternoon. 3 of them are so cute, snuggled up in one seat together. She is thrilled and it buys Gracyn more sleep time and me some extra play-time with Reagan. It is a win-win situation, even if, thanks to our districts "budget crisis" is is costing me 50 cents a ride. We call it the big, yellow taxi!

Our funny bus story, thus far, happened last Friday. Reagan and I, along with the entire neighborhood were waiting at the corner for the bus to arrive. Along comes a large group of boys, running, for the neighboring high schools cross country team. One of the guys spots another group ahead, beating them, and loudly shouts, "Oh Sh*t!". Reagan never missed a beat, she shouted, "He said, Oh Sh*t!" equally as loud. I quickly told her that was not a word we use, while shouting at the boy, "Thanks alot!". He was so embarrassed/apologetic/scared-I-was- going-to-call-his-coach all at once. I couldn't help but forgive him, especially since they promised it would never happen again....and by the look on his face, it won't. There is a high probability, however, that Reagan will try out that word again, sometime when I am least expecting it!

Reagan's Meet the Teacher

Reagan starts the 3 year old class at Cherry Hills Christian Preschool on Wednesday. Yesterday she met her teachers, Mrs. Shelby and Mrs. Weisler. She marched right in and knew exactly where to go, since her friend Ava had the same room and teacher last year. She explored the room and colored an apple for her teacher. Then, we came home and worked on a little art project Mrs. Shelby had assigned. Reagan is so ready to start tomorrow! She is such a big girl and I am excited for her school adventures to begin.

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo

During my parents visit, we took my Dad up to Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado, Springs. It is a great zoo. Small, hands-on and on the side of a mountain. The scenery is beautiful, and pushing a stroller up and down those hills is a great work-out. I dressed us for summer, since it was August, but it was cloudy and 60 degrees when we got there. It was pretty chilly, we even had hot chocolate! Thankfully it warmed a few degrees throughout the morning and turned out to be a beautiful day.

Here is Gracyn feeding the giraffes at the entrance. She loved being so close.

The girls got to pet a baby kangaroo. They feed birds, too, but I didn't have my camera with me then.

Love that mountain background!

The girls love the "My Big Backyard" section. There are bunnies, fish, chickens and goats, that the kids can pet and play with.

The girls rode the carousel. Gracyn and her Daddy have matching big, blue-eyes. She was teary here, because she wanted to ride so bad, she didn't understand waiting in line. She just cried and cried and keep saying, "Ride!".

Melting Down

Poor Gracyn, afternoon kindergarten has been a rough adjustment for her. You see, she used to be my late sleeper, not waking until around 7:30, but she chose the week Addison started kindergarten to start rising with her early morning sisters by 6:30am every morning. Since she is up with the sun, by around noon, she is really ready for a nap. However, that doesn't work for us right now. We have to leave the house around 12:45 to drop Addison at school, so Gracyn can't go to sleep until 1:15ish when we get home. It hasn't been an easy adjustment for her, and starting around 11am, she looks like this alot of the time. She is just pretty unhappy with the world until she finally gets to bed.

There have been a few days when she falls asleep in the car, gets a 20 minute cat-nap, and then refuses to sleep anymore. On those days, I am the one in tear-full, melt-down mode. Good thing she's not big enough to take my picture!

1st Sleepover

Miss Debra had a hotel near the horseshow grounds during their stay here. She went back and forth between our house and the hotel throughout the week.

Addison, who is having an independent streak and wanting to do anything she can on her own, had planned for weeks to have a sleepover there. Reagan went back and forth, but in the end, she was not to be left out. So, one night, my Dad, Deb and both big girls stayed at the hotel for a slumber party. They were so cute with their backpacks all packed up and their Pillow Pets. Tommy and I didn't leave the hotel until 9pm and we were back by 8:30am the next day, but they loved their stay.

Addison spent 2 nights at her Grandma and Grandpa's house when she was 1. But that is it for stays away from home. We had one quick night at a nearby hotel while Tommy's parents were here a few years ago and one quick night this summer while my sister stayed here with the kids. But, that is all we have ever left them....its just not something you do much when family doesn't live in town. All went well, despite nerves (mine) and they made it just fine....they barely even said good-bye. They all did so good, perhaps I see a beach getaway in Mommy and Daddy's nearby future?

Gifted

That is my dad. He has a gift. He can fall asleep anytime, anywhere, regardless of the noise or commotion around him. This was the first morning they were here and the girls had taken him upstairs to see their room. Next thing I know, he is in the bunkbed snoring. Reagan put a sticker on his lips, but he slept through it. I think he had a 20 minute nap that day. If you have been in my house and heard the noise level, you realize what a talent this really is.