The World According to Grace...Chapter 12...

My parents were visiting us in Greenville & at one point during the weekend my mom & Grace were talking. My mom said, "No way, Jose!" and Grace responded, "My name's not Jose!" -4 1/2 years old

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We were at the pool one afternoon. Some boys were walking by, their ages ranging from 9 to 11. Grace hollered out, "Hey boys!" I asked her if she knew them & she said, "No, I'm just telling them hi!" -2 months shy of her 5th birthday

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We went to visit Santa at the mall on Christmas. On the way inside Grace asked if I brought Bear Rabbit (her lovey). I said no & she said, "That's okay. I needed him when I was 3, but I don't need him this year." -4 years old

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Grace to Daddy: "Hey, Daddy, I gotta tell you something... God is Jesus' nickname!" (Easter Sunday, 2009) -4 1/2 years old

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Grace was with me when I took Luke to the doctor one day. When the doctor came in the room she looked at her & said, "Luke has an ear confection." -3 1/2 years old

A Taste of Summer...

The past few days have given us a taste of summer! We LOVE summer time!! :)

The World According to Grace...Chapter 11...

One afternoon Grace kept telling me that she wanted to see her Nana & Papa. I told her that they were coming in 2 weeks to see us for Christmas. Then Darren happened to call & tell me he was on his way home from work. I decided to share the news with Grace thinking it would make her happy. Instead, she said, "No, Daddy go back work...I want Nana & Papa!" -2 years old

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Darren & I had a few words that we used even though we tried not to say them. Mine was "gosh-doggit" & Darren's was "crap". We tried our hardest to watch our mouths around our new little ears, but unfortunately weren't very successful. Grace combined the two & one day surprised us with her new word. Drum roll please... "crap-doggit"! After we suppressed our laughter we helped Grace come up with a new word..."gosh man". Thankfully, she thought it was much better than her word! Phew, we were relieved! -2 1/2 years old

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We gave the welcome one Sunday morning at our church in Greenville. We had Grace sit with us in the service so that she could be up there with us. They were singing "Nothing But the Blood of Jesus". She tried to sing along even though she didn't know the words. We watched the service on TV later in the week & she started belting out the song around the house. Her version went like this, "Nothing but the bum of Jesus." -2 1/2 years old

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Grace had just starting potty training really seriously. She went "#2" in the potty for the first time ever & she turned around to look at it. She said, "Ooh, a wee-rm (her word for worm)!" -2 1/2 years old

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Luke had just joined our family & Grace was at the hospital visiting us. She was watching closely as Darren changed one of Luke's diapers and she noticed his umbilical cord stump. She asked us why he had bacon on his tummy. She started calling it his "belly bacon". -2 months shy of her 3rd birthday

Tooth Fairy Time!

(This was actually supposed to post before the Graduation blog, but oh well!)

We have had a big week of firsts in our house!

It started off on Monday afternoon when Grace came into our bathroom pushing one of her front bottom teeth forward with her tongue trying to gross me out. She first noticed that she had a loose tooth about a week after we moved here. She was so very excited & couldn't wait for it to be ready to pull. She would ask us every day if it was ready yet. Darren & I were both nervous. You see, we both get squeamish when it comes to loose teeth. I felt certain we were going to have to compete in a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors to see who would be granted the task of pulling her tooth. On Monday afternoon I noticed it was more than ready to come out (lucky me, Darren was still at work). I explained to Grace how she could pull it using a tissue. I left the bathroom to get her "Bear Rabbit" & when I came back in she was standing there with a huge, bloody grin! She had done it herself!! I was elated (& very, very relieved)!! She was so proud of herself! We called Daddy to share the good news (I know he felt the same way I did)! I told her I was sure the Tooth Fairy would pay more since she pulled it herself (fair trade, dont'cha think?!).

That night we signed a note to the Tooth Fairy, tucked her little tooth safely inside the pocket of her tooth fairy pillow and hung it on the door of her room. We woke up the next morning to her excited little missing tooth smile & she told us that she got a note & $7.00 from the Tooth Fairy!! She was ready to go to the store right then & there!!

We did venture out to the store later that morning. She proudly showed her missing tooth smile to anyone who showed interest & she picked out a ZhuZhu pet with her money. She checked out & paid for it all by herself. I stood in the distance in awe at my little girl growing up before my eyes & said a silent prayer that she could pull the rest of her loose teeth on her own!

My Wish...

...for you is that this life becomes all that you want it to,
Your dreams stay big, your worries stay small,
You never need to carry more than you can hold,
And while you're out there gettin' where your gettin' to
I hope you know somebody loves you, and wants the same things too,
Yeah, this is my wish.



My little girl is now a proud Kindergarten Graduate! Her kindergarten class at St. James Day School in Greenville, MS held it's graduation program last night. While we weren't able to attend, her name was in the program & we had our own little party here in Beaumont last night. We talked about going back & letting her participate in it, but weren't sure that would help the moving forward process. We talked about it a few times & went with our gut feelings & decided to have a little celebration here.

She was very excited to have a day all about her! We took her out to eat...her choice was CiCi's Pizza and then we went for Icee's afterwards. Love the simplicity of it!! I found a pink, sparkly graduation hat for her to wear. She thought that was just fabulous! We gave her a little silver necklace that has a shooting star charm with the word "Dream" on it. She also got a stuffed doggy wearing a graduation cap & a hot pink light up ring that also has a graduation cap on it.

I can't believe my little girl will be in 1st grade in the fall! Time sure does fly! She is growing & changing ever day. She is a very independent, confident social butterfly. I can't wait to see all that she accomplishes as she continues to grow up. However, I long to keep her this age forever. Since I know I can't do that, I'll settle for cherishing the memories of this day in my heart & holding her hand for as long as she lets me!

Love this girl!

Silly kiddos!!

This is her shocked look...she had actually already seen her gifts, but Grace has to act it out!

She also had to have Daddy walk her in while I hummed Pomp & Circumstance!

Then I had to put her graduation cap on her!

Every girl needs a pink, sparkly graduation cap!

Her new puppy...

All her loot...

The World According to Grace...Chapter 10...

Grace came into our room early one morning to show us that she could pat her head & rub her belly at the same time. She told me later that it was okay that she came in our room even though we were still in bed since Daddy waved her in. She said, "He can make that choice, he's my dad." -5 years old

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I picked Grace up from school one day & Luke was in the backseat in a really good mood. She told me, "The Lord put him in a good mood...the Lord's Spirit." -4 years old

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Last May was Grace's first dance recital. She was so very excited to take the stage. Her class did such a great job on their first dance. Grace was towards the end of the line & as they were leaving the stage after their dance she turned to the audience & blew a big ol' kiss to everyone. We were so shocked! The audience erupted in laughter & we couldn't help but beam with pride (hello, we aren't the least bit shy!!). On the way home we asked her why she decided to blow a kiss to the audience. She said, "I don't know, I just wanted to do something different!" -4 1/2 years old

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A convo between Grace & me:

Grace: "Princesses are for 4 & 5 year olds."

Me: "Oh really, what's for older kids?"

Grace: "Rockstars."

-5 1/2 years old

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On a recent visit to Nana & Papa's house in Victoria, Grace was eating lunch at Texas Drive Inn with Daddy, Luke & Papa. She was drinking root beer & Daddy told her that I always drank root beer when she was in my tummy & that's probably why she likes it so much now. She looked at him with a confused look & asked, "So, when I was in Mommy's tummy did the food get all over my face & body?" -5 1/2 years old

The World According to Grace...Chapter 9...

Probably one of my fav Grace stories:

Grace got the stomach bug. When she was starting to feel better I told her, "I'm glad you're feeling better." She said, "I don't feel better, I feel achy." I asked her what she meant by achy. She told me, "You know, when you don't feel straight up like a real woman." Needless to say it was difficult to keep a straight face!! -5 years old

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Before Grace headed off to Kindergarten each morning we did the "kissing hand". I would kiss the palms of her hand & she would do the same to mine (we got this idea from the children's book Kissing Hand). Once she was in the car with Darren on the way to school she was trying to get in her backpack but couldn't because she was squeezing her hands to protect my kisses. Darren asked her what she was doing so she told him & she explained it was hard because of "this dadgum kissing hand." He told her to hand him the kiss while she dug in her backpack & she looked at him and said, "get your own!" -5 years old

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Grace has a bad reaction to mosquito bites so we were checking with her to see if she needed medicine on them before she went to bed. She told us, "No, I'm gonna let God heal them." -2 months shy of her 5th birthday

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Grace asked me why Luke was always copying her. I told her it was because he thought she was cool. Without missing a beat she told me, "No, he doesn't...girls aren't cool, they are fabulous!" Oh, my bad! -2 months shy of her 5th birthday

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After doing our nightly Bible study one night we were asking Grace what the story was about. She told us that the snake didn't tell Adam & Eve they couldn't eat the apple...he just told them they couldn't eat it before they washed their hands! -2 months shy of her 5th birthday

Berry Pickin' Fun!

On Saturday evening Pops took the kids to pick berries along Pitts Road near their house. There were a ton of berries to pick & I'm not sure who was more excited, Pops or the kids! :) Unfortunately, the berry pickin' didn't go as planned & they only came home with about half a dozen berries! We didn't come prepared to pick berries so the kids were just in the shoes we brought (flip flops & Crocs) & it wasn't long before Grace began to complain about the grass itching her! Then a nearby train let out a big "choo-chooooooo" & both kids freaked out & were ready to go home! So, their first time berry pickin' wasn't a great one, but at least they got to taste a berry right off the vine! Next time we'll just head to the nearest HEB! :)

Luke picked a berry no matter its color!

The berries we ended up with!

The kids were excited to get back to Meme & Pops' house because their cousin, Bryson, was there to play! Bryson just turned a year old & both kids LOVE him! We've only gotten to be around him a few times, but now that we live closer, hopefully we'll be able to see him more often.

Something's "Fishy" Around Here...

We spent the weekend visiting Darren's parents in Richmond, TX. We decided to take the kids to the Downtown Aquarium in Houston. It was a fun experience for all! They had many different aquariums that featured different species of fish & other wildlife. We saw an octopus, moray & electric eel, red-bellied piranhas, a nurse shark just to name a few. They had the aquariums separated into different areas according to where the fish are found...like the Louisiana Swamp, the Gulf of Mexico, a rainforest, a shipwreck, & a sunken temple. It was really cool! They also had a white tiger exhibit...this was Luke's favorite!! They were huge & so very pretty.

After we checked out all the fish & different creatures we headed outside to ride the Shark Voyage train. It took us through the center of a 200,000 gallon shark tank...talk about an up close & personal look! We saw more nurse sharks, sand tiger sharks, white & black tip sharks, & a sawfish!

Next we loaded up on the Diving Bell ferris wheel. This was not only the Grace & Luke's first time on a ferris wheel, but mine as well! I was very excited!! You could see the downtown Houston skyline, which was a cool sight. After that the kids rode the Aquatic Carousel. Luke rode an alligator & Grace rode a dolphin.

We ended our exciting day by eating in the Aquarium Restaurant. They have a 150,000 gallon aquarium full of different species of fish. Needless to say, we had a fun-filled day!!


*P.S. I forgot my camera...ugh!!! Thankfully I had my iPhone with me & used it to snap a few photos of our adventures! Also, you will note our silly statue pics below...that is a family tradition! :)*

Kids by the fountain...waiting on Daddy to get our tickets!

Me playing the role of Steve Erwin..."Looky, here...we've got a male white tiger. Isn't she a beaut?!" (in my best Australian accent of course!)

Family Photo! *Note Luke's tiger face...it should invoke fear in you!*




Darren: "Hhmmm, should we got this way or that way?!"

Me: "Gosh, is it lunchtime already?"

Our first time to ride the Ferris Wheel!

The downtown Houston skyline (well, part of it) from the top of the Ferris Wheel!

On the Aquatic Carousel!

The kids hanging with "Sharkey" before we left!