Black Friday in El Paso

Exhausted. Nuts. Confusion.  Three words that describe how I feel right at this moment.  I am utterly exhausted, I woke up way to early with not having as much sleep as I require :).  Nuts, now I realize I live in El Paso, I am not oblivious to the fact that all El Pasoans love to shop…which they do, especially on Black Friday.  Walmart is usually nuts on a regular day, multiply that times 100,000 and you have today.  Confusion, I don’t know if I am going to hang next year.  It is going to have to be a fantastic sale for me to get up that early! :)  However, Gracie is going to fully spoiled for her birthday and Christmas.  The “black hole” under the closet is almost filled to the max and Grandma Doris and Great Grandma Coonrod haven’t had their chance!

Well, I did take some pictures today of Gracie playing outside.  This girl loves getting her picture taken.  She just looked to cute.  She stayed home with Daddy while Mommy and Grandma Beth tackled the stores!  Enjoy your weekend.

 

Thanksgiving & It’s Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas!

Happy Thanksgiving!  We really had a great day  here.  It ended up just being the 3 of us and my mom.  She came in yesterday after having a pretty “dicey” trip to El Paso.  She missed her connecting flight on Tuesday, had to stay over night in Dallas, and then came in yesterday. 

We started off watching the Macy’s Day Parade.  Gracie loved it.  I think that we are going to have to watch it every year.  She got such a kick out of seeing Elmo, as a matter of fact, was not pleased when they moved on! ha ha!  I was busy getting everything done.  We didn’t have a huge spread but a pretty decent one.  Believe it or not, I didn’t get a whole lot of pictures of our day.  I did get some pre-dinner pictures of Gracie helping me cook.  Don’t mind the hair…we hadn’t taken the time to get cute yet! :)

Watching the parade…Gracie was mesmerized!

 

Helping Mommy with all the goodies!

The finished product!  She loved the turkey, she ate two helpings!

After lunch, Mom and I perused the Black Friday sales and got the itch to go shopping.  We tried Old Navy because the flyer said it was going to be open, they were not.  So we headed to Walmart.  We didn’t get anything really but it was nice to get out and walk off the huge lunch we had.  After we got back, we sat up the Christmas tree and had a little Christmas.  Mom was excited to give us our gifts and we had some of her gift.  Gracie loved her little music set Grandma Beth got her.  I have to say this little girl is going to be immensely spoiled.  If you remember, Grandma Doris and Great Grandma Coonrod come out next week on top of her birthday next week.  (Yes folks, she is turning two…where does the time go?)  Here are a few pictures of our first Christmas…

Gracie hanging her ornament from last year.

 

The finished product.

Gracie and her new music set.

Well, off to bed I go.  Mom and I are going to hit the sales tomorrow so we will see how much damage we do!  Hope all of your Thanksgiving’s were full of love and thanks!

Funny Stories

So I really don’t have much to say about our weekend other then it was the same thing as last weekend, which is becoming the new norm.  Quite honestly, I like it.  We have made a vow to stay home more.  This weekend we did get ready for all of our guest that are coming.  My mom comes in on Tuesday night and stays until Tuesday morning at 7 then Matt’s mom and grandma come in at 11:15 that same Tuesday.  So we will be having guests for 2 full weeks.  We are really excited. 

Even though I don’t have much to share, I do have a few funny stories and pictures to share:

We were playing out in our front yard, which we don’t do very often since we live on a busy cul-de-sac.  It’s not too busy but busy enough that we aren’t out there very long.  You can almost see the twinkle in her eye along with the look on her face that she is about to do something she knows she is not supposed to do.  In this case, it was take off across the drive way (not in the road) when she was “confined” to the rock area where she is.  She is such a stinker, but I love this picture because you can see how ornery she can be!

 

Speaking of onery, if you can’t hear her, she is usually getting into something she isn’t supposed to do.  However, in this picture she is just reading a book, which she does love.  But, you do notice that she is missing a piggy tail.  She likes to pull them out now when she is “mad” at mommy.  She has figured out how to do the little things to annoy me.  Luckily she isn’t doing it as much as she was last week.  I am hoping she “forgets” about pulling them out. :)

Little Miss Grabby Hand….that is what Gracie is.  She is now tall enough to get into the pantry and pull out snacks.  I do try to keep them out of her reach, but as you can see in this picture…that did not happen.  She pulled the marshmallows out, dumped them on the floor, brought me the empty bag with a mouth full of marshmallows, and said “Mama, good, mmmmmm.”  I laughed so hard.  You can see how full her mouth is by the puffy cheeks!

As I was picking them up, she kept shoving them in her mouth.  Trying to keep an almost 2 year old and 2 poodles who have a daily job of vacuum cleaner, away from the pile of marshmallows, was not easy…most were consumed and did not make it to the trash!

After we went and ran an errand today, we came home to have left over pizza.  Most of you parents know that anything red does not go well with white shirts.  So I took off her shirt to eat.  Well, she would not put her shirt back on so she ran around without one for most of the day.  I walked around the corner to take laundry upstairs and noticed Gracie was sport an plumber’s crack!  I thought it was too cute.  You see that she still has her baby, she was putting her nighty night on the stairs.  :)

And just because I can never resist a picture of her baby blues!

Our Smart Little Girl

We had our first Parent/Teacher Conference with Gracie’s new teacher today.  I have already mentioned before that she is absolutely flourishing in her new classroom and meeting with her teacher today totally confirmed it.  She is right on track for where she needs to be and likes to be like the big kids.  Gracie apparently is quiet at school too, which I am surprised considering Matt has a very talkative household that he walks into every night!  Here are some main highlights from her conference:

• She likes to dress up, especially when she is dressing up with other kids.
• She eats well with her spoon and is preparing to move to the big kid table when she can pour her own milk.
• She carries babies with her every where.
• She loves music and will stop what ever she is doing to dance.
• Group time is one of her favorites and that is when she comes out of her shell with talking.
• She is very delightful child.
• She is testing her limits at school (and at home!)
• She is smart and the most precious thing ever…ok, that is my assessment not the teachers!! lol

Tomorrow is finally Friday and I am looking forward to staying in this weekend. Whoo hooo!!!!  Happy Friday all!!!!!

Our Weekend In

So we have had a very uneventful weekend.  Matt’s allergies were bothering him and we think it is quickly turning into a cold.  Gracie has been a little fussy but mainly just plain ol’ silly.  Gracie spent the weekend taking advantage of her toys.  She is really enjoying playing with her dolls.  She has been carrying around two of her dolls like they are twins.  Tonight I taught her how to hold both of them “cradle” style and she loved it.  She walked around the house holding them for at least 20 minutes telling them stories and telling them nighty night.  So cute.

I really don’t have much to tell you since we spent all weekend inside which ruined my family fall picture day.  I guess I will have to try again next weekend.  Tomorrow is supposed to be really nice so I think I am going to try to take Gracie after work but we will see.  Time will tell on top of how her day at school goes.  Either way here are a couple of snap shots I took this weekend.  Have a great start of the week and remember it is our last full week before time off for Thanksgiving!

I thought this picture was sweet..although I forgot to red-eye it!

The many faces of Gracie:

I have a picture of me with this same face…she looks like me in this picture!

Still playing with her doll.  This is her favorite one!

Happy Veteran's Day

Happy Veteran’s Day to all of you that have served or are serving now.  All of you have played an important part in our nation’s history.  You just didn’t stay by and watch it happen in front of your eyes, you created it.  I am so proud to be a part of a military family.  My grandfather was a soldier in WWII, Matt’s grandfather was a soldier in the Korean War, and Matt has served in our current war in Iraq.  I am very thankful for their sacrifices so that I am able to live the life we do here in America.  Happy Veteran’s Day to you!  Remember it is more then a day off, it’s a celebration for those who had paid the ultimate price or are willing to, to make sure you are able to  keep the freedom that we have today.

Gracie always amazes me!

So today while changing Gracie’s diaper she was pointing at the flowers on her bibs.  She says to me:

“Mama, flower!”

“Yes lovey-bug, that is a flower.”

“Purple flower…”

“Wow, baby, it is a purple flower.”

She then proceeds to show me and tell me each color of flower on her bibs.  I know they are working on colors right now at school, but she is just too smart.  I love the class she is in, she is having fun and learning so much!!! 

Speaking of her bibs, I thought she looked so adorable in her bibs, I couldn’t resist a couple of pictures:

This is her shy face…believe it or not, she is shy!

She loves her Daisy!  I know…they need to go to the groomers…ahh to have the time!

 

Too cute in her bibs!  Great job Grandma Beth, they were a hit!

23 Months

Our little Gracie is one month from being 2…where did the year go!  She is quickly outgrowing her last little bits of “baby-ness” and moving into full on toddler.  I cherish each and every hug, kiss, and cuddle because I know the stage of I don’t want to be cuddled is quickly coming to an end.  At 23 months, she is being cute and silly as ever.  She has fallen in love with being tickled.  I spent 15 minutes tickling her tonight.  She kept telling me “Gin mama.”  This little girl brings a smile to my face even when I think I am having a bad day.  Between her and her daddy, there isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t smile, laugh, or give thanks to God for the family I have.  In just a few short weeks, I will have a two year old, it seems unreal.  My little love bug…just how long will you stay that way?

Another first…I got her hair in two pig tails..all of it…for the first time.  Now I am for sure I won’t get it to stay but it is getting there.  I am going to try it tomorrow and see what she looks like when I pick her up from school.  It should be interesting! :)

 

Girls Weekend

Well, it has been me and Gracie since Matt went home yesterday for Uncle Jim’s funeral (for more details click here).  I wish we could be there, I am having a really hard time not being there.  So my therapy for getting through everything is spending time with our girl.  Matt really wanted to take her but she is still battling a cough and we agreed that an airplane ride with all the germs probably wouldn’t be good for her.  So she stayed home with mommy.  We really didn’t do a whole lot.  We mainly stayed home and worked on craft projects.  I made a tutu for Gracie to wear during her birthday party.  I loved that she wore one last year, it made her stand out even more.  Honestly, she loves wearing them.  She wore one for daycare as her costume for Halloween, I had to pry it off of her when we got home.  Anyway, here is the finished product (don’t mind the laundry in the background…it was major laundry day):

 

 

I also did some major cleaning on the house.  We have family coming in just a few weeks and I always procrastinate so I refused to do it again!  Now let’s see how long that lasts considering we have a toddler in the house!  I spent so long on laundry.  I don’t think I finished the last load until 2 am…keep in mind I got side tracked but still.

 

Today we took it easy.  We spent a lot of time outside which was really nice.  I got some really cute pictures of Gracie which is always a plus.  I edited most of them which I really enjoy doing.  I feel a new hobby coming on!

 

 

 

This video is so hilarious.  I apologize in advance for the darkness but when you see something that is this cute you don’t take the time to make it perfect, you capture it while you can!  She loves to find my shoes and walk around in them.  I have to say she is getting really good about walking in heels.  Now keep in mind these shoes she has on aren’t that high but they are high enough.  I was so nervous she was going to hurt herself but she was having a blast.

 

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Well, it is another week.  I am looking forward to having a day off but I kind of wish it was on the weekend.  The fact that we get Wednesday off is driving me crazy but at least it will make it a short week.  Happy Monday!

Life is short

It’s been a hard week, we lost a dear dear friend/uncle this week to brain cancer.   Uncle Jim lost his battle with cancer at the young age of 45.  With his passing, it reminds me that God has a plan for all of us and even though we feel we have the need to be in control, we aren’t, God is.  Even though it is hard to understand why, we can take comfort in the fact that Jim is with Him now and no longer in pain.  Even though he will be missed, he will also be remembered through all the memories we have of him.  It also reminds us to enjoy the moment now and cherish those moments already gone!

 

Heather &  Jim on Father’s Day 2008

 

Jim holding Gracie for the first time Thanksgiving 2008

 

Matt & Jim Thanksgiving 2008

 

 

Midweek

I don’t think I have been looking forward to a weekend in this long.  It has been a busy week at work for both of us.  We have been having a huge inspection at work.  That is the one thing working with the government you deal with that from time to time.  Ironically enough, Matt has been dealing with inspection stuff to but in a different capacity.  This weekend, we have absolutely no plans.  I need to get some serious planning done for Gracie’s birthday party and our Children’s Christmas Party at work too.  Why I decided that I could handle 2 parties in 2 weeks on top of having family here for 2 weeks was a great idea, you got me!  But I do well under pressure so we will see.

Gracie has been Gracie…plan and simple.  She is a really silly girl and I spend a lot of my evenings being entertained by her antics.  She is really starting to put words together and trying to form sentences.  I thought she had possible outgrown her food allergy to banana’s and she has to an extent but not completely.  For the last two days we have stopped by Daddy’s office to say hi or drop a couple of things off and let me tell you, she gets so so so excited.  She screams DADDY when we start getting close.  Then she runs straight to his desk as soon as we walk through the door.  She really is a Daddy’s girl but she loves her mama too!

Well, tomorrow is Thursday which means it is only one more day until Friday…thank goodness.  I could really use this weekend at home.  I don’t have any recent pictures but I will get some this weekend and post them.  Enjoy the rest of your week and remember it is ALMOST the weekend.

Halloween, a flat tire, Toy Run, & Park!

I am not the big of a fan of Halloween.  I totally get more into the “fall” aspect of Halloween then anything else.  Although, as a kid I remember the innocence that came with Halloween, getting to dress up, see your friends, get free candy, so I thought we would try taking Gracie trick or treating…actually it was more going to our friends’ house to show off how cute she was in her kitty costume.  Which she was very cute:

Before we left to go see our friends, we decided to go to Logan’s Roadhouse for a yummy afternoon meal considering we had worked really hard on the house.  We did some rearranging of the living room so we could use our fire place.  We also moved some of her toys upstairs to make room for all of her toys we know she is going to get for her birthday.  I mean lets face it, Grandma Beth, Grandma Doris, and Great Grandma Donna are coming to visit for Thanksgiving and Gracie’s birthday so  I am sure her toy inventory is going to sky rocket.  Better make room now!

So we headed out for a fun evening of showing Gracie off.  We found out one of the places we were going to go was out of candy so we decided to go for a drive to find out where Matt had to meet up for his toy bike run today (see later post….hopefully).  Some where during our ride, we ran over something and ended up with a flat tire.  Not my idea of a fun night.  By the time Matt changed the tire, we decided Halloween was a bust and went to Walmart so we could pick up a toy for Matt’s toy run bike ride today.  Either way, we had a very cute kitty cat and that is really as much as I really get into Halloween.

Today was another “iffey" day.  I started out heading to get my tire fixed.  It is not something I want to deal with this week since I have a huge inspection at work and Matt is going to be super busy too.  Well, lo and behold, most tire places are closed on Sunday but I didn’t figure this out until I drove all over El Paso.  At least I did find one place that told me that I did need a new tire but the rim was good but they didn’t carry the same brand of tire I have on my car and they suggested to go to another place.  Guess what, they were closed!  So I am just going to deal with that tomorrow. 

Then I quickly drove down to downtown El Paso to watch Matt ride in the 27th Annual Toy Bike Run.  I swear there were at least  a 1000 bikes.  Gracie and I stood there for a good 30 minutes waiting for Daddy to go by.  Gracie kept saying bikes over and over again.  I think she was completely overwhelmed by all the bikes, then she saw her Dad.  I have no clue how she spotted him, but she did.  She went crazy, she was wiggling and squealing from excitement over seeing Daddy.  We then met him for a few minutes to grab a bite then I finally headed home. 

Matt riding along Paisano

 

Matt before the ride with his toy bear hanging out in his jacket!

 

Daddy & his favorite biker girl!

We spent the afternoon taking it easy after a stressful morning and by this time I had a headache that was hovering over a migraine.  I was supposed to go to a baby shower but had to skip it.  Not to  mention Gracie still has a really bad cough.  It is less frequent but just as bad in the strength.  I might end up taking her doctor if it does not improve in the next few days.

Then Matt wanted to take us to the park for a few minutes and Gracie had a blast.  She loves going to the park and through a major fit when we had to leave!  I was able to catch a few great pictures while we there.  I am glad we went because the fresh air did all of us good!    

We also got ice cream at Dairy Queen.  When we pull into DQ, Gracie screams at the top of her little lungs “ICE CREAM!”  The girl loves her ice cream!

Her excitement over ice cream, you can almost hear her scream it!

Yummy yummy in the tummy!

Well, after an extremely long post, I am going to bed, it is going to be crazy at work this week so I probably won’t update until the weekend.  I am sure I will have plenty to share!  Have a great week!