Snow 2010

Well, it finally happened…we got snow in El Paso.  Now it’s just a dusting but it is still snow!  I know it will be gone as soon as the sun is up in the morning so we decided to go out for just a few minutes tonight. 

Do you see Daisy?

Come to find out Harley thinks snow is YUMMY!

Yes, Gracie is outside in capri leggings, crocs, and a winter coat.  You just don’t argue with a 3 year old on some things!

Daisy and Harley playing…I had to take pictures of a least the fur babies considering Gracie was not about to step one millimeter into the snow.  She wouldn’t even touch it!

And just because Daisy is such a pretty puppy.

So what do you do on a cold night?  Eat chili and have chili dogs.  I am still surprised Gracie loves chili but she does!  Here are a few more pictures of Gracie being silly.

Partners in Crime

This is true.  I have told you that Harley and Gracie are pretty much inseparable right?  Well, we have a new development.  Harley and Daisy are now Gracie’s “puppy sisters.”  She looked at me today and we had this conversation:

Gracie: “Momma, she is my sister.” (pointing to Harley in my arms)

Me:  “Well, she is a puppy.”

Gracie: “Yeah, she is my puppy sister!”

I about died laughing.  This is one of the many things Gracie does on a daily basis that has Matt and I rolling on the floor.  Another example is her belting her favorite songs in the car.  A few other things:

Veggie Tales is “Piggy Tails”

Why Gracie? Her response “Cause, I have to.”

“Are you serious?”

“You’ve got to be kidding me!”

“No no (fill in the blank), not nice. No ma’am. You know better.”

I could go on and on and on, but I will spare you.  I am going to try to have a conversation with her and record it, but she has been all about taking pictures and not talking into anything electronic.  Trying to get her to wish Grandma Doris Happy Birthday was like trying to pull teeth, we got it accomplished but not without some work to it!

Well, it is only 2 more days to this week and I am looking forward to the weekend.  I should get some shut eye so I can mark tomorrow off as one day closer to the weekend!

Our Quiet Christmas

I love everything about Christmas.  The music, the lights, the yummy goodies, the closeness of family, etc.  Seriously, I could go on and on.  This year we knew would be a whirlwind since Matt was graduating his school the week prior to Christmas.  (Seriously, was it just last weekend that we were driving across the country?)  But yesterday and today, we just took it easy and did things as a family.  The only downer of the last two days was that we all were affected by something, I had a migraine yesterday and a headache today, and both Gracie and Matt woke up with a bug today.  You will be able to see in the pictures Gracie was just not feeling good.  The good thing is that we all are feeling better.  Gracie is already in bed since she decided to not take a nap today.  Either way, it was nice to spend the day just the three of us.  We did miss our family back at home, we tend to get a little homesick during the holidays.

Christmas Eve was beautiful.  We bake some cookies and spent the day going to the movies (we HAD to take Daddy to see Tangled, it was a must according to Gracie), having lunch, and looking at Christmas lights.  There is a house that puts on a light show over the weekend during the holiday’s.  It was beautiful.  Gracie was more interested in Santa Claus then anything else.  They must have talked about Santa a lot at school because we have been so busy to really talk Christmas let alone Santa.  She has been all about it though, so cute!  We even had to leave out cookies and a letter for him when he came to drop her “things.”  She was so excited to see them, poor thing, I wish she would have been feeling better when she woke up.

 

This was the temp on the way to lunch and a movie.  Most of you had a white Christmas and here we are with out jackets,well at least until the sun goes down! 

Gracie is so glad to have her Daddy home!  She is quite the Daddy’s girl!

Gracie got to open one gift before we went to bed.  She loved her jama jama’s!

Then it was to bed for a special little girl.  We actually fell asleep downstairs on the couch, but we soon took her upstairs so we could get everything ready for the morning.  When we went to bed, all of us felt fine.  When we woke up, I had a headache, Gracie was just not feeling good, and Matt had a bug.  We all tried to get up around 7 but Gracie decided to sleep until 8:30.  Finally it was time to open gifts.  As you will be able to tell, Gracie was just not feeling great…

We got her this $6 princess camera and it was her favorite toy.  She took so many pictures today it wasn’t funny.  Every time I tried to take a picture, she had her camera up too.  The funniest part was when she had us posing by her artwork!

All her loot!

           

Harley and Daisy even got to enjoy a special snack today!

Matt wanted to get her this Elmo game for the Wii and she had a blast with it.  It helps you learn letters and colors.  It was so much fun to watch her try to figure out how to play it.  If you notice the remote, it has a cute Elmo cover.

By the end of the day, Gracie was feeling much better and even beat both me and her daddy at Candy Land!  It was beautiful Christmas and I look forward to see what the new year brings!

Home Sweet Home

*Be sure to read my “Traveling with a Toddler.”  I tell ya what, it wasn’t easy and I have a great traveler on my hands!

The last couple days have been a great!  Well, the long car ride was not all that fun, but it was great family time and actually went really smooth.  But, lets start at the beginning and go through it day by day.  It’s the easier way and let’s face it, all you want to see is the pictures anyway! :)

Wednesday:  Travel Day

Nothing really big happened, we flew to Charlotte NC to see Matt graduate from his Career Counselor school on Thursday.  We were so excited to see Matt again knowing this was the last time we would have to be apart for awhile.  I don’t have any pictures to share by the time we got to where we were going, it was late and we were all tired. 

Thursday: Graduation Day

We woke early (I thought this was going to be a mini-vacation) so we could get ready and go to a breakfast that was honoring the new graduates.  Mike, Liz, Sophia, and Chase we able to make it down from Pinehurst, NC to celebrate with Matt.  It was nice to see Liz after 5+ years!  We tried our hardest to catch up over breakfast but we couldn’t .  So we headed over to the graduation to watch Matt walk across and get his badge that he worked so very hard for.  I am so proud of him!  I am seriously bursting with pride.  He blew this course out of the water!  It is not of the easier courses the Army has and he did so well. 

It’s tradition for a fellow Career Counselor or a loved one pin the badge on the graduate so I did and was so proud to do so.

After we were all done at Ft. Jackson, the boys rode in one car and the girls with the kids drove in the other to Pinehurst so we could spend a little more time with the Salvog’s.  Let me tell you, I can guarantee that the girl car was more noisy since Liz and I didn’t have one moment of silence in our conversation.  We turned a 2 1/2 hour trip into 15 minutes! ha ha!  Then we just spent the day together.  Sophia and Gracie played like best friends and fought like sisters.  At one time this was the conversation as told by Matt:

Sophia got in trouble by her daddy for something and Gracie thought she would put her two cents in after Mike got through talking to Sophia:

Gracie says: Sophia, you know better.

Sophia says: You not tell me I know better!

There was a lot of moments like that.  But then there moments like this:

Then there was the sweetest little boy ever who has totally captured my heart!  Mr. Chase:

Do you want to know what the boys were doing while we were with the kids?

 

Day 3: Travel Day #2

Homeward bound to El Paso.  We got as far as Birmingham before we stopped.  Luckily we found a place that had an indoor pool.  Gracie had a blast.  As you can tell, she loved going for a long car ride!

Before swimming, we went to grab dinner at Applebee’s.  We indulged in dessert and Gracie loved the ice cream (as usual).  She was being so silly and giggling when eating it.  I don’t know what struck her as silly, but it was fun to watch.  The second picture has horrible lighting (I think someone was walking past our table) but her facial expression is hilarious!

Day4 & 5:

More traveling.  We made it to Abilene TX.  We really tried to push through but we were all tired so we stopped.  The great thing is we knew it was going to be a short drive the next day and it was!  It is so nice to be home!!!!   I got some cute pictures of Gracie at a rest area outside of Dallas.  She loves being a ham for the camera when she can run around…when she is sitting still not so much!

Still the happiest little traveler!  I just realized that in her short little life she has been to 11 states and 1 other country!  She is quite the experienced traveler.

Ok, in these pictures you can tell she destroyed her coloring book.  The first one she is in complete denial and not wanting to admit it.  The second one she is being adamant it was “good for her!”

She is so my child….

So that was our latest adventure.  I cannot take another adventure for a long while.  I am craving my home sweet home for a long time with my family!  But I enjoyed every moment of it and I am so happy I got to be with Matt and see him graduate!  It was worth all the traveling to see that and to see the Salvog’s.  Although, it better not be another 5+ years before we see them again!