Towers and Bumbos

What a busy week. Sid's recruiter is expecting in April and so the office threw a huge shower for her on Friday. I was in charge of the games. All in all I think they went over pretty well in a group of 25 where half were men. I brought sweet Isaac with me to the shower and Grace went to our neighbors to play for a couple of hours.

Grace has really gotten into playing with her giant legos. She loves to build "towers." She has to make them tall, but hasn't quite grasped the concept that they fall over at some point if not supported correctly. B/c of this, Sid and I spend lots of time "helping" with the tower excavating process. We both feel like we missed our callings in life. And little Isaac is not so little. He rolled over on his 3 month birthday and has done it on one other occasion. He doesn't really know that he is rolling, but it was funny to see it happen. He pins his little arms underneath himself and looks like a seal. He is also trying to sit up. I kind of remember Grace doing the same thing. So we brought down his bumbo seat this weekend and he really thinks he is cool. I cannot believe that my baby will be sitting up in the next 3 or 4 months. Makes me ill to think about it.

Us at the baby shower.

Isaac and the bumbo take 1.
Isaac and the bumbo take 2.
Tower 1 out of 64 for the weekend.
Tower 2. (We needed the stool for this one.)

Fall or Winter?

Nana was in town for the weekend. We had warm temperatures in the 60's and tried to spend lots of time outside. Nana and Grace spent most of their time together out in the yard, walking in the neighborhood, or feeding the ducks. Sid blew leaves into piles for Grace and Isaac was sporting his football outfit- all making it feel like fall again. We had a fun visit with Nana, and as usual, sorry to see her go. Grace loves stickers- and Nana loves to buy them for her. They put them to good use- as you can see.

Valentine's Day Party

Grace's preschool class had their Valentine's Party today. They started out with a delicious snack of whipcream hearts with strawberries and blueberries. The kids loved them. After that they all decorated a tissue box with jewels, feathers, stickers, and markers. After they decorated their boxes there was a Valentine exchange. The kids had a blast. Grace is holding her box in one of the pictures- but the picture does not do her box justice. She got a little crazy with the feathers. No telling how much glue it took to keep those feathers on there. Even when the rest of the class was exchanging Valentines, Grace was still gluing on feathers. It was hilarious. A friend of mine has a close up of the box-I will post it when she sends it to me.

Grace and her best friend Hayden eating their hearts of whipcream.
I cannot pay the kid to smile for the camera.
It truly is next to impossible to get a class of two-years olds to cooperate for a picture.
That's my girl!

Hello Isaac!

With so many pictures of Grace lately I had to post this one of our little guy. This is honetly how he is most of the day. He is very happy and smiley. He entertains himself and loves to play. Over the weekend he discovered that if he tries real hard he can make his hands grab toys and mommies. He has practically mastered his new skill in the last 4 days. He loves laying on his back on his play mat with toys dangling above. He will reach and grab and shake for 20-30 minutes at a time. Of course I don't get much accomplished b/c I am generally right there egging him on and watching in amazement. Even though he is my second, everything he does seems like the first time I have seen it. He is such a joy.

Rachel and Bryan AND the Circus are in town!

What a busy, fun-filled day. This morning Rachel and Bryan came over for breakfast. They were in Raleigh for the weekend. Rachel and little Baby Powell are doing well. Ray is due August 5th- I am putting my money on a baby girl.
After a napless afternoon Grace and I headed to the Barnum and Bailey circus...the greatest show on earth! The boys stayed home and watched basketball. It really was pretty neat. I haven't been to the circus in years and this was Grace's first time. Grace was mesmirized. She also ate a bunch of crap and that made it even more fun. There were a ton of people there who brought babies. Seriously, the circus is not a place for babies. As they say, "...children of all ages!" No babies.
The Powells hold the Mitcheners. Grace got to wear her UNC pj's- Bryan is a UNC alumni.
She sucked on this bottle all night. At least half of it ended up on her or the chair.
"Mom, are you kidding me?"
Might as well make her do it while I can.
An evening I will never forget.

Daddy Daughter Dance

Sid got Grace a little pink carnation corsage. She wore it for about 10 minutes. :-)
Daddy and Daughter
See my pink shoes!?

Grace and Ryen Grace and Ryen tearing it up! Which one of these kids is doing their own thing?

Friday night was the DDD at church. For the second year I was blessed to serve as committee head and so was able to attend. This was Sid and Grace's first dance and I definitely had a few teary eyes. By far the highlight of the dance is watching the daddies and their dates come in through the front door and have their picture taken. The girls are so excited and the dads are relieved to see other dads all dressed up and trying to manage giggly little girls running around and dancing. This year my favorite was of course seeing Grace, but also her friend Ryen. There were a couple of other two-year olds at the dance too. The little girls are precious b/c they are adorable in their dresses, but mostly b/c they just run around. The other funny thing is they do exactly what the big girls do. The big girls all took off their shoes, so did Grace. The big girls went to the bathroom by themselves, so did Grace. The big girls got their own plates of food, so did Grace...donuts and mints of course. I also thoroughly enjoy watching the dads do the Hokey Pokey and the Macarana. Grace had a blast and especially loved staying up late. She now wants to go to a party every day. hehe. We've created a monster.