Company!!!

My girlfriend FeeDee (whom I met in Norfolk) and her two girls visited from Maine this last week, her husband Paul had to stay home and 'work'! We had a lovely time, although her baby Maddie hardly slept a wink. It is tough traveling as a single parent! We visited the beach and saw dolphins, Sea World, and of course the zoo. Megan and Gracie met for the first time and did pretty well getting acquainted. The time flew by and I am SO greatful they were able to come! It'll be years before we see them again since they are transferring to Japan! Have fuuunnn, and thanks for visiting!!!

3 KIDS

Finally

Jude Daniel joined the family on October 9th. I'm FINALLY introducing him on the blog. I'm a terrible mother, I know. He is a month old now and is changing SO fast. He is a great sleeper and has possibly been a better baby than Gracie, and that's saying A LOT!!!

Gracie's 4th Birthday, August 31st

The first picture is of the cake I decorated, it was a last minute change from a princess cake to a Shamu cake, requested by the GIRL herself. The second picture is of Gracie talking to her Papa from the ship, an early morning surprise!!! SO AWESOME!!! She is wearing a new dress-up dress from her grandma. The third picture is Gracie and her baby Emma in matching outfits...aauuuuhhh. The fourth picture is at the bowling alley with Gracie and Makena being all GLAMOROUS!!!--the way only 4 year olds know how to be! The last is Gracie enjoying Shamu's face--also her request.

Pretend Birthday

These pictures are from the Ruthers back in July. We celebrated Gracie's 4th birthday early! A fun time had by all!!!

Summer Fun

Kid Pictures

Sweet Pea

Here's Gracie with her new gifts from Papa. They arrived yesterday. I think he bought them in Malaysia. The one is a necklace with a shell and the other is a change purse made from a coconut shell. Don't you love the ballerina pose?! Of course her message to Papa is wonderful as well!

Charles in Charge

Where's Charlie????

Peek-a-boo!!!

Power struggles...First time with the new shoes!

I won, he got over it!! He is growing up sooo fast!

Here he is with his 'drum' at the park...in his Guess jeans I bought on clearance, score!-I had to mention how preppy we are!!!

Elephant Rider 2

Gracie now has her papa beat in the number of times she has riden an elephant! WOOHOO!!! We just had to go back to the fair for some more fun!!!

Elephant Riders!!!

While Jason was in Goa, India he had the opportunity to ride into the jungle on an elephant. How amazing. He said he did it so he could show Gracie that he rode on an elephant--it's called rubbing it in:) Just kidding!
Then while we were at the county fair Gracie and I spotted an elephant ride!!! Do you believe it? So, of course we had to take this opportunity. In case you didn't know, elephants are her obsession, passion and seems to be what she lives for some days. What an incredible thing for our little--big three year old.
Is it just me, or does Jason's elephant not make him look any smaller? Gracie looks like a little speck on hers!!!

Faker

We were at Sea World the other day and I asked Gracie to stand and smile so we could send it to Papa. This was the best of three...totally not faking right???

Do You Feel Pitty???

Here's Charlie really working it in the naughty chair. I can't help but laugh when I see this picture. I'm a terrible mom!!!

Cute as a LIZARD???

This picture turned out to be a little blurry. However, I wanted to send a picture to Jason of Charlie learning to walk!--Which he is getting to be a little pro at!!! He sent back this reply:

one of the pictures of charlie...he is running at the park...from the front...made me laugh out loud. it reminded me of those lizards that get up on their hind feet and run with their legs out to the side. cracked me up. the ones that puff out their necks...

I instantly knew which picture he was referring to and started to laugh myself! Very funny! Just think of Frank from 'Rescuers Down Under'

The Wisconsin Dells

REUNION!!! Anja, it was so great to see you and the two younger girls (Morgan (two months older than Gracie) and Rowan (two weeks older than Charlie))! We drove from the cities to the 'half way' point between our points of origin to meet up with a long lost neighbor! Micah and Anja moved back to Illinios before WE became pregnant with our youngest babies...and that is the last time we saw each other. It was a wonderful opportunity. Gracie was little miss go getter herself, I was soooo proud of her. She even went down the big blue tube slide you see behind us, BY HERSELF! Charlie hated it altogether, poor baby, Rowan on the other hand loved it! Fun times had by mostly all!

Minnesota Pictures

Neat 5 generation photos! Their Great Great Grandma!
Gracies look says it all, it is more fun at Great Grammas house!!!
I CAN'T EAT ANOTHER BITE!!!
We love you Gramma!! We miss you too!!! Wink!;)