Our Sanger Fourth of July

The 4th of July was really fun this year! We went down Thursday night, so that Vic and Charley could work with Daddy on a couple of projects at the house. They put some bricks around Daddy's fruit trees and put lattice siding on the bottom of the back porch. While they did that, Atticus, Grace, and I met GG and Molly at the Denton Waterpark to swim.

Although 4th of July was on Friday, the fireworks show at the marina down from mom and dad's house, was held on Saturday. So, Daddy and Mom had the family over to the house on Saturday evening. First, that morning, Vic, Daddy & I went to Lewisville to help Ana and Charley move to a 2 bedroom apartment in their same complex. Thankfully, they had 11 people total helping on this move because we moved stuff down from the 3rd floor of one building and back up to the 2nd floor of a different building. My legs were sore for a few days, but I know I burned a lot of calories! That afternoon, we went back to the house where Daddy tried out his new smoker for the first time. He and Vic got some chickens ready and put them on.

For the rest of the afternoon, the kids played and food was prepared and Melbo, GG, Pa and Charley all came over. Ana had other plans and Molly had to work and we missed them! But, the kids looked adorable and the food was delicious and we ended the night with watching fireworks from Mom and Daddy's back porch. It was cool weather when the sun went down and it was nice to not get stuck in 1 hour traffic coming down our road when people left the marina after the show.

Grace actually kept her pigtails in for the night! And, Atticus decided to wear his socks on his hands for awhile outside. I am sure he was hot, but he was playing so I'm sure it made sense to him. He also carried Marshall, his new Paw Patrol puppy toy that GG gave him, everywhere.

Sometimes, the most fun things to do are exploring. The kids liked playing on the flatbed trailer, hitting grasshoppers with a flyswatter off of the fences, looking through binoculars at the goats, and playing with the goats. Country living!

 

And we have a few candid's above as well.

I wonder how many years of celebrations we will go with our kids not posing the same in any picture? One Grace smiles and one Atticus smiles, but out of about 20 pictures I tried, neither smiled together!

Grace loves to be tickled and she loves her Daddy!

Dinner turned out delicious! Dad's first smoker cookout was a success! The chicken that was not stuffed was preferred vs. the stuffed chicken, but both were great! We had baked beans, smoked corn on the cob, pimiento cheese and celery, potato salad, and delicious mini cherry cheesecakes and fruit trifle for dessert and of course some watermelon! After we were stuffed, we sat on the porch to watch the fireworks. They lasted about 30 or 40 minutes and were spectacular! Grace didn't love them, but Atticus did. The cutest thing he said, when they began was "Yook Mawshall! Yook at the fiah-wooks!" It was a really fun 4th of July!

5 things about Atticus

And now for an Atticus update:

1. He loves animals. That is not a new theme, but right after being at Grandma and Pop's house, he talked about Snip and Yodel a lot. But, this week the theme seems to be towards puppies. He loves puppy dogs. He still gets scared of some in person, but mostly he loves them. We have some friends who have a little dog named Bella. Sometimes when they come over, they will bring Bella and Atticus loves to play with her! He also has many stuffed puppy dogs. The other day, we had lots of "sick" puppies who either had thorns in their feet, ate too much dog food, had coughs or cooties, or who had been bitten by turtles (not sure where that came from). So, we had to doctor them with our vet kit many times to make them better. He just LOVES his puppies. We travel too much to have a pet puppy, but if this continues, I'm doing a puppy birthday party next year!

2. Atticus has lots of thoughts lately and when he is talking about something important or giving you his honest opinion, he will crinkle up his face while he talks but being completely serious. It's just funny to see the emotion when he is talking!

3. A few phrases he uses a lot:
"If I eat too much _____ (usually a vegetable), I will get a tummyache." when he doesn't want to eat, and even if he hasn't eaten too much.
"I just being cwazy siwwy!" (He tells me he is being crazy silly when he has actually been a little too rough and I ask him to calm down.)
"How bout you yay wif me for just a yittle bit?" in response to every single time I put him to bed. Do you know how hard it is to tell him no all the time to that sweet little voice?
"Does Jesus yike it when _____?" He usually will ask me this after I've told him I am happy with him for doing something nice. Although one night when Vic had already turned on a lamp that Atticus likes to turn on himself, he told me that "Jesus didn't yike it when Daddy didn't yet me turn on that yight!"

4. He has started to like wearing hats. He has a fishing hat, a cap and a cowboy hat.

5. He has started to be that silly boy that comes out of his room in only his underwear and maybe a VBS necklace around his neck and playing his dog guitar while setting up his tiny animals at the table and requesting that I sit and play Go Fish with him. There are moments when he has so much going on in his mind that he gets distracted with something but instead of leaving it, just adds it to his activity.

He's just so funny!

Conversations: Grace

Grace currently says the following words at 15 months:

Dada or Da! for Daddy (and she says it most excitedly when he gets home from work! It as if her entire world changes in a split second to completely happiness because he is home. She will run as fast as she can to him and jump in to his arms to be held awhile.)

Mama - but while it was the first word she said a few months back, she stopped awhile. Now, she is starting it up again - mostly when she is tired and fussy and wants to be held by me, but I'll take it.

At, or Dat for Atticus. You have to be around her a lot to catch it, but she does have a sound for him.

Bubble - said perfectly. so cute!

Dah - for Dog. She points and says it every since they came back from their vacation at Grandma and Pop's house where she was around Sam, Molly's dog, all week.

Jih Jih - She can almost say GG, but is getting better all the time!

She also says "more" in sign language and I'm trying to teach her please. Sometimes when I giver her something, I tell her to say Thank You and she says something to that effect.

10 Things About Grace

I haven't done an update on Grace in awhile, so I thought I would. She is changing so much every single day and turning into a toddler very quickly! Here are 10 of my favorite things she is up to!

1. At 15 months, she weighs 23 lbs. She has all 12 teeth, but has been cutting the 2 most recent for about two weeks and has been extra miserable for these 2.

2. She loves snacks and will pull my hand toward her to get up from wherever I am and lead me to the pantry for a snack. However, she is also good at eating all kinds of food including vegetables!

3. She has gotten to the stage of hitting. She will hit me anytime I tell her no when she really doesn't want to be told no. I tell her no and sometimes seat her somewhere in a pseudo-time out to show her no means no. And with Atticus, she really hits him! She will push, pull, and hit him as hard as she can when she wants her way or wants him to get out of her way!

4. When I change her diaper on the changing table, she asks for her wooden cupcakes she got for her birthday. I leave the stand and cupcake on the dresser and she points and gets so excited when I give her one to play with during the diaper changing.

5. She also loves to put things in a box or move things from one spot to another.

6. She loves being outside and goes to both doors and grunts and points to tell me she wants to be out there. Her favorite things to do out there are swing and play with chalk. I am surprised at how long she occupies her time with getting every piece of chalk out of the box and drawing with it on the ground. She also takes a few licks of each piece, but for the most part, she just draws all over the porch.

7. This week, she has started finding one of Atticus' animals - usually a bear or giraffe or sometime a pig or cow and follows me and roaring at me. I, of course, act scared and run away and she just giggles and roars some more.

8. She also loves her baby dolls. She will pick them up and pat them and put them in the stroller. She will also pick up her little purse and walk around the house with it. Sometimes, you will find some random toys in that little purse. She also will pick up her little bracelets occasionally and put them on her wrist. Fingers crossed for a girl who loves to play dolls and dress-up!

9. Her hair is growing longer down past her neck in the back. And at the front, it is growing down into her eyes (gotta trim it this weekend!) but on the sides, it is growing very slowly. So, it looks kind of like a mullet! Plus, it is really thin and fine just like mine was for so many years when I was a little girl. So, since she is pulling headbands out of her hair these days (as soon as she realizes they are there despite me being sneaky when I put them in!), I thought I would try clips. But, she doesn't really have enough hair for clips. So, my friend Cecilia told me about this little plastic hairties. I can get two little pigtails in with these ties, although she doesn't love that process. And they are precious! And I thought she was pulling them out when we got in the car, but now I'm not sure if she pulls them out or they just come out while her head rubs against the seat. But, either way, they don't make it out the door. So, at VBS the other night, I put them in at the church and she didn't bother them all night. They are the cutest, tiniest little pigtails though and I love them! The only drawback - they make her look like such a big girl!

10. And finally, my favorite thing about Grace right now is her love of Frozen! I know you are thinking that she is 15 months old and how does she even know what Frozen really is? But, I bought the soundtrack a few months ago and it has played in our car a hundred times. Then, we got the movie and she recognizes the music when she watches it. Do you want to know the reason I know she loves the movie and music? This past Sunday, we stayed a few hours after church to help decorate for VBS. She was not happy because her teeth were bothering her. But, at one point, I turned on the Disney music I've downloaded for the kids on my phone. It starts with some Frozen songs and then goes to Lion King and Dumbo, etc. When Lion King music would come on, she would bring me the phone fussing. At first I assumed she was bored but I'd re-start the music and she would be completely content walking around carrying the phone and listening to her music. But, then I realized each time she brought it to me, it was because it was NOT playing Frozen anymore. So, since then, when she is being fussy, I start singing Frozen songs to her and she smiles and listens and is completely happy! I love, love, love this movie and love that she has such sweet music to comfort her!
11. A Bonus! Grace has a new love of sitting in chairs. She crawls up on the ottoman to the oversized chair in the living room to relax. She immediately moves whatever is in Atticus' wooden rocking chair in his room so she can sit in it. And best of all, she loves going back and forth between their backyard chairs choosing which one she will sit in to relax. 

 

 

Vacation at Grandma and Pop's

So, for a few months, Vic, myself, Molly, Charley, and Ana were planning a trip to Destin, Florida for a weeklong beach vacation. In the meantime, we had planned for Grace and Atticus to stay in Sanger with Grandma and Pop as well as visiting GG, Melbo, and Pa. This was going to be their first time to stay away from us since Atticus was born. I talked a lot about their "vacation" and Atticus knew, by the time we got there, that he and Grace had their own vacation at Gwanma and Pop's house while Mommy and Daddy were going to the beach for our vacation. We got to Sanger Friday night. On Saturday, we went to Sharkarosa in Pilot Point with Grandma, Pop, and Molly to see the animals and left before they woke up on Sunday morning.

(These picture was from when we went to Melbo's the afternoon after Sharkarosa. Grace was so cute sitting her her lap and putting her hand in Melbo's water over and over and licking her hand. And of course, Melbo told her she could do anything she wanted. Spoiled!) 

Apparently, they had a great time. According to mom and daddy, Grace didn't cry the entire time and Atticus behaved the entire time with the exception of bothering Grace and getting into trouble occasionally. The highlight of the week for Atticus, I think, included him getting to play with the goats in the pen every evening while Grace played on the porch and Mom and Daddy watching them. Daddy pulled some up in the pen for him and let him go. He loved on them, hugged them, chased them, fed them, and ran with them. He befriended two of the friendly ones, Snip, a little 3 month or so old buck (who I have recently learned will probably become a permanent member after his castration) and Yodel, a 6 month old doe who is also going to be a keeper at the Erwin goat ranch. And he was quick to explain to me that Snip's mommy didn't like him, but only liked his brother (which is the truth - Snip's mother wasn't too interested in him when he was born, but eventually let him nurse - poor little guy!) Atticus got to go with Pop to the feedstore one day and on the last day, he and Grace went with Pop and GG who took them to the boot store to buy new boots for both kiddos! And they ended with lunch at Chic-Fil-A. They watched their favorite shows, ate fun grandparent approved food, and took naps well. I was so proud of Grace who slept in her crib so well (since she is usually terrible when sleeping in the pack and play away from home). They also celebrated Daddy's birthday with a cake GG made. Oh and one night, there was a big thunderstorm and apparently, Mom was worried that the kids would wake up and be scared so she waited in the living room around 4am. Sure enough, Atticus came out and told her "I don't yike the wain on my windows!" and snuggled up with her on the couch where they played on the Ipad. He even found our beach instagram pictures and while Mom quickly explained we were on our beach vacation hoping that he wouldn't get sad that we weren't there, he told her it was "yike me on my vacation". So, clearly, he was not too upset about being away from us! For the kids, and the grandparents, it was a really good week for the four of them to be together!

After we got back into town late Friday night, we thought Atticus might be asleep. But, he was having a hard time falling asleep because they had told him that after he slept, we would be back. Well, we couldn't wait to see him, so I walked into his room and he looked at me really close as if he was confused and said "but I haven't swept yet!" So funny!

Grace, however, was a stinker the entire day. She only wanted us to hold her and only wanted to whine and cry. Looking back, I wonder if she didn't feel good because on the way home that day, she threw up and the following week she was very crabby due to her teething. But, thankfully, that at least held off until we got back. Fussy babies are hard to make happy!

After Atticus told his goats goodbye, the entire family met over at Melbo and Pa's house for Daddy's birthday and Father's Day lunch and we stayed until about 4pm or so before loading up to go back to College Station. After lunch, we hung outside watching a grass fire across the street and showing Atticus the fire trucks. It was a wonderful week of vacation for the kids and for Vic and me. Can't wait to send the kids away again for a week next summer!!!

 Atticus and Yodel.

Atticus and his goat, Snip.

 This was Grace's rough day, when she couldn't stop crying most of the day.

 Sometimes, there is NO time to go inside to the restroom. You just have to potty outside.

 

 Group photo failed. But, look at those new boots!!

 This was the Grandma and Pop's evening view throughout the week.

Everyone was watching the grass fire across the road.

She was happy playing outside though!

 Atticus always helps blow out the candles so he can eat the cake, even when it's not his birthday!