Sausage???

Every night Gracie says the prayer at dinner. It usually consists of "Lord Jesus, thank you for my food, Amen!". Tonight she was extra thankful. We started off with the usual blessing, however, we had a fabulous day in mountains so I thought I would ask her what else she was thankful for. No "beautiful day" or "mommy and daddy". Tonight she said "Lord Jesus, thank you for my sausage, my daddy's sausage and my mommy's sausage!" I asked if there was anything else and it was dead silent! Very funny, hope it is not one of those "had to be here" things! Also, here is a video clip from our day. . . (you will want to turn the music off below before starting the video).

NO MOMMA!

"No Momma" is a familiar phrase. I hear it for many different reasons ~ "No Momma, I don't want to. . ." ,, "NO, Momma (in the 'you can't make me do it' tone), "No Momma" (I actually did NOT do it), "No Momma!" (Please don't wash my hair!), or even "No thank you, Momma" (My personal favorite:)). However, today we can add a new "No Momma" to the list; one that I had to walk out of the room because I was trying so hard not to cry tears from hysterical laughter. So, like a good mother I regained my composure and promptly returned - with my camera! We have had a great day - Daddy returned yesterday from a week long trip just in time for Amma's birthday dinner, we had lunch with Nana and went out to Ft. Logan, plus she took a really good nap. I am not 100% sure where this came from, but I probably should admit I have a bit of a mellow-dramatic side. I was in the process of telling her to go upstairs so we could change her diaper. She proceeds to throw herself to the floor shouting "NO MOMMA, NO MOMMA!" I was not sure which category this fell into so I asked her "Why not?" My precious baby replied "Because I having a BREAK DOWN". OOPS! I do not swear, I am not judgemental (usually), I even try to avoid sarcasm. Unfortunately, I did not realize how horrific "mellow-drama" looks on a two year old. So here is a photo of Amazing Gracie having her one and only "break down". Yes, I realize all of you seasoned mothers are laughing my naivety, but I started this, so now I must finish it! Wish me luck ~ dropping this type of verbiage should prove more challenging than giving up caffeine while pregnant!

You get what you ask for. . .

I have been so excited to sit down and blog about this past weekend, but it was all overshadowed by one simple question this evening after bath time. Before I get to my story, a few highlights from this weekend. First, the Ladies Brunch at church was a definite success! Great food, great speaker, fun craft with tons of people! I am so glad to have done it but more glad to be done with it:) I am really grateful for the help from my family and friends ~ thank you! Mother's Day was perfect! We all cuddled in bed together, which Gracie NEVER allows, then got dressed and headed out to church. She had on a beautiful dress from Meme, so I let her wear her pearl bracelet. After enamoring it for many minutes she said in her sweet little voice "Mommy, do you like my beads?" Of course I replied "yes, sweetheart". Trying to prolong the moment I asked her what else was on her bracelet and she said "a cross". I wasn't sure if she knew what that meant so I asked her and she said "For Jesus in my heart!". I thought I would die right there in the car. All of my wonderful Mother's Day gifts were put to shame by that one precious phrase. Thank you baby! After church we enjoyed a wonderful brunch with four generations, then came home and crashed. Today we evacuated to my mom's house for the demo phase of the renovations. It was a very long day (after a sleepless night) so we started the bath process early. She loves to show off for Amma (Gramma) so I asked her to count and she did ~ 1 to 13, exactly what I expected. Being silly I said "now do your letters" and then it happened. . . my precious baby, at 2 years, 3 months and 17 days sang the entire alphabet song, start to finish! I think we scared her when we started screaming! I don't know who was more proud ~ Mommy, Amma and Poppy watching it happen, Gracie seeing our response or Daddy when we called him to tell him goodnight and that is what he heard. I love that precious child and am so thrilled to watch her learn and grow, yet each time she steps forward my heartstrings are pulled so tight I think they will bust. My baby is starting to look more and more like a "big girl" and I am having to try harder and harder to remember exactly what it felt like to hold her for the first time. It scares me when I think about how fast the time has gone. . .

That didn't take long. . .

O.k., day 2 ~ post nap (a really, really good nap!): We are blessed to have my grandmother here today. I had to post this photo because I have the exact same picture with her when I was Gracie's age. She is still the same loving and giving woman that I was fortunate enough to grow up knowing. She played, cleaned and babysat while I ran around like a mad woman trying to finish all of the things I successfully avoided yesterday. I can honestly say I am finished ~ except for that giant load of laundry in the dryer. I figured it was easier to dry it a million times verses actually doing three separate loads. The thought of whites mixed with REDS, plus a few kitchen towels, is almost enough to send me over the edge, but desparate times call for desparate measures. Anyway, Amazing Gracie slept like a champ today which means she woke up with her joyful, sweet self in tact. Over the monitor (turned all the way up, since I was working in the basement) came "MOMMA! ARE YOU STILL OUT THERE?" I had to laugh out loud because I HAVE been way out there lately. The past few weeks have had us running in way to many directions, which usually means we lack on our "popper time" (a.k.a. Private time, which is when we play all by ourselves in her room. It started when we had her cousins visiting a few months ago and she could not seem to be nice. I finally realized she was way over stimulated and just needed 100% of my attention. Hopefully we will not need to implement "popper time" when they come back next month:)). Well, I guess my baby knows me even better than I realized. She always know just how far to push and exactly when to back down, but I did not know she could identify when momma was over extended and just hanging on until Sunday. What more could I want for Mother's Day then to just spend a quite, stress free day with the family (however, I am extremely grateful for my new bike ~ thanks daddy!).

Here we go. . .

Well, I don't know why I thought today would be a good day to start blogging but I guess the thought of doing the prep work for the Church Brunch on Saturday, finishing the website for my new business or cleaning up this house before our remodel begins on Monday were all just a bit overwhelming. In my crazy mind, it must be smart to add one more thing to the plate just to see if it will tip. Oh, have I mentioned my sweet, precious baby Gracie. She is two years, three months and thirteen days old, which equates to the essence of toddlerhood. Pure joy (followed by screaming and hitting); I thank God every day for letting me be her momma. I have said to myself almost every day for the past few months "I can't believe I am not writing this stuff down". I suppose the mommy instinct kicked in and said "stop what you are doing and enjoy the spontaneous, innocent and unbelievably hysterical things that are going on around you!" So, here I sit, ready for the next Gracism. . .