Gracie's very own tree

Gracie has been "dying" to start decorating for Christmas. No time during the week to get it all out. However, we are getting our tree on Sunday but that just is still not quick enough for Miss Gracie. So I decided to surprise her after swimming lessons Tuesday night and we stopped and picked her up her very own tree/mini decorations. She was a happy camper! We'll plant the tree on our property after the holiday. 'Tis the Season!!


Again....notice the "Carlie" concentration tongue :)

The final touch!

Kids are Awesome

Maddy made this at school. I am going to forward the picture to Aaron....how cute!!! I know he will love it. Thanks Nadine for sharing with us...I am going to put the original in Aaron's Air Force Scrap Book.

In Gracie's Kindergarten class the day before Thanksgiving, they were discussing what they were thankful for. Obviously Aaron is missed and loved by his little sister. Are those pom-pom's in his hands?? HA!!!

Our children are our future and the ones we have brought into this world are pretty darn special!

XXOO

SUPERSTAR

Gracie's birthday just keeps going and going!! She received this adorable outfit from the Roulst family last night. TOO CUTE!! I think it will be something she can even take on the cruise (less the tutu of course).

Thanks again to everyone for making Gracie feel very special and loved on her big 6th birthday!

HAPPY 6TH BIRTHDAY PRINCESS GRACE

Gracie's 6 - can you believe it?? Happy Birthday to our best girl - we love you so much!!
She got the crown, wand and purse from Aaron's best friend Nikki. She is excited for a fun day at school ~ it seems as if it will be all about her. Already got a stuffed puppy from her friend Abby and she can hardly wait for the brownies we sent - her favorite! She picked Red Robin for dinner tonight because they sing and they serve cantalope -- another favorite. She did ask me to ask the waitress to only deliver a scoop of vanilla instead of that "big ice cream with all the stuff on it". How is she my child?? HA! Hope everyone has a great day...I know we will.
XXOO

HAPPY HALLOWEEN 2007!

Meow! Meet Gracie the Kitty. Another Halloween come and gone and I have determined that this is one of Gracie's favorite holidays. She loves getting dressed up, running from house to house ringing the bell and shouting "trick or treat!". Thanks to the Hayes' for again hosting us. Gracie and Maddy hit their neighborhood hard and could barely carry their bags full of candy before it was over. At one house Gracie hit the door bell about 3 times then started knocking. We were like....no.....give them a chance to get to the door! It was too funny. After that..new rule: ONLY ONE RINGY DINGY ALLOWED!! Good times and new memories.


Look who came by to trick or treat...Marco and Jr. CUTE!!!
Kevin is sooo fun ~ had the girls giggling and giggling and giggling.

Pumpkin Fun

We officially started the holiday season with a little pumpkin carving this weekend. It was really the first year Gracie got right in there. Before she didn't like the "guts" and she could not really do any carving. This year was a turning point. She got a kick out of the slimey guts and even kept putting them back in her pumpkin just so she could take them back out. She also did some of the carving herself! We had a lot of fun!

Check out the tongue -- Carlie???

Pumpkin face!!!

"he knows when you've been bad or good"

I have been meaning to jot down this Gracie story from last week and just now getting the chance.

One night last week Carlie, me and Gracie were watching T.V. and Miss Gracie was laying across our laps. She kept flinging her legs around and we had asked her at least 3 times to please stop doing that. Well on about the 4th "fling" her heel went right into my thigh. OUCH! That was it...off our laps she went. Of course that was the "end of the world" for her and she had to go to her room. It was about bed time anyways, so once she had realized "her bad" she went night-night. The next morning we were driving to day care and out of the blue she says "well, I guess I'm not getting any presents". I was like "what"? She repeated herself and I said "bug, what are you talking about". She said "you know....because of last night. I was naughty and now Santa is not going to bring me any presents". Too funny!! Cracked me up since we have not had any recent conversations about Christmas or Santa. Plus she was just so matter of fact about -- not really upset at all. I did tell her that Santa is very forgiving and the key is to not just say "sorry" but mean it and not behave that way anymore. Yeah, we'll see how long that lasts!!

Kids are seriously so fantastic..aren't they??!!

Gracie and Suzi

I had to share these pictures that Kayla took with her camera phone of her new horse, Suzi and Gracie this weekend. They were just too cute not too share!! Thanks Kayla, these are keepers!


Love this one!

"She thinks my tractors sexy"....

After a few months of seaching and deciding....we took the plunge and bought Carlie a tractor. He is very excited and a little bummed he could not "play" with it more last night -- got dark! I figure I will now be a "tractor widow" because I have a feeling any spare time he has, him and Gracie will be out on the property moving dirt, mowing, etc. Congrats Carlie!!

"Happy is Good......."

......was the theme to the 2007 Puyallup Fair. Played hookey on Wed. and hit the fair. The weather held out for us and we had a great day. Gracie again proves to us that she has no fear when it comes to the rides. SHE LOVES 'EM. Another couple of inches and the amount of rides she will get to go on will increase. We did make it to Sillyville at the end of the day, but really those rides just don't cut if for her (except for the Bear ride and the Rollercoaster). Obviously she did not get that from me!! Enjoyed spending time with Carl, Deb, Carleena, Kayla and Cara too. Kayla, you were such a great help with Gracie...thank you (surprise, surprise...Gracie can be a bit whiny and impatient...HA!!). Plus, towards the end we got to spend a bit of time with Kevin, Nadine, Maddy and Kameron too! The fair reminds us that fall is upon us and it was truly a great way to get it started.
XXOO

Here are some pictures:

Gracie in her cowgirl hat. With those freckles, it is a perfect "fit".



Yup, that is Debbie on the EXTREME SCREAM. Kayla, Debbie, Cara and Carlie braved the ride and I think they all had fun. Although I believe my mother in law said something the effect of "NEVER AGAIN". She was a trooper though!


Love this picture of the girls before they went on the Materhorn. Cara, Gracie, Kayla

Carl and Carlie playing games. Love this picture too. Unfortunately they came out empty handed on this one.

Maddy and Gracie on the Bear ride that goes round and round. I think this is Gracie's favorite. You can't see him but Kevin is in there doing the steering.

1st day of Kindergarten

Well, I survived Gracie's first day of Kindergarten. This weekend she was asked if she was excited for Kindergarten and she responded with "yes, NO MORE NAPPING!". Funny that was all she could think about. It was a little tricky not having Pooh Bear but I am sure she was fine. So this morning I planned on taking her in later than normal so I could met her teacher, Miss Jill ~ but before hand I surprised her took her to McDonalds for breakfast. She thought that was the BEST! Miss Jill seemed very nice and I look forward to seeing how her 1st week goes. Thanks Auntie Carleena for the beautiful outfit for my first day -- she loved it (can you tell by the way she is posing?).

Hope all our kids 1st days of this school year are awesome!!
XXOO

Labor Day 2007

Another year, another great Labor Day! Thanks again to Carl and Deb for hosting this weekend and allowing us to have some really wonderful family time! Check out the attached pictures (thanks Heather for helping me figure out how to get these on her as a link!). Sorry I don't have pics of Hay, Softball or eggs ~ battery was charging.

LABOR DAY PICS

Go Hawks!

It may only be pre-season but we "got the fever" (as if I even like football..ha). The Milligans hosted a "no Raiders" night just to rub it in Tom's face as he is a huge Raiders fan. Seahawks won.....of course!!

Melissa, Kristie and Kris -- GO BLUE! GO GREEN!

Gracie thought the wig was pretty funny!
Reese giving Gracie and Jake a SQUEEZE!

Okay, we'll sit here for a nice picture.....if we have to! Geez they are cute!

A Happy Girl

With the Labor Day celebration upon us, we decided to give Gracie a very early birthday present. She was completely excited and loves it of course. At this rate, we may have to put in an intersection and stop lights at Carl and Deb's for all the kid's "cars". Looking forward to seeing everyone!

What? No more 4x4'in??

Yee-Ha! After several hard winters - our road was on it's last leg so to speak. You definitely needed it in 4 wheel drive to get to our house. With Carl's help and connections -- we have finally repaired our road. It may still be gravel...but it is so smoooothhhhh. We didn't snag a picture of the final results so you all will have to come over just to drive on the road!! Thanks Dad for everything!! It's fantastic!!

Good News...

Aaron left Krygyzstan last night!! He should be arriving in Baltimore sometime today and scheduled to be back in South Dakota tomorrow. We wanted to thank everyone for their love, prayers and support during his deployment. It truly meant the world to all of us but especially him. We hope he will be able to take leave sometime this fall before his impending re-deployment in January (but let's not think about that right now!). He will be living off base so once he is settled and I have his address/phone, I will pass it on.

Have a great weekend!
XXOO

HAPPY 21ST BIRTHDAY AARON JAMES!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU....HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU....HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR AARONNNNNNNNNNNN.....HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU. THERE ARE FOUR PRECIOUS DAYS IN MY LIFE THAT WITHOUT THEM I WOULD NOT BE WHO I AM OR WHERE I AM TODAY. I HAVE BEEN SO BLESSED BECAUSE OF ALL OF THEM AND IF I COULD DO IT ALL OVER, I WOULD NOT CHANGE A THING. THIS IS THEM IN ORDER:

AARON WAS BORN ON AUGUST 21, 1986. IT WAS A SCARY TIME FOR ME BUT HAVING MY SON IN MY ARMS MADE IT ALL OKAY. I AM SO GLAD YOU ARE MY SON AARON AND I COULD NOT IMAGINE MY LIFE WITHOUT YOU! I LOVE YOU SON!!

MY FIRST DATE WITH CARLIE - NOVEMBER 8, 1997. I KNEW AS WE SAT AT WOLFGANG PUCKS FOR DINNER (I HAD THE ROSEMARY CHICKEN..HA!) THAT I WOULD BE YOUR WIFE. I THANK GOD YOU FINALLY CALLED ME AS I HAD BEEN WAITING FOR YOU ALL MY LIFE.

OUR WEDDING - AUGUST 28, 1999. EASY.......BEAUTIFUL DAY, BEAUTIFUL WEDDING, BEAUTIFUL RECEPTION, BEAUTIFUL HUSBAND.

FINALLY, MISS GRACIE COMING INTO THE WORLD, NOVEMBER 8, 2001. I HAD WAITIED SO LONG FOR HER AND SHE IS A TRUE BLESSING. NOT ONLY IS SHE A MOMMA'S GIRL BUT A DADDY'S GIRL TOO -- AND SHE ABSOLUTELY ADORES HER BROTHER!!!

AARON - YOU "STARTED" MY LIFE ROLLING AND I AM SO PROUD OF THE MAN YOU HAVE BECOME AND CAN'T WAIT FOR YOU TO START NOTING WHAT YOU WILL MARK AS YOUR MOST IMPORTANT MOMENTS.


I LOVE YOU ALWAYS ~ YOUR MOMMA

Goats, Goats, Goats

The barn is a little more crowded at Carl and Deb's with the addition of 3 pigmi goats for Kayla, Cara and Gracie. Thanks Grandma and Papa -- we love them!

Meet: Macy (Kara's Goat), Savannah (Gracie's Goat) and Faith (Cara's Goat)

Gracie and Kayla
Gracie and Cara
Here Goat, Goat, Goat.....

Carlie, Gracie and Cara hangin' in the barn with the goats.

Ashley Rae XXOO

My niece Ashley was home from Montana just for the weekend. Always so wonderful to see her!! She is back to Montana today starting her sophomore year at Montana State next week. We are so proud of you Ashley and WE LOVE YOU!!

Ashley and Gracie. They always have their picture taken like this and always looks beautiful!
Gracie 5; Ashley 21, Alaina 8 months (guess who's crawling all over the place!!)

Gracie, Ashley, Tyler (Ashley's b-friend -- we love him too!!), Cody, TJ and Alaina. Don't forget Duke the Dog.

Bestest Friends

The Scanlon kids were over for a bit and snapped this great picture. How lucky we are that our friends are so close and we can see your kids grow up together. I LOVE IT!!

Jake, Gracie, Jaiden, Casey
P.S. Is Jake eyeballing Gracie's legs?????? Look at that grin! HA!!