Happy Birthday Grace.

Dear Gracie,

Your daddy and I are so excited you've made it to your 3rd birthday. You are so special to us. Your beautiful eyes and sweet smile light up the world. You've got your daddy wrapped around your little finger. When you're in trouble you flash that sweet grin and he's puddy in your hands. You make us laugh with your silliness until we're on the floor. You can crack up the whole room and barely crack a smile yourself the whole time. You have enough love in your little heart to turn around the worst day. You love your sisters like nobody else can. Although you argue with them sometimes; they know that you will always protect them and stand with them. The whole family is crazy in love with you and can't stop talking about your silly little antics. You may have had a rough start, but you're breezing through the toddler years with flying colors. So please forgive us if we shower you with hugs, kisses, and tickles. We just can't help ourselves. We can't wait to see what this year will bring.

Love,

Mom and Dad

Vegas, Turkey, and Toenuckles

That about sums up why I haven't been blogging the past couple of weeks. Byron and I went to Las Vegas to get away for a few days. We had a great time, saw lots of sites, ate lots of good food, and Byron even won a little $$ playing poker one afternoon. Then it was straight home the day before Thanksgiving to spend Thanksgiving with the family. We had a great time, experienced lots of hugs and kisses from the girls, and ate lots of good food. This is my first week home and I still haven't fully recovered from those two weeks. I love spending time with Byron. I forget that sometimes because we're so busy with our lives that we usually end up falling asleep not long after the girls go to bed. It doesn't leave much room for quality time. I miss out on the little things Byron does like read every sign on the road out loud, the clever comments he makes when we people watch, or how he uses strange words like toenuckles. Toenuckles is a real word and it's exactly what you think it is. He said one afternoon that he had a blister on his toenuckle. I laughed so hard I almost peed myself because he kept insisting it was a real word. After looking it up on the Internet (although I think his source was wikepedia, so take it with a grain of salt) he proved that toenuckle was a valid description. Feel free to try to work that into your daily vocabulary.

Third Time's a Charm

Just because my two first children didn't do something doesn't mean that the third one won't figure it out in short step. Some examples of how Maddie has been able to defy gravity (and me) in the past couple of weeks.

1. Opened the front door and walked half way across the front yard before I found her.

2. Took a header off the couch and landed directly on her head then bent back so I thought she had snapped her neck in two.

3. Dumped herself into the bathtub fully clothed when I stepped out for a minute. It wasn't even her bath time.

4. Jumped from the couch to the chair; and made it without falling.

5. Ate a bagel out of the trash.

6. Climbed on top of the dishwasher door and started tossing dishes out over her shoulder.

7. Took off her VERY dirty diaper during naptime.

I know some of you veteran moms are rolling your eyes because your kids have done these things and maybe ten times worse. I'm telling ya it's new for me though. That girl keeps me on my toes.

I know, I know...

I haven't posted all week. I'm sure some family members (Don't worry Mom and Brenda, I won't say it's you) are probably pretty upset they've gone a whole week without seeing a picture of the grand kids. We have been super swamped the past couple of weeks. Luckily I almost always have my little point and shoot camera in tow no matter where we are. So even though I haven't had time to write this week, I have captured our lives on film. So here is a little picture montage of our past couple of weeks, complete with captions!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Twleve Years and We Still Got It!

Well...we've still got it most days. Some days we don't got it. I'm proud to say that today is our 12th wedding anniversary. I'm so blessed to have Byron in my life. He's a wonderful husband, a great father and an awesome son and son-in-law. He makes me laugh and smile and feel all gooey inside (most of the time!). I love him and I'm so glad God choose him to be my little piece of heaven on earth. Check out our wedding pic. It looks like we were about 16 when we got married. Ha!! I thought we were so grown up back then. We were just babies.