Video for Gracie....

I've been meaning to do this for a while. My good friend Shelley made the neatest video of her first daughter Sienna, right after she was born, to this same song. I stole her idea, and made a little slide show for Gracie. (Hope you don't mind Shelley!) I can see that making slide shows on photoshop can be addicting. I don't plan on making anymore for a while. Now, I'm off to do laundry, cook, clean, etc.

my third attempt at making a slide show--

FINALLY---I've put together a little slide show using my new Adobe Photoshop Elements 8. Took me a day and a half to do this...lots of patience, many trial and error techniques, and a little help from my tech savvy husband. So here is our slide show of my favorite holiday pics. Enjoy the music--that's what took me SO long to figure out.

just 3 pics of the kiddos...

precious moment x 2

Love this. Here is Gracie right now at this very moment...

And here is Kate 8 years ago (almost exactly), nearly the same exact age...

Too bad I don't have one of Ella asleep in the exersaucer.
**Coming back to add a baby pic of Ella at 8 months also...didn't want her to be left out.

PJs and paper mache....

This has been a really nice relaxing weekend. The girls are still in the same PJs they have worn since Friday night. We decided to build gingerbread houses, but it really ended up being gingerbread-looking houses made from cardboard, candy and other found objects. I highly recommend this project for moms that can handle a very messy house for a couple of days. My girls loved this so much, that we are already talking about what we will do different next year.

Step 1: Construct houses using boxes and tape.


Step 2: Paper mache (just flour and water...make a paste, add cinnamon if you want the paste to smell good.) Gracie was happy to help out with ripping up the newspaper.



Step 3: We painted, I had some extra gesso--so I had the girls use that first.


Ella started her base coat of dark pinkish-red, while Kate and Gracie took a little break.


Step 4: Decorate with anything you can find. Ella's roof is made out of veggie chips.


Step 5: Sprinkle everything with coconut to make it look like snow. I used mod-podge to get the coconut to stick. It was freezing outside when I did this, and starting to snow.

Step 6: Display! You can make any house look fantastic by displaying with lights all around it. :)

A typical morning for Gracie...

In Gracie's words---as if she could talk:

Wake up, happy girl as always...mommy set me down for a second to fix Kate and Ella's lunch, so it's off to the dog food:



So, mommy snatches me up, and places me closer to her. Oh look, the Christmas tree! I can help tear the ribbons off the presents:

....and I'm off again.

Mom, did you say you wanted to run on the treadmill? Here, let me get on first.

And here is my early morning bath, which is a little out of order this morning because I'm being so onery and getting into everything:


Okay, that concludes the morning pics. After her bath, I was able to run a couple of miles, but I had to have her strapped in the car seat....so I know she doesn't get into anything. Lucky for me, she just happily watches me run. Oh my goodness, this one is keeping me on my toes. I'm far more exhausted now than I was having her as a newborn. Oh, I love all three of them so much....this was just one of those days I could hear God softly whispering, "Three is enough Amy, your plate is full." :)

Just a few more pics from the past couple of days:

all ready for school and a pop quiz...

What!? It's Monday, and Kate and Ella are all ready for school early?? That's a first! So here are a few pics from this happy morning...(Just love Gracie sportin' the llbean look.)




POP QUIZ-
Q: Kate or Gracie?

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A: Kate (I'm amazed how much they look the same--like twins separated by 8 years.)

Couple more-

Kate's swim meet this morning--Go Kate! Whoo Hoooo!

Backstroke-(Kate is in lane 2, with the camo suit, trimmed in hot pink--we could not find her competition suit this morning....my house is such a mess at the moment.

Freestyle-(again, lane 2)

Butterfly-she's in the far lane-- She's not super-fast, but I'm so glad she'll try this one...last meet she got DQ'd for not finishing w/both hands on the black strip together.

Overall, a fabulous day! This is my first meet to do with Scott being out of town. It was super-crowded, noisy, and not quite as well organized as the last meet. I was a little nervous about keeping Ella and Gracie entertained for over 3 hours in such a tight spot, but it was fine. Ella was able to play with her friend Emma--another kid sister from the team, and Gracie was a mellow, patient baby today--thank goodness. You never know with those teeth coming in. I think both of the bottom 2 teeth have broken through. She freaks out when I try to take a peak---so I'll check again in a couple of days...maybe try and take some pictures--like I don't have enough pics of her already.

I was so proud of Kate. Not only did she do a great job of swimming, but she's really starting to have more confidence/independence. Parents were not allowed on the swim deck AT ALL for this meet--so Kate had to be responsible for where she needed to be and when. I can't think of one time today that Kate seemed nervous or anxious, which is huge for her. She can be a pretty nervous kid. So YEA KATE!! I'm one proud momma, if you can't tell. ;) **And a special thanks to all of you that checked to see how Kate did today or commented on fb....it means a lot. :)

my girls have been laughing at this the last 30 minutes...

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Here's another one...I'll show them this one tomorrow morning, I just love hearing all of the girls giggling all together--even Gracie was cracking up.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Okay---ONE more. Good grief, this site is a little addictive.

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

few Gracie pics, freezing fog, and the big girls don't have school tomorrow :)

I just can't stop taking pictures of this baby...this first picture cracks me up--very much a Scott expression.



Here's a pic of the freezing fog rolling in-

K and E get to stay up late watching DVR'd Christmas movies-

another thrift store find...

I got a little kitchen for Gracie, even though she's a bit young for it at the moment. I would normally not go for such a big plastic item like this, but for $19.99--why the heck not? I wiped it down with Clorox wipes, and it's as good as new! Right now the kitchen is in Ella's room, but I'll move it to Gracie's in a few months. Kate and Ella came home from school and played with it for hours....with Gracie too. :)



We have a lovely full moon tonight....so nice to see a break in the clouds this time of year in Washington!

Gracie's favorite places, getting lights up, etc.

If you can't find Gracie, she's either in the pantry, or trying to get into the umbrella basket:


Christmas decorations, YEA!!:




Gracie has got to be the cutest 7 month old in the world. That is my very biased opinion, of course. :) I've got to take a lot more pics of her in this hat!

---and I just had to add this on; This is what Gracie is doing right this instant:

This is the reason I'm not keeping up with the blog very well. She's pulling up on EVERYTHING, cruising along furniture, and TRYING TO WALK.