The Birthday

Okay, so Sunday was a bit more relaxed than Saturday's whole day was. We got up that morning and had breakfast, then off to church we went. Bryan's mom and my mom and Tina all came to church because I was singing a special song for Gracie on her birthday, and they did a slideshow of pictures for me.
We came home that afternoon for lunch (Bryan's mom got us Captain D's-yum!) and then sang Happy Birthday to Gracie, as seen in the picture below. She was a little confused about the candle and just wanted to eat the Dora face off the cupcake!


Playing with her Dora Etch-A-Sketch.

The Birthday Party (Part 2)

There are more pictures to come, including a cupcake picture from this afternoon after church, but Jessica has a ton of pictures on her dad's camera I hope to get from him sometime this week and upload!

Gracie on the horsie she fights Camden for at her Mawmaw's house.


Opening her presents outside.


Taking out the tissue paper....


Opening her little dog carrier (the dog tucked away inside) from Avery, Bailey,and Ms. Jenny.

The Birthday Party (Part 1)

Gracie's birthday party yesterday was a big success. FYI for anyone who cares, I hate daylight savings time. It's the only time of year I can go to bed at 8:30 (I was exhausted) and then be up at 5:45 this morning. BLAH!
Okay, on to the party.....Princess Poo (this affectionate nickname was given to Gracie by her "favorite aunt" Tina) racked up on clothes, and toys as well. She also got some very pretty jewelry from her Mawmaw and Miss Tasha. There were a ton of kids, so here are some shots from the party.
We did not get to sing Happy Birthday because after opening the gifts, most of our guests started to trickle out. So we brought some cupcakes home to sing Happy Birthday this afternoon since today is her official "birth" day.


Gracie & her Aunt Jessica

Mr. Preston. I asked him to smile, he refused!

Mason (L) and Gracie (R) on the swings, with Mason's mom, Brooke in the background

Noah (on the airplane) and Jackson (on the slide)

Another shot of Jackson

A Spook-tacular Evening!

Here are the small handful of Halloween pictures, as promised! To say that Miss Gracie had a wonderful afternoon/evening would be an understatement. She was in total awe that just by saying "Trick or Treat!" (which she did very well, thanks to some pre-training from her grandmother earlier this afternoon. She would say it, random strangers would drop candy in her basket, and she would look (wide-eyed) at the basket and then glance over her shoulder in bewildermint. It was as if she was thinking,"Okay...so this is how this works...but WHY are these people giving me all this candy??"
Gracie's two favorite people from church (Avery and Noah, as pictured below) went with us to walk the shoppes of Downtown Prattville and then to the Fall Festival at First Baptist Church in Prattville before heading to our own church for their Fall Festival. Needless to say, she "racked up" on candy as Bryan put it.

L: Avery the Kitty Cat and R: Gracie as Dorothy (Mom had to hold Toto and the basket)
Notice how Gracie sweetly turned her head to make sure Avery was looking at the camera too!

This is what happens when you try to stick three toddlers (okay, two toddlers and a big girl) in a picture together. Apparently Superman, Kitty Cat, and Dorothy just don't cut it as friends. Plus these were some hot and tired kids by this time!

Gracie on a horsie. I was shocked when she didn't scream bloody murder when they made her get off!

Back at Glynwood (our church), Dorothy and Toto are reunited!

So I've already been through all the candy, only two pieces of which Gracie was allowed to consume tonight. But I have to wrap up this post quick because there is a peanut butter cup and mini hershey bar that is calling my name. And Bryan can't get to it first!

Upcoming Festivities

So Gracie's second birthday is less than a week away, and already I'm nervous. I have so much stuff to get done before the party on Saturday that I'm packing Gracie up and sending her to Nana Kay's for a sleepover on Friday night!
Anyhow, on Sunday I'm singing a solo at church and in honor of Princess Poo's 2nd birthday, I'm doing a song called "Find Your Wings" that I heard at the Woman of Faith conference in August. A slideshow of pictures will be playing during me solo. Here is a small slideshow of those pictures. Enjoy!

I am Thankful

I am thankful for pictures like these. I am thankful for having this beautiful little girl in my life, for more reasons than I can begin to explain. It is other random bloggers like
this onewho make me realize how motherhood comes quickly for some, while others have tried for years and years; some succeed and some are heartbroken again and again at each attempt that doesn't work out.
So I am thankful for my little angel who can sing silly words to song she knows. And then demand that I kiss all five fingers when only one really hurts.
I am thankful for the animal noises she has learned to make, even if she always giggles after every sound.
Most of all, I am just grateful that my life has been blessed by her presence. She is a gift from God. And I am eternally grateful.

I'm sorry; What?

I heard (okay, so I read) actually on yahoo.com yesterday that Britney Spears is losing custody of her children on Wednesday. Which is now tomorrow. Okay, so the first thought in my silly little head was 'why is this front page entertainment news?' And the second one was, 'Well that sucks for those two boys but who didn't see that one coming?'
Britney is....Britney. And Britney appears to be one of those people who is all for having children only to think of the consequences and/or responsibility that those children come with only after the fact.
I'm sure somewhere in her heart of hearts, Britney wanted to be a mom. Britney just didn't understand that being a mom involves alot more giving of your time and energy than she wanted to hand over. Britney stills wants to party. And there's absolutely nothing wrong with that, except that now you're going to hand those two little boys over to an even bigger nightmare (His name is K-Fed? How screwed up is that.) And newsflash, Britney: If he'll leave his pregnant girlfriend and mother of his little girl, who's to say these boys are not better off with more
responsible parents than you or K-Fed?