Foley Family News

Facebook and Disneyland ... twice.

2009-03-22T14:11:00.000-07:00

I have been such a bad blogger since I got on Facebook. It's just so much easier to put a quick update on Facebook rather than write a whole post and add pictures to the blog. I love my blog because it a great journal of our life, but I have found that my life just doesn't have time to blog right now. I will definately try better.

So, what has the Foley family been up to? We have been to Disneyland twice. Once in January for Tristan and Hailey's birthdays and then again for the weekend at the end of February.

Here are some pictures from our January trip. It was me, Tim Grace, Kelly, Chris, Hailey, Tristan, my Mom, my Dad, my Grandma, and my brother Sean. It was so great to have us all together.

Our trip in February was just me Tim and Grace. We left after work on a Friday night and drove up to my parents house to drop off the dog. We then headed down to our hotel, which was about 2-1/2 blocks from the front gates of Disneyland. We went right to bed so we would be well rested for the next day. In the morning we headed out on the short walk up to Disneyland and stopped at McDonald's on the way for a quick breakfast. We got to the entrance plaza just as the gates opened ... perfect timing. Since we have been to Disneyland a lot lately we decided we were going to take our time and really enjoy it we thought we would and let Grace choose what she wanted to ride. First up ... Dumbo. After a few hours of rides and meeting some of our favorite characters we headed over to Califonia Adventure, we wanted to try to get on the new Toy Story ride before it really got crowded. I am so glad we got on it, it was so fun! It is a 3D ride and you shoot stuff for points ... If the line wasn't so long I would have rode it again. It was almost 12:30 by then and we had reservations for the princess lunch so we we went to check in. Lunch was great. Grace was so starstruck meeting all of the princesses, it was so cute! After lunch it was back to the hotel for naps ... all of us :) After our naps we headed back to the park for an evening of rides, rides and more rides. What a fun day!

The next day we took a little extra time getting out of bed but we still got to the parks only a little after the gates opened. We decided to do stuff that we hadn't done at Disneyland yet such as ride the Riverboat and explore the Pirate's Lair (which is the old Tom Sawyer's Island). It was so neat. There were all kinds of trails and caves to explore with pirates treasure to search for. I am glad we took the time to do that, Grace had a lot of fun. After the island and a quick lunch we headed home. What a fun weekend!

Night At The Foley House

2009-01-09T21:31:00.000-08:00

Here is a cute video of Grace dancing and twirling her baton last night. Enjoy!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8720170306766393996&hl=en

Welcome Missy

2008-12-29T21:38:00.001-08:00

Two weeks ago we welcomed a new addition to our family. Please welcome Missy, out new bulldog! She is 3 years old and we adopted her from the So Cal Bulldog rescue. She is very sweet and mellow. She is awsome with Grace. Grace became attached the minute we brought her home.

Christmas

2008-12-26T10:51:00.001-08:00

Christmas Eve was nice and quiet with Tim, Grace and I enjoying each other. We went to Christmas service at church at 4:30. Grace was great during church!!! After church the 3 of us went out for a nice dinner. After dinner we headed home to call Tim's family, they were all gathering at Tim's mom's house in San Francisco to celebrate. After talking with all of them we got in our Pj's and opened a few gifts from Tim's side of the family. We prepared a plate of cookies and cup of milk for Santa and then got Grace down to sleep.

Bright and very early Christmas morning Grace was up and ready to see if Santa had come. First she saw the empty plate of cookies and her eyes were as wide as saucers. Then she saw all of the gifts under the tree and she said, "Oh my goodness!" It was so cute. All Grace kept saying she wanted for Christmas when anybody asked her was ... candy. So she went to her stocking and she said, "I think Santa put candy in here!"

After a whirlwind of opening gifts we got ready and got on the road to my parent's house for a fun day of just hanging out. Around 3:00 my sister, husband and two kids arrived and the whirlwind of opening gifts started all over. It was so much fun!

Our Christmas was so blessed!

Christmas Activities

2008-12-26T10:35:00.000-08:00

I know, I have been such a bad blogger... I will try better. I can't believe Christmas has come and gone, just like that. Our month of December was filled with fun Christmas activities. Here our a few highlights of our month ...

Our adoption playgroup decided to do a Breakfast with Santa potluck. We all brought yummy breakfast food and we even had some mimosas for the adults to enjoy. After eating we had a special visit from Santa!!! All of the boys loved Santa, the girls on the other hand wern't too sure of of the big guy. Grace got close to him but would not sit on his lap. She did give him a hug before he left though.

This december we did lots of crafts and baking. Grace was so fun and helpful this year. She loves being given a job, weather it be to mix the batter or clean up all of the scraps from a project, she will take the responsibility and get the job done. One of the fun projects we did was to make a ginger bread house. We did this last year and had a great time. I thought it could be a little tradition of ours. This year's house turned out much better than last years.

Another tradition that started a few years back is to visit the live nativity at our church then hop in the car and take a drive over to a neighborhood in our town that goes all out with the Christmas lights. This year we had some friends over for dinner then we did the nativity and lights together. We walked the whole neighborhood and Grace loved seeing all of the different light displays. She loved it so much we drove it again the next night. It was really cold that night so here is a cute picture of her all bundled up in her new hat and "globes", ready to go.

Halloween

2008-11-10T15:02:00.000-08:00

Our Halloween was very special this year. Tim's mom flew in that day from San Francisco to spend the weekend with us. Grace dressed up as a fairy this year. My mom bought the pattern for this costume a long time before she had any grandchildren. She said that one day she would have a girl grand baby to make the costume for. Well ... this was finally the year! The costume turned out soooooooo cute. It was the perfect year for Grace to be a fairy since Tinkerbell just came out on video. Every time Grace see the commercial she gets so excited. I think Santa will have to bring that movie to her this year. Enjoy the pictures!

Pumpkins!

2008-11-10T14:50:00.000-08:00

I love fall, I love pumpkins, I love Halloween! Here are some cute pictures ...

Camping

2008-10-18T20:51:00.000-07:00

I am a little behind on updating my blog. Here are pictures from our camping trip in September.

Our Little Princess

2008-08-07T07:52:00.000-07:00

Grace got a lot of dress up clothes for her birthday. Her favorite right now is her Snow White costume, especially the Snow White shoes. She puts the shoes on every day when she gets home.

Ariel Party

2008-07-24T10:00:00.001-07:00

A couple months ago, when I started thinking about Grace's birthday party, I couldn't decide on a theme. I decided to print out a page of all of the different themes that I found on one of the birthday party store websites. I showed the page to Grace and let her pick which one she wanted. She immediately picked Little Mermaid. I was really excited because I have loved Little Mermaid since it came out, it's one of my favorite movies of all time.

Since Grace picked the theme so many months ago she has been asking me almost everyday if her Ariel party is today. Finally, the day of the big party came on Sunday. We held the party at the same indoor play area that we had her party at last year, Playtown. We ended up having 34 adults and 16 kids! The party was a blast, all of the kids had a lot of fun. Cake was the only thing that got the kids to sit down for a minute.

Grace got so much great stuff. We are so blessed to have such wonderful family and friends.

Happy Birthday

2008-07-22T08:40:00.000-07:00

Today our sweet baby girl turns 3!!

Happy Birthday Sweetie!!!

WE LOVE YOU!!!

Good-bye Penny Girl

2008-07-15T08:26:00.000-07:00

We had to say good-bye to our beloved Penny girl yesterday. Tim had Penny before he met me and when I fell in love with Tim, I fell in love with Penny too. Penny had a good long life. We are going to miss her more than words can express.

4th of July

2008-07-10T07:45:00.000-07:00

I need to start by saying I LOVE FIREWORKS!!! In the past few years we haven't had the opportunity to go see any. Grace was still so little and would get really cranky if we went off of her sleep schedule. Plus, she doesn't really like loud noises, she covers her ears when the gardner comes or if a motorcycle goes by.

When I was little our tradition was to go to my Grandma's house for a BBQ then all of my aunts, uncles and cousins would pile into cars and head out to Shaler Park (Pittsburgh) to watch the fireworks. We would bring blankets, chairs, and snacks and we would settle in for the firework display. My sister would always sit in front of my mom or Grandma and they would cover her ears because she hated the loud booms.

After we moved to California we didn't really get into the swing of creating a tradition for 4th of July. A couple years in a row we would take a picnic dinner to a park that was about a mile away from the fireworks. We could see them, but we wern't right there getting the full effect of the fireworks. As we got older we kind of all went our seperate ways for the 4th.

This year, Corona (where my parents live), moved their fireworks to this huge park across from my parent's old house. We decided to make a picnic dinner and make an evening out of it. We got to the park at about 6:00 PM and the festivities were in full swing. They had a band that played the entire time, jumpy's for the kids, a rock wall, games, and food booths. Grandma brought a pinwheel for Grace and she was marching around with it like she was the leader of a band. We were sitting on a hill and Grace turned so her back was facing down the hill and she fell backwards and realized that she could do backward rolls. I picked Grass out of her hair for days from her rolling down the hill! Finally it was time for fireworks. I was worried that Grace wouldn't like the fireworks because of the loud noise, but she loved them! It was such a fun and perfect 4th of July!

San Antonio - Days 3.4. and 5

2008-07-07T10:02:00.000-07:00

The next day we decided we wanted to take it easy. We were pretty tired from two action packed days of fun. A lazy day by the pool is just what we needed. I think the pictures say it all ...

After after all of the pool fun and naps we headed downtown to expolore the Alamo and Riverwalk. The Alamo is smaller then what you picture, but the history there is so great. The Riverwalk is like nothing I have ever seen. It is a beautiful, tropic, meandering river with tons of restuarants, bars, hotels, and nightlife. We took the boat tour and then had dinner.

On our last full day in San Antonio we went to the San Antonio Children's Museum. We have been to a lot of children's museums and this is one of the best. It had a lot of Texas culture in the activities. One of our favorite things at the museum was the fake cow that you could milk. After the museum we went to the Buckhorn Saloon for lunch. It was a very interesting, old saloon. All of the walls were covered with animal heads.

Later that evening we went back to the Riverwalk for dinner and then we sat outside and listened to a band play while we had some ice cream. Grace was digging the music and even showed off her dance skills a little. I will add a video of Grace and her dance soon, so please check back. It was the perfect end to our wonderful vacation!

San Antonio - Day 2

2008-06-20T15:30:00.000-07:00

We got up and got ready and our friends met us in the parking lot of our hotel. After a quick review of our directions we got on the road to the Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch and Caverns. It was about a 30 minute drive and we were pulling into the Wildlife Ranch.

The Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch is dubbed "African Safari - Texas Style". As you enter the park they give you a bag of food and they tell you to drop the food outside of your car as you drive through the ranch. It was amazing, the animals were right there!!! I think the pictures speak for themselves. My favorite part was when the Zebra stuck his head in our car. I have never seen a zebra so close and I never dreamt of feeding a zebra out of my hand!!!

After the drive through we parked and went in to have lunch in the cafe. After a quick lunch we went outside to the petting zoo area to see some more animals and take some pictures.

Right next to the gate for the Wildlife Ranch is the gate for the Natural Bridge Caverns so we went there next. We took a guided tour of the caverns and saw some spectacular rock formations. The path takes you down about 200 feet into the ground and some parts were very steep and very slippery. I was worried that Grace wouldn't be able to walk it and that we would have to carry her, but it turns out that I had nothing to worry about. Our little girl was a trooper, she walked almost the entire way herself!

It was a long day and we were all exhausted by the time we got back to the hotel so we all took naps. After nap time we grabbed a quick bite to eat then headed to the pool to cool off. The perfect end to a fun day

Look for the continuation of our trip soon!

We're Back Ya'All

2008-06-15T15:51:00.001-07:00

We went on vacation to San Antonio, Texas last week and we had a blast!

We arrived in San Antonio around 6:45 pm on Sunday 6/9. We stepped out of the airport into stifling heat. It was 98 degrees with 82% humidity, yuck! After getting our rental car we made our way out to our hotel. We checked in and got settled then went down to the resaurant in the hotel. After a quick bite to eat we decided to take a walk around and check it out before heading back upstairs. We walked out in the courtyard by the pool and found a movie playing on the wall, fire pits blazing and the smell of roasting marshmellows in the air. It was really neat! We stopped by the playground and Grace played for a little while then we headed up to our room for a good night sleep.

Bright and early the next morning I opened the door to Grace's room and she rolled over and smiled and said, "See Shamu now?" Yep, we headed out to Sea World on the shuttle and were there before they opened. Some of you are probably thinking ... "You live and San Diego and have a Sea World there ..." Well, I heard this Sea World has some different stuff and we were meeting our friends there so it was a great opportunity to compare the two parks.

We met up with our friends at the dolphin feeding. It was so great to see them! After spending a small fortune in fish for the dolphins, we stopped by the shark exhibit then went over to Shamu's Happy Harbor where there was a cute little roller coaster. Unfortunately Grace was about a half of an inch too short and they wouldn't let her ride. She was so upset. Across from the roller coaster was a water play area, so while our friends rode the roller coaster I took Grace to the bathroom to change into her swim suit. It was only 10:00 am and it was really starting to heat up so the water was a nice cool down for the kids.

Next on the agenda was to check out the water area of the park called Lost Lagoon. I didn't know what to expect, but our friends planned on spending the rest of the day there. As we approached the entrance to the Lost Lagoon we saw a huge crowd of people waiting to get in, apparently that area doesn't open till 11:00. After walking down a long path it opened up to a giant waterpark. It was like you were in a whole different park. There was a lazy river, wave pool, toddler area, tons of water slides and a giant play area with water cannons, buckets toppling over, and water shooting out of various valves. It was really neat! I think our Sea World needs something like this! We spent the rest of the afternoon there and we had a blast. At one point we got seperated from our friends and while strolling around we heard our names being called. We looked up and above us, waiting in line for a huge water slide, were our friends. They called for us to come up there and ride with them. They said that they check the height and Grace could ride too! On this slide you rode down the chutes in a raft of 4 people. I was a bit nervous about how Grace would do, but she was excited to go on. Of course she had a blast and giggled the whole way down! I am sorry to say that I didn't get any pictures while we were in the water park because we were having just oo much fun!

It was getting to be pretty late in the afternoon and I knew if I didn't get Grace down for a nap the evening would not be fun. We gathered our stuff and headed back to the hotel for some rest.

After a nap for Grace and showers for Mom and Dad we were ready to meet our friends for dinner. There was a BBQ place on the corner by our hotel and we asked the shuttle driver who took us over to Sea Worl if that BBQ place was good. He said it is probably the best around so we thought we would give it a try. Rudy's is a country store, gas station and BBQ (very interesting). The food was yummy!!!

After dinner we caught a shuttle from our hotel over to Sea World for the Shamu Rocks show. I really liked the Shamu stadium here. It was completely covered offering nice shade from the sun. It was still unbearably hot because there was no breeze, but at least the sun wasn't beating down on us. The Shamu show was good. It was to all country music, which I loved!

That pretty much sums up day 1. Day 2 of our trip report to come soon!

First Roller Coaster

2008-05-15T10:10:00.000-07:00

Roller coasters have been a part of my life since I rode my first one before I could speak full sentances. I LOVE roller coasters! I remember going to Kennywood Park when I was little and begging to go on the roller coasters. The Little Dipper was the first one I rode. I needed and wanted more after that first ride ... The next one was the Jack Rabbit. I was so little that my mom had to wrap her arms around me to hold me in my seat on the killer double hill ... all the while I laughed like crazy! Roller coasters hold a lot of special momories for me. I got to go off with my mom, grandma, and pappy and ride the roller coasters while my dad stayed with my little brother and sister. My brother and sister never grew to like roller coasters until they were adults so it was always a special time that I got to spend with the adults.

Yesterday we took the day off and took Grace to Disneyland. Our annual passes are about to expire at the beginning of June so we wanted to get one more trip in. It's so crowded and hot in the summer so we probably won't renew our passes until the fall.

The day was beautiful. We got on the road at about 6:30 and after a stop at Starbuck's we headed north on the 5 freeway. We walked up to the front gates just after the park opened at 9:15 am. Our plan was to head straight to Nemo. The lines had been so long all of the other times we were there. We waited 45 minutes to ride it and it was ok. Next we headed to Mickey's Toontown where we went straight to the Go Coaster. I couldn't wait to take Grace on her first roller coaster. I was hoping she would love it ... I was not disappointed. She smiled and laughed during the whole ride. As soon as we got off she wanted to ride again. It made me so HAPPY!

We are in the front car, I will try to edit the picture for a close up.

Mother's Day

2008-05-13T08:46:00.000-07:00

I hope all of the Mother's had a wonderful day!

I had a day that could not get more perfect! We had a nice brunch at the Omni Hotel, downtown. After brunch we went to the New Children's Museum.

Castle Park

2008-05-13T08:21:00.001-07:00

When I was 13 we moved from Pennsylvania to California. My parents were just learning the area and they would always try to find fun stuff for us to do. I have no idea how they came to find Castle Park, but it became a place where we made tons of fun memories. Castle Park is a little amusement park/arcade/miniature golf course. The mini golf course is like no other that I have ever been to in my life, even now. There are 4 courses that weive in and out of each other. All of them are beautifully landscaped and they have really fun obstacles to get through. They have a lot of holes where you hit the ball into a hole and it comes out down on a different level and you don't know where it is going to come out. The arcade was always great for a competive game of air hockey and I could always be found at the Pac Man machine. We would collect endless amounts of tickets from the skee ball machines, hoping for a great prize but always ended up going home with a rubber ball or something just as lame. As I got older Castle Park became a fun place to "hang out". My frinds and I would ride the "big" rides, most of which spin you until your brain felt like scrambled eggs and later we would over dose on cotton candy. We would always scope out the place for cute boys, I think I even had a crush on a boy working at one of the carnival games.
I tell you all of this because a couple of weekends ago I went to Castle Park for the first time in almost 15 years! I wasn't sure what to expect ... was it going to be the same as I remeber it in all of my fun memories? Had the place gotten run down over the years? Had they completely changed the place? Well ... it was everything i remembered it to be and more. Being a mom I saw the park through a whole new set of eyes. I didn't realize they had so many cute kiddie rides! The park had been kept up and barely changed at all in 15 years. We had a really great time. I can't wait until Grace is big enough to play mini golf. I know that we will create so many fun new memories there.

Mother's Day Project

2008-05-07T08:21:00.001-07:00

For my mom's first Mother's Day as a Grandma I made her a stepping stone for her garden. Grace was just 10 months and we made an imprint of her hand and decorated it with colored glass. My mom LOVED it! She asked that we make one every year on Mother's Day. My dad also loved the stones and asked that we make him one for Father's day too. When they moved into their new house, my parents planned a place for the stones with room to grow over the years. It is a special tradition that we always have fun doing. So here are a couple of pictures of us making my mom's stone this year.

Legoland

2008-04-29T15:41:00.000-07:00

Since Tim and I work during the week we really try to make the most of the time we have as a family on the weekends, especially on Saturdays that Tim does not have to work or coach Little League. Last week we were trying to figure out what to do on Saturday. We really wanted to use our Disney annual passes again before it really starts to get crowded, but we realized that Saturday was one of our blackout dates. I've had a coupon for Legoland sitting on my dining room table for weeks now, so I mentioned it to Tim. He thought it was a good idea. We haven't been to Legoland since we met up there with some friends who were down on vacation. At the time Grace was a little over a year old and really couldn't ride anything. So Saturday we headed out to Legoland.

It was such a fun day. Grace was tall enough to ride a majority of the rides. There was one ride that she had her own seat and Daddy sat behind her and there was even one ride that she had to ride alone! She is such a daredevil. She loved everything! She was such a good girl too. She is a pro at standing in lines now, since we have been taking her to amusement parks and stuff. She even did great at telling me she had to go potty, holding it until we could find a restroom and going potty in the public restrooms. She is getting so BIG!

Wild Animal Park

2008-04-29T15:25:00.000-07:00

We are so lucky to live in San Diego! There are so many fun things to do. A couple of weeks ago we decided to venture north to the Wild Animal Park. We go to the zoo all of the time, so we thought it would be a nice change to check out the Wild Animal Park. We had fun taking the safari ride and seeing all of the animals roaming around. Here are some great pictures, ENJOY!

Heat Wave

2008-04-13T21:40:00.001-07:00

We had a heat wave this weekend, with temperatures in the high 90's.We took full advantage of the hot wether and did lots of fun stuff. On Saturday we packed a lunch and head for the beach. A lot of people had the same idea, the beaches were packed! We found a nice shady spot next to a playground at Mission Bay. We had lunch, played in the sand and splashed in the water. It was a blast! Grace fell asleep on the way home and ended up sleeping for 3 hours so I took that opportunity to take a nap myself, it was glorious! When she got up we filled up her little pool in the backyard and tried to stay cool by splashing around out there. After dinner we finished off our hot day by going out for ice cream. It was such a great day!

On Sunday after church we decided to go to Victoria's gardens to pick strawberries. Grace was being a little prissy, she didn't want to pick the strawberries herself, but she gladly pointed them out to Daddy and made him pick them. It was funny.

It was such a great weekend. My life is so blessed!

The Wiggles

2008-04-13T21:24:00.000-07:00

I am a little behind on my posts, sorry.

A couple of weeks ago we went with Kelly, my mom, Tristan and Hailey to see The Wiggles. I don't particularly care for them and Grace has only seen them on TV a couple of times, but Kelly got some great seats to the show in Los Angeles so we went. The kids were mesmerized by it all and they had a great time. Here are some cute pictures.

Easter

2008-03-26T21:33:00.001-07:00

Easter morning started off quite early, 4:30 to be exact. Yep, Grace is an early riser! We tried to get her to lay in bed with us for a little while, but that didn't last very long. So we got up and went to see what the Easter Bunny brought her. Among the stuff in her basket was a purple tutu, necklace, bracelet, and ring. Of course she had to put it all on right way.

After having breakfast and getting ready we got on the road to my parent's house. We swung by their house and picked them up and headed to church. It was a beautifully warm day and the church service was a beauitiful celebration.

After church we went back to Gramma and Papa's house for some lunch and a nap. While Grace napped and the boys watched basketball, my mom and I headed to the gym for a little workout. It was actually really nice to hang out with my mom and just talk.

A little later Kelly and Chris came over with Tristan and Hailey and Sean came over with Christina. The kids had a great time opening their Easter baskets, running around, and playing together. After dinner we headed to the backyard for an Easter egg hunt. It had been so hot earlier in the day, we were afraid the candy in the eggs would melt. It worked out great, the kids had a blast.

Eggcellent Fun

2008-03-17T13:27:00.000-07:00

We colored Easter eggs last night. It was good messy fun. Here are some pictures.

Potty Time

2008-03-15T14:58:00.000-07:00

We have tried to start potty training Grace several times, but she just wasn't ready. She would sit on the potty for long periods of time but nothing would happen. As soon as we would pull up her pants she would go.

A few weeks ago Grace and I were out shopping and I noticed some big girl panties on sale so I showed them to Grace and asked her to pick some out. She never gave them another thought until Wednesday morning. When getting her dressed for the day she wanted to go sit on the potty. After sitting for awhile nothing happened and I got her dressed. I asked her if she wanted to take her big girl panties to Lora's today and go on the potty. She said yes and went to the drawer where I kept the panties and grabbed the whole pile and stuffed them into her "purse". Potty traing that day went better than all of the previous times. She actually stayed dry for almost 4 hours and she didn't fight Lora when asked to sit on the potty. On Thursday it was more of the same, but this time she would run to the potty but not quite make it. Finally Thursday night before bedtime she went pee pee on the potty! YAY! We were all so excited, with lots of hugs and kisses and of course ... candy :) On Friday she went on the potty at Lora's and she had to call me at work to tell me, it made my day. A little before noon Lora calls me and says "I just have to tell you, Grace went in and sat on the potty on her own. She was in there about 10 minutes when I went to check on her and she was asleep!" The only camera that Lora had was poleroid so it didn't come out the well, but how cute is this ?!!!

First Haircut

2008-02-28T09:40:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday I took Grace for her first haircut. We went to the salon where I get my haircut. Grace goes with me a lot of the times when I get my hair cut so she is familiar with the salon and Melissa, my stylist.

Melissa started by washing Graces's hair in the sink, just like a grown up. It was so cute because Grace just sat there and relaxed like a big girl. After the wash she sat her in the chair and proceeded to to the cut. Grace was an angel! She was like a little princess sitting there all perfect. After the cut was done, Melissa twisted little sections around her fingers to make long defined curls all over. Then she took 4 little sections in the front and twisted them back and put little flower clips in. She looked so cute! Melissa barely took off any hair. We just wanted the dry ends trimmed off and for her hair to look healthier. Another big milestone for my little girl!

D-I-Y

2008-02-22T07:54:00.001-08:00

We decided that our master bathroom need a little spiffing up. It is the only room in our entire house that we have never painted, so it really need it. If you have never been to our house, our master bath consists of a toilet and tub/shower behind a door and the sink/vanity is outside the door. Where the sink/vanity is we had fixed up with a new mirror and light fixture when we moved in because it was like part of our bedroom, but we had never got around to doing anything with what was behind the door.

So here is the before and after pictures. We painted, got new shower doors, and some really nice new peel and stick tile for the floor. It was an inexpensive way to make that room look a million times better! Yay us!

Princesses

2008-02-21T20:28:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago, I went to pick Grace up from daycare and she told me that she wanted to see "lella in ice". I looked at Lora (our daycare lady) and said what does that mean. She said that Grace had seen a commercial for Princesses on Ice and freaked out. I looked into going to the show but it was kind of expensive for halfway decent seats and I would rather wait until she is a little older when she can remember it and appreciate it. Tim and I have been wating to get back to Disneyland and I thought maybe we could take Grace to the lunch with the Princesses. In the meantime Grace has been watching Cinderella a couple of times a week.

Finally 2 Sundays ago we went. We rode a few rides at Disneyland, then headed over to California Adventure for a few more rides then it was time to go to lunch. The place where the lunch is held is called Ariel's Grotto. When you get in you go down a spiral staircase and waiting for you at the bottom is Ariel. Grace saw her and just stared. We encouraged her to go up to Ariel so we could take some pictures. Slowly Grace walked over to her and impulsively gave Ariel a big hug! It was so cute. After our pictures with Ariel we were led to our table. Soon the princesses arrival was announced by one of their court way at the other end of the room. One by one they announced each princess, Cinderella being first. As soon as she was announced Grace looked like she was about to crawl out of her skin. She was cranning her neck to get just a glimpse of her. Soon Cinderalla made it to our table. The look on Grace's face when she saw her was priceless. She was STAR STRUCK! It was as if all of her dreams had come true. It was such a special moment that I started to cry. Grace was in such awe that she wouldn't take her eyes off her so I could get a good picture. Cinderella was followed by Snow White, Belle, and Aurora (Sleeping Beauty). Grace enjoyed seeing all of them, but she was not in awe with the others as she was with Cinderella.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2008-02-14T14:30:00.000-08:00

I hope everybody has a day filled with LOVE!

I can't believe how long it has been since I have written, I am so sorry, time just got away from me.

This week Grace was sick with the flu. 4 agonizing days of a 103.5 fever and she is now finally better. Of course now I am coming down with a cold, yuck. Tim had a sinus infection a couple of weeks ago and the doctor reccomended a product called Sinus Rinse. This might turn into an infomercial .... This Sinus Rinse is the best thing EVER!!!! Tim used it and immediately felt relief in his throbing sinuses. That evening he slept better than he had in a month. So, when I started to feel the scratchy throat and stuffy head I went out and bought my very own Sinus Rinse kit. It took me a day to work up the nerve to use it. I hate nasal sprays and stuff, I usually have a really hard time using those. I felt so bad when I woke up yesterday that I would have tried anything ... So I did it! OH MY GOSH!!!!!!!!!!!!! It worked so good! I felt like my cold disappeared instantly, it was amazing. I have to admit it feels really weird when you are doing it, the solution goes up one nostrile and pours out the other. It kind of feels like you got knocked down by a wave in the ocean and water went up your nose. If you would like to try Sinus Rinse you can buy it at any Walmart, Rite Aid, Walgreens, and pretty much any drugstore.

We went to Disneyland again last weekend and we took Grace to the Princess lunch. Look for more to come about that soon ...

Fun Weekend

2008-01-21T14:33:00.000-08:00

We had a lot of fun this weekend. Our niece, Megan, is a freshman at UCLA. She called us last week and asked if she could come down and spend the weekend with us. So Friday night she took the train down and we picked her up and went out to dinner.

Saturday morning Grace started her gymnastics class at the YMCA. Last spring we did gymnastics at My Little Gym and it was great. I was wondering how gymnastics at the YMCA would compare. We decided to try the YMCA because it is a lot closer to our house and it is cheaper. With that in mind I didn't think it could possibly be as good as My Little Gym, I was very wrong. Gymnastics at the YMCA was TERIFFIC!!!! First of all, the class only had 5 kids in it, compared to 20 in the class at My Little Gym. Second, the class was more structured so the kids had very specific things they were supposed to do on each apparatus. At the end of class they were allowed to play on whatever they wanted. Grace did so great on everything. She especially suprised me when she jumped into the foam pit with nobody catching her. All of the other parents had to get in and have their child jump to them or hold their hands while they jumped. Not my Gracie, she jumped right in ... again and again. I was such a proud mamma.

On Sunday we went to brunch down at the beach. After eating we took off our shoes and rolled up our pants and went galavanting in the sand ... and a little bit of water. It was fun to be out on the beach in the middle of winter. I love San Diego!!

Sooter Girl

2008-01-20T19:05:00.000-08:00

Here are a few pictures of Grace on her scooter that she got for Christmas. It has been pretty nice outside in the afternoons so she has been riding it every chance she gets. She looks so cute in her princess helmet.

2008

2008-01-03T13:03:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it is 2008 already!

Tim and I both had to work till noon on New Year's eve and we didn't have daycare so Grace came to work with me! I came armed with a huge bag of toys and snacks. She was pretty good. Everytime she would hear the fax machine ring she would run over and wait for it to print then she would give all of the faxes to my co-worker, it was so funny. The guy in the office across from me is a Grandpa and he was a life saver! He played with her for a long time. It's funny, I went in there to check on them and she had put post-it's all over his office :) I am so lucky to work in such a laid back office!

Later in the evening we went over to our friends Jen, Troy and baby Jack's house for dinner and to hang out. There were a couple of other kids there and Grace played and played. We were getting ready to go home around 9:00 PM and for some reason Troy brought out some boxing gloves and put them on Grace ... this might have been a very bad idea, we'll see. I took some pictures, they were really funny.

Anyway we were home and in bed by 10:00 pm ... we have a toddler that wakes up very early!

***

San Francisco

2008-01-03T12:46:00.001-08:00

We arrived in San Francisco at around 11:00 am. The 7 hour drive was not bad at all. Grace was seriously an angel in the car. She slept for a couple of hours in the beginning then we turned on a movie on the portable DVD player. Then it was time to stop for some breakfast and she ate like a pig. Back on the road we sang songs, played with some toys, took turns hiding under a blanket (for some reason this is hilarious to her), we looked for different things out the window (there was a strech of the drive with lots of farm animals to spot), we colored, and we ate snacks. Upon arriving at Gramma's house Grace was so ready to get out of the car and Gramma was very excited to see us. We spent the afternoon relaxing and we opened a few presents from friends and family who had dropped them off at Gramma's for us.

The next morning we headed out to Pier 39 and Fisherman's Wharf. It was pretty chilly from what we are used to in Southern California, it didn't get out of the 40's during the day. We rode the carousel and looked at the seals then got a traditiona; San Francisco lunch of Clam Chowder in a Sourdough Bread bowl and crabcakes, YUM!

The rest of the week was spent visiting friends and family and spending lots of time with Gramma. It was a nice trip. We left at 4:00 am on Sunday morning and we were home in San Diego by 2:30 pm. We made a stop at my mom's in Corona to rest, eat and pick up all of the Christmas stuff we had left there. It was nice to be home.

***

Christmas Day

2008-01-03T09:13:00.000-08:00

Grace woke us up at a very dark 4:15 am!!!! AUGH!!! So we brought her into our bed for a little while. She had a cup of milk and watched her Pooh Christmas movie while mommy and daddy tried to get a little more sleep. Finally at 5:00 am we got out of bed and headed into the living room to see if Santa had come. Grace was so excited to see the pile of gifts under the tree. We got her started on her stocking. She was so excited every time she pulled something new out of it. It was so fun to watch her excitement! After opening her stocking I popped some cinnamon rolls in the oven and gave Grace the go ahead to bust into opening her gifts. She got a scooter, a helmet for riding the scooter, a puzzle, a play laptop, playdoh caddy, a game, some building blocks, and a play baking set. After all of the excitement Daddy and Grace settled into playing the game she got while mommy got a shower and packed the car to leave. We were on the road headed for Corona by 9:00 am.

Once at my Mom and Dad's house in Corona we had some brunch and relaxed until Kelly, Chris, Tristan and Hailey came over about 3:00 pm. Once we got all of the kids to sit down the gift frenzy began ... The kids got so much great stuff. Grace had 3 favorite gifts, a fuzzy backpack that has a pink poodle attached and it is a roller bag. She was rolling that thing all over the place. One of her other favorite gifts was a play Dirt Devil vacuum. It runs by batteries and it actually has a little bit of suction. She went around vacuuming everything. Last was the big gift from my parents ... a TRAMPOLINE! It is a little triangle shaped one and it has handles to hold onto while you jump. After getting it put together Grace climbed on it and went BONKERS! She was a maniac. Needless to say, she loved it.

After a nice dinner and yummy desserts we got Grace down to bed, rearranged the car, and turned in early hoping to get some good sleep before getting on the road early the next morning.

Next ... Our trip to San Francisco!

***

Christmas Eve

2008-01-03T09:02:00.000-08:00

Christmas eve started off a bit somber with the news of my uncle passing. We spent the day doing stuff around the house and packing for our upcoming trip to San Francisco. At 4:30 we got dressed up and went to Christmas service at our church. It was the first time Grace got to go into the big church with us. They had a family service where they encouraged all of the children to attend. Grace loved the music and the skits that they did. At one point our friends Liz and Kiel and their daughter Sara were stitting toward the front of our section and Kiel got up to take Sara out for a bit and Grace spotted them walking up the aisle and she yelled "SARA - mommy I see SARA!!" It was really loud, but cute. I had to smile. She was really good, I couldn't have asked for any better. After church we went out to dinner. When we got home we let Grace open the gifts that a couple of friends had given her. She really got into opening the gifts, Christmas morning was going to be a lot of fun.

***

Sea World

2008-01-03T07:41:00.000-08:00

The Sunday before Christmas we didn't have any plans so we decided to go to Sea World for a little while It was a BEAUTIFUL day. We visited the Wild Artic exhibit, where the Beluga Whales, Polar Bears and Walrus' were in full force. They were all super playful and a lot of fun to watch. We spent a lot of time in there. At one point we were watching the Walrus swim around and he came right up to the glass where Grace was standing and he put his flipper right on the glass by her head, it scared her half to death! It was hilarious! After the Wild Artic we went to the dolphin show. Grace loved when the dolphins jumped really high out of the water. She stood there watching with an amazed look on her face. We had a nice lunch and explored the park a little more then headed home. We had a great time.

***

Happy New Year!

2008-01-01T15:19:00.000-08:00

We just want to wish everybody a wonderful New Year! We hope 2008 brings you much joy, happiness, and good health!

Our holidays turned out to be very nice. Grace was spoiled by so much love it was incrediable. Thank you to all of our friends and family for EVERYTHING!

I will write a more detailed post about the holidays, including pictures, very soon!

In Loving Memory of ...

2007-12-24T20:21:00.000-08:00

It is with great sadness I am writing this post. My Uncle Tom passed away this morning. He has been sick for quite awhile and as much as I am so sad I am happy that he is no longer suffering. On Jesus' Birthday my Uncle will be celebrating right along side him, how amazing! My Uncle was a great brother to my mom. A wonderful son, always there to help when my Grandma needed it. A teriffic dad to 4 really great kids and a loving husband. Most of all, to me, an awsome uncle.

I Love you Uncle Tom, you will always hold a special place in my heart.

Candy House

2007-12-19T10:07:00.001-08:00

The gingerbread house website that I posted a few days ago was so much fun that I decided to buy one of those kits and attempt to make one with Grace. Once I got the house put together I let Grace go to town putting all of the candy on. She kept calling it the "Candy House", it was so cute. Daddy even joined in the fun. Our final house was pretty pathetic, but special all the same. Here are some cute pics.

Oh Christmas Tree

2007-12-13T08:51:00.001-08:00

We have had our Christmas tree up for 2 weeks now, but I am just getting around to putting the pictures here on my blog. We picked out our tree and brought it home and didn't realize how big it was until we actually got it in the house. It is biggest, most beautiful tree we have ever had. After 2 weeks it still smells so good! Grace was such a big helper when we were decorating. She got out the little step stool that I keep in the kitchen and she put ornaments on the tree like a pro. She was so good at finding an open space and hanging the ornament. All of the ornaments on the bottom of the tree she put on herself and I didn't even move any of them! There was one ornamant that I told her she could take on and off the tree as may times as she wants. For a little while it was in a different place everyday, until Penny (our dog) ate it. Grace must have left it on the floor by the tree, either that or it fell off. Oh well. I don't think Grace has even noticed. After the first couple of days she has lost interest in the tree anyway.

Another COOL website

2007-12-13T08:28:00.001-08:00

Remember making paper snowflakes when you were little? I loved unfolding the paper to see what beautiful creation came from just a few cuts. Well, here is a cool website where you can create virtual snowflakes. Beware ... it's addicting!

http://www.popularfront.com/snowdays/

Virtual Ginger Bread House

2007-12-12T11:30:00.001-08:00

I know I haven't posted in a little while. I have been very busy Christmas shopping, decorating and wrapping. I will post pictures of our Christmas tree soon.

Here is a fun little website to get you in the Christmas spirit. You can build your own virtual ginger bread house. Just click on the link below.

http://www.jennybharris.com/activities/home/sweethome.htm

HAVE FUN!

Thanksgiving

2007-11-25T20:21:00.001-08:00

I can't believe Thanksgiving has come and gone! Before you know it Christmas will be here.

This year Thanksgiving was at my house. I have never had Thanksgiving at my house in San Diego and it's been at least 5-6 years since I have had Thanksgiving at all. Needless to say I was VERY excited to host it. I went all out to make it a great Thanksgiving. My husband was scared ... I tend to plan, plan, plan and if something doesn't go as planned I tend to get upset or stressed. In my defense, I just want everybody to have a great time, that's all. After all was said and done ... I totally went with the flow and enjoyed the day. At the end of the night the food, the fancy placecards, the turkey trivia, the pumpkin bread favors, didn't matter at all. The kids totally made our Thanksgiving. Grace, Hailey and Trsitan were HILARIOUS! I think I will let the pictures tell the story ...

Here are the angels coloring their Thanksgiving pages that I printed out for them ... till Tristan colored on my tile floor. Thank God for washable crayons :)

The only way we could get the 3 of them to sit for a picture is to promise them pumpkin pie or as Grace says "numkin pie"

Here they are sitting at their table sort of patiently waiting for their pie. All they did until we brought their pie over was laugh and yell PUMPKIN PIE over and over. It was cracking us up. How do they know what pumpkin pie is?

The pie arrived and there was silence. This is what we saw ...

After pumpkin pie Kelly and Chris needed to head home so they got the kids in their PJ for the long drive. I took that opportunity to get Grace in her PJ's too. The kids played for a little while in Grace's room. We tried very hard to get another picture of the 3 of them laying on the bed, but it didn't work. Here is what I got ...

Tristan pretending to sleep and Grace doing her cheeseball smile ...

Hailey did NOT want to stay dressed ...

Kelly got Hailey redressed and she found a spot on the floor and undressed again ...

Here is Grace and Tristan sitting on the bed looking down on Hailey wondering what the heck she is doing ...

All this time in the bedroom we had the Baby Einstein Holiday music playing so Grace wanted to dance with Aunt Kelly. Here is a short video clip ... Tristan joins in by jumping on the bed. Watch will the end it is really funny! Don't mind Kelly and my mom talking in the background ... I am not even sure what they were talking about.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2169967475049577901

I hope everybody had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

God Bless!

Fall Is Here

2007-11-12T13:13:00.000-08:00

The weather is finally cooling down, or at least it's not in the 80's anymore and Thanksgiving is next week ... I am so excited about the holidays. I get to have Thanksgiving dinner at my house, which I am SOOOOO jazzed about, I think that Grace is going to be a ton of fun this year during the holidays, and we are going up to San Francisco for a couple of days right after Christmas. There is a lot to look forward to!

I made a few fall crafts to get me in the mood for the season. Here is a pumpkin topiary that I made. It looks so pretty sitting by my front door.

Here are some little Thanksgiving Blessing bags I made for the kids at daycare.

Disneyland

2007-11-11T20:52:00.000-08:00

Today we decided to make use of our Disneyland annual passes that we purchased when we were up there in June. I thought it might be a good weekend to go because they just finished up their big Halloween thing that they do and the lighting of the Christmas decorations isn't until next weekend. We got up early and we were out of the house by 6:30 am! About halfway up to Disneyland we stopped for Starbucks and a lite breakfast and we were boarding the tram from the parking structure to the parks at about 8:10 am. Somewhere between home and Disneyland Grace lost the bow that we put in her hair so Tim wanted to find her a disney bow (he is such a great dad). After finding a cute bow we noticed that the line for Peter Pan was short, that NEVER happens! Peter Pan is one of those rides that the wait is always long no matter what. So we rode that then we rode Dumbo, Autopia, Buzz Lightyear, Pirates of the Caribean, Hauted Mansion, and Winnie the Pooh. When we came out of Winnie the Pooh Grace spotted the photo area where Tigger was and she seemed interested. Last time we went to Disneyland she freaked out when the characters came near her. So we got in line to take pictures with Pooh, Eeyore and Tigger and Grace did great! Maybe Santa won't be so bad this year. By the time we were done getting pictures done it was almost 1:00 pm and we were all hungry and Grace was getting tired so we decided to leave the park and grab a bite to eat at Downtown Disney then we headed home. We were't even out of the parking lot when Grace was sound asleep. It was a really great day!

Wicked

2007-11-05T07:26:00.000-08:00

Our Anniversary was this weekend. To celebrate we went up to Los Angeles to see the the musical Wicked. I cannot not say enough about this show. It is SPECTACULAR, AMAZING, TERRIFIC, AWSOME ... I'm sure you get the idea. Everybody MUST see this show. I saw it with some friends when it came to San Diego a little over a year ago and fell in love with it then. I went out and bought the soundtrack the next day and I have been playing it in the car ever since. Seeing it the second time it was even better then the first, I have fallen in love with it all over. I want to go see it again! Tim really enjoyed it. Not only did he let me listen to the sound track all the way home to San Diego the next day, but I even caught him singing along!

Trick Or Treat

2007-10-31T21:22:00.000-07:00

Adopted Friends Playgroup

2007-10-31T21:03:00.001-07:00

Pumkin Patch

2007-10-28T21:08:00.001-07:00

This past week has been crazy here in San Diego. The fires did not threaten our home, thank God! There are so many people that were not as lucky as us. Please take a moment to pray for all of those who lost so much in the terrible fires. May God be with them as they try to rebuild their life.

Now that the fires have died down and the air is getting a little better we decided to venture out to the pumpkin patch. It was a fun afternoon. Grace fed a llama, picked out her own pumkin and rode down a very HUGE slide. I hope everyone has a very fun and safe Halloween this week!

Big Girl Bed Update

2007-10-28T20:54:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been about 2 weeks since we got Grace into her new bed. It was a pretty uneventful transition. Of course I cried as we took apart her crib, but it didn't even phase her. She slept great the first night in her bed and has been sleeping great ever since. She didn't fall out or get up in the middle night and wander around and she still calls for us when she wakes up in the morning. The best thing about her going straight to a twin bed is that I get to lay in bed with her and read books and cuddle :) Here are some pictures of her right before bed on the first night in her new bed.

Trip To Pittsburgh - The End

2007-10-19T13:20:00.000-07:00

On Monday of our trip we decided to take Grace to the Children's Museum in Pittsburgh. Kelly and Chris met us there with the kids and Kelly's best friend from our childhood also met us there with her two kids. We started off in Mr. Roger's Neighborhood. There was a puppet theater, a trolley that the kids could sit in and a bunch of other fun activities.

Next we moved on to the art studio. This place was awsome! Right in the middle was what looked like a huge abstract tree sculpture. AS it turned out it was also a climbing structure. That is where the kids went first. I was a bit nervous at first. I thought "what if Grace gets up there and gets scared and can't get back down?" There was no stopping her so I figured that we would cross that bridge when we come to it. Last up the structure was Hailey. Slowly pulling her way up each level she made it 3/4 of the way up. She was having a great time. All of the other kids had made their way to the top and were back down, but Hailey was just hanging out up there. We all started getting nervous after she was up there for a few minutes. We tried everything to coax her down. We even sent some older kids up there to get her, but she wouldn't budge. Finally, one of the workers went up and got her down a couple of levels, but Kelly had to go in and get her the rest of the way. It was funny ... but not so funny all at the same time. In the meantime, Grace and the other kids played with clay, painted pictures, and did silk screen art.

Some of the other exhibits we spent time in was the garage, which had a real car that the kids could play in and a bunch of inventions. Then there was sort of a playhouse area with costumes, crazy mirrors and a really fast slide.

That museum was so awsome. We spent 3 hours there and we didn't even get to the second floor. I think the adults had as much, if not more fun then the kids. Tim is still bitter that we didn't get to the second floor.

After the museum we went to Grandma's house for a BBQ where we hung out with the family. It was a perfect ending to a great trip. The next day we headed back to California.

Trip To Pittsburgh Part 3

2007-10-15T06:23:00.000-07:00

After the wedding we spent the night nearby at the Marriott. We lesiurely got ready in the morning and grabbed some breakfast and headed out to Grove City, where my Uncle Mike and Aunt Bev live.

We spend the day relaxing and watching the Steelers with the family. The kids enjoyed running around and playing in the huge backyard until it was too dark to play anymore. Aunt Bev and Uncle Mike made a lovely dinner. It was so great to just spend time with all of them. Here are some pictures of the day.

Look for part 4 of our trip soon. We went to the Pittsburgh Children's Museum and it was GREAT!

Trip To Pittsburgh Part 2

2007-10-11T21:16:00.000-07:00

The whole reason for making the trip to Pittsburgh was to attend my cousin Krystal's wedding. The wedding ended up being beautiful. It was at a place called The Mansion. The ceremony was held in a grove of trees on the grounds and the reception was held inside the mansion. Grace was great! She was quiet during the entire ceremony, she was good during dinner, and when the music started she was a dancing machine. She danced with any random person that wanted to dance with her. At one point she was dancing with her Daddy, it was so precious. My heart was so full of love at that moment I could not contain the tears. I am so blessed!

Here are some great pics, enjoy! I will be back soon with more about our trip.

Trip To Pittsburgh Part 1

2007-10-08T21:18:00.001-07:00

We have been back from our trip to Pittsburgh for a little over a week now. The trip was a whirlwind, it just wan't long enough. We spent the 4 days there mostly visting family. It was so great to see all of the Aunts, Uncles, and cousins who we haven't seen in a long time. It was so great for everybody to finally get to meet Grace.

While in Pittsburgh we stayed with my Uncle Jim. He lives in a very cool loft on the Southside of Pittsburgh. We loved staying with him. My Uncle has some very special and unique people in his life. One of those people is a neighbor who's boyfriend passed away. While helping her clean out some of his stuff, my Uncle noticed a lot of very interesting hats. As it turned out his friend's boyfriend collected hats and she offered them to my Uncle. So ... Uncle Jim has these hats on display in his house and I thought it would be cute to take some pictures of Grace in the hats. It was hilarious, she totally "worked" the camera.

Enjoy the pictures and I will be writing part 2 of our trip soon!

Our Budding Artist

2007-09-18T09:54:00.000-07:00

Grace loves any kind of art. She loves to color with her crayons, draw with her markers, put stickers on paper, and doodle on her Magnadoodle. She has just found a new medium in which to create a masterpiece ... watercolor painting! It is so cute, she is very serious about her art. Here are a couple of cute photos from last weekend.

Big Girl Bed

2007-09-14T10:16:00.000-07:00

We decided to bite the bullet and buy a "big girl bed" for Gracie. Her crib is a 3-in-1 (crib, toddler bed and full size bed) but grace is getting so long that if she lays flat with her feet touching one end and reaches above her head she can almost touch the other end of the crib. Also, she is getting really good at climbing out of her crib. She's getting so good at it that I am not even afraid she is going to hurt herseld anymore. I don't want to convert the crib to a full size bed because it would be way too big for her room, she would have no room to play. So ... after much discussion we decided to buy her a regular twin size bed that she can use for a long, long time. At first I was looking at Craig's list everyday to see if I could find a used bed but I hadn't had any luck. I was looking around online and found the cutest bed at a really great price from http://www.jcpenny.com/ . It was just perfect for her room so I bought it and it arrived yesterday.

We are really nervous about changing her over. I wonder how she is going to handle it. We decided to wait to do it until we come back from our trip to Pittsburgh at the end of the month, so we will keep you posted. Here is a picture of the bed.

Tea Party

2007-09-10T19:38:00.000-07:00

As I did some stuff around the house yesterday morning Grace was playing quietly in her room. When I went to check on her I found her having a tea party with her bear and her baby ... It was so cute it brought tears to my eyes. Here are some pictures of the event.

Other then having a tea party yesterday, Grandma and Pa Pa came down for a visit. We didn't do much We watched the first Steeler game of the year and we relaxed. In the afternoon Grandma and I took Grace to the YMCA pool, that was a lot of fun. Grace took a moment out to pose for a picture with Pa Pa. It's so cute, they are both wearing their Pittsburgh Steeler gear.

Shoe Fetish

2007-09-08T20:35:00.000-07:00

It's official, our daughter has a shoe fetish! Last weekend we went to the mall on a hunt for a dress for Grace to wear for my cousin's wedding at the end of the month. Did you know that no stores have toddler dresses right now? After going to Gymboree, Children's Place, JC Penny, Target, Walmart, Sears and Mervyn's I thought that I would never find a dress for her. As a last resort on Wednesday I suggested to Tim that we go to Fashion Valley to try Macy's and Baby Gap. We had gift certificates to both places so I was hoping we would have some luck at one of them. As it turned out Baby Gap had a bunch of cute dresses. We picked out a cranberry colored dress that has fall colored flowers on it ... very cute! I got Grace out of her stroller so I could hold the dress up to her and she immediately spotted a wall of shoes and made a beeline toward them. She looked at each and every pair and ohhhhed and ahhhed. I spotted a pair that were so cute and matched her dress so I grabbed them. After struggling to get Grace back in the stroller we headed to the register to pay. As the salesperson put the shoes in the bag Grace threw a huge fit, apparently she wanted to wear the shoes right then. So the salesperson was nice enough to cut the tags off and Grace got to wear her new shoes home. On the way home Grace fell asleep so we gently got her out of the car and to her room. I laid her on the changing table and changed her diaper while she continued to sleep. I attempted to slip off her new fancy shoes and she immediately woke up and screamed ... SHOES!! It was soooooo funny! After Grace was asleep in her bed Tim quickly slipped the shoes out of her room and he stuck them on top of our dresser, but I hadn't noticed. The next morning Grace was sitting in our bed watching her Baby Einstein video when she spotted the shoes and started yelling ... SHOES, SHOES! Of course she had to wear them to daycare that day. Lora, our daycare lady, said Grace kept saying pretty shoes all day. She cracks up up! Needless to say, those shoes are safely hidden away, out of site for now.

***

Close To My Heart

2007-09-06T20:42:00.000-07:00

Close To My Heart is a company that sells scrapbook and stamping supplies. It is sold through consultants and I have been one of those consultants for awhile now. I have not been very good at selling, I mostly used it to support my scrapbook habit ;) Now ... I am going to try to get this business started and sell something. I completly believe in the CTMH products. They are far superior than a lot of the products on the market. Their paper packs come in beautiful colors and patterns. CTMH is the pioneer of clear My Acrylix stamps that make it so much easier to create multi colored images. These pictures are of a lunch pail that I altered using CTMH More To Adore paper and My Stickease. This lunch pail is a wedding day suvival kit that I made for my cousin who is getting married at the end of the month. (I hope she is not reading this blog)

{Krystle - if you are reading this SUPRISE! This will be showing up on your door step in the next week or so:)}

Anyway, I am launching my new CTMH website. Please check it out and feel free to buy something from me! You can order directly from my website. The web address is:

http://www.foleyfun.myctmh.com/

Thanks for your support!

Oh Happy Day!

2007-08-20T15:49:00.000-07:00

Last week my sister and brother-in-law fianlized the adoption of Tristan and Hailey!! We are so happy to have them "offcially" be part of our family. Tristan and Hailey have felt like family since the day they arrived at Kelly and Chris's house, but to make it final is great feeling of such peace and joy. We celebrated with the Newton family and 50+ of their closest friends and family at a park in Corona yesterday where the thermometer pushed 100 degrees! Even though it was HOT, we had a great time celebrating this very special occasion. Here is a link to the website Kelly and Chris have set up for the kids. http://www.babyjellybeans.com/web/do/site/home?ID=176365 There are pictures there of their court proceedings last week, plus much more.

Fianlly, here are the long awaited pictures of Grace's birthday party. I have put them into a costco album, just in case anybody wants to order prints. http://www.costcophotocenter.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=20693532/a=4245274/

Till later ... God Bless!

Our Little Star

2007-08-09T06:54:00.000-07:00

We took Grace to get her picture taken for her 2nd birthday a couple of weeks ago. When we first walked into the place she started crying. I really thought we were going to have to reschedule. Tim took her and walked her around to look at all of the pictures while I gave them all of our information. After a few minutes she calmed down and it was our turn to take pictures. We put Grace in front of the backdrop and she turned into a different kid. All of a sudden she was totally working the camera. She was doing every pose the Photographer asked her to do with big smiles. We got so many great shots! When we were leaving the store the photographer asked if we would sign a release to use her photos in the store and last week they called to say they were going to put her photos up in the store! I am such a proud momma! Here is a link to view the photos.

http://smilestore.picturepeople.com/my/images?tk=8b94db83-05bf-47b0-8cdb-9ebbfb7ea595

I promise, coming soon ... the birthday party pictures. I need to upload them from my camera still.

******

Our Big 2 Year Old

2007-07-30T21:16:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that Gracie is 2 already! Where has the time gone?! To celebrate we had a party at Playtown, an indoor play area near our house. The last two years Grace's birthday has been the hottest day of the year and we needed a place that was cool with fun activities for the kids. Playtown was perfect. The kids had a great time, the staff there took care of everything which allowed me to take tons of pictures, play with the kids, and mingle with the adults. We will definately have Grace's party there next year.

Grace had her 2 year checkup the week after her birthday. She only weighs 23 lbs, which is the 10th percentile, but she is 34-1/4 inches, 60th percentile. The doctor said she is perfect, long and lean. Don't we all wish we could be long and lean?

Since turning 2 Grace has definately embraced toddlerhood. The other day I went to pick her up from daycare and she was saying Mommy and pointing up her nose. I asked her what was wrong and she kept pointing up her nose. I asked her if she had a boogie and she said yeah. I asked her if she wanted me to get it and she said yeah. I looked at the daycare lady and another mom that was there and I said, "that weird she never lets me near her boogies" So I pulled Grace closer and I looked in her nose and I did not see a boogie, but what I did see was a googly eye!!! You know, the eyes that you use in crafts, the ones you can stick on. Lucily, it was just inside the nose, it wasn't shoved way up there, so I sucessfully removed it. It was really funny.

We have been spending a lot of time trying to beat the heat at the beach and the YMCA swimming pool. Grace loves the water. The YMCA in our town has a great interactive pool. It is a very shallow, maybe 2-1/2 feet deep pool with a play structure in the middle. The play structure has water guns and valves and water shooting out everywhere and it has a couple of little slides. Grace loves going down the slides.

I guess that is about it for now. Coming soon ... pictures of the big birthday bash!

Hugs!!!

Back From Vacation

2007-06-21T09:22:00.000-07:00

It seems like I have been planning our first big family vacation for months and it is already over. I am a little sad. I can't believe how fast it went by. Now it has taken me almost a week to finish this blog entry.

Let me start by saying we had an AWSOME time! Some of you may not know ... our daycare was closed the week of Jun11th (her daughter graduated from high school so she took her New York for vacation). So we decided to plan our vacation for that time. Origianlly I really wanted to go to Maui, it would have bee during peak time and everything was really expensive. We threw around a bunch of vacation ideas and finally decided that we would spend a few day in Orange County and go to Disneyland and the beach and stuff. This way we didn't need to fly anywhere, but we would still get away.

We left Tuesday 6/12 and we drove up the coast. We stopped for lunch then we went to the Discovery Science Center in Santa Ana. That was really neat, Grace had a great time running around and exploring everything. After a couple of hours there we headed over to our hotel to check in. We were staying at the Doubletree Guest Suites down the street from Disneyland. The hotel was really great. The staff could not have been nicer, the room was great and the beds were comfy. We decided to go swimming for a little while. We tried out Grace's new arm floaties. She hasn't been in a big swimming pool since last summer so I wasn't sure how she would do. She loved it! At first she was a little clingy but soon got comfortable and didn't want to get out. The rest of the week she stood at the window of the room and looked out at the pool and whined waaaterrrr, waaaterrr!

The next morning we got up bright and early and were at Disneyland's gates before opening at 9:00 am. First stop was City Hall for a button for Grace that said "1st visit" then it was on to our Minnie and friends breakfast. Breakfast didn't go as well as I had planned. Grace saw the characters from across the room and she excitedly waved and said hi ... then the got closer. She FREAKED! Needless to say we shoved our breakfast down and got out of there as quick as possible.

The rest of the days at the parks weres a blur of rides. Grace rode EVERYTTHING and loved it. Here is a list of all the rides we went on in the 2-1/2 days: Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Carribean, Winnie the Pooh, Flik's Flyer, Heimlich's Chew Chew, Small World, King Arthur's Carousel (5 times), Buzz Lightyear, Dumbo, Casey Jr. Circus Train, Pinocchio, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, Storybook Boats, Monsters Inc., Goofy's House, Roger Rabbit, Golden Zephyer, Sun Wheel, and King Triton's Carousel ... Whew! We also caught the parade one night, Grace was in awe by that as long as the character's didn't come too close.

Friday afternoon my mom came down and picked up Grace and kept her overnight so Tim and I could ride the "big" rides. We had a blast! It was so fun that ee ended up splurging for annual passes while we were there. I can't wait to go back in the fall. By the time we hit the bed Friday night we were exhausted. We had so much fun!

Here is a link to a small portions of our photos from the trip, Enjoy!

http://photosmart.hpphoto.com/FilmStripHome.aspx?JobID=2bdbb7bc-78ac-4243-bb90-7363dd8910fb&SKU=HP

Good Times

2007-05-31T20:27:00.000-07:00

Uncle Jim flew in from Pittsburgh last week and came down to spend the weekend with us. After about a half an hour in the house Grace warmed up to Uncle Jim and from then on she wanted nobody but Uncle Jim.

We packed the weekend full of fun activities. Friday night we went out to dinner. Saturday morning we went to gym class. Uncle Jim got to come with us and participate. After gym we went to the old train in Poway. After taking a ride on the train we walked across the street to the park and let Grace run wild. Later that evening I had mom's night out with two mom's from our adoption playgroup. We went out to dinner then came back to our house to work on our scrapbooks. I have finally finished Grace's 1st year and I have started on her 2nd year.

On Sunday we spent the afternoon at Balboa Park. It was such a beautiful day. We walked through the park to the International Houses and we were excited to find that they were having a food fair that day. We sampled food from so many different countries. Grace really loved the noodles and Lumpia from the Philippines. After the food fair we walked through the botanical gardens and Spanish Village to the train. Grace and Uncle Jim rode the train then we walked (Grace ran) over to the carousel. It was such a fun and relaxing day. Later the evening Gramma and papa came down to spend the night.

On memorial day we had a BBQ here at our house. Kelly, Chris and the kids came down and so did Uncle Sean. Our daycare lady Lora also came and we all just hung out and ate tons of food. It was a really warm afternoon so we broke out Grace's kiddy pool and we let the kids spash around. At one point we were adding more water and Tristan was holding the hose and squirting Hailey and Grace so Tim shut off the hose and he said, "Tristan, what happened? Look in the hose and figure out what's wrong." So Tristan looked in the hose and Tim turned it on really quick, Tristan jumped a mile. It was so funny I almost wet myself.

It was such a fun and busy weekend, I loved it!

***

Great Weekend

2007-05-21T06:28:00.000-07:00

This weekend was soooooo much FUN! My best friend Amy flew out from Colorado to visit for the weekend. This year is 20 years since we met, I can't believe it! Amy is the first friend I made when we moved to California from Pittsburgh. I miss her so much, I wished she here again.

Friday morning I picked Amy up from the airport at 8:30 am. We stopped for breakfast, it was great to sit and talk get caught up with each others lives. After breakfast we picked Grace up from daycare and headed home. I had been teaching Grace to say Amy all week, but it came out like "Mamy", it was cute!

Kelly brought Tristan and Hailey down and we all piled into the van and headed to the beach. We went to Mission Beach and we decided to eat before going out on the beach. Finally out on the beach the kids had a blast. Hailey went bonsai right for the water, she couldn't get enough, she was such a happy girl. Trisan totally fell in the water and got soaked. Grace was being a bit of a chicken and attached herself to my leg. All in all it was a great time.

Saturday, Amy and I took Grace to her little gym class. She did so great this week. She tried every skill that the instructor taught, she landed on her feet everytime she let go of the bars (usually she drops on her butt), and she side stpped across the bean with hardly any help from me. I can't believe how great her balance is.

Later in the day Amy and I headed to the spa for some relaxation. We got there an hour before our facial appointments and took full advantage of relaxing in the jacuzzi. It was so nice!

Gramma Karen came down to babysit so we could all go out for a night on the town. Grace has finally mastered the word GRAMMA, my mom is so happy. It is so special to see Grace's and my mom's face light up when they see each other. My heart feels like it might burst with happiness in those moments. That evening we headed downtown for some fun!

Sunday Amy and I took Grace to the San Diego Zoo. We had a fun time. Grace always loves the petting zoo and the monkeys. After the zoo we went home and BBQed and then took Amy to the airport :( This weekend went TOO fast, I am sad to see Amy go. I am excited to see her again in a month though, her and her family are renting a beach house at Newport Beach at then end of June. I am looking forward to seeing her and her boys then.

Happy Mother's Day!

2007-05-13T20:45:00.000-07:00

I hope all of the mother's out there had a wonderful day! Mine was great. We went out to breakfast and then took a drive up to the little mountain town of Julian. Julian is known for their apple pies, so of course we brought one back with us. It was a beautiful day, it was so relaxing. We strolled the town and looked in all of the little shops. On the way home Grace was really cranky. As we drove the winding road back home Grace kind of caoughed and gagged and puked all over herself!!! GROSS! I think she must have gotten carsick!

Last week we had our Adopted Friends Playgroup. This time we met at Grace's favorite park ... Santee Lakes. When we got there I pulled into the parking lot next to the big play area that Grace loves and realized that they had it closed for construction! I was so bummed. Up ahead was a smaller play area so we met there. The day ended up being really great even though it didn't go as planned. All of the mommies sat in the shade on the bank of the lake and watched the kids play on the play structure or feed the ducks. We had two new babies join the group. I love hearing their adoption stories and reminiscing about our own adoption journey. This group means so much to me. I love seeing all of the kids grow up right before our eyes. Several of the families are starting the process for their second adoption. At playgroup Grace and Benjamin always seem to gravitate toward each other. At first Cindy and I would talk about how Grace and Ben are going to be best friends and part of me thought, "nah, we just want to think that Grace and Ben are such good friends because cindy and I have become good friends." Really though ... Grace and Ben play together more then any of the other kids. It's like they are in their own little world, talking their own little language, and chasing after one another all over the place. It is so cute!

This weekend Grace said soooooo many new words. All of them were so clear. She said Grammama, bubbles, bell, cow, moo, oink, water, and yellow. I think she is going to start talking like crazy now. I can't believe how fast she is growing up!

All Better

2007-05-06T20:47:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago Grace had a runny nose when we dropped her off at daycare. Her runny nose was clear and she was biting on her fingers so we thought her last tooth was finally coming in. By the time I picked her up from daycare at the end of the day she had developed a cough and her nose was icky green. We broke out all of the cold remedies that night, you know, the humidifier, the saline nose spray, the nose sucky thing, and we raised one end of her crib so she could breathe easier. She had a pretty restless night and the next morning woke up with a fever of 105!!! We immediately got her in a cool tub and gave her motrin and called the doctor. They were able to take us right away. The outcome ... pnemonia! Our poor baby! After two weeks of some super antibiotics she is all better and back to normal, but last sunday I came down with her cold. I am all better now, hopefully Tim won't come down with it.

Last Saturday was a pretty warm day and Uncle Sean was here visiting us so we decided to take a late afternoon stroll at the beach. It was fun. Grace had a great time running up to the water's edge and running away real fast when a wave rolled in.

Mom and Dad are almost ready to move. We have spent the last couple of weekends helping them pack and get stuff into storage. Last Sunday they decided to take a little break from the packing and come down and spend the day with us. While my dad and Tim tried to change out our bathroom sink, me and mom took Grace to Victoria Gardens to pick strawberries. Grace got the hang of it right away. She was having a great time until she tried picking one that was a little too ripe and her thumb squished right through it. She stuck her had up to Gramma and said YUCK! Then she didn't want to pick anymore. After that she wanted to ride the pony. She was cracking us up, she went right with the guy and let him put her up on the pony. As the pony went around in circles she rode like she has done it a million times before. She was swaying with the rythem of the hooves and everything. It was so funny!

Well, until next time ... God Bless!

**********

Easter and Stuff

2007-04-09T21:23:00.000-07:00

We have been keeping busy around here, especially on the weekends. Grace loves her gymnastics class. I can see the progress she has made in just 5 weeks. At the beginning of class we do a name song and each kid runs up and give the teacher high five. Grace has been really shy and the teacher usually has to come to her. Two weeks ago she ran right across the circle and gave the teacher high five and she has done it every week since. It is so cute! Her favorite part of class is always the bars. She can swing and hang on forever. When the teacher is demonstrating a skill she runs to the front and the teacher always uses her in the demonstration.

Two weeks ago Seaworld had a special evening just for annual members to kick off their Spring shows. We went and had so much fun. Grace actually sat thru the Sea Lion and Otter show. She was dancing with the music and laughing when everybody laughed and pointing to the animals. We went through the Wild Artic Exhibit, she loved the Walrus and Polar Bears.

Yesterday was Easter and we had such a great day. We went up to mom and dad's house and attended service at their church. Kelly, Chris, Chris's mom, Tristan and Hailey met us there. When Tim checked Grace into the childcare before church she started to get a little teary and her cousin was right there to make her happy. Tristan took her hand and said, "It's ok Gracie" and led her away to go play. HOW CUTE!!!! It is so awesome that Grace has cousins to play with now. They are going to have some great times. It reminds me so much of growing up with my cousins, especially Tim. I really miss not being around the family in Pittsburgh sometimes. Later in the day we had an egg hunt for the kids. Tristan was a pro. He had a basket full of eggs before Grace had two eggs. Grace was just fine with one egg in each hand shaking them and making lots of noise. Hailey was good just sitting in the Grass with her box of animal crackers and one egg. We tried really hard to get some good pictures of the kids but it was a difficult task. Rounding up 3 toddlers and trying to get them to sit for a picture is virtually impossible.

Easter ended up being bittersweet. It marked the last holiday we will celebrate in Mom and Dad's house. We figured out that in August it would have been 20 years since we moved from Pittsburgh to Corona, California. There are so many great memories in that house. We are looking forward to making great memories in their new house.

Conquering Addiction

2007-03-24T19:41:00.000-07:00

Since birth Grace has been addicted to the binky. The binky goes with us everywhere. One night, about 2 months ago, we couldn't find any binkies around the house. The 3 of us searched every inch of the house calling bin-ky, bin-ky ... I was not looking forward to bedtime that night and I am sure Grace wasn't either. Finally, we found one lonely binky at the bottom of the toy basket. With Grace's horrible sleep issues we were not ready to try to deal with taking the binky away quite yet. The very next day we went out and bought 4 more binkies.

So Thursday I arrived at daycare to pick Grace up and Lora (our daycare lady) told me that she didn't give Grace her binky that day and she did ok without it. She said she was thinking about Grace's sleep issues and she said she would hate to have us finally get Grace sleeping good and then take the binky away and have her sleep issues start all over. That was a REALLY good point. I hadn't thought about that. When we got home that night Grace ran right to her room and found a binky under her bed. I took it away from her and cut the tip off really quick. I went to Grace and showed her and I told her that the binky is broken. She looked really confused and she took it from me and she stuck her finger thru it and said "ehh?" "ehh?" I said, "I'm sorry baby the binky is broken we are going to have to throw it in the trash." She held my hand and we walked over to the trash can and we threw it away. It took her about 10 seconds and then she started sobbing uncontrollably with big huge tears. It was like someone had died. It was awful. I felt soooo horrible! I started crying myself. It took a good half hour for her to calm down and then she was ok until bedtime. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be though. She cried for about 10 minutes the first night, 2-3 minutes the second night and tonight she didn't cry at all. My baby is getting so big, I am a little sad:(

Special Day

2007-03-19T20:49:00.000-07:00

It's been over a month since I started this blog and I haven't written since. Hmmm ... Is anybody suprised? I don't think I even shared that we now have a blog. Oh well.

Since I have a few quiet minutes let me update you on what is going on with us. Life is pretty quiet right now. On March 4 we spent the afternoon with Grace's Birthmom, Sheila. We met her at a mall called Victoria Gardens in Rancho Cucamonga. It was a little uncomfortable at first since we hadn't seen her in over a year but as the afternoon went on it turned out really nice.

Anybody who knows Grace knows that she is a little monkey. She loves to climb and hang and stand on anything she can find. We decided to enroll her in a toddler gymnastics class. We were actually able to find a Saturday morning class which is perfect since we both work full time. She started the class a couple of weeks ago and she loves it. It is a parent participation class and they allow both parents to attend. We have so much fun. Grace's favorite part of the class is hanging on the bars. Two weeks in a row Grace let the teacher use her in demonstrating the skill for the day. I was such a proud momma.

Since the time change and since it has been so warm these last couple of weeks we have been going to the park everyday after I pick Grace up from daycare. She loves to climb up the structure, slide down the twirly slide, climb up, slide down ... endlessly. Once and a while she will stop to run after unsuspecting people out with their dog. If the owner of the dog says that it's not a good idea to pet the dog Grace throws an absolute fit ... Ahhhh ... I think the terrible two's are around the corner :)

I think that's about it for now. I will try to write more oftern. I am not promising though.

2007-02-16T11:05:00.000-08:00

We have decide to try out this blogging thing. Hopefully I can get Tim to do a post from time to time, we'll see. This will be a place that you can check in with what is happening with the Foley family. I am not going to make any promises so don't get mad if I don't keep up with this.

Below is a link for a video clip that I took of Grace last night. She was cracking us up! It's not very good quality and it doesn't have sound because I took it with my digital camera. I hope you enjoy it.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1725331059476885048

Till next time!