Back Rub for Daddy

Yeah, Daddy talked Gabriel into giving him a little back massage this evening.

Cassidy's 2nd Birthday

We went with Grandma to the Tomlins' house this afternoon to celebrate Cassidy's 2nd birthday. It's hard to believe that our little girls are turning 2!! Gabriel was shooting some hoops at the party.
Gabriel and Grace were in love with Cassidy's Barbie Jeep. Gabriel drove, of course.
Candi and Wayne served up some yummy lunch.
Cassidy was not sure what to make of all of the attention when it came time to blow out the candles on the cake.
Grace tried to show her how it's done.
After a few minutes, Grace was put next to Cassidy to help her with these darn candles.
I asked Grandma and the kids to pose for a picture while the kiddos had their "I love my grandma" shirts on.
Next, they posed with me.
Happy Birthday, Cassidy! What a great party!
Aunt Linda was nice enough to push Grace on the tricycle.
And Grandma pushed Gabriel around in the car.
Before the party ended, Cassidy had to open her birthday gifts.
This Rainbow Cones toy was a hit with the Ellnor kids. Grace had it. Gabriel wanted it so he tried to take it away from her. She bit him. He kicked her. Gotta love brothers and sisters, huh?

For Grandma

Their shirts say, "I love my grandma." Thank you for staying with them last night, Grandma!

Fish Faces

Just being silly with my cutie girl

Funny Story

This morning on the way to Staci's house, Gabriel and I were calling out "Mustang!" as we would see one. It was kind of a race to see who could call them out first. As a school bus crossed an intersection in front of us, Grace called out, "Mu-tang!" Then she giggled her little head off knowingly.

On the way to the credit union this afternoon, a green Aveo passed us. (Papaw drives an orange Aveo.) Grace said, "Geen Papaw's car!" This impressed me for two reasons: 1. She named the color correctly, and despite having worked and worked at color recognition, she has not shown any interest. 2. She correctly identified the car as being the same as Papaw's.

What can I say? Our daughter is witty AND smart!

Sick Girl

Grace and I headed back to the immediate care center this evening. She was running a fever of 103.8, and it was just obvious that she felt awful. My poor baby fell asleep in the car on the way.
She was feeling so bad that she couldn't hold her head up.
We waited about 45 minutes to see a doctor, and she slept a good part of that time.
While waiting for the results of the strep test, the nurse gave her a popsicle. She LOVES popsicles, but took two bites of this and put it down. She wanted to "nay down" (lay down) on Mommy.

The doctor said that the strep test was negative, but her throat was raw and had white spots. Sher prescribed an antibiotic for strep throat.

I can't wait for my angel to feel better soon. There is nothing worse than seeing my kids sick or in pain, and we've had to do both in the past week.

Playing Together

It's rare, but Gabriel and Grace played together SO WELL on Sunday morning. In this picture, they were under the kitchen table pretending to be taking a trip on a boat. You can see all of the loot they were packing with them.

BIG Ouchie

Friday evening as we were sitting down to dinner, Grace decided to be silly. No surprise there. She was putting her feet up on the edge of the table and pushing herself backwards. This is something that we have gotten on her about numerous times, just imagining that one day she would kick hard enough to fall fall backwards. "One day" ended up being Friday night. She fell backwards and caught the back of her head on the hinge of the backdoor. I picked her up, thinking that it was just a bump on the head. After rocking her for about a minute, I felt blood on the inside of my hand that was cradling her head. It was then that I realized a hospital run was going to be necessary. It was difficult to see how long or deep the cut was because of her hair, but once the doctor cut her hair away, it was actually worse than we'd anticipated.
This is our little girl before being seen by a doctor and after waiting for more than an hour. She doesn't look injured, does she?

She ended up getting three staples in the back of her head. We have now moved her seat at the table to the end where there is nothing behind her.

Cookie Mess

Who do you think is responsible for this?
Yes, Grandma and Papaw brought Gabriel and Grace cookies tonight decorated like Elmo and Cookie Monster. Evidently, they were yummy.

Last Hoorah

It's official . . . Mommy has gone back to full-time working as of last Friday. As our last summer outing, we went to Chuck E. Cheese to ride rides and enjoy some pizza.
Gabriel invited Grace to ride with him. I just love that he enjoys his sister's company, despite how he behaves a lot of the time.
I always try to get a table near the school bus because, seriously, it's their favorite ride. HA! Just wait until they have to ride the REAL school bus; I'm sure it won't be their favorite thing.
She was so excited to ride with Chuck E. himself.
Papaw gave Gabriel some pointers about playing video games.
Woot! Woot! Papaw won tickets playing Wheel of Fortune.
The kids decided to "play" Mariokart. Hahaha!
Papaw and Grace had their picture made together.
Grace thought this horse ride was fun. She's into horseys right now.
Grandma came and met us for lunch. She sneaked in a quick picture with Gabriel.

Reading with Gramps

Grampy came over Sunday night for dinner. He has a special talent for reading aloud to kids, so Gabriel took advantage of it. Before he'd left, Grampy had read six books. Thanks, Grampy!

Indianapolis Children's Museum

Friday Grandma, Papaw, and I took the kids to the Indy Children's Museum for the day. The kids were so excited that Grandma and Papaw were coming with us that they were really rowdy in the car and almost wore themselves out before we got the museum. Of course, Gabriel wanted to drive the Indy car first.

And if Gabe does it, Grace has to try it out too!

Next we went to the Playscape where Grace immediately found the water table.

Papaw showed her how the fishing pole worked, but she had her own ideas about it.

Gabriel rode this hand car. He was really good at it.

After getting wet at the water table, what could be better than a sand table?

Gabriel enjoyed the train table. I think this is the first time that he's played at a train table without his sister taking his trains away.

Grace went with Grandma to make some dinosaur rubbings.

Then our little mama could help herself . . . she found a baby and fed him some pizza and grapes.

She liked all of the boys and girls playing around her, as long as NO ONE touched HER baby.

Next, Gabriel played at the sand table.

Grace tried out the hand car, but wasn't strong enough to make it move on her own.

Grace the Builder . . . Can she fix it? Yes, she can!

Gabe the Builder . . . alright, we'll leave the building to Bob.

As we made our way to the fourth floor, the kids stopped to look at a few doll houses.

On the fourth floor, they found an old-fashioned ice cream shop to play in.

Gabe climbed into the tree house.

Then, he went back to the ice cream shop --- that would be my choice too.

Now that we are museum members, we get to ride the carousel for FREE. Yea!

Our last stop was the trains. The kids were so cranky that the pictures of them were not good. Papaw was still in good spirits though!