Happy Halloween

We don't make a big deal of Halloween around here, but we did let the girls dress up at home and they LOVED it. Lainey was a black cat and Sarah Grace was Cinderella (though that came as no surprise given her recent obsession with the Cinderella dress). Lon took them out the back door and brought them to the front door and let them say trick or treat. They were too cute! Here are some pictures!

A Day in the Life

A glimpse into our day:

All three girls playing with their dollhouse

Abs propped up on the couch with Lon; just 5 seconds before this, she had the remote in her hand.

Some Venting and Some Interesting Praying

We now interrupt this blog for a little something I need to get off my chest. I've never really wanted to use this blog as a political sounding board and don't know that I intend to do that now, but I have to say, "Wow, I can't wait for it all to be over." We've already voted so it's a done deal for us. I am SICK of hearing about "The One" and how fabulous he is. I'm even more sick of the media fawning over him and neglecting the facts that are glaring them in the face; you know, like the way he changes his tune from raising taxes on those who make $250,000 to those who make $200,000. It's not like we're in danger of being in either of those tax brackets (ever) but the principle behind it is if he's already lying and changing his colors before the election, what's he going to be like if he gets in? WAKE UP PEOPLE!

And now back to cute stories of the girls. . .

Sarah Grace has developed a habit of wanting to pray first at night and attempts to beat Lainey at all costs. We ask her what she wants to pray for, she tells us, and then she immediately launches into a prayer that sounds like she's trying to give that guy from the Micro-Machines commercials a run for his money. It often goes like this:
Sarah Grace, who do you want to pray for?
SG: IwanttoprayforyouDearLordweprayforLaineyandweprayforherandweprayforDaddy
inJesus'nameweprayamen.

Tonight as soon as she finished praying all of that she added, "Cat in the Hat!" As in "In Jesus' name we pray, amen." CAT IN THE HAT! Bet you didn't know that was part of the accepted prayer language? Turns out she had a Dr. Seuss book that she started looking at as soon as she finished praying.

And a praise to God for today: Abby took 2 great naps today!! Can't tell you how excited I was about that. Her naps have become a rarity lately and have left me weary, weary, weary. But today she napped and I napped (without the guilt of listening to her cry that I usually have) and all was right with the world! Here's hoping for the same thing tomorrow!

Our Little Cowgirl

It just doesn't get much cuter than this:

Sisterly Conversations

The other day as the girls and I were driving home from school, I heard a conversation that I thought would still be several years away. It began with Sarah Grace irritating Lainey by saying her name over and over simply for the sake of irritation!
SG: Lainey. Lainey. Lainey. Lainey. Look at me Lainey. Lainey.
Lainey (not even looking at Sarah Grace): STOP saying my name!
SG: Lainey. Lainey. Lainey. Lainey.
Lainey (still not looking): STOP saying my name Sarah Grace.
SG: Lainey, stop saying Sarah Gracie's name.

They resolved this quickly and were soon laughing, but I fear it gave me a glimpse of some future squabbles!

A Trip to the Pacific Science Center

We drove down to Seattle yesterday for a follow up with the doctor for Lainey's stomach ailments. We got a great report and all is well; we're really thankful for that. After leaving the doctor's office we met our friend Jen and her kids as well as a new friend Tiffany and her son and had lunch and then went to the Pacific Science Center. Now we'd already arranged going to the Pacific Science Center before we left Blaine yesterday morning, but weren't sure where we'd be having lunch, but as it all worked out the restaurant we at lunch at just happened to have a deal that included a free kid's admission to the Science Center with the purchase of something from the kids menu. I LOVE it when deals like that fall into your lap! The Science Center was great fun and all of the kids loved it. We saw all sorts of things. Levers, weights, bugs, snakes (3 Boa Constrictors that I'll be having nightmares about for months to come), dinosaurs, and butterflies. It was great fun and we got some good pictures of the kiddos enjoying themselves.

Lon helping Alethia lift the weight at the end of this rope while Will, Kaitlyn, and Sarah Grace look on

Lainey trying to lift the weight

Lainey enjoying the beach ball being blown around by the air
Sarah Grace and Alethia; Alethia kept bending over the tube which made her hair stand straight up which then made Sarah Grace cackle! Too cute!
Lainey "hanging" on the rock wall

Lainey, Charis, and Kaitlyn checking out the hermit crabs and starfish (I'm not sure who the random boy is; he just happened to be there when I took the picture)

A couple of the butterflies we saw in the butterfly house

Sleeping Beauty?

Sarah Grace has developed an obsession with our Cinderella Princess dress and has worn it as often as possible for the last 3 days. She has slept in it for the last 3 nights and only takes it off at mealtime and when forced to share with Lainey. Here's our little Princess from earlier tonight:

A Shot And A Snack?

Yesterday, Sarah Grace and I took Abby to the doctor for her 6 month check up while Lainey had her dance lessons. Sarah Grace knew that Abby had to get some shots and was real concerned about just what the nurse was going to do to her. While we were waiting on the nurse to come in, she checked out everything on the counter and asked as many questions as possible. She wanted to know if the nurse was going to put alcohol on her and I told her that she would use a cotton ball and put a little on her leg. Sarah Grace then said, "Can we eat the cotton ball?" No dear, we can't eat the cotton ball. I'm certain she's confusing it with cotton candy! A little later, "Is the nurse going to use a bouncy ball on Abby?" No Sarah Grace, a cotton ball. As it turns out, no cotton ball was involved because the nurse had an alcohol swab. Even this morning, Sarah Grace wants to know why the nurse didn't use a bouncy ball on Abs. Abs did well with her shots and only cried briefly. It's much easier to take her for shots than to take the older ones! I've told Lon that once they figure out what they're going to the doctor for, it's going to be his responsibility to take them so he can sit on them! I'm only taking the babies!

Being Seen And Not Heard Is Not For Sarah Grace

Yesterday was a busy day full of church, a baptism at a second church, and a birthday party for a church member hence no blog. By the end of the day, we felt like we'd hopped from place to place. As we have no baptistry at our church (remember my Southern friends, this is not a Baptist church and baptistries are not a dime a dozen here as they are there), when we have need of one, we make arrangements to borrow one from another church in town. So, after our service, we all headed about a mile across town for our "second service". As this was to be a brief time and as there was certainly no nursery available, I just had all 3 girls with me in the back. Lainey does very well in big church and knows to be quiet and Abby is fine as long as she's with me. Sarah Grace is another story at this point. As Lon was talking and everyone was quiet, she spoke up very loudly and said, "When dad preaches, I'm gonna clap!" It's kind of hard to shush her when I'm laughing at her! Oh if only everyone were so encouraging of their pastor! She also made mention of folks she saw. We were sitting behind my friend Adele so she said, loudly mind you, "Oh look, Ms. Adele is in church!" As though Ms. Adele doesn't often come and isn't it nice that she finally showed up! So, it's a good thing that we've got another year that she can be in the nursery during church before we have to start working on getting her to be still and quiet!

Saturday Play and Fun Foliage

We had a little dress up time and a play in the girls' room this morning. Here's some of what we saw:





We traded out our swing for a little car for Abs to sit in. I'm not sure who enjoyed it more today, her or the others!



We took the girls to the church today to collect some leaves. We're going to dry them out and do some leaf rubbings and maybe some other nifty crafts with them. Lainey was totally into collecting leaves and filled her paper sack full; Sarah Grace didn't care so much, she collected 4 and made it home with 2! Oh well, it was mostly for help with teaching Lainey about fall with the hopes that a little would rub off on Sarah Grace! The leaves are really starting to be beautiful around here with lots of fall colors showing. Speaking of fall colors, the sweet potatoes made a comeback in Abby's diaper today! Perhaps that's too much information, but I couldn't resist!

A Classic Comparison

Thought you all might enjoy a trip down memory lane. Here's each of the girls at their first feeding! Where does the time go? And why do we always start with sweet potatoes?

A Milestone

Today we started feeding Abs some jar food. She loved it and had no trouble at all figuring out what to do with the spoon. She went through her sweet potatoes in record time!










Our other sweet girls:

Pig Latin as a Second Language?

Lainey has now become too smart for her dear old mother. She has become such a good speller that I can no longer spell the things I don't want her to understand. Today the girls were visiting with a friend so I could go to the doctor. When I came back, my friend offered to fix us lunch; I told her that she didn't need to because I was going to take the girls to "MC". I thought that Lainey wouldn't know what I was talking about and that my secret plan would be safe for a while, but I quickly learned how wrong I was. Lainey quickly spoke up and said, "That stands for McDonald's! We're going to McDonald's!" We knew this day would come; we've already reached the point that we can't spell juice in front of her, but it seems our list of "things we can spell in the hopes that our children won't know what we're talking" just keeps getting shorter and shorter. I wonder how pig Latin might work? E-Way Ill-Way Ave-Hay O-Tay Ee-Say. (Translation: We will have to see!)

New Friends and Special Joys

Lainey had school today and did quite well again. She's really developed a fondness for a little girl named Abigail in her class and I see the beginning of a cute little friendship. Lainey has talked about Abigail since she left school on Friday and has made all kinds of little cards for her since then. She made her a card today that said, "Abgal, I LOVE YOU FRUM Lainey". It was presh. She gave it to the little girl and her mom took and said that she would hang it on their fridge. That made Lainey smile. Abigial was sitting by herself today at lunch so I sent Lainey over to ask her if she wanted to sit with us; she came back and said "She wants me to sit with her." So off she went. Thus ended Lainey's fear that she might have to eat lunch at school alone and thus many of mom's prayers were answered! She really is enjoying her class and is doing well in her work both there and at home. When we got there this morning, she ran up the sidewalk saying, "School, school, school!" I miss those days when getting to school first thing in the morning was the most exciting thing ever. It's been a while, but I do remember them! Wouldn't it be a blessing if we all approached our daily tasks with such excitement. I'm going to try it tomorrow beginning with "Laundry, laundry, laundry!" Somehow it just doesn't have the same ring to it, but I'll keep trying!

A Ho-Hum Day

Some days there just isn't much to tell around here or at least not much that's fit to print! Today was one such day. Just a regular day full of regular things. A day full of trying to train little hearts to go in the right direction and even fuller of me recognizing that I can't do it on my own. How do people parent without the Lord's help? Honestly, I want to know. Some days I try to strike out on my own and wind up so miserable at the end of the day that I can't understand why someone would try to go on their own everyday. At the end of today, I found myself watching the clock to see how much longer before I could put them to bed and wondered if 4:30 was really too early to call it a day. I mean, it's 7:30 on the east coast so if we were there it would only be about 30 minutes before bedtime. But alas, I remind myself, if I put them to bed on east coast time, they'll be up at east coast time which translates to somewhere around 2:30 or 3:00 and I want that even less! So, at the end of the day, I say thank you Lord that we made it through and good night!

A Visit To The Farm

Yesterday we took our annual trip to Stoney Ridge Farm. This was our third year going and was great fun. We took a hayride, walked through the pumpkin patch, got lost in the corn maze, saw some farm animals, and had a great piece of apple pie. Regarding the farm animals, we almost had an anatomy lesson. As we were walking through the area, we came upon a donkey. Let's just say he was "well endowed" and leave it at that. Lainey said, "What's that little thing on his bottom?" My response? "We don't need to get into that right now. Let's keep moving." Sometimes I envy those whose children grow up on farms as it seems that it would be so much easier to explain such things! The girls enjoyed the hay ride and as we got in sight of the pumpkin patch, Sarah Grace said, "All the punkins! I love them!" They each picked out a "baby" pumpkin which they are now convinced should be used as a toy rather than a fall decoration. I heard them bouncing the pumpkins down the hall last night and then heard Sarah Grace say, "Careful pumpkin." Never a good sign! Thankfully we ended that little game before we had a baby pumpkin explosion!

The Great Graham Puppet Show!

We had a great puppet show today! Sarah Grace really wasn't "into" performing, but Lainey enjoyed it. Here are a few of our pictures!







At one point, Lainey said, "The puppet show doesn't just have to be about puppets." She then took one of her horses and had him say, "Oh, I think I'll go to bed. Neigh." She's a funny kid.

Puppets!

Not much happened in the Graham home today. The girls and I did our monthly trip to Costco and Walmart. On the airplane trip home the other day, Lainey took an air sick bag and colored it and made a puppet out of it. She asked then if we could make puppets at home sometime. So, today at Walmart, we bought paper sacks, googly eyes (or groogly eyes if you're Sarah Grace), yarn, and a bag of fuzzy pom-poms. Once we got home and got all of the groceries put away, we made some pretty awesome looking puppets. Sarah Grace kept calling the little pom-poms cotton balls and was convinced, I believe, that they were really small balls of cotton candy. She asked several times if she could eat one. I think I finally got through to her that they weren't for eating but were for decorating. I know that Lainey enjoyed making them because it was one of the things she thanked God for tonight when she prayed. She's got big plans for a puppet show sometime tomorrow. I'll try to get some pictures posted tomorrow.

First Day of School

Well, Laine did great today at school and I know she enjoyed herself. When the classes broke for lunch, she came out into the family room where I was and I tried to get her to sit down to eat with me and Sarah Grace and she said, "No, I want to eat with my friends." I said, "Lainey, your daddy is coming over to eat lunch with you." She said, "I don't want to sit there; I want to sit with my friends." She did eventually sit down with us, but I think it was a "sympathy sit" instead of a "hey Mom, I'm really glad to see you" kind of a sit. She loved her little lunch box and was excited when she found the note I put in there for her. Abs and Sarah Grace did good as well which pleased me greatly. Once Sarah Grace warmed up to the other little preschoolers, she played quite well and enjoyed being outside where they had a sandbox. Abs was fine because I held her all day long. Tuesdays are going to be long, busy days I think as I have Bible study in Lynden in the evenings as well, but I think it will be a good kind of busy. I asked Lainey on the way home if she liked it and she said, "Yeah!" I asked if she wanted to come back and she said, "Yeah!" So, I think the day was a success. Now if I can just get them to get along with each other as well as they get along with strangers, ours will be a happier home!

Enjoy these pictures of Laine and Sarah Grace from this morning.

And this little gem from this afternoon:

Her explanation for this outfit: I put on tights (over her pants, please notice) because I didn't want to put on socks. Who can argue with that?