It's been awhile

I haven't posted for a few weeks and I feel like I should give an update on what's going on around here. Steve has started back at Dunham's in Defiance. He called to see if they would need his help this summer and they asked him if he could start immediately because several college kids were leaving. Although he wasn't thrilled about it I guess the 25% discount on golf items helps soften the blow. We both have roughly 3 1/2 weeks of school left and are looking forward to the summer. I have 2 classes left and will officially be done with my masters in 3 months. It's actually gone faster than I thought it would. Grace is busier than ever and loves being outside in the gorgeous weather we've been having. She is 21 months old now (hard to believe). She had been going through a hard stretch where she'd been whiny/throwing fits/not listening, etcetera for the last couple of months. It's definitely getting better and the bad behavior is diminishing daily (thank God). :) I think the worst was when I took her grocery shopping and wanted her to sit in the cart because I was in a hurry. She wanted to walk and threw a fit when I tried to have her sit in the cart. It was extremely embarrassing and I left before we even got 30 feet in the door. Nothing like that has happened since - hopefully the long chat we had on the ride home/in the living room when we got home got through to her! Lately she loves to brush/comb my hair, her hair, and her babies' hair. She loves to have "pretty pigtails" and always has to run and show Steve after we put them in. :) She likes to play golf with Steve's putter. She still has an unhealthy obsession with shoes. She loves accessories (hats and sunglasses). She likes to look out the window and watch the deer in the field and the kitties playing and "tackling". She gets a big kick out of watching Grandpa Chupp feed the fish. She thinks that singing is great and often requests Jesus Loves Me, Johnny Appleseed ("Joppy Appleseed"), and This Little Light of Mine (her favorite verse is hide it under a bushel, no). She loves Lucky Charms, yogurt, and grapes. We enjoy our G. Marie!

Happy Easter!

Grace loved her dress and didn't want to change when we got home from church. How in the world did I end up with such a girly girl?! She always begs for her hair to be put in "pretty pigtails". She always wants her shoes - and not just any pair - she always has a specific pair in mind. I always have to roll my eyes at that one. After church I overheard this conversation:

Grace: Daddy, want shoes.

Steve: You want your pumas?

Grace: No, black ones.

What a prissy girl. :) 

This afternoon I put her down for her nap. As soon as I laid her down in her bed she rolled onto her side and closed her eyes. I thought, wow, she must be overly tired. Then I heard fake snoring and saw one eye open and look at me. Of course this was followed by a lot of giggling. I left the room laughing and thinking that Steve probably had something to do with this "joke". :)

Weekend at the Kio's

Steve, Grace, and I are on spring break! We decided to kick off the week by going down to Jill and Eben's. I think the highlight of the trip was when Grace was eating a cracker, coughed so the cracker flew out of her mouth onto the floor, and then Benjamin picked it up and ate it. :) What can we say - he was too fast for any of us to stop him!

They entertained each other during bath time...

decided it was great fun to "hold hands" (doesn't Steve look thrilled to be in the back:) )...

and kept each other company in the mall.

Grace loved to see "Benjen", Aunt Jill, and Uncle Eben. Benjamin has become a pro at saying "Grace", although he refused to say "Aunt Sarah" (much to my dismay). :) I was excited to get to feel the prenatal bambino kick quite a bit (apparently he or she liked the movie Jill and I were watching)! What a fun way to start spring break!

Kittens

Talk about kicking back and relaxing. 

I'm sad that I cut off one of the kittens but you can see all 5 of them pretty good here. They are so stinking cute! We didn't even know that we had kittens until Friday night. Steve just happened to walk out to the shed to get something and thank goodness he did! As soon as he walked in he heard a little kitty. One of the black kittens was sitting on top of a garbage bag that was by the wall. Steve came and got me and I put the kitten in a cardboard box that we had out all winter for Stella and Lucille. It had straw and blankets in it. We figured there had to be more kittens somewhere and the grown cats were nowhere in sight. We were quiet and listened for little mews. We were pretty shocked when we realized that they were coming from the ceiling! Lucille had her kittens in the rafters on some old boards. At first I thought, what a smart mom having her kittens up where nothing could get them. Then I thought what an idiot because her kittens were getting to the age where they could start moving around a bit. The one that we found on the garbage had fallen from the rafters and luckily landed on that instead of the cement floor! I checked the kitten over to make sure it didn't have any broken bones but it seemed fine. Just a little scared (wouldn't you be?!) So Steve (being the wonderful husband/father that he is) climbed up into the rafters with a flashlight (which was fun to watch considering we don't have a ladder) and fished the kittens out one by one and handed them down to me. I put them all in the box with the first kitten. The mom very quickly came down and laid with them in the box and they are still there, safe on the ground. There are 2 black ones, 2 blonde ones, and 1 calico one that looks an awful lot like her mom. I forgot how cute kittens at this age are. :) If anyone is interested in a kitten a month or so from now let me know! I would love for them to have good homes and Lord knows we don't need a bazillion cats running around here!

And the winner of round 4 is...

...croup and a sinus infection. Poor Grace is sick again. Luckily, I think we caught it early this time. Last night was a really rough night for her - couldn't breathe, non-stop runny nose, coughing, the works. Her nose started running and getting stuffy on Thursday night and then was horrible yesterday (I'm glad that I had taken a personal day so it just worked out that I was able to be at home with her). The croupy cough started in the middle of the night last night. We have been to the doctor and she is on a couple of different medicines that will hopefully get her feeling better! Keep your fingers crossed that this is the last illness for this winter. 

On a higher note, I feel like we're getting somewhere with the potty training. She is actually coming up to us and telling us when she has to pee now. Yesterday she did it 4 times and actually held it until we got to the toilet! So far today she's done it a couple of times so hopefully she keeps it up! :)

I'm in love with an organizer...and Grace is in love with a wall??

Grace is into hugging everything. She goes up to people, couches, toys, and (pictured here) the door frame, and says "big hug" and hugs it. It's pretty cute. :)

I had ordered an organizer for Grace's toys and books because our living room was starting to feel cramped. I'm always looking for new ways to organize her things - especially books because she has so many! I guess that's my weakness, if I splurge on something, it's usually books. Steve says I'm a nerd, but I always say that books last forever! Anyway, the organizer came today and I absolutely love it! I was worried that it was going to be too small, but it has a ton of storage and it's like a bookshelf and toy storage in one! It was also really easy to put together (according to Steve). :)

Here it is! 

Here is Grace "helping" daddy. She would hold on to the poles while he screwed them in.

Then she came and helped me wipe down the bins. What a trooper. :)

Do I sound like a broken record?

I feel like I've been saying this a lot lately, but Grace is sick again. Poor girl - I hate seeing her sick! You may recall from the last post that she had roseola last week with puking, fever, rash, the whole nine yards. She was fine after we took her to the doctor on Monday. Normally Grace sleeps from 8 pm until 6 or 7 am (depending if it's during the week or on the weekend). Well, this morning she woke up at 4 and was saying "Daddy, daddy, I want some milk." Steve got her some milk and she chugged it down like she always does. I'm fairly convinced that she must have had too much milk on an empty stomach because she woke up again at 4:30 and puked everywhere. She woke up again at 5:15 and puked some more. I ran my sub plans in to school at 5:30 and she's been fine ever since (minus the watery, goopy eyes that she is currently on drops for). So its actually been kind of a pleasant day. She was a little more whiny than usual, but not much. We got to sleep in until 8:30 (I came back home from school and went to sleep too). I'm getting some laundry done - including all of the puke-covered stuff. I got some of the house cleaned, and as soon as I finish this post I'm going to start some homework. It's amazing what you can get accomplished during a 2-3 hour nap zone! :) On a side note - I put Grace down for her nap at 12:15 and came back downstairs. She was upstairs jabbering away. She was quiet for a little bit so I thought she probably fell asleep. A few minutes later I heard, "MAHHH-MMY! MOMMY I POOPED!!" So I headed back upstairs to change her diaper. I changed her on our bed - big mistake for the following reason - as I was lifting the diaper out from under her and onto the floor a big turd rolled out of the diaper and onto our bed. I shrieked and Grace laughed hysterically. Oh well, now there's a poopy blanket to add to the pukey load of laundry. :) Anyway, she is now sleeping peacefully so I better take advantage and get some more homework done - 2 1/2 more classes to go!