Christmas Recap Part 1

Wednesday, the K Schenks & our family headed to Greenville, IL and stayed with the J Schenks.  Thursday all three families headed to Kansas.  On Christmas eve we had our Lambert Christmas.  It was fun to watch all the little munchkins play and get to catch up with people.

Gracie, Mema, Sawyer

Santa & Gracie

Santa & Sawyer

Sawyer loves trucks

all the kids and there is no way we could have 

gotten them all sitting and looking at the camera

Two Little Monkey's

Mya & Gracie

G & Daddy

The K Family

Gracie decided to copy the other girls and pose for the camera

Merry Christmas

Side Bar

Not often do I share my true personal thoughts and feelings but on this day I am.  On this day I have been struggling more then others and I have always done better when writing about it.  Without getting into the nitty gritty here is just the basis of my recent thoughts. 

I am not faithful.  Why would he bless me if I am not faithful like I should be?  Does God love each of his children more then the other? Does he have a favorite?  I am one that has been use to being Grandma's favorite or actually enjoying the company of my teachers, some call that a brown noser but  I have really always liked my teachers.  Although, I long for it with my whole heart I never feel there, I always feel a plant away. 

Don't get me wrong I know I have been plenty blessed with an amazing husband and every point of my pregnancy with Gracie and getting her here.  So I have seen the blessings poor in, I have had those moments where I have seen his work in my life thru high school and college.  In hard lessons and thru struggles, I have seen his blessings, grace and love.  Sometimes I feel like I have not had a close moment in along time one that makes me feel close to him.  Like when you have not connected with a friend in a while but after that good conversation whether thru email, phone or over coffee.  Your heart feels full, joyful and again FULL of love.  I just want to sit down with a warm cup of Joe and talk and feel that closeness that I so need right now. 

I assume and maybe I am wrong you have felt this way too, at least I hope someone else understands where I am coming from, I pray this is a struggle I conquer.  This is one struggle I do not want to battle my whole life.

Pancakes

Another baking date for Gracie and I.  We made pancakes and eggs for dinner, yumm.  Gracie loves cooking and helping in anyway possible.

She does very well listening to instructions like don't touch and be careful.

A Few of Our Favorites

One very cold Saturday we went out for just a couple quick pictures.  Poor Gracie, she did such a great job participating.  These are a few of our favorites.

SNOW

Of course we have snow it is Ohio.  We will have plenty of snow for the next couple of months and Gracie loves it.  As it started getting dark one afternoon Gracie really wanted to go outside.  I bundled her up, threw on sweats, boots and headed outside.  She absolutely loved it.

so cute

ready to go

gracie & mama

a terrible cheese picture with our little tree

Thankful for Family

We enjoyed a wonderful time in Cincinnati for Thanksgiving with my family and were able to meet with friends, it was a restful time.

playing with Nana

G & Carson

the boys & gracie

nana, gracie, grandpa

Here Kitty, Kitty, Kitty

This fall my friend Christina helped me out a lot and watched Gracie for me.  Gracie loved playing with her son Matthew and of course Christina's 2 cats, Biscuit & Gravy:)  It would be an understatement for me to say that Gracie loves animals.  She can't get enough, do you remember Tiny Tones and Elmyra & Furball?  Well, that is what I think of when Gracie gets near a cat, she may squeeze them to death.  Here are a few cute pictures of Gracie and Biscuit.


Here Kitty, don't you want to play...

What is She Wearing...

Well, not much I guess.  This was a common practice a couple of weeks ago when PT first got started.  It was much easier and the house was still pretty warm.  Gracie loves to be involved in everything and the making of dinner is no exception.  So she did what she seems to be doing more often, pushed up a chair and began to help me make pizza for dinner.

look at those legs

cheese, no really she loves cheese:)

Christmas & Santa

Although, Gracie has no idea who Santa is she was a little reluctant to let mommy put her up this strange guys lap but she did pretty good.  No good smiles but I got a picture and it was free so who cares.  We went with the K~Schenk's to Akron where they have a large amount of trees that are up for auction to raise money I believe for Children's Hospital, I could be completely wrong on this but the money goes to a good cause.  Anyway to was fun to see all the different decorated trees and Gracie loves the lights.

The lady bug tree that our friend's

Molly & Pearl would have loved

the Sesame Street tree & G looking grumpy

I Missed You!!!

Hello Blog I missed you, 4 hole days, I can't believe I went so long...

Anyway, I am smarter then you and I worked around your system so here I go and I am going to atleast finish off 2010.  Wahoo!  Be ready for a lot of pictures!

Blogging No More...

Yeap that's right, I give up.  Sometime last week I tried to upload pictures.  Blogger told me that I had gone over the memory amount in pictures.  I assume this is due to the fact that when uploading them from my Mac it is not uploading them as a jpeg like it should which is much smaller, instead it has been pulling large files that Mac's produce for pictures.  Booo!  Anyway, I have neither the time or energy right now to figure it out or fix it. So, although I would love to share more on Gracie's adorable new room and the happenings in the Schenk world I will be stopping for a while, until I have the time to look into this problem further or if anyone has a solution.  I just don't have the heart to go back thru and delete old post....

so, good bye and maybe I will see you next year:)

Confession

I have a confession.  I have been sort of  cheating a little bit.  I have been skipping the hard work and taking the easy way out.  Some may frown but when it comes to my life I need an easy button sometimes and on this I pushed it.  I am listening to books on CD!  Yeap that is right, no hard backs, no turning pages and no wishing I can finshed a book but I have no time.  Since September I have gone thru almost all the Harry Potter novels, those were exciting, gone thru a couple Francine Rivers books, and now going thru Joyce Meyer.  Thanks to the local Library, who spends about $75 per book on tape, I have had the time to listen to a number of books.  In the last couple of months I have enjoyed more then I proably read in the last 2 years.  Thanks:)

2 Year Stats

Alright, I have not had to do one of these in a long while and the next one won't come for another year.  How much Gracie has change showed in this visit.  Gracie stood on the big girl scale, stood against the wall for her height, which they took 3 times and none of them were the same. She did so well for Dr. Weber. Dr. Weber asked Gracie to jump, asked here where her: nose, ears, eyes, mouth, head, feet, hands, knees, and elbows were.  She got them all except her knees. We obvious have not mention her knees by the look on her face that said what in the world is that. Overall she did great.  Since Gracie is officially 2 she needed only 1 shot at the doctors this time and won't have another til she is three. And even though I have let her have all the necessary vaccinations, each time my stomach jumps at the mention of it and I pray, I pray so hard that I am making the right decision on this particular vaccine. Praying that if she should not get it I would know. They still scare me.  But she was a trooper she cried for a second and then when the nurse put on her band-Ade she said thank you. Very cute. We then took 3 stickers and went home to eat dinner.

Here are her 2 year Stats:
Weight: 26 3/4lbs - in the 50th percentile
Height: 33 3/4 inches - in the 52nd percentile - This height was taken 3 times, first 32 then 34 then 33
Head: 19 1/4 inches - the 85th percentile - not a surprise here - this too is a Schenk thing ;)

Here is what she has been up too:

• is a size 2T for the most part, some still 18 months depending on length and waist
• is a size 4 diapers
• has 8 teeth on top, & 8 on bottom
• talking all the time
• repeating pretty much anything we say
• she went 5 days of #2 in the PT, on her way to being PT, we are trying - meaning Troy, Kristen and myself and a couple of helpers who have also watch Gracie this month. Sorry!

Favorite:

• Food: she eats pretty much anything, her favorite thing is cheese
• Toy: she enjoys playing with play dough, she has fallen in love with Cabby, the Cabbage Patch My parents bought her.  Every night she puts Cabby to bed, this is hilarious.
• just started watch full movies: Angelina ballerina, Dora and Seasame Street, I rented these from the library for our last trip when showed all three she always picks Angelina

She Loves:

• animals: dog, cats, anything
• the sound of leaves crunching under her feet
• stroller rides
• being outside in general
• shoes
• helping: clean, pick up, cook, do laundry
• drink from a big girl cup
• bath time
• helping cook in anyway
• to wrestle with daddy
• reading the cow book, and the napping house
• she loves for me to wrap her in a blanket and cuddle her

She Still:

• does her excited face, some day this will change & I will miss it
• at 1 nap a day, from around 1 till about 3:30, sometimes 4:30 if she is really wiped
• loves for us to chase her for many laps around the center of our house

many more that I am sure I will remember later...

Terrible pictures but here are a couple I got for the Stats page

with the passy & yes no make up until thrusday

her first version of "cheese"

and her second

but look at those blue eyes, pure Schenk

Gracie's First Room

I love Gracie's room.  I love that it is small and quant.  I love it but as Gracie has gotten older the items she has to play with has grown.  She now has a kitchen, a little baby bed, a stroller and a grocery cart and then there is the highchair, that also use to be mine that my dad is trying to fix that will also be her's.  Between the living room dinning room and her bedroom it is getting to much for me.  Although I like her playing in the living room I would also like to have most of her stuff in one place.  Right now her peoples are all upstairs and she does not play with them much because they have been pushed in the corner.  Point of all this is I am moving Graice to the Bigger room.  I figured out what to do in her new room we just have to get her in there.  I am posting pictures to show her first room before it gets pulled apart.

You may look at these pictures and think it's not so bad but I did throw about 10 items into the hall to get these:)

The room from the door, the left side

from the right corner

the back left corner

from the closet

I love these pictures and verses

you may recognize this from Gracie's 1st Birthday

I worked so hard on this I did not have the heart to stuff it into a

box or throw it away so I hung it.  It may make it to her new room.

Gracie's book case.  Here furniture was $20 at a

garage sale down the street.  I love it.  Those boxes in the

corner I have had for years, I think it is time to redo the paper.

Happy Birthday Baby Girl

Happy Birthday Gracie Bear,
I cannot believe you are 2 and I cannot believe I have a toddler.  I am so blessed by you and I am so excited to watch how much more you will change in the next year.  By your next Birthday I am sure you will be tell full stories, in english.

It seemed that Gracie got 3 days of some sort of Birthday fun.  Starting Friday which was her actual Birthday, Gracie was picked up from her Aunt Kristen's by daddy and we all meet for lunch at Chick-fil-a.  On, Saturday, Gracie and I spent the day together playing and cooking and just really having a Gracie day.  Gracie's Birthday was then held on Sunday, I went very low key compared to last year.  In attendace, Uncle Cliff, Uncle Kyle, Aunt Kristen, Sawyer, and my friend Christina & Bobby and there son Matthew.  We decided this would be the best route so people did feel like they needed to bring gifts and I really did not have time to cook for more then who came, honestly my guest, well just the ladies and Troy helped me cook and set the food up.  It was fun!

The small amount of decorating I did

I went with the them of aqua and red for the day. 

We had chili dogs for lunch will all the toppings

you could have.  Carmel covered popcorn

with blue chocolate, & cupcakes.

just a side table

popcorn

yum

Gracie's terrible cheese face

the seriously look after being

asked to stop smile normal

Bad Picture # 1

I am pretty sure bad pictures must run in the family

I have no idea what Troy or Gracie were doing:)

Bad Picture #2

Although for Troy this is a much better picture

I am not sure it portrays Gracie the right way.

I am pretty sure the excitment is over the fire it self

I also made the #2 shirt for Gracie this year so she can wear it anytime

Blowing the candles out, she did a pretty good job

keep going, almost done

yum yum it was worth it

Shoving it in, not missing a single bit