I Got Elfed

For a good laugh, check this out:
http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1233772035

"Santee Cause"

We took Grace to Navy Pier to go to the Children's Museum and to see Santa. Last year was a disaster with lots of tears, this year was much better. At first glance she wanted nothing to do with the noisy, shiny, bustling, and very red stage platform where Mr. and Mrs. Claus sat. I casually mentioned that if she asked him to Santa might bring her toys on Christmas, this peaked her interest. I told her that she didn't have to go see Santa but that I was going to and she could come with me if she wanted to. This seemed like a somewhat less terrifying idea to her and she agreed to go with me. We patiently waited our turn while a very large group of the "Red Hat Society ladies" took their turn on Santa's lap. When it was our turn, we climbed the stairs and walked up to Santa. Grace was not impressed. She did not want to even look at him let alone sit on his lap, until he mentioned that if she is a good girl he would tell Rudolph not to miss her house on Christmas Eve. That did the trick and she took his hand and started jabbering away about toys and her house and mee-mee's. Before we left she asked Santa to bring some toys for Mommy too- she's got my back.

Okay, so it has been over a month since I last made an entry. Since then, we had a wonderful long Thanksgiving weekend at the Simmon house along with Grace's 2nd birthday. We ate all sorts of variations of turkey, butter, and cream for three days and it was true bliss. On the Sunday after Thanksgiving we had all of the GP's and Great-GP's over to the Simmons for a birthday celebration for Grace. She opened a mound of presents and finally got that "mee-mee" cake (M&M's for those of you who don't speak Grace) that she has been talking about for the last two months. She enjoyed the cake ceremony so much that after she blew out her two candles she immediately asked to do it again. We re-lit the candles for her to blow out and she looked at all of us and said "sing!!". Hmmm....one time on her first birthday, two times on the second, is this going to be a trend??

Halloween 07'

We spent Halloween night at my mom's house where she had the second annual Trick-or-Treating followed by a sloppy joe feast. All of the Grandparents came and of course Lucy and Jia who Grace got to go Trick-or-Treating with. This year Gracie dressed up as Raggedy Ann. She has been a little under the weather with a runny nose and cough so after about 8-10 houses we called it a night. I think it's funny how strict the trick-or-treat rules have become. It's now from 5-7 pm- it's barely even dark! I remember when I was a kid we would run around until we filled a pillow case up with candy- oh the good ole days.

We took Grace to Vanna's Pumpkinland to let her pick out a pumpkin. When asked if she wanted a big pumpkin or a little pumpkin she said little. Sure enough, when we set her free she came back with the smallest pumpkin in pumpkinland.

Thrifty Nickle plays again

We spent Saturday at a friend's house who was having a backyard party. All of the guys from Grant's band in college were there and they put on a great show. This was Grace's first time watching Daddy in a band- she loved it! After every song she clapped and yelled at the top of her lungs, "YEAH DADDY!!".

Day at the park

Hot Texas!

Grace and I recently spent a long weekend visiting the Przylucki's in Houston. My mom also flew down although she was on a different flight. It was really great to see everyone, Grace was only 6 months old the last time we were all together. Houston was having a heat wave while we were there so we spent a lot of time by the pool. Gracie's new phrase for the trip became "hot Texas" because everything she touched while outside was so hot. We also did some shopping damage while there. We went shopping for fake designer purses at a store that keeps the door locked until they decide whether you are a customer or the authorities. Kind of sketchy, but my new Gucci is fabulous!

On the flight to Houston Grace was an angel. We ate snacks, watched dvd's, and read books. She even helped the flight attendants serve drinks and earned her wings which she proudly wore. The return flight was another story. It was way past bedtime but things were going smoothly, until the last half hour. I don't know whether it had to do with ear pressure issues or the fact that she was utterly exhausted but sweet little Gracie started to fuss. Then she started to cry, then wail. I tried everything, even M&M's which are usually a guaranteed bribery tool. She SCREAMED the entire rest of the flight. She sobbed all the way until I got her fastened in her stroller and then fell asleep before we reached the end of the jet way. GOOD TIMES!!

First Time Camping

We got some good use of our new tent (Grant's father's day gift) when we went for a three night camping trip to the Wisconsin Dells with the Billadeau's. We were very excited to discover that Grace is quite the little camper. She started by helping daddy set up the new tent. They put the poles together and she was amazed to see the boring old piece of nylon transform into a gigantic three room playhouse. She watched how Grant pounded in the stakes and when he was done she spent the next 20 minutes walking around the tent touching the hammer to each stake. Jim, Carol, Lucy, and Jia all showed up with their new pop up tent- with air conditioning! It was nice to have because during the day it was in the 90's. We spent the days at all of the Dell's attractions- water park, petting zoo, go karts, etc... At night it cooled down nicely and we cooked dinner over the campfire. Grace played so hard all day with the girls that she exclaimed "I'm tired!" and went right to bed in her pack n' play and slept all night. We all had such a good time, I hope we can do some more camping before the summer ends.

First Haircut

We took Grace for her first haircut and she did really well. I held off for as long as possible, but she was starting to look pretty scrappy. She sat on a booster seat in the chair and was really curious about the whole situation. There was no one else in the salon so all of the stylists were gathered around telling her how cute she was and making her giggle. When she was done she got crayons and a first haircut certificate, she was so proud!

Jesse moved in to our other condo yesterday. We STILL have not sold it and he wants to make a move to the city so we figured it to be a win win situation for us both. We gave him low rent so in turn we get one night of free babysitting a week:)-woohoo!!

Father's Day

Father's Day was this past Sunday and we had a family barbeque on Jug Band. We grilled on land and relaxed on the boat, a good time was had by all. All except for Cindy and Steve who were home sick with food poisoning- yuck! I posted a few of the photos from that day including the one with four generations of Strands. Look at all those blue eyes.

Grace finished her last Wiggleworms class this week. At the end of class she went to Miss Julie and gave her a big kiss on the lips. I think we will take the summer off because she is supposed to start swimming lessons this week. I exchanged phone numbers with one of the other mom's in class and we are going to get together with her and her daughter for playdates. The two girls would always chase each other and make faces in the mirror at wiggleworms, so I think Grace will be happy to see her again.

Grant and Grace are just headed out for a trip to the park and I have to go get ready for my charter tonight. Till next time.....

Summer season is really picking up at our house and Grant and I are finding ourselves flooded with work- hooray! Grant's networking is paying off and he is now freelancing for several different lighting companies. Saylor (the captain of the boat I work on) and I delivered the Aspiration to her slip at River City this past weekend. We got her all shined up and did our first charter of the year on Saturday. The weather was perfect for boating and it felt really great to be back at work.

Grace had her 18 month checkup last week and she is right on track. She gained 4 pounds in the last three months and is now in the 45th percentile for weight. Her verbal skills are also really picking up. My favorite is when she says shoes "oooshh". This picture of Grace and Lucy was taken yesterday when the Billadeau's came up for a visit to the city. We walked over to Lincoln Square for Mayfest which is an outdoor street festival. We drank really overpriced huge draft beers and ate brats with saurkraut, yum... It is so fun to watch the three girls together. Grace loved showing all of her toys to Lucy and Jia. She was so tired after all the excitement of the day that she slept til 8:15!

Jug Band launch!

This past weekend we helped sail Jug Band from her winter storage in Waukegan to her summer slip in Chicago. The weather could not have been any more perfect. Grace did really well on the boat. She got her sea legs after about an hour and did not mind wearing her lifejacket at all. I even got her to take a nap while we were sailing. She really enjoyed "steering" the boat and pushing all of the buttons in the cockpit. For some reason the the auto helm was not working until Grandpa realized that someone had programed it to think that the boat was 104 feet long......Gracie!

Grace and I went to our first Wiggleworms class today at the Old Town School of Folk Music. There are about 10 toddlers in the class, each with a caregiver. Grace's teacher is named Miss Julie. Everyone sat on the floor in a circle and Miss Julie played her acoustic guitar and sang a hello song to each of the kids. Many of the kids sat on mom's lap, some ran around, Grace stood in the center of the circle dancing back and forth mesmorized by Miss Julie. We sang and clapped and danced and ran around. Miss Julie had puppets and shakers, and bubbles. At the end of class the kids even got to come up and play her guitar. I think Grace is going to love this!

Gracie, the easter egg hunter

We went to Bourbonnais for Easter and had a really nice day. We spent the night on Saturday at the Simmon's, it was Jaymie's birthday. We had such a relaxing evening with a fire, wine, and great conversation. In the morning they went to a family gathering in Peoria and we made the rounds in Bourbonnais. We started with an Easter brunch with the Billadeau's. Every year since I was a little girl Grandma Ellen has had an easter egg hunt in her yard for all of the kids. I wasn't sure if Grace would understand the idea that she was supposed to go look for eggs that she could not see by just standing there, but with a little help she caught right on. She had a blast picking up the eggs and putting them in her basket. Every now and then she would drop them and say "uh ohhhh". Grandma and Steve fill the eggs with coins, some bills, and chocolate. Grace found one of the two eggs with a $5 bill- go baby!

After the egg maddness we went to a second meal with Mom, Steve, Jesse, Jean, and Frank. After we ate we went to the Balind's house for more easter baskets and Grandma's homeade pie! Grace got a bunny that sings and dances, clothes, and lots of candy. What a day!

This video has had over 5300 views on you tube and has been linked to 5 diff sites. Grace may hate us when she is older but this is just too funny!

music time!

We have had so much fun playing outside and enjoying the spring weather the last couple of days, yesterday it was 77 and sunny! The winter weather really becomes miserable about mid Feburary but it only takes a couple of nice days to remind me why I love this city so much! I can't wait until summer. Grace is going to start swimming lessons soon. We plan on doing plenty of boating and I think we would all feel much better if she could swim (along with the life jacket that she will be wearing at all times:) I am also thinking about putting her in a class at the Old Town School of Folk Music. It's called Wiggleworms and it meets for one hour a week. Grace would be in a class with other toddlers her age and Grant and I would go with her. It would be lots of music, dancing, and she would get her own kid friendly instrument to play. The girl loves to dance!

Hello everyone! I know I have been slacking on the blogging, and I do apologize. My digital camera broke and Grant just surprised me with a new one, so we should be back on track. As you can see Grace is growing into quite the little lady. She had some great bonding time with the grandparents over the last couple of weeks because Grant and I just got back from doing a charter in the islands. We were gone for 12 days! It was way too long to be away from Grace, but we did have a great time. We took the same group sailing that we took 2 years ago. We had 10 guests, 2 captains, 2 crew, and a whole lot of fun. Grant and I also got to spend two days on St. John.

These are some cute photos of Jesse, Lucy, Jia, and Grace at Jesse's graduation weekend. Yeah Jesse!!