Ooh, look who consented to make a guest appearance in honor of Christmas! Of course, she insisted on total artist control over the use of her image -- this is a self-portrait!
We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and a new year full of love and joy!
We went to a candlelight service at our church on Christmas Eve. That Grace loved the singing and joined in, loudly. She had fun with the candles. It was beautiful -- a very peaceful interlude in the midst of all the activity of Christmas. 
We had a family Christmas party on the 20th. Instead of turkey or ham, we had Mexican food. That Grace helped mix the guacamole. 
Aunt Donna and Papa.
Our beautiful niece. 
A new baby. 
Two beautiful nieces and 2 babies! That Grace had a great time once she got used to everyone.
The past few weeks have been a whirl of activities. We've been shopping ...
eating ...
lots ....
cooking, of course...
pouring...
drinking tea...
and we spent a fun day with Aunt Donna and Uncle Craig, baking cookies ...
and rearranging furniture!
We went to the tree farm for our Christmas tree yesterday. It was getting dark when we got there, so these pictures aren't the greatest. That Grace really got into it this year. We just let her run wild.
She finally decided on a pretty but very prickly one. She helped Dad cut it down. 
Dad was tired after cutting down the tree, so he let That Grace load it on the top of the car. Good thing she's stronger than she looks!
I planned on posting updates while we were on vacation but, surprise!, there was no service at the top of the mountain, so this will just be a quick update. I don't think the picture above really needs a caption. It kind of speaks for itself!
Visiting with Aunt Donna (who is not a fan of the Pebbles 'do). She and Uncle Craig dog sat while we were gone, which we really appreciated!
Hmm, she's almost got it!
Eating a hearty breakfast in the mountains.
Apparently deciding her stomach was too full for any more food, That Grace decides to feed her feet!
Having fun on the way home -- before we got stuck on the interstate for 6 hours.
We went shopping with Caroline this morning. That Grace was very interested in the infrastructure of the store and spent a lot of time exploring it! After determining the racks were indeed sturdy enough to hold the clothes and didn't pose a safety hazard to innocent shoppers, she was satisfied. 
Tonight we went to a birthday party for a good friend of mine at her parents' house. Her oldest is a little younger than Caroline. Because she was the first grandchild, they let her decide what to call her grandparents. Apparently she ended up calling them what they called each other, so she calls her grandmother by her first name and her grandfather "honey." Now all of the grandchildren do the same. It's really cute to hear these almost-grown boys calling their granddad "honey."
That Grace was captivated by this doll chair and just had to sit in it. She was so intent on sitting in it that she willingly sat this close to my friend's husband. She had birthday cake again tonight. I thought, "Oh well, we're just going home and going to bed; what can happen?" Well, it's 12:28 a.m. and she's up playing babies with daddy. So much for that line of thinking! My friend's mother grew cherry tomatoes in her garden this year much like ours. That Grace saw them sitting out in a bowl and got very excited. She ended up eating four of them in a row. She wouldn't eat the little grape tomatoes on the vegetable platter; she wanted the home grown tomatoes. She turned out to be quite sociable tonight. She was a little clingy when we first got there but once she realized there was plenty of party food and lots of people willing to share, she was quite the social butterfly!
We had quite the storm this morning. We were scheduled to go play with The Moms at a local gym. I thought about staying home. That Grace is pretty calm, even if she stays inside all day, so I don't really feel like she has to get out and burn off energy like some kids her age. However, I had some errands I had to run so I decided we may as well have some fun since we had to be out in it anyway. She had a great time. There were a couple of babies there, so I had to keep a close eye on her. It's a shame we're not having any more children because That Grace would a great big sister. She is just fascinated with babies and when she sees one, she does her "gentle hands" and "baby" signs. She is also very helpful and tries so hard to be good and do the right thing. 
One of The Moms had a baby this week so I took her dinner tonight. I know That Grace would have loved to have gone with me but she stayed home, since I didn't think they would appreciate a germy toddler who was fascinated with their baby! After I got home, we took That Grace to eat at Salsaritas. We have been mostly cooking and eating at home so this was a rare treat. She loves to color these days so this kept her happily occupied.
Replacing the rice with the sand was a big hit with That Grace. She immediately started trying to empty the sand table 1 scoop at a time.
I was thinking about using these pictures for our Christmas cards but I'm going to try to get something a little more wintry, so I thought I'd share.
That Grace has a new favorite game. She turns on the alarm clock radio as loud as it will go and then runs over to me like she is scared of the noise. Then I say, "Ooh, that's loud music!" and she laughs hysterically. Then we repeat until I unplug the clock radio. 
We went to the Veteran's Day Parade with some friends today. That Grace loved the bands -- she was dancing as they came down the street. She had a lot of fun waving at all of the soldiers as they marched by.
After the parade we had a picnic in the park. She's helping herself to the best hummus in the world. She just gnawed on the apple and ate the hummus straight from the jar. 
I finally got a sliding picture. This was a new park for us. They had a slide that was perfect for her. She was able to climb up and slide down alone. She was so funny. She would climb up to the top and then sit there giggling in anticipation before she slid down.
Driving the car buggy in Lowe's. She had a lot more fun than is apparent in this picture. We bought sand for her water/sand table. The rice is not a good idea if the table is going to be outside and the cover is not watertight. Just in case you were wondering.
That Grace loves applause. She was singing after supper and we started clapping for her. She joined in and sang some more just for the cheers.
That Grace played with shaving cream in the bathtub tonight. It's something we used to do when I taught preschool. She loved it once she got used to the idea. She would smack her hands in and then rub it all over her stomach. 
All dressed up for church. We had communion this Sunday. Last time we had communion, she didn't respond to it well. She spit out the bread and Daddy had to offer it to her several times before she took it. She has a "slow to warm up" personality. This time, as we were walking toward the front of the sanctuary, I told her we were going to get bread and eat it and told her to watch the other people. She did the sign for eat, so I felt like she understood. Sure enough, when we got to the front, she even let the pastor give her the bread.
After church -- eating corn on the cob. This was so funny. Speaking of being slow to warm up. This was the 1st time she had ever eaten corn on the cob. She has gotten to the age where she does not like to eat with her hands. She is getting really proficient with utensils and prefers them. Remembering our communion experience, I told her she was supposed to eat it with her fingers and demonstrated it. She wouldn't touch it at first. She let it sit there for a long time. Then she leaned over and without touching it, tried to take a bite of it. Finally, she picked it up and then she really got into it.
It's been a busy few days. When I said the time change hadn't interrupted That Grace's schedule too much, I spoke too soon. She has been getting up at 6:30 - 7:00 in the morning lately. Normally she sleeps until 8:30 or so. This means an earlier nap and an earlier bedtime and just in general a complete upheaval of our previously smooth schedule.
On Wednesday we bought acorn squash to cook for our Thanksgiving Feast with The Moms on Thursday. We saved the seeds and roasted them like pumpkin seeds. They're very similar in taste.
After cooking, we loaded up in the wagon and walked down to our neighbor's house to play. She has twins, A, a boy, and B, a girl. They are such sweeties -- and just turned 2.
Thursday was our Thanksgiving Feast with The Moms. That Grace loves playing with other children but I have to watch her very closely, as she can get a little aggressive. It's odd because she is so sweet and so mild mannered in every other way. She's really an easy baby, but she will hit. And the other day she bit me. 
Another neighbor whose daughters are in our Tot Class had a birthday party for the girls today. That Grace loved the big bouncy apparatus. She couldn't stand up in it very well but she enjoyed sitting in it and bouncing. She also loved it when the other kids would bounce near her. She got very excited and wanted to hit for some reason (I think it may have just been excited arm flailing). I talked to her about it and afterwards when someone came near her, she would look at me and do the "gentle hands" sign. She had a really difficult afternoon, though. I don't think she handles birthday cake very well. 