More presents!

Yesterday, while Ron was golfing, Gracie and I went to see Charlotte's Web at the movies. It was a great family movie! When we got home, I let her open another gift. She has so many under the tree! She loved her dancing Barbie from Uncle Ronnie, Aunt Cindy, Joe, Jared and Leah. Thank you so much! The doll's name is Princess Blair, but Gracie calls her Princess Glare. Too funny. You can't really see it in these pictures, but the front of her shirt was covered in chocolate. She had rasinets at the movie and I didn't realize what a mess she had made until we left the theatre. She had chocolate in her hair and eyebrows too!?!

Christmas Party at Primrose

Gracie and Wesley
Ms. Markert, Claudia and Kaden

Gracie had a Christmas party at school today. She was so happy that I was able to go......it's the first party I made since she started there a year ago. They sang songs and ate lots of sugar!

Cookie Party!!!

Last Saturday was Ron's Christmas party. Gracie went over to my friend Megan's house and had a cookie party with her daughter Haley. Gracie had a blast! She talks about Haley all the time. Thank you Megan for babysitting.

Thank You Nanny and Aunt LuLu

Thank you Nanny Rhonda and Aunt LuLu for the early Christmas presents. We allowed Gracie to open one present from each of you. She loves her school playset and her doodle pet!

She got a little carried away with the stickers!

Don't let her expression fool you.........she really loves her doodle poodle as she calls it.

Our Little Angel

Just some pics in front of the tree.

Mommy's shoes

One of Gracie's favorite things to do is play with my shoes. The ones pictured above go so well with her Barbie dress, they are her favorite!

Princess Pictures

Each year I make a great effort to get a good picture to put on our Christmas cards. As each year passes, the perfect picture gets harder and harder to come by. Gracie does not particularly like taking pictures......just like her dad. But, this year she agreed to take a picture in front of the Christmas tree only if she could wear her princess dress. Gracie has 5 different princess dresses. So we had to take a picture in each one! As you will see, I wasn't very successful in getting a good one.......but we had fun trying.

Dance Class

On Saturday, it was "show off" day at dance class. Unfortunately, Ron had already made plans to go golfing before we learned about the show off. So, I videotaped her in action.....I got some pretty good footage. I don't know how to put a video on the blog, so here are a few pictures. Check her out at the ballet barre.....looks pretty relaxed doesn't she! They were all soooo adorable. Her recital will be held on May 19th and she will be doing a tap dance to a song from the movie "Happy Feet". They will be dressed like penguins. The costumes are very cute. Visitors love the weather up here in May....hint, hint.

Oh, she also informed me that she doesn't like dancing seriously, she likes dancing silly. I don't know where that child gets her vocabulary.

Golf, Great Food, & Great Friends

Last weekend Ron was in his glory. He got to play a round of golf with his friends Michael and Brian and their friend Mike Yenni. They played on a course near Stone Mountain (see the mountain in the background). When Ron left the house it was 25 degrees......you have to be a die hard golfer to play in that kind of weather! To top off his perfect day, we went to eat at Fogo de Chao. This is a very nice brazilian steakhouse that serves a variety of meats in an all-you-can eat style. Most of you know that Ron is a bottomless pit when it comes to steak.....but I think he overdid it. It was a very nice outing with our friends Michael and Emily and Brian and Catrina. William and Gracie were very well behaved, although Gracie had to go to the potty about 100 times! I think she just likes to check out the restrooms of any new establishment we enter. I was pretty frustrated on about the fourth trip and I told her that I would be very disappointed if she didn't actually peepee in the potty. As I was putting her on the toilet she said, "Will you be impressed if I make poopee?" .........I just about died laughing. Aaah, the things kids say!

I'm back

Sorry for the neglect to the blog......after battling walking pneumonia, the Thanksgiving holidays and late nights at work....I've finally posted a few entries below. Hopefully, I'll keep it updated more regularly. We had a great visit with my parents and Ron's parents over the Thanksgiving week. Thanks Mr. George for all of the delicious food!

Princess Slippers

Mrs. Peggy bought these slippers for Gracie when we went to the mall to see Santa. Gracie loved them so much that she wore them throughout the mall. She wears them every night after her bath. Thanks Mamere!

The Wagon

Gracie insisted that Mamere get in her wagon, so she could take her for a ride. Very funny! That little game didn't last very long after she saw that she couldn't move it.

SANTA

Santa 2006
Santa 2003
Santa waiting patiently
Gracie loves this interactive mat, very cool.

On the Saturday after Thanksgiving, while my parents and Ron's parents were still in town, we took Gracie to see Santa Claus at the mall. She was not scared at all and was more interested in showing Santa her dress, that has a Santa and reindeer on it, than telling him what she wanted for Christmas.

I've had official "meetings" with Santa to discuss her behavior on several occasions (wink, wink).

Unfortunately, we were never able to find "the" desk, so we ended up ordering her a different one. However, when Fed Ex delivered it, Gracie saw the box. We had to tell her that it was a present for William and she was okay with that (sorry Emily and Michael).

One more thing.......the other day she asked me what was Jesus Christ's last name .....I told her that he didn't have a last name, that was just his name. Then, she said "well what is his middle name"? I think I will have to purchase that book about having the answers to all of your child's questions.......

Fun Friday at Home Depot!

Once a month, our department participates in some type of team building excercise. It is a great way to get to know our team members and do something fun besides crunching numbers all day long! Last month each team was given the ingredients of a gingerbread house and were told to build something relating to Home Depot. My team created a delivery truck! We were not chosen as the best by the judges, but I think we should have won ;->

Here is a picture of about 2/3 of the Corporate Accounting department.

Abby and Megan, two of my best buddies!

This was our crafty creation! Notice the lumber (licorice), paint cans (marshmallows), christmas trees (gumdrops) and doors and windows in bed of the truck. Pretty creative for a bunch of Accountants don't ya think?

The Negotiator

Our child has turned into quite the negotiator. I think we have an attorney in our future. Here are a few snippits of our conversations:

Ron: Gracie you have 5 more minutes until it's time to wake up.
Gracie: grrrrr
Ron: (5 minutes later) Gracie your 5 minutes are up.
Gracie: Can I have 16 more?



Ron: Gracie let's get dressed. I'm late for work.
Gracie: No!
Ron: 1, 2, 3
Gracie: I'll put on my pants if you give me a piece of chocolate.


Rona: Gracie let's go through your toy room and see what we can give away to the children that don't have any toys.
Gracie: Okay!! I'll give away my kitchen and vanity. (She has been saying she wants an Ariel kitchen and vanity.....but we told her Santa wouldn't bring her those because she has a kitchen and vanity already!)

Gracie: (At 6:00 am Saturday morning) Mom I want to go downstairs.
Rona: Gracie, go back to sleep. Mr. Sun isn't even up yet.
Gracie: Mr. Sun's a jerk!

The Pink Pig

On Saturday we took Gracie to ride the Pink Pig at Lenox Square in Buckhead. The Pink Pig is a train ride above Macy's department store and is an old Atlanta tradition. Gracie enjoyed the experience, but I think she was unimpressed as she expressed to me with a sigh "This ride is for the little children". I guess the two trips to Disney have spoiled the kid!

A longtime holiday tradition for Atlanta children, the Pink Pig returns to entertain children and families for another holiday season. Rich's-Macy's brought back the Pink Pig, the much beloved department store ride, years ago, after the ride celebrated its 50th birthday. The original Pink Pig was housed at the Rich's in Downtown Atlanta, which has since closed. So the Pink Pig has moved uptown, to Lenox Square Mall in Buckhead Atlanta, and now it is Macy's department store that hosts the Pink Pig. It is sure to be a hit with kids, and their parents, many who have fond memories of riding the original Pink Pig.
The Pink Pig was introduced back in 1953, and originally was located inside the Rich's Department Store, giving children a bird's eye view of the toy department decked out for Christmas. In the 1960's, the Pink Pig ride became so popular that a second pig was added, named Percival, who with the original Priscilla was moved to the rooftop of the Downtown Atlanta Rich's, where it rode around the Great Tree, another holiday tradition of Rich's. In the early 1990's, the Pink Pig was part of the Festival of Trees at the Georgia World Congress Center, before retiring in 1996, and taking up residence at the Atlanta History Center.