cousins playing in the leaves

I went up to visit Mel last week and while we were there we raked up the leaves for the girls to play in! - they were so cute and had a ton of fun

Gracie loved throwing them up in the air and watching them fall on her and addy!
Both kids are playing and happy

Addy is mad

Gracie chucks a huge chunk of leaves at addy
Which made addy thrilled and totally happy
But gracie got mad that addy was so happy - so she went off to sulk - and was talking snotty to mom so that lead to timeout which then ended the fun- gotta love kids!

FHE

For FHE a while ago we went to the neighbors and made caramel apples and carved pumpkins - the kids loved it and made huge messes!
This was gracies apple- caramel, chocolate, white chocolate, cinnamon & sugar- what a great combo!
The kids were sooo messy trying to eat their apples- it was so cute and fun though- i want to do it every year
Gracies pumpkin- it is kind of hard to tell but she gave it cheeks and hair as well- because even a scary pumpkin needs to look beautiful

4-wheeling

We went 4-wheeling with Alex and Jaquel a while ago - it was so beautiful the leaves were gorgeous and the sun was out it was a way fun day- gracie loved that she got to wear a helmet and drive a "car" - it was pretty cute - although when we got to the top of the mountain she decided she was done and wanted to walk back down to the car-
Alex & Jaquel
Gracie driving :)
The family

picture time

Well we had gracies birthday pictures taken this year by the same lady that did her pictures last year- Sheena- and i loved them just as much this year as i did last year- gracie has definetely become a little less shy around the camera and in fact half way through the photo shoot sheena told me gracie started posing herself and so they worked out a compromise - sheena picked one pose and then gracie got to pick one- the picture right above is actually one gracie picked!-anyhow gracie looked so darling in this orange dress that chelsea and my mom got gracie for her birthday- and fyi- my friend ashley did gracie and my hair- there is no way i can ever get it to look good hahah

Loved the picture above!

Ben loves this one with penny!--half way through ben came and brought penny and so she got to be in some of the pictures

Love these pictures- and i love the bright green shirt!

Sheena offered to take some pictures of ben and I - and i told her she was really making her editing job a lot harder with me in the pictures - and she did a great job- because i actually look pretty decent :)

I love them family photos- now i wish we had a wall big enough so i can frame all of them because i couldn't decide which i liked better

Gracie was making me laugh so hard during the family shots because i use to have a bag of mini marshmellows and everytime gracie would smile and listen i would give her one- well out of habit i through the bag of marshmellows in my purse- well sheena didn't really need them for the first half of the photo shoot- but i laugh because after ever picture with ben and i -gracie would run and get a marshmellow and bring it to us! - apparently she thought we were doing a good job :)

Ben of course loved this family photo because i let penny be in it- it actually looks pretty good as well

Miss Pennys beauty shot hahaha

and the reward for being so great- a huge sucker at the end!

preschool

Last night when gracie was begging to stay up late Ben turned to her and said - no it's a school night- we both looked at each other and kind of freaked out a little bit- yes gracie started preschool today and it a weird feeling to be a mom with a kid who is old enough to go to school-

Gracie of course loved school and couldn't wait to go- which means she is growing up and that is nice- but it is also sad that my baby doesn't need me 24/7 anymore- anyhow she looked darling and i love that she is growing up!

We bought just a normal bookbag for school but then gracie decorated it- it turned out super cute and i love that she did it! - although i did write her name for her

birthday girl

Well my baby turned 4 last month and it was a fun day for her- she started out with daddy making her breakfast in the shape of whatever creative thing she could think of - and then the reason that she had dad make her breakfast and not mom- was becasue ben covered the pancakes with sprinkles and syrup and all other sorts of sugary items- anyhow so we started the day with her bouncing off the wall!

Later gracie had a birthday party at grandmas house with all sorts of friends and family- seriously there was a ton of people - who knew that at 4 she was this loved! hahah anyhow at the party the kids got to decorate cookies- which ended up with mostly knives going from from frosting to mouth and totally missing the cookie altogether! anyhow it was a lot of fun

Then we did presents - which she obviously loved - gracie loves clothes and so alot of what she got was pretty dresses and dress ups!

This little house is what ben and i got her and below is her saying thank you to her dad!

and then we had birthday cake- and because apparently to be a good mother you need not only make a birthday cake but a fabulous birthday cake- chelsea and i attempted to make a castle- i love this picture because i am telling her to blow out the candles and she is looking at me like i don't think so- anyhow luckily her friends were there to help her finally blow the candles out- but i laugh because i don't know how much time chelsea and i spent making that cake and then probably a sixth of it got eaten and the rest was thrown away! - oh well at least we have pictures :)