Jamin, Ashley, Gracie, and Dylan

Last weekend, we were in Corpus for a wedding. On Sunday, we made a very quick trip to the beach before we left. Gracie really wanted to go because she had not been since she was about 6 months old. She had a good time and we can’t wait to go back and actually spend the day there! By the way, I am pretty sure we are going on year 3 of that Ariel bathing suit.

Gracie is lucky to have a cousin that is her age. They have so much fun together and are a little crazy at times! We have not seen Harrison in a while so they came down last weekend. They were coming in late Friday night so I put Gracie to bed and told her that I would wake her up when he got to our house. Mean mommy! It did not work and she never went to sleep. We attempted a slumber party but Gracie ended up in our room a million times. Harry was great!

The next morning, all three kids were playing in the office. This mess was after about 30 seconds of playing. Gracie really wanted Harry to play with the dolls but he wanted the train. That is when she said she wished Harry “had a sister”.

The next day, we all went to my Grandpa’s house. He is 83 and one of my most favorite people ever. Gracie gets nervous around him but Harry and Dylan don’t at all! I think it is because he takes his dentures out and it freaks her out a little.

Notice the teeth on the window sill.

Dylan is sitting in Nicole’s baby high chair! I cannot believe my Grandpa still has it but I used it for Gracie and now Dylan!

Harry and Gracie wanted to be babies too:

Aunt Coey and little Pickle:

Throughout the trip, Gracie conned us into buying random and expensive Disney crap. Here is her $7 Ariel tattoo (of course she picked the most expensive one)!

One morning, we went to a Playhouse Disney breakfast.  I scheduled it thinking that she would really have a great time because she loves the shows. She actually ended up hating it. She did NOT like any of the characters and did not want their autographs in her book. I finally asked her what the problem was. She said she was scared and when I asked her why, she said “because they don’t talk.” She was absolutely right and it never occurred to me before then how weird it is that the costumed characters don’t speak!

We took this picture for Harrison! Gracie was very excited when she saw them and was excited to take the picture for him. Next time, we are bringing Harry with us!

At the end, Gracie’s favorite part was the resort pool. Go figure, we fly halfway across the country and she wants to swim. The kid pool was very cool. It had a pirate ship with slides and the water was only about a foot deep so Gracie could run around freely and play with the other kids.

Overall, we had a really fantastic vacation. As much as we missed Dylan, it was really nice to be able to spend some quality alone time with the little monkey. It really showed me how grown up she really is! We have decided we will go back again in a few years, but not until Dylan is potty trained!

Last week, we took Gracie to Disney World. We left Dylan with MawMaw and PawPaw. As much as we missed him, we knew it would be too hot to have him there with us and we could do more with Gracie if we weren’t having to worry about a 9 month old! Gracie has been to Disney World before but she was only 18 months old at the time and does not really remember. We had been talking about this trip for months and she could not wait to meet Ariel, her favorite princess!

Then we got to the airport and she was not too happy!

She eventually got over it! The first morning there, we took Gracie to the Biddidy Bobbity Boutique where her very own Fairy Godmother in Training did her hair, nails, and makeup! Gracie wore the whole get up the entire day and loved it!

We saw Cinderella’s wicked stepsisters and stopmother along the way but Gracie did not want to go near them because they were mean!

Gracie then got to meet Ariel for the first time, she was so excited!

After we left Magic Kingdom, we went to Epcot for a dinner with all of the princesses! Gracie fell asleep on the way but woke up in time for dinner. She had a great time. She was so awestruck by Ariel and got kisses from all of the princesses!

Before the princess dinner, we waited in line for an hour to meet Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Pluto, and Donald Duck. Once it was our turn, we discovered that Gracie decided she did not like costumed characters (more on this later)but I took pictures anyway!

I will post more pictures and stories later!

Surprisingly, Gracie has never had a haircut. She is 3 1/2 and, unless you count me me trimming it up a few times myself, her hair has never been cut. Actually, her hair did not really start growing until last fall. She really looked like a boy for the first two years of her life!

We decided to get her hair cut at a place that specializes in children. Here is a before picture (ignore the cast, it is fake but she refused to take it off–that is what I get for bringing work supplies home):

There were video games and movies! She was really excited at first but still would not sit in the chair by herself.

And after (this picture really captures what a goofball she truly is):

Pickle got a makeover as well. The hairstylist thought he needed a haircut as well. We settled on some gel and a mohawk (of course I bought the gel so I can do this at home!)

A few weekends ago, Jamin and I decided to boil some live crawfish. We were told that we needed to buy at least 4lbs per person. As I was watching the man at H.E.B. fill up the bag, I decided that 4lbs total was enough for just the two of us! We ended up eating crawbugs (as Gracie referred to them as) for two days AND gave some to our neighbor. It sure was delicious!

Before:

Ready to eat:

Recently, I bribed Gracie in Hobby Lobby. I told her that if she behaved,  I would buy her a present. She was a VERY good girl and was very excited to pick out a new prize. After browsing almost every aisle at Hobby Lobby (and trying out all of the Crayola products), she settled on a birdhouse she could paint. It was messy, but fun!

The final product, for some reason, the birds won’t go near it!

I think more gets on his face and high chair than in his mouth!

Thank you Melissa at Willow Grove Photography!