Vegas and Easter

I am not very good at doing this more than every 2 months! February was kind of boring...not a whole lot to blog about. But now I can write all about our wonderful trip to Vegas and Easter! In March, my parents, Ben, Gracelyn, and I all went on a vacation to Vegas and the Grand Canyon. It was so fun to see everything through Gracelyn's eyes. She had an awesome time! She LOVED Circus Circus! She loved playing the games, going on rides, and her favorite thing was seeing a Dora 4D movie! She was amazed by how realistic it was!

Here are some pics of the Grand Canyon! Which was breathtaking!






Movie Star



Riding on the tram!!


Playing Games!


Riding a horse with daddy!


Dancing Downtown!


My nephew's 3rd birthday landed directly on Easter so we got to spend Easter in Madison with my family! We had an awesome weekend! The kids LOVED getting to spend time together!

Gracelyn found her Easter basket!


Here are some more pics from Easter!













Gracelyn and I sat down to dinner tonight (Ben was at work) and she proceeded to tell me this, "Mom, if I were you I would have a baby, actually if I were you I would have twins!" First of all...my 3 year old talks to me like she is 10. Second of all...she is obsessed with me having a baby! She is so funny! She makes me laugh every day! She also told her sitter today that I was pregnant with twins..

By the way, I am not pregnant...and definately not with twins!

Finally!

How long can I wait to put out a new post? Apparently a long time! I also left my camera at my brother's house for two weeks, so that didn't help the situation either. Anyway, the holidays are always crazy and this year was no different. I had the week between Christmas and New Year's off and it was wonderful! My mom and dad, Gracelyn, and I all traveled down to Madison for a couple days to watch my nephew and niece which was fun! Gracelyn loved every second!

Over the holidays we got to spend lots of time with friends and family and Gracelyn got way too many presents. I often wonder how all of her gifts will fit in our house, birthday after birthday, Christmas after Christmas...and I only have one! What do I do after I have 3 kids when they are all receiving presents? We will have to be good at donating toys as we are receiving new ones!

Gracelyn is our little ray of sunshine..she has a ton of attitude. Yelling out demands constantly. I am saying, "How do you ask me nicely?" about twenty times a day. She comes in our room in the morning and says, "It's good morning time" "Get up Momma". When we play house she says to me, "You are the Gracelyn and I am the Momma". She often tells me that things are "ridiculous" or "terrible"...Sometimes she says things and I think to myself, "Where did you learn these words?" And I have been known to get myself in trouble....One morning not long ago she woke up and said, "I feel like crap this morning!" Oh no! Where did she learn this new phrase? Then like a week later I find myself telling Ben, that I "felt like crap". So I officially need to start watching what I say in front of her. She is a 13 year old in a 2 year old body. She keeps us on our toes!

She loves gum (thanks grandma), playing babies, painting, watching "Good Luck Charlie", pickle chips, brushing other peoples hair, and dancing. She has made my dream of having a dancer come true. I taught her a whole routine the other night and we performed it for my family last weekend in the Dells. We went to the "Wilderness"...tons of fun was had by all! So she is my funny, dancing, smiley girl who sometimes "feels like crap"...

Perfect example of her attitude...

I step away for one moment during "paint" time and...

The "Torud" Cousins on Christmas Eve

The Fam...

Auntie Mandy!


The Fredrickson Kids! - Ben's Nieces and Nephew

Madison Children's Museum!

Getting ready for the pool!

Slide!

Our Gracelyn Girl


And I will leave you with one more cute story. Gracelyn loves to dance on her own, but, of course, occasionally enjoys having a partner. Recently, whenever she is dancing hand and hand with another person she will say, "we are married". The stuff two year olds come up with. The other night Gracelyn asked her daddy to dance with her and she told him that they were "married"...it is true that the first person that little girls imagine marrying is their dad. She is no exception. When asked who she wants to marry when she gets older, she always answers, "my daddy"..It will be a sad day for daddy when her answer eventually changes!

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Weddings and Halloween!

So, I realize my blog posts lately have really just been a million pictures...but really that is all you want to see right?? That is always my favorite part of blog posts. So we start with the most adorable chicken ever to waddle and quack...I love two year olds!! (Most days) Then we have some pictures of my cousin Lora's wedding, which I was honored to be a part of. You will notice the family picture..yeah that was the best one of the night!! Lastly, we end with pics from my sister-in-law's sister's wedding. All of which were a blast!!! For the dance portion of the last wedding the bridal party came out in 80's apparel! Hilarious! How creepy does my brother look?? Also, their wedding was in early October and it was beautiful - notice the short sleeves on Gracelyn and Camden! Now on to thanksgiving and christmas...my two very favorite holidays! I can't wait for sledding, hot cocoa, pumpkin pie, squash, christmas movies and books, my family all snuggled in under a tree, the macy's christmas walk through thing in the cities...anyone know what I am talking about? Oh and black friday, cookie making, snow painting, and so much more!! Love this time of year!!

October

So, I haven't blogged in forever and my sister keeps reminding me of it! So here we go! I am so happy that is finally fall! Summer is fun while it lasts, but I am much more of a fall/winter girl. Most people tend not to agree with me on this one. My daughter included. The first day it really was chilly out. She walked out to the garage and said, "Ooo, its cold!" And then she insisted on having a blanket on her in the car, along with her coat and boots.

We are having lots of fun with our two year old these days. She says the funniest things and there is never a dull moment. She does not like to go to bed, so that has been a challenge. However, tonight she zonked out at 6:00pm. This has never happened before..really ever...so her father and I decided to let her sleep. She didn't get much of a nap today and since she has been fighting going to bed her bed time has been pushed back for the last 3 weeks. We will see how I am doing at 4:00am when she wakes up! Ha!

Here are a bunch of pics from summer and some more recent ones too!

This is Gracelyn and her good friend Griffin...she used to go to daycare with him.




This is Gracelyn when she first learned how to peddle! She was inside, due to rain, and insisted on no pants and her dress shoes!


She was so proud of herself!


This summer Gracelyn got to be in her first organized "class"...gymnastics! She loved it :-)


Her favorite pastime is still playing with her babies!


We went to the beach a lot this summer...she loves the sand and water! This pic was from our last trip of the summer :-(


Little Miss also loves to dance. This is her dancing with her daddy at Ben's cousin's wedding in September!


She also LOVES to dress up!


On our way to my cousin's wedding shower! Her wedding is coming up in a few weeks! We are going to have soo much fun!!


Lastly, here are some pics from our apple picking trip! I made apple cobbler tonight with our fresh picked apples!

And 2 months later...

So, we have had a super busy summer! We went up to the cabin for a long weekend, went to Madison a couple of times and went on a mini vacation to Milwaukee...But now things have finally settled down! I wanted to post some pictures of Gracelyn's new big girl room. We are renting so I had to be creative with no paint and no holes in the walls :-)



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I am so relieved that Gracelyn is in her big girl bed and doing well in it! Also, her accidents have been minimal and we have officially not been in diapers for almost 2 months! She currently loves chocolate milk, Tangled, Mickey Mouse Club House, her blankie, and her daddy! She talks constantly and tells me "2 more minutes" after I tell her it is time to go to bed!

She continues to be the very best part of our lives!