Monday, March 30, 2009

JAMBOREAD!










Yes, I know - that was the beginning of March - the first Saturday actually!

I don't have very many pictures because I forgot the digital camera and these were on my cell phone which also wasn't fully charged. This was Julia Grace's first trip to the library- she's such a wild child I have been fearful of taking her even for story time! And go figure - the one day you can be loud in the library - she was quiet!

Mallory had her face painted, made a clay culpture and ran all over the train!

Julia Grace stayed in the stroller and took it all in - quietly! She whimpered as Mallory was having her face painted and when the girl got ready to do Julia Grace's face, she started crying. So obviously there was something scary about face-painting to Julia Grace. We didn't get balloon "art" - they wouldn't let anyone else in line after 3.15 and we just got there at 3! Oh well. We mainly went to take a look around and see what it was since we'd never been to the library's annual Jamboread! festival.

I would say both girls had fun - we came home with 4 balloons and a clay sculpture. Julia Grace had a silly straw with a little plastic thingy that says Jamboread! - Mallory had laid hers down somewhere and when we asked for another one as we were leaving they wouldn't give us another one. Oh well. We did see the end of the bicycle stunt show, but Mallory wasn't too impressed - she said that's the same guys that came in second grade to my school - same stuff. :) Oh my. Enjoy the pics - I think we'll definitely try to go to this again next year - just a little earlier so we can enjoy more of it!

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Daddy Daughter Dance


In February, Tracy and Mallory attended the Daddy Daughter Dance hosted by the county's Parks & Recreation group. It was held at Cleveland Park. The dinner was catered by Fatz and they had a DJ. They also took a professional photo of each Daddy and daughter as they came in the door. They mailed it to us a few weeks ago and I'd meant to post it but hadn't. Don't they look so sweet together? I think it's a great picture of both of them!

They really had a blast and I think they plan on doing it again next year. I'm so glad our parks & recreation provided an opportunity like this!

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

One Sick Julia Grace...








Julia Grace hardly ever gets sick. Her doctor visits are usually for other calamities (think glue, steri-strips, and stitches) and checkups and that's it.

Well... I'm not sure what she has but I've got an idea now. I took Julia Grace to a MOMS function and she was fine that day. Two days later - not so fine. I thought it was just the nasty cough she's had that made her gag and vomit. Not so much. Stomach virus is in full swing, but looks like it's on its last legs. Hopefully she'll be well by the weekend.

Basically none of the places I planned to take Julia Grace this week have panned out because she has spent almost all of her day in the recliner sleeping (as above) or watching movies. We've seen Lord of the Beans- VeggieTales, Curious George - Zoo Night & Other Adventures, Elmo in Grouchland, Follow that Bird, Splish Splish Big Red Boat - Wiggles, and as of yesterday, Annie. Julia Grace likes to watch the same thing again after it ends. In between have been the actual Curious George show, Clifford, and Sesame Street on PBS. She's done a little coloring but mostly just lying around recuperating.

Daddy is hanging out with Julia Grace this afternoon while I go to work but first I'm off to get some more things from the store - more Pull-ups and some Gatorade. My little girl has suddenly decided she doesn't like Pedialyte - oh well. At least she is still drinking ice water! We hope our little sweetie feels better soon and we can go out to play again soon!

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Mommy and Daddy's little Artist!








Here are some pics of Julia Grace's smiley faces on the Magna Doodle! I know some are darker - I don't know how to make them lighter. A lot of the photos were taken while I was home with only the camera-phone to take them. She drew the first one at the top in February and the one on the bottom is one that she drew Sunday afternoon. She had the Magna Doodle in bed with me when I was sick as could be and drew that and left it without erasing it. Those that have seen Julia Grace draw know that it's erased almost the second it's done being drawn.
I'm so proud of her - she's so precise now with putting those little dots in the eyes. I think that's her favorite thing to draw!

Monday, March 23, 2009

Peter and the Wolf



Yep. Those were the only photos of our trip to the ballet with both Mallory and Julia Grace. Julia Grace did fine at her first "big girl" performance. She watched everything quietly and moved to my lap a few times and back to her seat. She did turn around and try to get high-fives from some girls seated behind us twice. However, it was dark and they didn't see her and she wasn't loud so it was all good.

You aren't allowed to take photos during performances so we didn't have any from that. Afterwards my plans were to take photos of the girls with the performers that are in the lobby. Mallory always enjoys getting their "autographs". We had seats in the balcony so rather than try to go down the stairs with Julia Grace, we took the elevator. Mallory was in such a hurry to get out to the lobby she bolted out and stepped on Julia Grace's blanket and tripped her. With her being under the weather she never got over it and Tracy ended up taking her to the car while Mallory got autographs. And Ms. Mallory is getting to be very anti-pictures so she was zipping around so fast I didn't manage to get any of her either.

Only Peter, the Duck, and the Cat came out after the performance. The young man who played the Wolf usually dodges the lobby crowd in the other 2 performances we've been to this seasons - Mallory and I happened to catch him both times on his way out the door of both Converse and Chapman Cultural Center. He's a very talented young man - his name is Alastair Mann (I hope I spelled that right) - he's a teenager and he's been the Blue Cavalier in Snow White (Mallory reminded me of this when I couldn't recall it) and he was the Nutcracker Prince at the Nutcracker. Mallory remembers him by name too because he's so hard to find. I thought it was sweet that Mallory wanted to see the artistic director/Grandfather in this performance and get his autograph. We couldn't find him either. I know he had probably zipped off elsewhere to prepare for their festivities that evening at the Cultural Center - they were having a pre-gathering and a performance of a different dance ensemble at 8 that evening.
We had fun and it was a great show. Mallory and I have really enjoyed going to the ballet this year. I think Tracy may have actually enjoyed himself too. He didn't go to Snow White and Nutcracker but he did come this time. At this point, I would have to say I highly recommend any show that Ballet Spartanburg has to anyone. It's always a great performance and a reasonable ticket price.

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Hey look!


It's some Leprechauns! Hahahaha...



:) Happy St. Patrick's Day! :)
(just a little early!)

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Mad-a-nine!


Julia Grace has been coloring a lot lately and is improving as you can see. She's trying really hard to color specific things and stay in the lines. I first noticed this a while back in December when the only thing she colored was the reindeer's nose.
Julia Grace also is branching out beyond Curious George and Elmo - I know I've mentioned the Wiggles are high up there. She really likes Veggie Tales and Madeline too. She sings along with a lot of the DVDs she watches and when she sings with Madeline - she calls her Mad-a-nine! Elmo is Eh-mo or E-mo depending on the day. George (pronounced Jor-jor) has been one of her words for quite some time - before she was 2 actually. She calls the Wiggles - 'I-ggles (like the I in it). She also tries to do the Wiggles hand motion and it's so cute!
She's been coloring and drawing a lot lately. I still don't have any smiley faces uploaded to the computer. She's starting to add some hair to her creations now and it's quite funny. She gets frustrated that I try to get pictures before she can erase it. Julia Grace likes to draw something on the magna-doodle and immediately erase it. And if she's letting you draw, you're lucky if you get to finish it before she erases and takes the pen back from you!
I'm so proud of all the good work she's doing with letters and numbers and drawing/coloring too. She's so smart and so good with her fine motor skills! The next task I have is to try to tape her singing - that's a hard one to nail down because she does it at the most random times! I was getting ready to go somewhere this past week and she started singing Whoa Whoa Whoa Ya Boat... yeah you get it! She sang Row, Row, Row your Boat and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star ('winkle, 'winkle, 'ittle s'ar) while I was putting on makeup and brushing my teeth. She's dead on with her notes too! She will mimic any tune we sing - Tracy even put her up to Mallory's karaoke game one night on XBOX and Julia Grace got a GOOD(!) on "Heartbreak Hotel"! It's more important on that game to get the notes right than the words. So proud of our little girl! I'm trying very hard to capture it all! She's so creative and smart - I just can't say enough about her!

Cold and Rainy Saturday morning BLAHS

Blah! It's cold and rainy and I'd much rather still be asleep in our bed. Julia Grace wouldn't have it any other way - she's wide awake, had her breakfast and is concentrating on a Curious George DVD. I'm still bleary-eyed from lack of sleep in the meantime. I guess that's what staying out scrapbooking until 2 a.m. will do to you! Thank goodness I have nowhere to be today! I have a few errands I'll probably run in a little while but nothing major.

We had planned to take Julia Grace to Shamrocks on the Square but the lovely cold, rainy weather nixed that idea as the whole thing was cancelled yesterday. We have good friends in town and if they're feeling up to it, we may meet up with them later too.

I guess the really good thing about a day like today is if need be, we can just stay home and get things done. I have a lot of crafty things I've been wanting to get done for a while for me and for Julia Grace so maybe we can do that today too. Rainy days are good for lots of things besides sleeping so I think I'll go get started! I may post some more blogs this weekend too - I've not posted in a while. Julia Grace has started drawing smily faces on her magna-doodle and I'd like to share those pics with you guys! Everyone have a good rainy day and I may post more in a bit!

See ya later taters!