30 Days of Thankful: Gracie

What a trooper our Gracie girl is. She hasn't had a stomach bug in so long, she didn't really understand what she was in for when she got sick yesterday morning. So miserable. And then, when she was finally on the mend today, she had to endure this indignity while we were all trapped in the car together for six hours.

Bless that girl.

On better days, she keeps us on our toes. She's got a constant stream of questions, observations, and (sometimes brutally honest) commentaries coming at us every day.

Fourth of July 2013

She has such a heart for animals, so much so that sometimes it's hard for me and Brendon, who aren't necessarily animal or pet people, to really understand. But we do see it, and we do our best to help her nurture it. Even though it means that when my brothers' three dogs all passed earlier this year, her tender heart was so sad. Her compassion for and curiosity about God's creatures is something special.

Halloween this year as a veterinarian

She is our social butterfly. She loves being with friends and being out and about; she loves a full calendar. She also has no fear about new situations and loves to try new things, and I love to see that strength in her.

She tried volleyball for the first time this fall with one of her BFFs.

And a final, funny note: Her dance teacher told me this year that if I hadn't brought Aubrey with me to dance one time, she would have never known Gracie had any siblings, let alone three! It's always the Gracie show. Only-child personality, much?

Oh, Grace. We love this girl and are so thankful for the spark she adds to our lives.

P.S. I'm also thankful for Clorox Wipes and your prayers. So far, so good! Hooray!

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Why is it that we require a holiday to profess our gratitude? Regardless of what it is we are grateful for. Whether it is your family, loved ones, friends or possessions. Being grateful isn't (or at least shouldn't be) a momentary feeling that passes with the massive consumption of turkey and stuffing.

I certainly would never suggest that we shouldn't take a moment on a holiday such as Thanksgiving to say thank you to so many people in our lives who make it possible. However, the act of gratitude should never be limited to a specific day that comes each year....for best results don't wait for the calendar to remind you to be grateful.

From "Gratitude 365: Beyond Thanksgiving" by Daniel Newman

30 Days of Thankful: For Health and Strength...

...and daily food, we praise thy name, O Lord.

Our littles love to sing this song in round, and today it has been on repeat in my head as well.

For health, because even though Gracie came down with a stomach virus this morning, eight hours before we planned to leave town, delaying our trip, the rest of us are still healthy. Because none of us are in the hospital, because none of us struggle with chronic health problems. We praise thy name, O Lord.

For strength, because we can take care of a sick child. Because we can clean, and cook, and work. We praise thy name, O Lord.

For daily food, because even though Thanksgiving food is amazing, if we don't get to eat it on Thursday, it will only be because of temporary illness, not because of lack, not because we face the daily hunger that so many do. We praise thy name, O Lord.

Please say a little prayer with us that Gracie can recover and the rest of us can stay well!

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"Why should the simple act of thinking about who and what I’m grateful for make such a big difference in my life?

• Because it reminds you of the positive things in your life. It makes you happy about the people in your life, whether they’re loved ones or just a stranger you met who was kind to you in some ways.
• Because it turns bad things into good things. Having problems at work? Be grateful you have work. Be grateful you have challenges, and that life isn’t boring. Be grateful that you can learn from these challenges. Be thankful they make you a stronger person.
• Because it reminds you of what’s important. It’s hard to complain about the little things when you give thanks that your children are alive and healthy. It’s hard to get stressed out over paying bills when you are grateful there is a roof over your head.
• Because it reminds you to thank others...the simple act of saying “thank you” to someone can make a big difference in that person’s life. Calling them, emailing them, stopping by to say thank you … just taking that minute out of your life to tell them why you are grateful toward them is important to them. People like being appreciated for who they are and what they do. It costs you little, but makes someone else happy. And making someone else happy will make you happy.

From "Why Living a Life of Gratitude Can Make You Happy" by Leo Babauta of Zen Habits

30 Days of Thankful: Cousins

We are so happy and thankful that Shelly and family moved back to Texas this summer so that we can get cousin time, like today's impromptu visit, even more often. I know how much I treasure childhood memories with my cousins, so it makes these moments especially poignant.





We wish even more of you lived near!

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Pope Francis on Sunday [Oct. 13, 2013] preached about the importance of gratitude and thankfulness for the Christian community and for family life....

“Saying ‘thank you’ is such an easy thing and yet so hard,” his homily continued. “How often do we say ‘thank you’ to one another in our families? These are essential words for our life in common.”
 
The Pope gave special attention to the need to show consideration for one’s family.

“If families can say these three things, they will be fine: ‘sorry,’ ‘excuse me,’ ‘thank you.’ How often do we say ‘thank you’ in our families? How often do we say ‘thank you’ to those who help us, those close to us, those at our side throughout life? All too often we take everything for granted.”

From "Pope Francis: Thank Your Family" in the National Catholic Registry

Birthday Blueprint

You know how our kids like to plan their birthdays well in advance, right? For the past several months I've been telling Gracie that I wasn't going to listen to any of her (many) birthday schemes until we'd gotten through the holidays and into the new year.

I kid you not, the morning of New Year's Day, she was up, writing what she called a "blueprint" for her birthday...

Brown and Pink Balloons
Breakfast: Waffles with "HIPPO" spelled in whipped cream
Lunch: Turkey and Swiss Sandwich on white bread
Dinner: Spinach Enchiladas
Hippo Cake (Things Needed: confetti cake mix, candy rocks, blue frosting, hippo figures, polka-dot candles)
Gingerbread House ice cream

The white bread for lunch and things needed for the hippo cake crack me up. This is a girl who knows what she wants! And this is a toned-down version since she decided she would trade a friend party for a trip to the Fort Worth Zoo later in the spring--to see their hippo habitat, of course!

Woohoo! It's January 2nd and my birthday is totally planned out!

Buddy Came to Town

Matt and Mandy's dog, Buddy, came to visit for baking weekend, too.



Every time I see Gracie with him, I think two things: We have got to get that girl a pet, and she is definitely going to be a vet.



Poor Bud. Matt and Mandy don't think he'll be with us for much longer, so we are especially glad we had the chance to have him here.

Thanks for the visit, Buddy!

A Very Hippo Christmas

Gracie had her Christmas piano recital last night, and thanks to Aunt Jenny introducing her to this song, hippos were featured on the program.



And here she is...



Hippos?

So you know how Shayne has this crazy fascination with birds, going on three years strong now? And how Aubrey has loved pigs just as long?

Now we're seeing a similar manifestation with Gracie and...hippos.

It started with this tiny stuffed animal, bought several years ago at Ikea (pictured here wearing Barbie's boots):



She named it Hippy and over the past year or so has spent her free time constructing elaborate habitats for it from a mix of Barbie, Calico Critter, and Little People accessories. I wish I had pictures; they are really something.

At the beginning of this semester, she moved from the realm of imagination to the real deal. I let her do a report on hippos for school, she started checking out book after book (Owen and Mzee is our favorite. What a great story!), and it became the greatest desire of her eight-year old heart to see a hippopotamus in real life.

Which brings us to Tuesday. Brendon was headed to Austin for work, so we all tagged along to go check out Tank, the newly arrived, one-year old hippopotamus at an area "zoo." (The story of that, ummm, interesting place is one for another day.)

Hippo!



Though he was much bigger than the one-year old (700 pound) "baby" she was expecting, she was still over the moon, and stood there forever, watching him eat, and eat, and eat some more.



And as fun as that was, it was still not enough to satisfy her curiosity. She's set her sights higher now, wants to see multiple hippos, and won't rest until she sees one with mouth open wide. I told her she might have to become a hippo dentist to achieve that goal.

She's seriously considering it.

On Having Sisters

One day as I was driving Shayne and a friend of his somewhere, the girls were making a bit of a nuisance of themselves, as girls are often wont to do when boys are around. As their antics went on, the friend--who has two younger sisters of his own--turned to Shayne and said...

"Sisters, huh?"

"Yeah..."

And at that second I saw a look of such complete understanding pass between them that it was all I could do to keep myself from bursting out in laughter. "Oh, the humanity!" their eyes read. I don't think I'll ever forget it.

Fortunately, Alex hasn't reached the stage where his sisters cause him quite so much suffering--yet. On the contrary, he is constantly asking one or the other to be his "best friend forever" and doing all their bidding, from playing as one's dog to being the other's royal servant.

More than that, Gracie is his go-to for comfort and help when Brendon and I are gone or unavailable. She can be so sweet with him, relishing her role as big sister and mini-caretaker, as she reads to him or helps him get dressed. And he always goes to her when we are getting ready to leave them with a sitter: "I'll just sit with Gracie."



Sisters...can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em!

The Cat's Meow

Gracie celebrated her milestone eighth birthday with a cat-themed family party at the end of January.

We scrounged the internet for ideas, and after tossing out all of the kitty-litter cakes (sick and wrong) and lolcat photos, we ended up with this cake idea, headband cat ears, and some feather boa cat tails.

  
 

And there was lots of JustDance-ing and Calico Critter playing to celebrate the occasion.

 

Eight years with this girl.

She is smart, determined, and so hard on herself. (I don't know where she gets these things.) She loves to laugh and be with friends. She is a budding fashionista, but doesn't like anything "fancy" done with her hair. She satisfies her burning desire to have a REAL pet by drowning her bed in stuffed animals. But while she still has one foot fimly planted in that little-girl world of stuffed toys and make-believe, we've also had some "real life" conversations over the past few months that have taken my breath away at the realization of just how much she is growing up. This look at the road that lies ahead both scares me to death (teenager!) and cheers me. It's going to be fun, and not a little bit terrifying, to watch her fly!

Sunday Journal

Yesterday we visited a few nursing homes to sing with our ward. One of my favorite moments, aside from hearing all the children sing "All Things Bright and Beautiful" (Why don't we sing that very much anymore?), was seeing this awesome outfit being sported by a resident's pet dog.

Seriously, what's funnier than a tiny dog wearing shades? The kids flocked to the well-dressed pup and her owner, and she loved it.

This week we were learning about the different parts of our brain, and on Friday when Gracie got the vacuum out after I asked her for the broom, she said, "Sorry! My temporal lobe just isn't working!"

Alex told me this week that he wanted a Bowser (from SuperMario) birthday when he turns three. Yes, future birthday party themes are still a regular topic of conversation around here. When I asked him "What about Elmo?" (from the last time he "decided"), he thought for a minute and said, "No, Bowser. With Elmo on the side." What?

 
Alex discovering the magic of dry ice while making rootbeer last week.

We went to the library book sale this week and scored big. Shayne far, far prefers to read non-fiction, science related books. Which is fine. But I also think it's important for him to read fiction at this point, but had yet to strike the iron with a book or series that really worked for him. Enter Diary of a Wimpy Kid for $.50. I don't know why we hadn't tried it earlier. Yesterday he couldn't be kept from it and asked for book light for the first time. Hooray! Up next, Harry Potter. A couple of his friends have been reading and talking about it, and he's ready to dive in so he can be a part of the conversation (and watch the movies with Mom).

So, I'm loving the Sunday blogging. I've now posted twice as much in the last two weeks as I did in all of September. Hallelujah, people!

New York: Buddy the Dog

We went to church the day after we arrived back home, and one of Gracie's teachers approached me as we were leaving afterwards: "I heard about your trip today! Gracie told our class everything. We heard all about Buddy the Dog and..."

Oh man, that cracked me up. Of all the things she saw and we did, the first and most important thing she thought to share with her friends was about how awesome Matt and Mandy's dog Buddy is.

I'm sad I didn't get a better picture of them together. Buddy is pretty awesome, and definitely loved by our kids.

Bud celebrated Brendon's birthday, too, with his own bowl of whipped cream.

There are some kids in Texas who are missing you (and your owners), Buddy!

Pace

Gracie's turn...

• She had a birthday! Our seven year-old girl.

• For her birthday, we gave her the choice between a having a friend party at home or going with just her siblings to Build-a-Bear. She was all over the Build-a-Bear option; she'd never been but had been wanting (begging) to go for quite some time. She loved it! So much that she headed back a couple of weeks later with every penny in her piggy bank to do it all again. The whole personified animal thing is right up her alley. 

• She loves dance class, bike riding, the outdoors, and macaroni and cheese. She's over Barbie dolls, but loves the Barbie movies (even though they make me want to poke my eyes and ears out). She loves Zoobles and Littlest Pet Shop and Calico Critters, and, of course, stuffed animals.

 

A Zooble, just in case you were wondering.

• She helped me do some online clothes shopping to stock her up for spring and summer. When the package arrived and we began to open it, she said, "I'm shivering, I'm so excited!" Ha! Totally getting into the stage where she cares more about clothes and hair and has a definite opinion about what looks good. Heaven help me!
• She prides herself on being Alex's  go-to person for comfort or help when Brendon and I are not around. She is super sweet with him and can often interpret his toddler babble better than I can.
• She is a different kid today than she was this time last year. Seriously. I didn't ever post about it, but this time last year and as we headed into the summer, Brendon and I were truly concerned about her and her struggles with self-control and emotional swings. Thanks to a book we came across, along with a lot of prayer and patience and work, and really probably just time and maturity, homegirl is doing awesome. She still might need a little reminder here and there to "turn it around," but now she can do just that. So very, very proud of her.

Things (the Moore) Kids Say!

Gracie (after staying at Nana's house for a few hours last weekend so Brendon and I could go see a movie): "You know, I really like it when other people watch us. 'Cause we spend a lot of time with Mommy and Daddy, and it's good to have a break sometimes."

Aubrey: "One, two, five, six..."

Me: "What happened to three and four?"

Aubrey: "Um, don't need those."

Friday Fog

I can't believe it's the last Friday of June. The month has mostly passed in a fog of sickness. From Memorial Day weekend until yesterday, we've spent the majority of our time waiting for someone or another to get over this flu bug. Every time I think we're safe, boom, the next victim falls. I'll probably come down with it tomorrow since I'm feeling like it may have FINALLY run its last course.

Oh well, I guess it just comes with the territory of a larger family. Four kids = four times the chance to play nursemaid for days on end. And this actually makes two Junes in a row I've kind of lost to a haze...last June, newborn fog, this June, the flu fog. Any guesses for next year?

Onward and upward! We have big plans for July, so flu be gone! (Seriously. Get. lost.) We've got the Fourth to celebrate, craft weekend, and a visit from the long-lost New Yorkers. Yay-hoo! (As Aubrey says.)

One picture from the one non-flu weekend of the summer...

 

Miss Pace has a big hole in her mouth! Oh my, I got some serious giggles the first day or so after the last one came out, listening to her figure out how to talk. Ith wath tho punny!

Have a great weekend! We plan to work hard, play hard, and enjoy our health!

Crossing fingers...

Friday Photos and Kiddo Updates

Jenny snapped some more great pictures of the kids a few weekends ago. Every time I look at them, the Eric Clapton song, "Blue Eyes Blue" pops into my head. I wonder why...

 

Shayne...loves drawing maps, plans, and escape routes, reading about birds, and eating strawberries. He can get lost in a SuperMario game if you don't drag him back to earth, just learned the magic of double-digit addition, and was the most consistent hitter on his team when they moved from coach pitch to kid pitch for the first time last week.

 

Gracie...loves singing Primary songs, inviting the family to different parties and competitions she dreams up (I recently won the "Make up your own lipgloss name and draw a picture of what it looks like" competition) and eating black olives. She is getting better and better at reading, she volunteered to give a talk in Primary a few weeks ago, and she still takes a little nap because Gracie + not enough sleep = complete disaster.

 

Aubrey loves...well, life. She does everything with gusto and enthusiasm, including throwing tantrums. She "does" school right alongside the big kids, so I better always have an extra copy of whatever they are doing, just for her. (Yesterday while they were working at the kitchen table, she hollered, "I need some help over here!") She still loves her babies and carts them around, she loves bossing Alex, and most nights she slips into our bed at about 2:00 a.m. without our realizing it.

 

Alex...loves getting into things he's not supposed to (he emptied a large, brand new package of q-tips all over my bathroom floor last week), throwing things on the floor from his high-chair, and eating real food. He squeals with happiness when his dad comes home from work, but at the same time, still only has eyes for his mother. He is drinking from a cup and thinks he is such BIG STUFF now that he can manuever his push toy and the girls' doll stroller around the house, turning on a dime. And here's the big one: We're gearing up for his first birthday party in just a few weeks...

Excuse me while I go cry into my pillow.

Have a happy weekend everyone! I've already got posts scheduled for every day next week, so be sure to check back. It will be fun!

Friday Photos

Last week at the park, it was the perfect day for kite flying.

 

Shayne and Gracie received some simple little kites in their Easter baskets that they wanted to try out, so they gave it a go.

  

I loved that they are big enough now that they could do it without any help from me; it was a good little ego boost for them as well.

Aubrey got a kite too, but she was more interested in sliding, swinging, and choo-chooing around the park, pretending she was Thomas.

 
Have you noticed she has enough hair now for a real ponytail? Hooray! 

And Alex was only interested in taking off my sunglasses and visor, which apparently he hates for me to wear, and eating as many dandelions as he could get his hands on.

  

I love Spring! Now to get some bluebonnet pictures!

What springtime means

for us this year...

 

Lots of time at the ballpark.

 

Saturday was opening day, highly anticipated in the Moore house. It was so much fun for them.

And a bit of a learning curve for Brendon and me, to be completely honest. Little League is serious business, don'tcha know?

   

Aubrey and Alex's favorite part of the day was probably the lunch break in the van, but Aubrey managed at least a few cheers for big brother.

We'll keep you posted on the Hot Rods' and the Cougar Cuties' seasons!