Disneyland Part 100

On Tuesday, Gracie and I met a couple of mom's from my adoption group for breakfast at IHOP, then a day at Disneyland. I know, I know, more Disneyland pictures but I just can't resist bringing the camera and snapping shots of Gracie girl at one of my favorite places. The day was quite long, as we went to IHOP first since they were giving away free pancakes for a donation to a children's charity which the name has slipped my mind (this is called mommy brain) and then ended up staying at Disneyland until 6:30pm at night. It was fun though and I got to bring home a yummy cupcake. I also found out that Gracie is now 36" tall as she was measured before being allowed on the bumper cars. She is as tall as the 3 year olds that we were with and Gracie isn't even 2 and 1/2 yet! I think I am going to have one tall girl on my hands, at least taller than mommy and daddy which isn't saying much. I'm trying to think of something witty to end my post but I have a sore throat and am too darn tired so I guess I will just end with good night!

Ring around the Rosie with O and J. Hey, that spells OJ!

They all fall down!

Driving the bumper car and don't worry, it's Disneyland and the cars go really, really slow

This was on the ladybug twirly ride, right before Gracie fell off the seat which is a story within itself

Chinese anyone?

Cutie pie J and her mommy D

Just Goofin' around!

Last Friday, we got together with my Lucky Mommy's Group. We met up at Chuck E Cheese's, ate pizza, and had a Valentine's exchange. Gracie is really getting fond of the old rat and will ask to go to Chuck E Cheese's and eat pizza. Whenever we pass by, Gracie will point it out to us too. Chuck E Cheese's was fun and as usual, the kids really enjoyed themselves. At one point towards the end of our time there, Gracie decided to take off her shoes and socks. She hates wearing them at home and the first thing she does when we get in the door is either ask me to take them off or she will shuck (does anybody use that word anymore?) them herself. At the church nursery, when we come get her, lately she has also taken her shoes off and is walking around with dress up shoes on. Speaking of dress up, Gracie has really gotten into the whole pretend play thing and just recently, I bought her a princess crown and jewelery for $5 at Target. I took pictures today of my little princess and will post them another time.

PS~ I don't have a title for this post because I just couldn't think of anything clever enough. Any ideas?

Peek a boo

She finally got the concept of air hockey but enjoyed the puck going into her goal more than the actual game

Exchanging presents with Becky

Look at those dance moves!

Kailee and Ryan clowning around

Just chillin'

First attempt at a group shot

Believe it or not, this was the best of the bunch. Notice the no shoes pose?

Happy Valentine's Day

We don't do a lot for Valentine's Day, usually cards at the most. This year, since Gracie is getting older, I wanted her to make something for Jerry so we sat down yesterday and started to make a valentine tree. It looked simple enough in store but when I opened the package and saw that it required hot glue and glitter amongst other things, I decided to scrap that idea and make an impromtu gift. The package contained a red heart with a white outline that didn't require one burning their fingers, just a peel and stick deal so I put that together and then let Gracie color it and put on as many foam stickers that to her heart's content, no pun intended. The heart turned out pretty cute and Jerry loved it and of course, the Starbucks gift card attached to it was much appreciated. Tonight, we are going to be romantic, and hit our local Target store and then come home for a nice homemade crockpot dinner and possibly some store bought cookies. Happy Valentine's Day!

The heart Gracie made Jerry

I also threw in a handmade card

Gracie loved her new spider stuffed animal and monkey slippers. It was hard to smile with a mouthful of candy hearts.

Even Wrigley needed a valentine hug too!

My Little Artist

For Christmas, Gracie got a ton of things for her to be creative with including new markers which she is using in the pictures and products from the Crayola Color Wonder line which if you haven't tried before, are fantastic. She even has the erasable water crayons for the bathtub. Every morning, Gracie asks me to color and will spend a lot of time doing this activity. She also likes for Jerry and I to draw things for her which unfortunately for me, isn't good as I am not an artist, lol! Her favorite things that she wants us to draw are Mickey Mouse and Pooh. Yesterday, she asked me to draw Eeyore which there is no way in heck that I would even know where to start, so I asked her to draw him for me instead. And wouldn't you know it, she made a couple of squiggles and bam, told me that it was Eeyore. :)

The best part of all this coloring, is Gracie now knows her colors as we will say to her when coloring, do you want the pink crayon or the green one? She gets really excited and will run over to me and say "Mommy, pink or Mommy, black". I love seeing her so enthusiastic about how proud she is that she knows her colors. Just to be clear, she doesn't know every single color on the spectrum which I don't expect her to and she does get her colors confused sometimes but that's okay cause she's only 2!

Since we missed celebrating Chinese New Year, I decided to break out the dress that I have been saving for almost 2 years that I got in China, and put it on Gracie for some pictures. At least we could celebrate in spirit, if anything else! The dress fit okay but I can tell that in a month or two, it won't fit any longer. I remember asking the lady in China for a dress that would fit a toddler and she said that this particular one would fit a three year old. Little did I know at the time, that I would have a beautiful tall girl. Gracie loved her dress and especially the dragonflies that she kept calling ladybugs. I was able to quickly get some pictures before she wanted to run outside and play on her swing set. Hopefully next year, we will get to celebrate in style.

I forgot to add that underneath my blog header, there is a saying. I actually received this in a fortune cookie when I was going through my infertility treatments and rough times. I knew that this fortune was a message to me and I would have a child one day so I have saved the fortune all these years as a reminder that things may not go the way I like but they will somehow turn out okay.

Also, Jerry used to go to a particulular chinese restaurant at least once a week. Every fortune he received, seemed to come true. Right before we got our referral for Gracie, he got a fortune that said something to the effect that he would receive good news for a far away place. At that time, nobody knew what China was doing with referrals so we didn't know we were next in line. Jerry kept the fortune in his wallet and we got the call a couple of weeks later. To this day, Jerry too has kept the fortune!