Long lost post

I know! It has been a very long time since my last post. I guess that shows how busy we have been. Since then and now we have hosted Thanksgiving dinner, had Dave's Aunt and Uncle for a visit, I was in charge of a Christmas mission project for my mom's group, attended 5 Christmas parties, decorated the house, wrapped Christmas gifts, attended a teddy bear tea, had 1 kid in the hospital, 1 pregnant mommy with the flu, 1 sick little girl , and my parents in town for a pre-Christmas visit!!!! I am tired just reading that. The great thing is we had so much fun doing each of those things (minus the hospitals ad sickness.)

Here are some pictures from the last month:

Here we are at the Santa Claus breakfast at the Martinez Masonic Hall waiting for Santa to make is grand entrance.

Grandma and Grandpa Jefford at the Santa breakfast with Michael

Grandma making Christmas crafts with Gracyn.

Gracyn wearing her new hat from Great Grandma Scherer. She LOVES this hat!

Poor little Michael was admitted to the hospital last week for Reactive Airway Disease. His poor lungs had a very bad response to the common cold. He is doing great now and is taking medication using a breathing machine. He was one sick little boy but still managed to win over every single nurse in his unit. Little Charmer!

Here is Gracyn at the annual Swedish Jule Fest. This is the first year she participated in the Sankta Lucia presentation. She loved it and was so very proud of herself. Now she wants to learn to sing the songs in Swedish and be Lucia so she can wear the crown. Gracyn asked me if I was Swedish. I told her no, but daddy is. So, she asked if she was Swedish and I told her yes, she is part Swedish. She then said "Well why don't I speak Swedish." - what a cutie!

Gracyn and Santa

Michael and Santa

Gracyn with the Teddy Bear from the Christmas Teddy Bear tea in San Francisco

Meadowlark - Soup and Song Day

Gracyn has school off all next week, so her class put on a little "Soup and Song" day for the parents on Friday. It was so cute. The kids each brought a vegetable to school that morning and they made the soup to share with the families. They made decorations with leaves covered in glitter and had been practicing songs for the last few weeks to sign to us. Below are a few pictures and a video to enjoy.

Weekend Guests

Wow, what a busy weekend at the Ard household. We kicked off the long weekend by bringing the Gracyn's preschool class pets home. Two Guinea Pigs, Kipling and Dolly came to stay with use for the weekend. The kids LOVED these little animals. They stayed in Gracyn's room, we fed them fruits and veggie, and took them out quite often to play. Our poor dog, Macie, went crazy during their visit. She loved coming into Gracyn's room to watch the Guinea Pigs in the cage but didn't understand why she wasn't allowed to play with them. Michael would pull a char over to Gracyn's dresser and talk in a high pitch to them "Hi, A-pigs." So cute! Both the kids were a little sad to see them go back to preschool.

Our other visitors ( not pictured below ) were 40 dungeness crabs. Dave went out crabbing with 4 friends Saturday morning right outside the Golden Gate Bridge. They came home with 10 a piece (the max you can take during crab season.) I took the kids to Martinez, CA to the docks to see the big cooler full of these crabs. They were huge. I wish I had taken my camera with me. Not long after those poor little guys were cooked in boiling water. 15 of them made them home to our house and we had a crab feed with Dave's buddies families Sunday night.

Now to our next visitor, which is still here....... Gracyn found a preying mantis on Sunday afternoon in our driveway. They are the most amazing looking creatures. We put it in a jar and she took it to school to show all of her classmates. Gracyn couldn't figure out what to name it because we didn't know if it is a boy or a girl. We did a little research on this insect and found out that many people keep them as pets! Yikes...... what should we do? Monday afternoon I went to the pet store and bought some small crickets so the poor thing could eat. I spoke with the pet shop owner and she told me that if we keep it more than 3 days it is ours! If you keep them much longer they can't survive in the wild when you let them go. So, we decided we should let it go the following day. Gracyn wanted the little bug to sleep in her room last night so it did. In the morning I went in to see if t had ate the crickets we put it. It sure did and left us a surprise as well........................

Hanging from the stick in it's cage it an egg sack. Yes, that's right we are expecting 100-200 baby preying mantis!!!!!! Lovely.

Gracyn, Gracyn, Gracyn

Just a little update on our sweet 4 year old princess................

So, as most of you know Gracyn is about as girly as a little girl can get. She will ONLY wear dresses. Everyone one in a while she will wear a skirt and I can get her to wear tights or leggings now that it is colder. If it were up to her she would wear her Christmas or Easter dress everyday. She also insists on wearing a bun or some other fancy hairdo to dance class. She doesn't understand why a 4 year old can wear lipstick to preschool. She has told me things like "Mommy, I know I don't want to play soccer because you have to wear a shirt. Can't you wear a dress when you play soccer?" I guess tennis may have to be her sport! The other day we were getting ready to go to a birthday party. We picked her outfit out and she was getting read to get dressed then she said "Mommy I'll be right back I need to put some party underpants on too!" Huh? I have tried and tried to explain to her that beauty come from the inside. That she is such a beautiful little girl because she is kind, and loving, and shares not because of her purple and pink flower dress with ruffles. I pray she is understanding this message, at least a little or WOW I am in for it when she is a teen.

Gracyn is such a smart little girl too. She loves to read and is writing her name. We just finished our first chapter book together, Charlotte's Web. She loved reading and it couldn't wait for the next chapter every night. Right now we are reading "Little House on the Prairie." Because of these smarts, she is quite the negotiator. She tried to convince me a few weeks ago that she needed dessert. It sounded something like this. "Mommy, I am pretty full. The side of my stomach that is for dinner and for finishing my broccoli has no room left in it. I can't eat any more. This side of my stomach, for dessert, has plenty of room so I know I have room for dessert."

She is definitely our little sugar and spice girl. She can be so sweet it makes your heart melt and then 2 seconds later the sassy turns on. She rolls her eyes and makes little faces. It's amazing how young little girls learn to turn on the charm to try to get their way. Again, I think I may need to start reading up on the teenage years!!! Prepare myself.

Happy Halloween!!!!!!

What a great Halloween weekend! The kids had so much fun this year. We had an event filled week.... a friend's Halloween play date, Gracyn's school parade, carving pumpkins, a Halloween pre-party at our house, and of course, Trick-or-treating!!!!

Gracyn was a princess this year. She definitely played the part too. She wanted make-up and her hair perfect. She even walked gracefully and posed for her pictures with her head tilted. Great Grandma Scherer made her beautiful costume and as usual she received so many compliments. Michael was a Tiger this year. He would make the cutest Roar!!!!!!! sound when you asked him what the tiger says. Our first party we went to the Monday before Halloween it took him only about 5 minutes to be completely covered in mud! Thankfully the costume washed up pretty well.

Gracyn was a pro a trick-or treating this year! We had about 20 kids that went out together and Gracyn was always one of the leaders of the pack, running as fast as she could to the next door. I guess she really got it this year. The faster you move means the more houses you hit which leads to lots and lots of candy! Smart Girl! She also realized that Mommy and Daddy sneak a few pieces out of her trick-or-treat bag from time to time! Oops. Michael on the other hand was historical this year. He would often just walk right in to whomever's house we were at. He was always the last to make it to the door and even left his bag in one of the houses! He sure did look cute though and he always said "thank you." My good boy!

Here are some photos from the week!

Michael trying to blow out the candles.

Princess Gracyn on the hunt for CANDY.

Michael taking a trick-or-treat break with his buddy Kendall.

Some of the kids from or Halloween party

.

The kids with GG and Grandma Ard

Silly Tiger and Diva Princess

Gracyn and her best friend Avery at their Halloween parade at Meadowlark.

All the girls

Gracyn's class

Carving Pumpkins

Way to go Giants

Congratulations Giants!!!! 2010 World Series Champs!

Guess who just turned TWO?

That's right, our little Michael just had a birthday! He turned 2 this past Saturday, Oct 23rd. We celebrated on Friday late afternoon with a small pumpkin patch party. We then headed to a local pizza spot for dinner. It was a wet day that day but the kids did not seem to mind. They made pumpkin crafts, went on rides, enjoyed birthday cake, and even picked out a pumpkin of their own to take home. I have posted a few pictures from Michael's party for you.

I figured this post would be the perfect time to give an update on our little guy. Michael continues to have such a sweet little personality. He is so silly and loves to laugh and make others laugh too. He cracks himself up all the time. Michael plays so well by himself and really does not need to be entertained much. That being said, he likes to take off on his own quite a bit too. At a park you have a keep an eagle eye on this boy. Within seconds he will stray from the fun play structure equipment to the more exciting soccer fields where all the birds are hanging out!!!

At 2 years Michael...........

loves to ride his tricycle (aka his "bike"), he does not pedal yet but he is fast on his feet

has mastered riding a scooter

loves to jump

likes to color and draw (sometimes on other things that paper)

could play outside ALL DAY

is a good sleep and eater

likes anything with wheels... cars, trucks, trains,

likes dinosaurs

has a least a couple hundred words he can say (Gracyn, Macie, Michael, No, Eat, Bike, Outside,

Mommy, Daddy, car, truck, train, etc........)

copies EVERYTHING big sis does

has been to Illinois, Lake Tahoe, Yosemite, South Dakota, Iowa, Colorado, Mexico, Maui, Disneyland, Bass Lake, and Santa Barbara.

is still a big kid but has slowed down on growth 85% in height and 80% in weight.

is happy, happy, happy boy.

can count to 7

is starting to learn colors but always guesses pink first!

can sing the ABCs (sort of), itsy bitsy spider, twinkle twinkle little star, and jingle bells

loves to make dinosaur and lion noises, very loud!

I'm sure there are many more accomplishments I could add to the list and this list seems to grow with everyday. We are so blessed to have this little boy a part of our family and than God everyday for him! Happy Birthday Baby Michael!!

Yosemite Family Trip

We just got back from a trip to Yosemite National Park. What an amazing and beautiful place. We stayed in a 4 bedroom cabin/house inside the park near the south gate entrance. We went with Dave's parents and brother for our annual Ard Family trip. The weather was perfect. We only had a little rain the last day but other than that is was very warm and sunny. We saw as much as we could, hiked as far as we could with the kids, and also enjoyed some relaxing. Here are a few pictures. Enjoy!

Mariposa Grove

Half Dome

Our silly and very dirty kids

Little explorers

Yosemite Valley