Fall 2011

This fall has been so full of changes for us, the biggest of which was Gracie starting school.  She started preschool at Darby Woods Elementary in late August and it was quite an adjustment.  For the first four weeks we had a fight every day before school about getting out of bed and what she was going to wear.  She begged and pleaded with me to stay home even though she talked about school non stop when she was here.  (She doesn't deal well with change...much like her mom)  Luckily her friend, Will, was in her class and so driving to school eating muffins and telling princess stories became a daily routine that both kids loved. 

As she adjusted to school her teacher started telling me "That Grace has such an imagination!"  She went on to tell me that every time Gracie played on the playground with the boys she climbed up into the "tower" and yelled for Will and the other boys to come and kiss her and save her...Oh boy!  She was playing "Briar Rose" from sleeping beauty and when I asked her about it she told me that she had to wait to be saved because thats what "princesses do". Horrified, I talked with her about how she could save herself and talked about how brave and strong and smart princesses are, citing many examples like "The Very Fairy Princess, Rapunzel, etc.  She told me "Princesses are NOT smart Mom, they are just pretty!" THAT DAY we went to the library and I checked out "Mulan" and we watched that and rewatched "Tangled"  and THEN Gracie decided that princesses could be smart, brave and strong. Whew!  So this fall she has often been found wearing her "warrior outfit"  as she calls it, even more than she wears her dresses and that says something because our little girl LOVES dresses. Thank you Mulan!

School has been so good for Gracie and she now becomes so excited to go in the morning.  She adores her teacher and comes home sharing story after story about what she is learning.  She is really mastering her letters and making the connection between words and the letters they start with.  We had this conversation tonight, in fact, about letters...

Grace:  What letter does 'poop' start with?
Me:  P
Grace:  What letter does 'toot' start with?
Me:  T
Grace:  P is for poop and T is for toot. 
Grace whispers softly: What letter does that word we don't say at school start with?  You know the one that Dad says all the time.....you know...'fart'?.
Me laughing: It starts with F
Grace:  F is for fart. T is for toot and P is for poop.  Mom, P, T and F are stinky old letters.  They are all just stinky old poopy potty letters.  I am not going to use them anymore!
Me:  Well Dad's name starts with T and Finlee and Aunt Florie's name starts with F...and Paizlee's name starts with P so I think we should keep using them :)

Gracie had a great Halloween too.  She dressed up as Daphne from Scooby Doo and Tracy dressed up as Shaggy.  They were adorable even though Gracie's wig was the most atrocious thing I have ever seen and it got worse with each wear.  She wore it to parties, to school and trick or treating.  Tracy even wore his drawn on beard to work one night.  He was on call the night we went to our ward party and got called before he got home.  So he changed his clothes and went straight over the hospital to do a consult.  Later that night when I returned from running the Spooky 5k with Holli, he was dressed nicely in slacks, button up shirt and tie and he still had the beard drawn onto his chin. He had no idea:)  I am sure he got a few strange looks at the hospital. 

Thanksgiving we continued our tradition again this year and Gracie and I ran the Turkey Trot.  It was so much fun and I got to run most of it with my good friend, Amy.  We had Thanksgiving dinner later that day at our house with our friends, the McAllister's and the Glenn's and it was an amazing meal :)  So much great food and company! 

Now we are in December and I will post more pictures from this month in a week or two:)  We have had a busy, fun, crazy fall and are excited for Christmas in two short weeks!

                                                                     Turkey Day!

                                                       Alyssa's fairy princess party..so cute:)

                   Gracie dressed as Mulan enjoying a sucker from the Great Pumpkin.  I love this :)

                                                      Daphne and Shaggy on Halloween

Gracie and Dad carving mini jack o' lanterns.