Daddy's Birthday on the Square and The Nutcracker!

OK, so it seems I'm never going to get a post up about Gracyn's birthday party. I have to wait till I download my pictures from my phone to the computer. So till then....I'm going to skip over to what we have been doing this month!

Clint's birthday is Dec. 2. His parents came up and took us to dinner at Noodles. Afterwards, Gracyn and I took Clint to the square to see the lights! We got to see all the pretty lights, listen to some of the musicians, and Gracyn got to ride a pony!

She loved coloring on the table!

She is such a big girl! She even had money in her purse to give to the street musicians!

She is a pro at pony riding!

Feeding the reindeer!

Aunt Kaeleigh was in the Western Arkansas Ballet's "The Nutcracker" this past weekend. She had two parts...a mouse and a gingerbread man! Unfortunately, we can't take pictures during the performance. However, I did get a great one of Kaeleigh and Gracyn with the girl that played Clara!





Hopes and Dreams Birthday Party!

Gracyn has been in gymnastics since she was 19 months old. She absolutely loves it, so I couldn't think of a better theme than gymnastics for her 3rd birthday party!  Gracyn had several friends at her party and they all had a blast! I think we had several future gymnasts at the party! We started out with an hour of open gym time. The kids were able to just do as they pleased. The majority of the kids were younger so they stayed in the toddler area. A couple of the kids were a little older and they played in the area where the big girls practice. After an hour of open gym time, we headed upstairs for food, drinks, cupcakes, and presents!

Three Years Old!

I'm very far behind on this update. My sweet Gracyn is officially a big girl! She turned three years old on Nov. 17. Here are a few picture of her growing up thru the years! I will do another post soon on her fun Gymnastics Party!

Just a couple of weeks old resting in her swing.

One year old turkey!

Two year old hog fan!

Such a sweet three year old!

Nature Scavenger Hunt

I am not a fan of this time change. By the time Gracyn and I get home it's dark. I don't get to do much with her. Clint takes Gracyn to the park a lot on his days off and they always have so much fun.  I got off at 4:00 on Friday so decided to have Clint and Gracyn meet me at Lake Fayetteville so we could do a nature scavenger hunt. I found a guide online and printed it off. Clint brought a gallon bag to put the things we found inside.

Here is a list of some items Gracyn found or saw:

Berries

Hole in a tree

Spider Web

Pine cone

Acorn

Leaf with holes from a bug eating it

Pine needles

Unusual shaped leaf

Birds Nest

Lake

Blade of Grass

Sand

Y shaped twig

Moss

Here she is with a few of the items she found!

She couldn't wait to throw rocks (and leafs) in the lake!



I am a Robot...I want Candy! (robot voice)

Gracyn was a ballerina robot for Halloween. We taught her how to talk in a robot voice so she would say, " I am a robot...I want candy." It was too cute!

Tuesday she had dance class and was allowed to wear her costume. Of course, she couldn't quiet move well in her robot costume so she just wore it in then took it off once dance class started.

Tondu!

On Halloween morning, Gracyn woke up to find a new book and a new stuffed bat! His original name was Swoops, but she decided to name it Rosie.

She loves Rosie!

Later that afternoon, Clint brought Gracyn up to JB Hunt. There were a lot of kids in costume so she was super excited to see everyone dressed up. We took her around the 3rd and 4th floor and she got tons of candy! After work, I met Clint and Gracyn at G-rise and Shannon's house. We visited with them a bit then went to Jeffie's house. We trick or treated around her block, but there was only about 5 houses handing out candy. Clint went to get us dinner and Gracyn and I headed home. As we pulled onto the street Gracyn said, "What is going on?!" There were tons of kids trick or treating! So we put her costume back on and went to a couple of houses on our street. She really had a lot of fun! Now...what to do with all this candy?!

Getting ready to trick or treat!!!

Cutest little ballerina robot I've ever seen!!!

Farmland Adventures!

This is the 2nd year we have taken Gracyn to Farmland Adventures in Springdale. The weather was perfect! It was a warm fall day. This year, Clint's parents were in town so they tagged along. The minute we got there Gracyn had to ride the ponies! She did such a great job. I don't even have to walk along with her anymore! After the pony ride we bought some animal feed so she could feed the goats. We also saw an Angus bull, a camel, and a Zonkey! Once she fed the animals, we decided to go on a wagon ride! They handed out large tortillas so we could feed the cows. Who would have thought that cows would like flour tortillas?!  Gracyn loved feeding the cows! She definitely wasn't afraid to let them get up in her face and grab a tortilla bite with their big tongues! Once we got back from the wagon ride we decided to do the corn maze. Peepaw even shucked an ear of corn for her! I now have corn kernels all in my car! After the corn maze, Gracyn picked out a pumpkin in the patch then headed over to play in the corn box. Of course, we had to finish the night off with another pony ride!!!

A Little Cowgirl!

Feeding the cows!





Throwing grass on the cow's head!

Cheesing it up on the jack-o-lantern!



Wow....look how much she has grown in a year!!!





Student of the Month!!!

Gracyn was September Student of the Month in her classroom!!! I'm so proud of her!!! Her teacher, Mrs. Joy, does the light program. Green light means they had a great day, yellow light means they had to be told no or to not to do something a couple of times, and red light means they just didn't mind at all. Gracyn had a green light every day for September! I really love it that Gracyn likes school so much. She can't wait to get to school to see her friends each morning. She loves to learn and her teacher said she is just the sweetest kid! The teacher in the baby room, Miss Charity, said they are all going to cry when Gracyn graduates. She has been with them since she was 7 weeks old. I know they aren't supposed to have favorites, but she said Gracyn is just special to all of them. This makes me happy...knowing she is with people who truly care for her when I'm not there.

Monster Dance to Hula Dance

Last week Gracyn and I went to the movies to see Hotel Transylvania. I was super excited to see this movie!!!! It was about Count Dracula and how he built a hotel so that all monsters could get together and be in fear of humans. Mainly, he wanted to protect his daughter from human danger. Some of the monster that made an appearance were Frankenstein, a Mummy, the Invisible Man, and a werewolf. A human shows up at the hotel and Dracula tries to convince all the other monsters that the human is a monster. SUPER CUTE MOVIE!!! After the movie, Gracyn "monster danced" her way to the car. We stopped by Starbucks and got a treat then headed over to Jeffie's house. She had just gotten back from Hawaii and had some gifts for us!

Monster Moves!

Yummy cake pop from Starbucks!

Fresh Hawaiian Pineapple!

Hula Dancing!

Stories Behind the Pictures!

Seeing as how I just now blogged about the last day on the beach, I am very behind. I decided to just do one post to catch me up. I'll post one picture and then tell the story behind it.

September 1st was the first football game of the 2012 season! Even though we had been through all the Petrino drama, we were predicted to have a pretty good season.  Some even had hoped for the National Championship! We won the game, but I wasn't that impressed. Still, it was the first game, a cupcake team. However, Gracyn looked very cute and was proud to be rocking her Hog tattoo!

The next weekend, Clint and Eric went to St. Louis with several other guys for Big Red 2012. They went to a couple of Cardinals game, one being an all inclusive box deal. Katie and Caroline came up Saturday and we did a little shopping. We stopped by Bliss cupcake for a treat! I had the Elvis cupcake which was banana nut cupcake filled with chocolate and topped with peanut butter icing. Pretty sure it was the most amazing cupcake ever! We then traveled all the way to Rogers for On the Border. Now, since the guys were in St. Louis and neither of us know how to install a car seat, we had to drive separate all day. That was a little bit of a downer, but we still had a blast! Once Gracyn and I got home we turned on the 2nd half of the hog game. I don't really want to elaborate on this game....I'm just going to say we lost to ULM. Again, we lost to ULM.

Same weekend...only Sunday. Gracyn and I did a lot of nothing. Then we get a phone call. Eric's truck was parked in Republic, Missouri and his keys were in St. Louis! Say What?! Eric, Clint, and three other guys rode with Eric to Republic, then they all got in another guy's vehicle and went to St. Louis from there. Katie called and said she was on her way up to take Eric his extra key. Eric then called me and said Katie was coming to my house and we were to wait for a text from him. This guy was going to bring all five guys to McDoodles and Katie and I were to pick them all up while Eric went back to get his truck. Katie loaded up two guys and took them back to Fort Smith and I got Clint and Kaylon and took him home to Springdale. Poor Eric....he didn't end up getting home till like 11:00 that night! Best part of all this.....we got to hang out with Katie and Caroline!!!

The next weekend, the Bunzels came up for the Arkansas vs. Alabama game. It was a rainy, dreary day. And we lost. 52-0. And that is all I'm going to say about that. After the game, we all headed back to the house for dinner. The girls had fun playing and entertaining us all!

The next day Clint and I took Gracyn to watch Finding Nemo 3D. Look at all that popcorn!

The next weekend, Heather and Bubba came up for the Rutgers game. That Friday night we all went to Catfish Hole. The next day, the Grise's came over and we all had a little tailgate at the house then headed over to the game. We lost. I'm disheartened at this point. The next morning we took Heather and Bubba to Briar Rose for brunch! I love that place!!!!

Beach Vacation....Ferris Wheel at the Wharf

I'm so beind on blogging!!! Ok, last day of vacation! We decided to spend the whole day at the beach! We got there and within 30 minutes a light storm moved in.  We decided to go ahead and have lunch at Bahama Bobs and wait for the storm to pass. I had the samething I had the first day we were there...a Bahama Bob Burger! Best burger ever!!!! After lunch, we headed back to the beach. Gracyn decided to take a little nap!

The storm clouds...so pretty!

Taking a little cat nap!

That evening we headed to the wharf in Orange Beach. We had promised the girls they would get to ride the ferris wheel and they had talked about it for days! Plus Katie and I wanted to swing into Bungalows to get the Pandora Ocean Breeze charm for our bracelets.  We also made a stop at the Tervis store so they could pick out a new cup! Gracyn found a Finding Nemo cup and was ecstatic! The girl LOVES Finding Nemo! Finally, it was time for the Ferris Wheel! I took about 20 pictures, but not a single one was a normal picture. Gracyn and Caroline were so thrilled to be on the Ferris Wheel that they made a funny face in every picture!

Big Girls at The Wharf!

I sure do love these silly girls!!!

We all had so much fun at the beach.  We had good days and bad days (Pirate Ship Cruise!) but I can't wait to go again. I think we all agreed that next time we go, there will be less excursions and more relaxing at the beach!

Buried!!!!

While at the beach, we came acorss a big a hole and a mountin of sand. I guess some kids had come and gone and left behind their sand project. So what did do? We put the dads in the hole and buried them!

Beach Vacation...Zoo and Shopping!

The zoo was our last planned outing for the week. We wanted to get there somewhat early so that it would be cool. That didn't work. I swear it was the hottest day! Luckily, the zoo had wagons so we were able to pull the girls in that. We got to buy food and feed a few of the animals. This was zoo was neat because it was small and personable. It was almost like the Gentry Drive Thru Safari, but no driving.

Wagon Ride!

Feeding a curly headed goat!

Snow Cone Break!

Thursday was a day reserved for shopping! Sarah picked up Katie and me and we headed to Foley to the outlet mall! We hit some good deals then headed to lunch. We had asked someone a J. Crew where a good local place was. He pointed us in the direction of Wolf Bay Lodge. We got there and realized we were the youngest people there...by about 40 years! It was straight up an old people hangout! We decided to try it anyway, and they ended up having great food! As we were leaving, a van from an assisted living place was dropping off the old folks. We just cracked up! Then we continued shopping!

After our day of shopping we headed to Calypso Joe's. Remember, this is the place we went Sunday night but were closed. They had an area the kids could play in while we waited to be seated. They had so much fun on the little carousels! Calypso Joe's turned out to be the best place we ate it. The guys buddied up with the manager at the bar and got us some free nachos and a discount!!!

Best Friends!

After dinner, we headed to Scoops for ice cream!