Fall Fun With Friends

We had such a great time Saturday night with friends. My accountability group and our families got together to just enjoy time hanging out with each other. We had 7 families who could make it and and 17 kids ranging from 1 years old to 16 years old. We had so much fun. One of my dear friends Michelle has the true gift of hospitality and hosted us all. Everyone had so much fun. We had a great dinner we just ordered bbq from local restaurant and brought other goodies to go along with it. As you can see Grace just as much enjoyed playing with guns as she would any other frilly girl thing!

Me and Grace about to enjoy a hay ride (minus the hay). We had a trailer hooked to back of a pick up truck and we all loaded up with our blankets and Nelson drove us around the neighborhood. It was a lot of fun.

The older boys rode dirt bikes and go carts and followed along behind us. Christian is above hoping on the back with his friend Bailey. My boys love going over to their house because they have land and dirt bikes and go carts and they love it! As for me makes me a little nervous but the had a lot of fun.

Part of the gang about to head out on the ride

Then we came in and the younger ones enjoyed some crafts

We closed the night out with The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown outside under blankets using a big sheet hung over the balcony as the screen. The older kids played man hunt (hide and seek in the dark) and the men played corn hole and chilled by the fire.

Grace made it over herself to the fire and roasted her first marshmallow for a smore. I think honestly she just decided the chocolate was best by itself

And as we were headed out we looked out and found Grace and Lily had jumped aboard the go cart...uhhh negative girls!

A Great Day for Some Baseball

Christian had some great field time today - a little outfield, some second and some pitching time.

It was a beautiful day today and I was able to catch Christian's morning game this morning . He struggled a little at bat but did pull off a single. Of course this isn't his usual at bat so he was not a happy camper this afternoon when he got home. Luckily he shakes things off pretty quick and by time he had some time a lone and a shower he was good. Baseball is such a mental game so much of the time, as much so as skill I think, it will make or break you out there.

Grace Has Learned to Ride Her Bike!

Annual Visit to Baptist...

This morning Guy and I took Grace to her 1 year follow-up with her specialist at Baptist Hospital in Winston Salem. She is doing as he would expect (which is great to us!). We have learned what will be Grace's norm after living together for a year. She will have periodic flare ups on her tongue causing swelling and the cysts to fill with blood and bleed on occassion when her body is fighting something off. Obviously we wish she did not have this to deal with but this will be her "norm' and at least doesn't impact her day to day and we will help her deal with it the best we can when the flare ups do come. She is such a trooper really and doesn't let much slow her down!

We will see him again in a year. Annual check-ins should be all we need just to ensure no change. The things we would watch for if the lymphangioma got larger on her tongue and impacted her sleeping (sleep apnea) or her speech. If all goes as it has (which we are claiming!) and her tongue doesn't ever get larger we should be fine. Otherwise we look at surgery of the tongue which is not ideal so we aren't going there.

For now, we are going to set Grace up for appointment with speech pathologist just to see if she is doing what a 3 year old shoudl be, if there is annunication they can help with or if they feel her tongue is impacting her speech at all. If that is the case, what Grace has is so rare may not be someone that knows how to deal with that specifically..but hey God has already gone before us right..and we are trusting in that .

Grace's Passport Received

Just a quick post. We receied Grace's U.S. passport today. It came real quick. We are strongly considering taking her to China with us. So this was a must in case we do.

A Day at the Park...

She said move Mommy, Daddy swings me higher!

Guy and I had a fun day with some 1:1 time with Grace at the park today. Her preschool had a family day. The kids all got to play and then we enjoyed lunch together. It was nice Guy took a vacation day and she had mommy and daddy all to herself. She made sure I knew that if I talked to any of the mommy's.
Grace and her friend Morrision thought it was fun to kick these balls and the wind didn't help with that, as they laughed and run all the way to the parking lot with us chasing behind them.

Oh yes Nana bough the "Cars" sunglasses, notice them and the all pink outfit. This girl loves "cars".

Grace and Olivia's Bathroom Complete

So I have begun the prep work for Olivia coming home. My first project get Grace's bathroom to also look like Olivia's bathroom. First step if we have a "G" on the wall, we must have an "O" right? Funny their initals speall GO!
A few knick knacks for the shelves which I had yet to fill since Grace had been home. Grace and I hit Hobby Lobby and had no problem filling it...even have a photo of each of them up there.

Shower curtain...no change here. We really did minimal, just tried to make it feel like it was their bathroom to share.

So that meant Olivia needed monogrammed towels up too. Her's actually turned out really good.

These are Grace's she has had since she came home, her momogramming not as bold as Olivia's but it's all good.

Princess plaque of course!

And lastly they now each have a cross with their name.

Check, bathroom done...so next on the list is get Olivia some clothes. That is my project for this month. I am in the midst of going through all the kiddos closets and seeing what they need for the fall/winter and will be shopping for everyone in the coming weeks. Boy this one will hit the pocketbook hard with 5 kiddos!