A blessed week...

Wow!  What a busy and blessed week!  Here we go with an update...

Abigail started 1st grade on Monday...  For those of you not on Facebook, I have to tell you about Abigail's outfit that she wore on her first day of school.  Although Abigail is not much of a "girly girl" (she's been known to wrestle boys much bigger than her), she still LOVES long dresses/skirts, so we bought her a "knee length" uniform skirt; however, on her it's more of an "ankle length" skirt (which she thinks is awesome).  She was married to the idea of wearing this skirt on her first day of school, so we let her wear it despite the fact that she looked like she just walked off of the set of "Little House on the Prairie." This summer I have been reminded of the Divinely woven relationship that these two have...  They truly adore each other and see themselves as a team which has and will (Lord willing) continue to serve them well during this chaotic and uncertain time approaching in our lives.  They are learning that while our circumstances here on earth are uncertain, we will always have the certainty and stability of an all loving, unwavering, all powerful, and always present Heavenly Father!  

Abigail and Ju Ju's classes are right next door to each other which is another sweet treat for many reasons, but one of which is that they can walk into school together, etc (especially because Abigail is directionally challenged like her Mommy, so she has already gotten lost on the way back to her class after going to the bathroom).

The Three Musketeers outside of Abigail's classroom on her first day.  There are many times when I ask David if we should ask my parents to watch Grace, so that we can focus on the big kids (like taking them to their first day of school, etc).  I already know the answer that I will get from him, but I'm just always concerned about not being as present as possible for the big kids when they need us; however, David will almost never leave Grace out of any family outing (especially ones that have meaning behind them, like the first day of school) and the reason is twofold...  She's a special part of the family and he doesn't mind toting her around (anywhere and everywhere, even when I am unsure) and the other reason is one that neither of us have been able to finish the sentence of... One of us will say "she needs to come because what if..."  the rest of the sentence that we can't seem to vocalize (but don't really need to because we both know what comes next :-) is "...this is her last time to take the kids to their first day of a new school year, go on that family vacation, watch the kids at gymnastics, etc."  We are well aware that tomorrow isn't promised and there is always a chance that we could have to come home from Boston without our Gracie Doo, which makes for a great reason to practice finding the joy and blessings in every circumstance.  While this journey that we are on is not easy, it is good because it challenges us to see life through God's eyes, not our own earthly eyes.  

Abigail and G-dog outside of her classroom.  I just had to throw this one in because this is a depiction of one of Abigail's favorite things to do.  She loves to hold Grace (and anything else that we will allow her to do with Grace :-) and Grace is giving a great Downsy-Doo look (which we love :-)!

This was just minutes after getting home from dropping Abigail off on her first day of school and the question "is it almost time for Abby to get home" started promptly after the picture was taken...  Poor Andrew was missing Sissy all week (glad he starts school this coming week)!  I'm sure Gracie missed her a bunch too, she just didn't talk about it as much :-).

Grace turned ONE on Tuesday...  

David turned 34 on Friday and Andrew got to meet his teacher on Friday too (I totally forgot to take a picture of Andrew with his new teacher :-(, but I will make up for it on his first day of school, as long as Grace doesn't distract me :-).  This was Grace and David's birthday dinner at BJ's!

PARTY TIME!  Saturday we celebrated Grace's birthday with a little pool party!  Thank you KK (my step mom) for hosting it and helping out with all of the details!

Love these two!  Our poor little honey scratched her nose the day before her party, but she's still a cutie, scratch and all!

This is one of her Grace's new tricks...  we sing "Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall..." and when we say "Humpty Dumpty had a great fall"  she puts her arms out and scoots off the edge of the pool!

The big kids and their Papa (KK isn't pictured because she was running around preparing food, etc)!

Grace's first bite of cake...  I think that her eyes say it all :-)

Their were plenty of tables, but the kids loved sitting on the blanket to enjoy their food.

Sissys giving each other a high five!

The kids Grandparents and pseudo-Grandparents (Mrs. Kathy and Mr. Burt are Ju Ju and Glo Glo's Grandparents, but we love them like ours), minus Mary (who is behind the camera) and Lu Lu (who is in California and coming out to visit in a couple of weeks where we will celebrate all over again).

THE CAKE!  I had a picture of Grace and David put on the birthday cake because we were celebrating both of their birthday's, but also because they are homies!  David gets Grace in a way that nobody else does.  He doesn't worry about things like I do ("is she looking blue, has her food intake decreased, does she feel hot to you, is she fussy because she's getting sick... " and the list goes on :-) and he joyfully gets up in the middle of the night when she wants to party for two hours for no apparent reason. I know... he's amazing, right!  Oh!  And the hearts are for Grace's special heart (since having our Gracie Doo, I've been obsessed with hearts :-).

That's it for now...  Thank you Village for your love and support!  Please keep the prayers coming!

Grace is saying "peace out!"