Missing Child, Please Help

I have hugged Grace so tight today. My 10 year old cousin Lindsey is missing. It is like she just vanished. They have had two different sets of hounds track her and they all lose her scent in the same spot. I heard from them a few minutes ago and they have found nothing.

Lindsey's mom and I grew up together. I cannot imagine what Melissa is going through, not knowing where her daughter is...my heart is breaking for her. They live in a very small town in Washington state. We are from a very small town and when we were in elementary school a girl at my school was kidnapped, raped and murdered. I know that must be on her mind. Please pray that Lindsey is found safe. Here's a link to the story. If you'd like to post it on your facebook or send it out to your friends I'd appreciate it. You never know where she could be spotted.

http://www.komonews.com/news/local/49383897.html

First Day of School

Gracie had her first day at daycare yesterday. She did a fantastic job. She is going to the daycare where my niece Kayla (Brody's mom) works and Kayla teaches the three year olds. Grace is in her classroom and I think that has made all the difference. No meltdowns like last time. The first time I tried daycare she went for two hours and was sent home. She is a very loud screamer. This happened three days in a row and then we were done with daycare for a while. I knew having Kayla there would make the difference. Her is a pic of her at breakfast yesterday.

The only problem she had was a little fit when she didn't want to help clean up. This morning she got right up and said she was going to see the kids. My sister picked her up to take her to Kayla's when she went to get Brody. Grace said let's go Terri! It means alot knowing that she is having fun!

Puppy Love

After Kelly shared Annie's love for kissing Bianca, I thought if would fess up and let everyone know about Grace's love for Ellie. My mother always grosses out about this and refuses to believe me when I tell her that, scientifically, Ellie's mouth is cleaner than Grace's. At least Grace doesn't eat the dog food anymore. I took this back in February.

Quick Update

It's been awhile so I will give a speedy version of what's been going on lately. But first here are some photos from Aunt Rachels's visit which was so fun. Aunt Rachel, her daughter Pat and son Dan were wonderful houseguests. We had a great visit and on Friday we had lots of family over for dinner. There were about forty people here including Grace's cousins Ellie and Tyler who are her age. They had so much fun. I thought we were going to have a confrontation over Trigger but the crisis was averted. Grace adored Dan because he would swing her around, sit on the porch with her and do pretty much whatever she asked.

Grace and Dan

Aunt Rachel and Pat

Ellie, Tyler, and Grace

• Working on potty training and she is doing a good job. Occasional accidents but she loves wearing panties.


• With my classes being on line we have been hanging out together lots. She has become a real Momma's girl. I don't want her to get too dependent on having me right there with her ALL the time. However it has been so sweet. She loves to sit in my lap and rock. Every morning I get us something to drink, she will crawl in my lap with her blanket and we will rock. At bedtime she will crawl in my lap and we will put a blanket over us and snuggle. We watch The Sound of Music. How awesome is that? If I have my arm around her and move it, she will grab it and put it back around her.


• I am thankful for these sweet times because I think three is going to be tough. In between morning and bed time she is not always so sweet. She is really testing me these days. She will be an absolute angel for my mother or sister. With me she is always trying to test the limits. This includes yelling at me when she doesn't like what I say, refusing to clean up her room, and running from me (this really irritates me). Some days I feel like all I do is correct her or put her in time out. I really try to make a big deal about the positive things so I don't feel like a warden.

• On the upside we have had no more trouble with climbing. It took three days of spanking her bottom and putting her in time out to get that under control.

• She has started chasing Ellie. She will walk up to Ellie and say "Run" then begin chasing her. She will just laugh. Ellie will always tire out first and duck under the couch.

• She has three loves (not counting Trigger of course). They are lawn mowers, tractors and the Mule (like a gator but made by Kawasaki). She and her Pappy go everywhere on the Mule. She has a booster car seat on it so he can strap her in and it is so cute how you can just see her head sticking up. They have this crazy purple monkey hanging on it. They go ride and visit the neighbors. She loves to go see our next door neighbor Mr. Luke. He has is a farmer and has lots of tractors.

Grace and Pappy on the Mule