Bubbles in my Ear

Gracie has been sick for approximately 7 days now! UGH! The poor kid was out of school for Fall break last week and ended up with a fever on Monday that lasted until Saturday. Luckily it was a very low fever but it lasted ALL week! The only other symptoms she had were a little cough and sore throat for a day or so....until this morning.

Today Gracie's symptoms include a cough and "bubbles" in her ear! HAHAHA! (You know that feeling when your ear is clogged and it keeps popping) This made me laugh today even though Gracie does have an ear infection. :)

A Rose by Any other Name...

...would smell better than this!!!



Here is a picture of our new hamster's cage. Caroline asked for this pet from GranGran and Granddad as a belated birthday present (because she couldn't make up her mind about what she wanted until now, 5 months after her b-day.) Rose is really cute and looks cuddly, but we don't know about the cuddly part yet (see below).

The girls were afraid for me to take her picture because on one of their TV shows, Drake and Josh, the hamster would freeze every time its picture was taken. I assured them that this would not happen, and so we will take some pictures of the actual hamster later.

Rose came to live with us on Sunday. The pet store employee told us not to try handling her for at least 24 hours, so we waited until last night to attempt getting her out of her cage. We talked to Rose for a while until she was awake and moving around the cage. Then, I opened the door and let Caroline put one hand in thinking that Rose would like to smell us first. After a few minutes of sniffing Caroline, Rose wandered off to eat a little food. I thought this would be a good time to put my hand in for Rose to smell, so Caroline moved her hand to give me room. I put my hand in, palm up, hoping Rose might crawl into it and she did put one paw in my hand. She smelled of my (just washed) hand for second and then bit a small plug out of my finger:) OUCH! This incident ended our attempt to hold the hamster for the night and we will try again tonight...

Caroline, the gymnast

Two weeks ago, I took Caroline to a gymnastics class on Thursday night to "try" it out. Our neighbor attends the class, so I thought this would help Caroline with starting out. (she is the nervous non-committal type.) We carpooled with the neighbor to the gym, and Caroline seemed to have a fantastic time. She got in the van telling me this was exactly what she wanted to do. This thrilled me because we have been to several classes to "try" them only to discover that Caroline does not want to go back! :(

You may remember our experience with soccer when Caroline was about 4 years old. We went to every practice. She seemed to be enjoying it. Then, the games started - and the tears came. She sat on the bench - even when the coach called her to come out on the field and play. I was totally embarrassed!!!! I walked around to the bench to try convincing her to finish the season, but she definitely inherited my stubbornness (and Josh's for those of you who may remember)! It was absolutely not going to happen. Finally, I gave in and called to coach to let him know that we would not be able to finish the season....

So, last week I came home from work ready to fix dinner and go to gymnastics class only to discover that Caroline had decided yet again that she did not want to go back! This disappointed me to no end, but I tried to disguise my frustration while thinking of some way to get her to go. I knew she would be happy if I could just get her in the doors of the gym. We finally came to the agreement that we would try gymnastics for 1 month starting last week. Caroline went to class, and she loved every minute of it! She got in the van after it was over and said, "Momma, remember that deal we made about just trying gymnastics for a month? I want to do it forever!" FINALLY!!!!! :)

Election Update

I regret to inform all of the "Gracie for Mayor" campaigners that after a long, hard race, Gracie did not get elected to the Mayor position. Please don't be too alarmed because the candidate lost gracefully and congratulated her opponent - a boy in her class named Anthony. Gracie reported that Anthony won by a landslide due to the high number of other boys in the class who voted for him.

The good news is that Gracie is now Vice Mayor. She stated in a post election interview that she was definitely planning to go for the banker position that will come available in town soon.

Thanks for all your support through these past few weeks. Elections can get crazy!

This Smells So Good!

Last night was open house at the girl's school. Gracie made this really cool map out of icing, chocolate chips, and a peanut butter mixture to demonstrate her understanding of goegraphy. As you can see, there is a volcano, mountain, plain, valley, ocean, etc.

It smells amazing!!!!! I wanted to eat it last night until Mrs Frizzell told me that all the kids had their fingers in the peanut butter mixture...

Gracie was so disappointed that she didn't get to go with me. Seh came home yesterday with a fever :(, so it's off to the doctor for us today.

Gracie for Mayor part 2

Here's the speech you have all been waiting to hear! (Sorry it's sideways - I couldn't get it to turn around!) We have worked very hard to support the campaign. Gracie and I decorated the Pringle's cans, attached "Have a Ball with Gracie" flags to pencils, and added "Gracie for Mayor" stickers to Hersey's bars, and Gracie's Gran Gran helped by making buttons with Gracie's picture. It was all lots of fun for us!

Now, after a long mayoral race, the candidate decided that if she loses it's okay because there's a banker position available in the class....I just hope we don't have to get her elected for that one. :-)

Kellye

Gracie's Baseball Schedule

Here's a list of all of Gracie's baseball games for anyone who would like to see her play...The first game was last Saturday and Gracie's team, the Braves, won 6-4! Gracie played a great game.

"Little Bit" AKA Caroline

Here's a little about Caroline - I feel like I've mistreated her because I've posted stories about Gracie lately...

Caroline's dad, Josh, nicknamed her Little Bit when she was just a tiny baby (no one knew about the heart defect at that point.) The name, which was and still is very appropriate, stuck and everyone knows her by that name still today. I think that's a great gift from her dad!

She is such a special girl! She doesn't really like sports, but give her some paper and scissors or glue and she's in good shape! We are getting ready to start taking her to art classes. Maybe she's the artist in the family...

My daughter, the baseball player

Here is a pic of Gracie in her new baseball uniform! We signed her up for girl's fall softball, but they called and said there weren't enough girls to have a team. So, they gave us the choice to get a refund or let her play on the boy's team....obviously Gracie chose the boy's team! She thinks this uniform is awesome! I think it will be better when we add the red ribbons I am going to buy today. :)

Her first game is this Saturday at 10:30! GO BRAVES!

My First Tomato Pie.....YUM!

Let me start by saying that I am not a HUGE tomato fan. I eat them, but not by themselves (unless they have been prepared with that yummy Feta cheese and balsamic vinegar). So, several months ago when my friend Alicia came to work telling me that her mom made tomato pie I was really not interested in trying it. Alicia went on to say how much she loved to eat it and that I should try it sometime.

A couple of weeks ago, Alicia and I were talking again and she mentioned that a friend of hers had posted a tomato pie recipe on her blog complete with pictures and helpful tips. This sparked my curiosity because I had never seen tomato pie before, so I visited the blog. The post was great. It gave step by step instructions on how to make the recipe and had pictures of each step. This is good for me because when I'm cooking from a new recipe, I always wonder if I'm doing it correctly.

Last night, I made my first attempt at tomato pie. My mom grows tomatoes, so I had homegrown tomatoes. However, I didn't have all the fresh ingredients like fresh basil and green onions, so I substituted dried basil and onion powder. My tomato pie was awesome, if I do say so! ;-) I have added it to my favorite recipes now. It would have probably been even better if I had the fresh ingredients....

Here's the link to the recipe - Tomato Pie

Gracie for Mayor! and other projects...

Last week, the first week of school, Gracie came home with a couple of projects to work on.

One of them was to collect pictures of herself from birth through now. This sounded easy enough, so we got started looking through all the pics we have of this child! UNBELIEVABLE! Since she was born, I think we have taken about a million pictures of her! It was bittersweet to go through the pictures with her, but I am glad we had the opportunity. I am looking forward to seeing the final product of her work on this project.

The big announcement is that Gracie decided to run for mayor of 3rd Grade! How exciting, right? When I asked Gracie why she decided to run for mayor (it was optional), her response was "Because the mayor gets paid the most money." I thought that was probably a typical 8-year-old response, but I did explain that being mayor includes several responsibilities including being fair and considering the needs of the people while making the best decisions in your town. Gracie understood this and I hope if she is elected mayor she will do a good job.

As with any other election, oponents are needed to make it a real competition. Well, this election definitely has some competition! My best friend's son, Colton, is running in the race as well. (Colton and Gracie have known each other since birth.) On Monday, as I was waiting in the drop off line at school, I noticed Colton's mom, Jen, getting out of the car and taking in a large rubbermaid container. I thought she had probably made something nice for the teacher (the teacher is a good friend of ours). So, I sent her a quick little text message saying that she was kissing up to the teacher....Later in the day, she responded with a message explaining that she made cupcakes that said "Vote for Colton". Because I think of myself as a very supportive mom, I was suprised that she had thought of this sort of bribery before I did! My response explained that the competition had begun! ;) Gracie came home all out of sorts explaining that we must do something! Colton brought cupcakes!!!!!

Today, Gracie took her first of several campaigning favors in to class. She chose individual servings of pizza flavored Pringles for her classmates. I made labels for the cans that said "Vote Gracie Hall for a Fair Mayor". We do have a couple of other tricks up our sleeves to help win the popular vote for Gracie, but I can't tell you about them yet!

Back to School...in a Mustang

The girls started back to school on Monday of this week. WOW! I can't believe summer break is already gone! We had a great one though! Back to the world of schedules, practices and early bedtimes.....


Grandad picked the girls up in the Mustang on Monday morning! They were super excited! I have a picture....it's coming soon!


So far, Gracie absolutely LOVES 3rd grade. She was a little weary of going back into class with all boys for the third year in a row. Much to our suprise there is one other girl, Mya, in class. She has kept me up for the past week telling me all about the things they are learning. I'm so glad she loves school.


Caroline on the other hand would have been okay with staying home and cleaning the house instead of starting back to school. It is so funny to me how different these girls are! She has told me that she likes her class. I think she was relieved to know that Mrs. Bowlin was her teacher again. Caroline gets nervous about changes like that. I have already been suprised at her reading. She is doing great!

Church Camp in our new (old) camper

Here it is - our first camper.

Jon and I decided this would be the year to buy a camper for family camp week at our church. Yes, we have a beautiful camp ground where we stay for one week every year. Little did we know a camper is a ridiculous amount of work! We started out with a broken toilet and ended the week with a leaky pipe that ruined the carpet. Next year we will be better prepared....maybe!

The kids look forward to this week all year long! There are crafts and games during the day, plenty of crawdads and frogs to catch in the creek, and more fun and games at night!

This year I had to work 3 out of the 8 days that we camped. :( It was a little harder than I planned for it to be, but all in all it was a great week.

Gracie and her friend Erin played in the kid's horseshoe tournament. They won first place!!!! Way to go Gracie and Erin! My friend, Jen, and I played in the women's tournament and we won first place too! Gracie and I both brought home trophies for our accomplishments!

Camp week has been a family tradition for our church for several years. We are so blessed to have a beautiful and safe place to enjoy with our family and friends.

Vacation 2009

School let out on May 21st around lunch time, and we left for Santa Rosa Beack, FL that afternoon! The forecast was mostly rain and we were a little bummed about that, but God smiled on us and sent the sun for at least part of the day every day...We had a great time, made lots of pictures, and ate some delicious seafood! These are a few of my favorite pics from the trip.

Jon and I were both snapping pictures of them. I have been taking pictures of the girls all their lives. I just knew my pictures would be better than his. Much to my suprise, his turned out better. These pics are from Jon's camera! LOL!

Electronic Thank You Card From Gracie and Caroline

New "Pics" Section!!!

Here at All Things Gracie and Caroline, we do everything we can to give you all of the two Hall girls we can. We would like to introduce to you our Pics section. This is a link to all the pictures we have stored in out system. When you get to the page you have several options for viewing as well as purchasing (All Things Gracie and Caroline, nor unfortunately anyone involved, will receive any profits from sales). You may download selected pictures to your computer or buy directly from the web page (all you need is a credit card to purchase and downloading is free).

Pictures will be posted as we receive them. A permanent link is set up on the left side of the page.

Caroline Hall Spotted Training for Recital?!?!?!???

Caroline Hall, the fabulous 6 year old dancing sensation was spotted early Saturday morning training for what some hope to be a future dance recital. While no date is set, sources close to Hall reveal that a recital could be coming some time in the near future. Evidence of Hall "enjoying" dance lessons could possibly be what has sparked the rumor that Hall may be seen at some point in the future in such a recital, and trust us, the people here at All Things Gracie and Caroline will be the first to show our pleasure in such an event and will most definitely have our best writers on such a monumentus occasion. Stay tuned for more information.

Hall's Final Inning Heroics Save Game for Fireballs

It was the bottom of the final scheduled inning of the game, with two outs, and bases loaded in a tied ballgame. A single was all that was needed to seal the game for the Heartbreakers. When asked what was going through the head of catcher Gracie Hall she said, "I was just thinking, I want to get her out." Sure enough the ball was hit to the infield and the throw was made into Hall for the third out to force extra innings. The Fireballs went on to score one final run the next inning and that was all that was needed to clinch the victory. Later, Hall, speaking of the victory said, "Well, I was really excited, and then Grandma was telling me how she used to be catcher and that if I didn't catch that ball, we wouldn't have won...So then, I was really, really excited."

The Fireballs, now on a two game winning streak, face rival Miss B'Haven Monday April, 13 at 7:45 on Field 2. Could the 13th be found to be an unlucky number for Miss B'Haven? If Hall and the Fireballs have anything to do with it, it will. Tickets are still available.

Gracie's Softball Game

Hall Batting Avg. Perfect in Season Opener

Gracie Hall and the Mighty Fireballs of the White House Dixie Youth Softball League started their season off Monday night against Miss Behavin'. After a long hard fought battle, the Fireballs fell to Miss Behavin 12-4, but the first meeting of the two league favorites did not disappoint. After two innings the fireballs led 3-2 until Miss Behaving found a spark and scored four in the third. This was a deficit the Fireballs could not overcome. When asked how she felt about the loss, Gracie Hall, who's batting helped propel the Fireballs to a lead in the second inning said, "Horrible." And when asked if she thought they would bounce back in the second game Hall said, "If they put me in the infield."

The Fireballs fell to 0-1 while Miss Behavin took an early league lead at 1-0.

Caroline 'Lil Bit' Hall Begins Dance Lessons

Caroline Hall who recently made a comment that she did not want to engage herself in any extra-curricular activities did just that last Saturday as she took her first Jazz/Tap/Ballet class at Dance South in White House. When asked how she felt about her new endeavor she merely nodded her head and said she had no further comment to make at this time. The seemingly always happy Hall was seen to be "enjoying herself" during the lesson by a parent in attendance. More to come on this breaking story.