Princess Party

(Gracie (in her "pretty dress") with one of her favorite people in the whole wide world - her aunt Maddy).

This past Friday night (Jan. 22nd) we celebrated Gracie's 3rd birthday... princess style. She picked out cute little princess invites and we sent them out with a photo of her in her princess attire... then we counted down the days until the "royal ball". During the days prior Gracie kept telling me that she 'needs' a party. Also, every morning she woke up saying two things: "I'm hungry mom" and "Where's my 'pretty dress'?". We decided to keep things as low-key as possible by only inviting family members - 2 sets of grandparents, 2 sets of great-grandparents, some of her uncles and her aunt Maddy. We enjoyed a spaghetti dinner, followed by presents, and then cake. Gracie LOVED opening her gifts and it definitely showed! We had a great evening and as Gracie was falling asleep during storytime she said, "Gracie gonna do the party again tomorrow" I said,"Well honey, today was your special party and we won't be having another one tomorrow, but I'm glad you had fun." She then said, "okay, thanks mom." What a sweetie pie... I sure do love my princess! Here's a pic of Gracie's princess castle cake (carrot cake, yum-yum!)...


Here's the video of us singing "Happy birthday"/Gracie blowing out her 3 candles... it's a little dark - hopefully you can still see her proud little expression.

A walk in the dark...

Last Monday night we had a fun FHE (Family Home Evening) that revolved around Light - as in Jesus is our light. We talked with Gracie about Him and how He lights our way. We waited until it was dark, then we bundled up and grabbed a flashlight. There's a trail that runs along the back of our house that seperates our yard from a large field and it is especially dark back there where there are no streetlights. Before we ventured on along the trail we explained (in very simple terms) that sometimes things can seem dark (like the sky) and it can feel like we're all alone but Jesus is always there to guide us (que the flashlight). We then went on a nice little night walk. It was a clear night, the stars were bright and it was quiet and peaceful. Gracie had a blast being in charge of the flashlight! It was a really fun evening!

Christmas snapshots

Well, Christmas has come and gone... only 363 more days till my favorite holiday returns! This Christmas we didn't spend a lot of time taking pictures like we have in the past - mainly because Gracie wouldn't sit still long enough! Out of 4 family/friend get togethers in 3 days we only managed to take 87 pictures and that's including Christmas morning at our house! Here are a few worth sharing...

Our house after Santa Claus came... just minutes before a "Christmas bomb" went off in our living room. So peaceful...


Our house after the present frenzy was over. If you look closely, Gracie is in there somewhere... (sort of like, 'Where's waldo')


Mark with his stocking... (doesn't he look so happy! - and tired!)


Anne with her stocking... (this is what Mark wakes up to every morning... scary, I know.)


"Officer Gracie" on patrol...


This little bike can zoom! We're talking at least 2-3mph! In fact, if Gracie weren't wearing two layers of clothing I think it could have probably done 4mph!


Mark's friend Jordan, and his family, were up visiting from Arizona. This is Gracie with their adorable little boy, Landon.

Santa pics... then and now

This year, like always, Santa claus made an appearance at our Church Christmas activity. When Gracie first met Santa Claus she was only 11 months old. How did she like him? Well, I think the photo speaks for itself...

Last year things went a little better. No tears, but no smiles either...

This year, she was ready for him! Not only did we see smiles on her face but she even hugged Santa! Looks like Santa has managed to melt into Gracie's heart... I think it has something to do with presents. :)

Snow day in the Woolley...

It snowed last night!!! Yeahhh for snow! Naturally Gracie woke up excited to see a blanket of white covering the ground... the first thing she said to me was, "Look momma! SNOWWWW!!!" I had started my holiday baking yesterday, but didn't quite finish it (Mark and I had to leave for a Christmas party) so I told Gracie that just as soon as I was finished baking then we could go outside. She waited patiently at the back door for about 30 minutes. As her patience wore thin she looked up at me and then reached for the spoon in my hand while saying, "here mommy, I'll do this". I guess I wasn't quick enough for her. :) When we were done with the cookies we raced upstairs to bundle up. It was a lot of fun playing in the snow - more so than it's ever been. Gracie's at the age where stuff like snow, Santa Claus, presents and baking cookies excite her. Fun times at the Francis house!


Gracie eating snow - I checked to make sure it wasn't yellow. :)


Gracie and Parker making a run for it.


Where's your hat silly girl?!


Falling over...


Gracie making snow art...


"You're silly mom!"


Mark came home at lunchtime and was able to watch Gracie play and take a few shots of us girls together. It was fun, but brrr... it was cold too!

Christmas Party

This year I decided to host an "Ugly Christmas Sweater Party". I kept it low key and invited only a small group of friends - there were 8 adults total. Due to the fact that these parties are so popular now (therefore the thrift stores are very limited in their selection) we had to vamp the rules and admitt any type of shirt as long as it was christmassy(?) and ugly. I'm glad we did, cause we ended up with a nice variety of 'christmas ugliness'. We munched on appetizers while we waited for the ham to finish glazing. Then we sat down for a relaxing kid free dinner. When we were finishing eating we cleared the table and let the games begin! We played a christmas dice game I found browsing the internet that we shall forever refer to as "Doubles!" - it involves dice, oven mitts and a present that has been wrapped about 15 times... it was so much fun! We ended the evening with a nice game of Cranium - boys vs. girls. I'm sad to report: Girls lost :( Next year fellas!!... next year! ;)

The Table ... it was nice to have something beautiful set up to offset all of the "ugliness".


The girls...


The guys...

Happy Anniversary

On November 12th Mark and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary. We wanted to do something special this year so we started looking for romantic hotels online. We found an adorable hotel in Fairhaven, with a huge jacuzzi suite, so we made reservations and planned a weekend getaway. We spent 3 days/2 nights together and we both agree that it felt just like our honeymoon all over again. We soaked in the jacuzzi tub,
sipped sparkling cider, watched movies in our plush bathrobes,
played a nice game of checkers by the fireplace, talked about our life together - who we are now vs. who we were back in 1997 (when we started dating), where we want to be in 5 years from now and the good and bad things we're doing as parents. Also, we walked around Fairhaven - a quaint little town with cute litle shops along a cobblestone street. It was just a wonderful weekend and I can't wait to do it all again. I sure do love my hubby and I'm so glad I followed my heart 5 years ago. Happy Anniversary baby!!