Beauty and the...well not exactly Beast but...

So our little Gracee is just not so little anymore and neither is Ellie. They are growing up so fast that I sometimes forget I need to be a little better at documenting their life thus far.


This year Gracee decided to try her skills at soccer. We signed her up in a little league out here and despite the fact that its fairly early in the morning for us on a Saturday, and we have to drag her out of bed to go, she really likes it. She is definitely not the most aggressive player, and has yet to score a goal, but she really enjoys running after the ball! Occasionally she even gets a kick or two out of it! I just think watching these little four year olds play is halarious! It really doesn't matter who is on who's team, they all just mainly follow the ball and try to kick it. If any of you have never had the opportunity to watch little kids play soccer, I highly suggest it, it's very entertaining! You always have the one kid who just sits down in the middle of the field because they are tired, and then the one who is constantly tripping and falling, etc. In all though, it has been good for Gracee and even though she likes it, I think she is ready as are we for it to be over.






Another activity Gracee has been participating in is dance. She has been taking classes from a school now for almost a year, and is getting pretty good. She takes tap and ballet (my personal favorite.) I will someday teach her how to shuffle off the buffalo with the best of them!!:) Her recital is coming up here in a few weeks and they just got their costumes! I must say for being an "Elegant Elephant" she is sure cute! She really likes dance, but wants to try Gymnastics. I always wonder where she gets these ideas and how she hears about them, but I guess we will give up dance for a little while and see how she likes gymnastics...


The pics here are not the best, we were actually on our way to her school to get her professional protraits taken, but I wanted to shoot a few myself first. The humidity that day was so bad that as soon as I stepped outside the lens fogged up so I didn't get a good look through. The shadows are pretty bad, but someday soon I will have photoshop! Ok, maybe not soon, but I can dream can't I!:)







Our even littler, only in stature, Ellie, has also been busy! She sure has a funny, strong personality! I wouldn't call Gracee my beauty and Ellie my beast, because we all know how incredibly cute Ellie is! I just might say Ellie can be a beast when she wants! Anywhere she goes there tends to be a mess! And she is learning to talk, her favorite thing to say is "I want bum!" which in translation means she wants some GUM! And don't put it past her to yell it in the middle of sacrament meeting! She repeats almost anything "CeeCee" (Gracee) says, she is really getting fun, and we never go a day without laughing at her, or with her, I should say!



A few days ago Austen was "watching" Ellie when he walked into the room to find that she had gotten the box of Lucky Charms down from the counter, and proceeded to empty it on the carpet and eat ALL of the marshmallows! You can't see her face to well in the pic, but she has the most innocent look on her face, like she had no idea why the cereal was all over the floor!

Here is Ellie eating some cake! Again, the pic is kinda small but it is literally all over her!



This is her doing her "cheese" face. It is a lot like Gracee did when she was this age for those of you who remember. I wish I had an old pic to put next to it to compare. And don't mind the fact that she is on the back deck, next to the Blue Rhino propane tank!? Austen thinks its fitting, she could be our little rhino!? Ok, so that is a stretch, but whatever. That is where she chose to sit! Let me just say, she is a girl with a mission, and no one can get in her way. When she decides to do something there is no stopping this girl!
We have been spending a lot of time this summer at the pool, since there is not much to do here in the humidity. Luckily we still have a few friends out here that we meet up with and play with at the YMCA pool. Gracee is also taking swim lessons so more pics of our summer fun to come!...