Teddy Bear School "Corn Feast"

Ryan had her big "Corn Feast" on Wednesday at Teddy Bear School. All the children were dressed up in outfits connected to the Thanksgiving theme. Here is my little Indian...

Guess who got to participate too?
You guessed it... that is little Charlie sitting on her very own carpet square. There was an extra spot right in front of where we were watching Ryan. Ryan was sitting 2 carpets to the left of Charlie.

Charlie did a great job sitting with all the big kids. In the three pictures above, you can see that she even tried to sing the songs and do all the fun hand movements.

And then she even got to have her own bag of Corn Feast treats! She was in heaven. Ryan is showing us a corn chip. Thanks for the visual Ry!

Afterward, Ryan wanted to take off her costume so that she could twirl in her dress. I tried to take this opportunity to get a picture of my matching little princesses!

This is the best I could do of the two!

Unfortunately, Ryan took off her costume a bit too early. Her class took a group picture and she is the only one out of costume. I don't even think she noticed but it made me a little sad.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

The Grace Girls Aren't Afraid of a Little Hard Work!

On Sunday morning, the girls and I decided to wash the car. Oh no, not our car for heaven's sake... their little car!! Proof that they are related to "Bubba" (aka Uncle Jim Houghton)!

They worked very hard cleaning every little ounce of that car.

Charlie did her share to keep up with big sister Ryan.

They were proud of their accomplishments and hard work. Mommy was proud too.

They even stuck with the process through the drying portion of the chore (I thought for sure they would have been bored by now!)

And then... unlike Bubba, who puts the cars away after their big Sunday wash until it's time to go to work on Monday- our girls took their shiny ride out for a spin!

Disneyland with lil' Miss Charlie

On Thursday, Charlie had her first "solo" trip to Disneyland. By "solo", I mean without Ryan and Daddy. Ryan has had many, many such trips but this was Charlie's first. She was lucky to spend it with her best friend, Carson. Here is how the day went down...

Holding hands ready to board the tram.

Aren't they cute??


Loving the train ride around the park!

Carson and mommy, Michelle getting ready to ride the carousel!

Charlie and I with big, happy smiles.

"America's Next Top Model"... LOL

Another Sensational Sixty!!

Gigi is not the only one to turn 60 in November... Nonna turned 60 too! We celebrated two times. My dad had a surprise party in the desert and Steve and I were able to attend. I didn't really think ANYONE could surprise my mom, but my dad pulled it off. She was truly surprised!! We also had a nice brunch with the family to celebrate at Las Brisas in Laguna Beach. 60 great years is sure something to be proud of!!

Mom is about to blow out the candles! Uh oh... get the fire extinguisher!!! LOL

A great party with friends and family!

A fun night had by all!!

An afternoon at Las Brisas with Nancy, Mike, the birthday girl, Jack, and Steve

The whole family!!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Forever Young...

This past weekend we celebrated Liz, aka Gigi, turning 60! Everyone had a great time. Usually this blog is all about the kids as they are "Growing Up Grace" but this post fits in too because Liz is also "Growing Up Grace"!! There were so many great pictures to choose from, it was tough to narrow it down. Check out the fun...

The birthday girl posing with her brother-in-law, Ted Grace.



Lots of family having a good time...
Cathy, Kevin, and Michelle Coleman, Tim Carey, and Marcia Grace

Kevin Coleman and Big Steve posing for a snapshot!


Aunt Virginia, Joe Traver, and me!

Liz's sister, Mary and my dad, Jack ready to toast the birthday girl!

Terry Traver, Mike Grace, Megan and Chris Hicks are chatting it up!!

Steve, Karen Hammond, Sharon Boultinghouse, and Carol and Tom Georgino are enjoying the moment and catching up on old times!


The Grace girls made a surprise appearance to tell their Gigi "Happy Birthday!!"

Patrick and his girlfriend Molina are enjoying their champagne toast with Katie, Jim and Casey Houghton.

Aunt Ginny is giving Liz some hand holding support as everyone listens to the toasts to Liz!

Liz with 3 out of the 5 of her "jewels"... We loved your speech Lizzie! Well done!

Marcia, Jeff, Sharon, and Ted look at all the fun photos of Liz growing up.

Megan, Jeff, and Liz reminiscing.

A little love...

Sandy and Jack Kudron ready to start the dance party!

"Whoop, there it is!" The dance party I mean!

Jeff, Joe Traver, Liz and Big Steve. A little dance party to the music of Frank Sinatra can bring anyone on the dance floor!

~~
It was a great night Liz. A very, very fun group of people. Happy Birthday Liz!

"Trick-or-Treat"

It should be no surprise that Ryan and Charlie wanted to dress up as Disney Princesses this year. A little ordinary I know- Mommy didn't get to be as creative as she would have liked but I made sure that they were the best darn princesses on the block! Charlie was Cinderella and Ryan was Sleeping Beauty.

Here are the girls ready to go with their personalized trick-or-treat bags (compliments of Aunt Casey!)

Charlie was afraid at most houses- even the seemingly harmless houses like this one. It didn't help that the very first two houses we went to had dogs that ran to the door as soon as it was opened. That freaked both our girls out as you can imagine.

Again... look at Charlie. New house. Same old face.

However, Charlie did cheer up when she got to dig through loot. This picture reminds me of my brother and me when we were young.

After we were done trick-or-treating we handed out candy to the kids that came to our house. We would watch out the window until someone came and then run screaming with excitement to the door. Unfortunately, it was a slow night and the girls got pretty bored pretty fast.

We hope everyone had a safe night!

The Fairest One of All, Of Course!!

This is Little Miss Ryan's second year participating in the Teddy Bear Preschool Halloween Parade. This year she got to the LEAD the whole parade!! Good job Ry! Ryan is Princess Aurora (aka Sleeping Beauty) this year and boy did she sparkle in the sunlight. Her friend Azia (behind Ryan) sparkled too as Cinderella! They sang lots of fun Halloween songs and paraded around for all the parents to "oo" and "ahhh" at them.