Happy Thanksgiving!!

On the road again......................we headed north for Thanksgiving and nearly wore out our welcome we stayed so long. We stayed 6 nights and got to squeeze in all kinds of FUN!

We started out our trip driving through a torrential downpour which always makes for an interesting drive but we like a good challenge. We made very good time and have developed a good tag-team system for our stops during the trip. We FINALLY arrived at Grandma's house and Grace's feet didn't stop once they hit the pavement! This was quickly followed by "Come on, Grandma." "GGGRRRRAAAANNNNDDDDMMMMMAAAAA." "Let's go play, Grandma." at least a few hundred times! On Wednesday, Mike Campbell was nice enough to let us come over and see his "horsies." I knew Grace would LOVE them.......and it turns out I was right! Some of them were a little jumpy which only made Grace laugh harder! Thank you to Mike for letting us come out, and we'll definitely take you up on your offer to come back when it's warmer!
Grace, Jack, Grandma, and Aunt Wala made their annual gingerbread house which turned out pretty darn good even if a little icing came off the top!! WAHAHA!!


Grandma gives the kids an ornament each year when we're home for Thanksgiving so they can hang in on the tree that year for Christmas. Grace's ornament was none other than The Grinch!! That was a hit......to say the least AND might have turned into a toy rather than an ornament! On Thursday, we had a DELICIOUS Thanksgiving meal! I ate A LITTLE extra to fuel up for our big shopping trip the next day......YAY BLACK FRIDAY!!

Friday morning we headed to Greenwood to start our shopping extravaganza and stay with the Mohr's for a few nights. We had our usual first stop at Toys R Us and were ready for a lunch break! HAHA! I'm telling you that's the way to do it people. Head out around 10am once all the crazies (who have been up since 3am) are ready to go home. Hit the toy store to get the kids big gifts taken care of AND take a lunch break! This year our shopping trip was a tad different this year since we had two breastfeeding babies with us and included a massive blow-out diaper requiring an entire strip down in the middle of Macy's!!

On Saturday, we got to see Jack play in his basketball tournament! Even though we didn't get to stay long, we saw Jack make what I'm sure was an NBA 3-pointer, Grace got some popcorn, and got do a little cheering for Jack so, all in all, I'd say it was a good day! We also took a quick drive past our first house in Westfield. Oh the memories.......excuse me for a second while I wipe a tear!

Sunday we got all cute for Charlie Rose's christening. She looked too cute and didn't make a peep! Anna on the other hand must've felt that the attention was on someone else and decided she needed an emergency feeding RIGHT NOW!!! :) At least there was no blow-out diaper this time! :) Anna got to meet all kinds of family for the first time too!! We ate another fabulous meal and everyone (except me, Mags, and the babies) headed to the Colts game. I'm dying to go to one next year, but SO glad I didn't go this time since Matt had a case of some "bad shrimp!"

After wearing out our welcome, we headed back to TN on Monday. Thank you to everyone for letting us stay so long. I know guests are like a new pair of socks.......they're great at first but start to stink after a while (or something like that)! Now it's time to focus on CHRISTMAS!!! YAY!!

Four Months Old!!

Anna's fourth month brought us lots of excitement! At her four month check-up, she weighed in at 13lbs, 10.5 oz and was 25in long! That put her in the 50% for weight and she's still holding strong in the 75% for her height! Her head size was.......well BIG! Wahaha! I believe she "only" measured in the 75% for her head circumference which was interesting for our family! Oh Anna girl I'm not laughing at you only with you! You come from a long line of big-headed peeps!

One important first that Anna accomplished this month was trying cereal for the first time. She tried it around 4 and a half months and she LOVED it! Unfortunately, it was also during this time that she STOPPED SLEEPING!!! She started getting up more times during the night than she did as a newborn! WHAT!! So needless to say, we STOPPED the cereal (and anything else new) that we tried/started around that time. Up until that point, she was still getting up once during the night (usually around 4) so what does any sleep-deprived parent think to do.......TRY CEREAL!! It was the same age we started cereal with Grace, AND it's the first advice EVERY parent tells us when they find out she's still not sleeping through the night. Ironically enough, she first night we gave her cereal was one of the worst nights we've had to date! HAHA! So much for that theory!

Another new adventure for Anna was she gave her bumbo chair a shot for the first time. She REALLY liked it at first! BUT after a few minutes of sitting in it, she's usually done. She gets herself so worked and gets herself twisted around, starts leaning over the side, and then can't get herself back up. And the look of pure joy she gets on her face after putting her toys on the tray is hysterical. But as soon as we put the toys on the tray, she tries to tackle them and knocks them off almost instantly......bless her heart! That can frustrate a girl! You'll get it babe!

Anna is SO close to rolling over and has been for a while. She gets on her side and starts rocking, but can't get past that final hurdle. She has also become quite the giggler during the past month! And as soon as she starts giggling (which is usually at the strangest thing or sound), I instantly try to duplicate it to get it on camera. I've gotten a few good videos of her giggles which I'll post later.

I can already tell that Anna is going to have a personality similar to Grace. She hams it up for anyone and everyone that shows her a little attention! She continues to "talk" and babble so I'm pretty sure there won't be a quite moment in our house in another year! :) She LOVES her big sister and think EVERYTHING she does is worth a giggle! Grace is still doing GREAT with her!! Even when Anna gets a handful of her hair, she just says, "Nope that's not a toy, Anna!" Or, "I got it Mommy." after she gets her hair out of Anna's hand. No fits or crying......thank you Lord!!

That just about does it for her four month update. Stay tuned for what's new during her fifth month!

We're Baaaaaaaack!!!!

Soooooo after a two month hiatus, we're back!! This hiatus is due, in part, to a few things but mostly lack of sleep in the Gentry household!! You'll hear more about this in Anna's next update, but until then let me catch you up on all that's been going on around East Tennessee!! Since my last post, Anna has gotten TWO months older, Grace is ALMOST 3, we celebrated Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's and had SEVERAL snow days!! I'm about to get blog happy to I hope you enjoy!!

HaPpY HaLlOwEnN!!

IT'S FINALLY HERE............HALLOWEEN!!!!!!!!

As I've said at least 5 million times, this is my FAVORITE time of the year and I LOVE Halloween!! I know you're cringing Paula but I can't help it! Grace also LOVES Halloween and must have said it at least 3 million times during the month of October! Yes!! I started asking her what she wanted to be for Halloween at the end of July when the stores start putting out their costumes. She went from Snow White to a spider to a witch.......and so two, little witches were born!

We went all out at our house this year and got a fog machine, strobe light, and costumes for me and Matt! I know it's a complete waste of money but we had a lot of fun doing it!

Grace couldn't wait to go "trick or treaking"and I couldn't wait to start diving into her candy bowl!! :)

I decided to take the girls around the neighborhood while Matt stayed at the house to hand out our candy. He was almost as excited as Grace to put on his costume. As you can see from the pics, it was pretty creepy but Grace took one look at him and said, "cool costume, Daddy!" HAHA! That's my girl!

Off we went and Grace started yelling "trick or treak" as soon as we hit the next house's driveway. And if another trick or treater was behind us, she would stop and say trick or treak and give them some of her candy! WAHAHA!! I kept thinking how sweet it was but silently I was screaming, "Don't give them the good stuff!!"

We made it to around a dozen houses then Grace said she wanted to sit down so we joined Matt back at the house. She LOVED handing out candy to the other kids! AK did great as well and was awake for most of the trick or treating and only fell asleep as we were about to put Grace to bed. Her witch hat was too big for her head but I promise there is a little purple witch costume under all that garb!

Next year, we're hoping to do it up bigger and better. Who knows maybe we'll start adding a graveyard and ghouls and goblins to our decor!! WHOOOOHAHAHAHAHAHA!!

Disney on Ice - Princess Wishes!

I was so excited when I found out that Disney on Ice, Princess Wishes was coming to Knoxville!! Grace LOVES them and I knew she would be in awe! I also wanted to do something special for just the two of us where I could give her my full undivided attention. It seems like the following words are always coming out of my mouth these days: just one minute, hold on a second, I'll be right there, as soon as Anna is done eating, etc.

Before I knew it, here it was one week before the show was coming to town and I STILL hadn't bought tickets!! AHHHHH!! I checked craigslist and was thrilled to find two great tickets for $12 off the face value! I started communicating with the ticket owner and all of the sudden his communication stopped.........Yep HE SOLD THEM!!! WHAT!!! And yes, I already told Grace we were going since I THOUGHT I had his tickets! Sweet! Luckily (or so I thought), I found two more tickets on craigslist........and the EXACT same thing happened!! Only her tickets are still posted so who knows what's going on there. And then I remembered an email I received a couple weeks ago through Moms Club stating a member had 4 tickets available for purchase!! Somehow (by the grace of God!) she STILL had all 4 available!! HALLELUIAH!!

Saturday night we headed downtown and Grace started saying, "Mommy this is so much fun!" at least a half a dozen times and we were only in the parking lot! :) Once we got inside, I let her pick out a souvenir and she opted for the frog from The Princess and the Frog (who wasn't even in the show, ha). Grace got SO excited when the show started and I once again got all teary just watching her! Moms, do you have my back? It is very emotional watching your little one get so excited at something like this. I mean here are these princesses that are on tv, t-shirts, games, bedding, etc. and NOW they're ALL right in front of us!! I feel the same way every time I see Keith Urban in concert! :)

Grace told me she was most excited to see Snow White and you should've seen her face once she finally made her appearance!! WOW! And then the "dwarps" AND Ariel came out and I thought Grace had died and gone to heaven!

Next came the intermission and a great time to buy a $50 snowcone! Ok, it might not be $50 but it sure wasn't the $2 snowcone from an ice cream shack......at least we got the tinkerbell souvenir cup! WAHAHA!

We both had a great time and I felt myself watching Grace more than I watched the actual show. I'm so glad we got to spend that one-on-one time together and I'm looking forward to doing it again soon!

Special thanks to AK for taking the bottle for Daddy while we were out!! That's always a little stressful to think about but she did great!! Also, thank you to Heather for letting us purchase your tickets and have a great girls night out!!

Halloween Goodies

On Friday we were getting VERY excited for Halloween so we decided to have some neighbors over to make Halloween goodies! Graces LOVES playing with Jackson, Audrey, and Owen and yelled a big "YES" when I told her they were all coming over!

We made caramel apples, decorated cupcakes and cookies, and made white chocolate ghost lollipops! We ate tons of sweets, made a huge mess, and had a great time! What better way to celebrate fall and Halloween than with good friends! Here are some pics of our treats!!

Trunk or Treat

Last Wednesday, we had our first Trunk or Treat experience at our church. Since this was new to us, I contacted the Children's Director to ask her exactly what I needed to do/bring so I could be prepared. Ok, am I the only one who didn't know this actually meant getting candy out of the trunks of cars??? Maybe I am, but needless to say it's a good thing I asked!

We started off with dinner then Matt and Grace went up on stage for a little costume contest. It was so cute to see all the little (and big) kids excited and dressed up in their costumes! Grace didn't technically win a prize, but we thought she was the cutest witch there! :)

The older kids decorated one of the upper hallways of the church and the little ones got to walk through and see the lights, decorations, costumes, AND get some candy! YES! As soon as Grace saw the hallway, she said, "This is amazing!" HAHAHAHA! I wonder where she gets her excitement for this stuff?!?!?

Then we all headed outside to trick or treat. Matt took Grace around to the cars while I stayed at our trunk with AK. Grace LOVED it and, when they returned, she LOVED handing out candy to the kids coming to our car! She was even giving away her own candy!

We had a great time and are already excited to do it again next year!