Introducing Carter Joseph Blome

Our best friends Christian and Emily welcomed their first child at 11:59pm on Friday, March 28. He weighed 8lb & 4oz (or maybe 6) and was 22in long. Emily and Carter are both doing well. We are so happy for them and cannot wait to meet baby Carter!

Gracie singing 19 months old

The objects of her obsession

It's a bit of an understatement to say that Gracie loves stuffed animals. Well, actually she just loves animals in any form. One day I counted all her little plastic horses and she had 37. I'm pretty sure she has acquired a few more since then. I'll have to line them up and take a picture of them, it's pretty amazing. You might be thinking " uh, mom, why don't you just get rid of some of these toys?" Believe me I've tried, but every time I pick one up to donate or put in a yard sale I get a little emotional and I just can't do it. She truly, truly,truly, loves all of her animals and she plays with them on a regular basis. You wouldn't know it, but there is a white basket underneath all of those toys. I was going to make a wall hanging with pockets so she could have a place for her smaller animals, and the rest could fit in the basket. But she doesn't really have enough wall space to accommodate something like that. So... I need a solution for our overpopulation troubles. If you have any clever ideas, please let me know. Otherwise I am going to have to break down and get rid of some of them. But then I would have to cry and I don't like to cry.

Happy Easter... a few days ago

I know I have been a bad blogger this past week. We put a big announcement on here, and then I don't do anything for an entire week. I will try and write down some details this weekend, I have so much going on in my head right now and I don't want to just throw a few lines out there. So I will post pictures of Gracie on Easter. The picture of her and her Easter basket was taken about 3 minutes after she woke up. She finally got the new Barbie movie Maraposa, eggs full of candy, a bunny velcro throwing game (it was cheap and we've had a lot of fun with it), but her most cherished present was the chocolate bunny. She has been asking for one ever since Feb. 15th, when Wal-Mart starting putting out their Easter candy. It's in the refrigerator right now, and by some miracle she has actually asked before taking any bites out of it. A sign of maturity, thank goodness!!! The other pictures are of her in her Easter dress. She picked it out all by herself. I tried to get her to pick a fluffy frilly dress, but she had her heart set on this one. Our church had a breakfast in between services, but I could only eat a few bites before my belly decided it didn't want anything else to eat. :( Too bad, they were really good doughnuts! Then we went to our friends Josh and Rebecca's for dinner. We had a good time, except for when it was time to leave. Grace had become VERY attached to their two cats and cried all the way home. I really hope our next landlords allows cats because this girl needs a cat in her life! Scottie doesn't feel the same --- we'll see. Like I said I will try and write down some more pregnancy details in the next couple of days. But for now all I have to say is: Thank you Lord for this wonderful blessing!

For those of you who don't know yet

These are the last Tarpon Springs pictures I will post. At this rate it will take me weeks to post about all the things we did in Florida. I might try doing two posts a day. But not tonight. I'm still recovering from all the driving we've done in the past two days. Plus I have to go to bed early tonight. I am subbing in Gracie's preschool all week again. Poor Mr. Robert, I hope his back feels better soon. But for now I am enjoying going to work with Gracie everyday! :)

More Tarpon Springs

This is a picture of all of us in the Santorini Grill. Last year we got to sit outside and eat, but there wasn't a big enough table this time. It's really nice to sit out by the water, it's such a change from Indiana/Missouri. I never thought I would ever like Greek food. I'm not one to try different types of food. But surprisingly I really enjoy it. I told Kelsey I was going to try some of their recipes and let her know how it goes. If I find anything good I will try and post it on the blog.


Our little family on the sight seeing boat. It takes you out to the Gulf of Mexico. Last year it was really warm and we got to see dolphins jumping along side the boat. This year it was a little bit colder and we didn't see any dolphins. Grace said "Where are the dolphins? This is a dolphin boat. " I told her that they were too cold and decided to stay home. Then she said " Mommy, the sea is their home." I couldn't really say anything after that. :)


Don't worry, we don't give our child cigarettes as treats! Scottie had gotten some candy cigarettes at a candy store in the little village. We let Grace have one to demonstrate how ridiculous the two young girls beside us looked as they were smoking on a windy boat tour. Their poison, I mean smoke, was blowing in our faces. Scottie asked them to please go to the back of the boat so we didn't have to breath in their smoke. They looked at him as if he had asked them to cut off their own arm. Sorry for those of you who smoke... but smoking is BAD!! Anyway, do you think we are sending her the wrong message? Real cigarettes are bad, but candy ones are OK. Either way, it makes for a funny picture!

Feeding the Birds

Well, we made to Florida in one piece. It's taken a while to catch up on our sleep since we drove straight through. But we're rested and having a really good time. On Sunday we picked Kelsey up at her apartment and headed to Tarpon Springs. It's a little Greek village north of St. Petersburg. We went there last year and really enjoyed it, so we wanted to come back again. We had just gotten done eating at Santorini Greek Grill, which is really good, just case you are ever in Tarpon Springs, Florida. Carol brought some of Gracie's sandwich bread out into the parking lot. We wanted to feed the birds like we did last year. Grace got nervous, she remembered how they were a little crazy last time, so I volunteered to throw the bread-bad idea! Once you throw one piece dozens of birds come swooping around you. Here is a clip of us feeding the birds. I ended up throwing all of it onto the ground. Just watch:



I really thought that bird was going to land on my head, it touched the top of it before I completely freaked out. Now I know how Tippi Hedren felt in the movie The Birds. Don't worry if you didn't know her name, Dad and I had to google it. Now we know why there are signs every where that say "Don't Feed the Birds!" Hey, we're hicks from Indiana we don't read too good.
I'll put more on the blog tomorrow. I'll try to keep it updated while we are here in Florida!!!

Happy Christmatine!

You may have to enlarge the picture to truly appreciate the laziness of our neighbors. This is the duplex across the street from our house. No, this picture wasn't taken 2 1/2 months ago. It was taken on Saturday morning. I laugh every time I come home and see their lovely display for Christmas and Valentine's. OK, I can see someone being too exhausted after the holidays to take down their decorations. I can even see how they might leave them up for a week or two. But, HELLO people - it's March!! When we came home Friday night I started laughing about our neighbors when Gracie joined in, except she was serious. She got a classic Grace scowl on her face and started waving her hands around saying" First they have Christmas things up, then they have Valentines, and if they put up Easter stuff... I don't know what they are thinking!" I couldn't help but laugh at her. For some reason she became the Christmas display police after the holidays. Every time we drove past a house that still had their lights up she would flip out in the car. She just couldn't understand why some people would keep their decorations up after Christmas. I wish she was this picky about her toys after she's done playing with them. * I'll let you know if they start putting colorful bunnies on the reindeer's back and hiding Easter eggs in the stockings.