Gracie

My Dad and his "Gracie Girl"

I feel like Addi is growing up so fast. Partly because I think time goes by faster with each kid and also because she mimics everything her big brother and sister do. Last night she was jumping and wrestling Brin and Matt with no fear! I'll say something like, "who wants a banana?" and Addi raises her hand and says, "Me!" She is also really good at saying "mine." :) She is great communicator and can sign and speak a bunch of words and has started into 2-3 word lines. "Bye-Bye Papa" or whoever she is saying bye to is a favorite. She loves to poop when she is supposed to be taking a nap. Loves chapstick, cheese and milk. Likes to climb on Brinley's bunk bed but then gets stuck. Loves birds, dogs, sneaking out the front door and baby signing time. She is a disaster and everything in a 3ft radius is a disaster when she eats. We are trying to teach her that you don't throw your food when you don't like it or are finished. Sometimes she looks straight at Brian and throws her bows knowing she'll get a good reaction from him. She loves to "wee" which is any swing or slide. She is such a happy content little girl and has a smile that will melt your heart. 

At 19 months she weighed 21 lbs 12 oz putting her at the 15th percentile and 34 1/4" for height putting her at the 97th percentile. When Brinley was 12 months she weighed more than Addi right now (23lbs)!!

All clean after a bath with a silly smile.

Addi and her best friend "lolo." She wont sleep when she knows she gets to go to Lolo's house.

Addi is a sweetheart. Matt was crying and Addi heard him so she came in and put her arm around him until he stopped.

 

She LOVES hats.

Watching Signing Time with her hat and blankets.

Eating Brinley's Birthday cake..YUM!

Addi doing what her big Sis was doing...getting her picture by the front door.

Typical after dinner mess...

Got a bucket stuck on her head..

I may or may not be the one pouring the chocolate syrup in her mouth...

Did I mention she loves baths and sunglasses!!

Eating peas in a laundry basket...

Someone left the sugar out....

Oh, and she can reach the toothbrush drawer...she loves to eat the toothpaste..yuck!

"God should say sorry..."

I had just finished typing an email to my sister-in-law about how I wait to plant my garden until June because there is always an end of May hailstorm that trashes anything planted when it started to hail. It rained like crazy and then the hail started..little pencil eraser sized balls first and then all of a sudden marbles were dropping from the sky. It was so fun to watch.

The kids wanted to collect the hail in cups so they ran out to set their cups down and Brinley got hit really hard in the head and started crying. A little while later, thinking about the incident Matt said, "God should say sorry to Brinley."

This was taken 7 minutes after the above picture.

My raspberries...or what's left of them.

After the hail hit the head incident.

Anti-Craigslist Pro-Gun

 I have never been a big fan of cops. When I see one my heart skips a beat even though I am usually not doing anything wrong and I pretty much always go the speed limit. Last time a cop came to my house we (Brian) was part of an undercover sting operation (that sounds really bad doesn't it) and it left a bitter taste in my mouth for law enforcement. By the way did you know you are only allowed 5 snakes per household in the city of Westminster? Well, I have never wanted a cop at my house more that I did last night! Here is part of my journal from last night:

 

It is 4:07 am and the craziest thing just happened to us. Addi had been crying so I went and got her and put her in bed with us. I was just dozing off when I heard the doorbell ring. This was about 3:11 am. I jumped out of bed and saw a white SUV sitting out front. I didn’t recognize the car so I didn’t go downstairs. He then started ringing the doorbell over and over again really fast. I yelled for Brian to get out of bed because someone was at the door. Neither of us wanted to go downstairs and the guy kept ringing the doorbell. Brian opened up the upstairs bathroom window and asked the guy what he wanted. The guy said he was looking for the desk he saw on craigslist. (We had posted a free desk of craigslist last weekend. It was gone and I was positive I had taken the ad off so I was so confused what this guys was doing at my door!) Anyways, the guy was yelling at us and mixed between several potty words we discovered that he wanted some gas money because he had driven all the way to our house but the desk was gone. 

At this point I grabbed my phone on my dresser and called 911. I have never been so scared in my life. The guy was crazy and I just kept imagining him busting down the door or breaking a window to get inside so he could get his gas money. I tried to stay calm but I was freaking out. I had no idea what this guys was going to do and I had my sleeping kids and a baby in my arms. I talked to the operator for bit and then both Brian and I walked away from the window. Brian got dressed and went and got his shotgun. He said he didn’t want to have a showdown in his underwear!  

Anyways, in the seconds we walked away from the window the guy got back in his car and drove off. I told the operator he had just left. I thought we were good but then the guy went down the street and turned around!! He drove by our house again and by this time I was really freaking out. My legs were literally shaking and I was pleading for the cops to get there.  I kept saying “are they almost here?” and the one or two minutes it took for the cop to get here seemed like an eternity. I kept thinking about my kids sleeping and what we would do if he got out again or if he broke in. In the meantime the operator kept telling me they were on the way and that our neighbors had called 911 as well. So then the guy drove past our house and went down a couple houses and turned around again and then stopped right in front of our next door neighbors house and paused. Then he slowly drove by ours and turned the corner. In my mind I am imagining all the episodes of 24 and Law and Order that I have watched just wondering what kind of crazy is driving that car and what his next move is going to be! 

The guy didn't turn around and a few minutes later the cop stopped by and talked to us. He was really nice and I was so glad to know we could get help so quickly. 

Watching out the window.

So by that time Brinley had woken up and we were debriefing in our room when the guy drove by again! I called the operator back and he said the cop had just found the guy a couple streets away and had talked to him. The cop called me a couple minutes later and told us that he got all the guys info and that he was not to go by our house again. I asked the cop if the guy was on drugs. He said, the guy was "more slow than creepy" (whatever that means!) and that he was looking for the desk and thought it might be on the side of the house….maybe why the neighbors called…he was snooping around our house and we didn't even know it!! It had been almost ½ hour and so why was the guy still in our neighborhood? He was just a couple of blocks away. Why didn’t he go home? Weird! The cop said he shouldn’t be coming by again and if he did to call back. There were no criminal charges filed which I guess I didn’t even care about I just wanted him to go away!!

So yeah, I am anti craigslist and pro gun. It was so nice to know that Brian had a gun and if this crazy guy did bust down our door our family would be protected. For some reason I felt so much better knowing we had a loaded shotgun to protect our family.

Wow. I need to go to bed but I wanted to process this while it was fresh. I seriously have not been so scared in my entire life. It was a different kind of scared….a scared for my life and my family kind of scared. As my Grandpa Gale used to say, “There are a lot of crazies out there!”

I always thought Brian was crazy for having and liking guns and I made him pay for them with his own money but I was so grateful we had one tonight! 

The girls chillin' in our bed after the action had died down. Brinley didn't dare go back in her bed. She was pretty excited that she got to dial 911 the second time the guy drove by. 

 

I don’t ever want to experience that feeling again…waiting for the cops to come, wondering what this crazy person was going to do next…I have never wanted a cop at my house more than I did in that moment. Waiting…freaking out…standing at the window holding Addi, talking to the operator and watching this guy drive back in forth in front of my house. I felt like I was in a horror movie or something. It was such a crazy intense feeling. The adrenaline is gone and now I am pooped.

I have seriously never been so afraid before...probably the freakiest scariest thing that has ever happened to me!

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU POST ON CRAIGSLIST....

THERE ARE A LOT OF CRAZIES OUT THERE!