Drew Gratton, amateur photographer

Boppa's favorite snack as a kid, I found one at the grocery store. It is probably been on the shelf for awhile, we'll find out how it tastes. On an unrelated note, Boppa has been sick since last night.

Mother's Day Tea 2012

Favorite school day of the year is the Mother's Day Tea. I managed to hold it together better this year and only shed a couple tears. I love to read what all the kids think about their moms when asked when we're not around.

 Drew requested a few solo shots, one posing with my beautiful purple carnation...

 And the awesome jewelry box she made with 2 coupons inside for Mother's Day. Drew gave me a coupon for making me breakfast and for helping out with the new baby.

 I'm so glad I am able to go to special days at school. She is already going to be in kindergarten next year and we will probably only do this one more time!

It's a girl!

Love this picture of our new little girl, now I know what body parts are making all the ruckus!

April 2012

In April, Drew's school had a talent show and the Spring Sing. For weeks she kept telling us her talent was going to be hopping on one foot. We pleaded with her to sing, or dance, or tell jokes. In the end, she twirled a baton while standing on both feet.

At the end of her Spring Sing performance she spent her time during the applause raising and lowering her eyebrows over and over. 

We also celebrated Boppa's birthday, where Drew is always happy to help polish of the desserts.

 Time for our first Parent/Jr. Golf Tournament of the season. Drew got a new head cover for the new season.

All the golf carts in our group had pink clubs :)

 Thanks to Daddy, Drew got to work on her bunker shots!

 Of course the girls made up their own games for most of the day...swordfighting with their woods, whacking each other with the flag and playing "mini-mowers."

More stories

Saturday night Drew and I watched Soul Surfer (true story of pro girl-surfer getting her arm bitten off by a shark), and to her credit, she sat through the whole thing, pretty absorbed. We talked about her helping the tsunami victims, we talked about having a bad day (I'm of course in tears through most of the movie) and I wanted to see how much had sunk in and what she had processed. I asked her what she thought Bethany had learned at the end of the movie. Drew thought about it and confidently answered "going in the water is not so bad after all." Not exactly one of the hundreds of morals preached through the movie, but I may have had my hopes set a little high for this 4-year-old.

Last night I made Rachel Ray's Crispy Lemony Chicken and as Drew sat up to the table she said "I don't like lemon chicken. It's Chinese food." (we always order her lemon chicken from Stix, she fights it, then she eats it). I told her it wasn't Chinese, that I made it and I'm sure she would like it. She takes a few bites, chews, swallows, says nothing. I asked her what she thought of the chicken and she takes another bite, chews it slowly, dramatically pauses to look down at her plate solemnly then says "BEST CHICKEN EVER, MOM!"

"What a drama queen."

Our favorite Megamind quote for Drew as of late.

Quotes

Drew has been reminding us halfway through dinner that we forgot to pray prior to dinner. So she has us all stop eating and have Jeremy and I each say a prayer before her -- ours are pretty standard, thanking God for our family, our food, our home and the new baby. Last night. when it's Drew's turn she says:
"Dear God, thank you for Mommy and Daddy, thank you for everything, and thank you for having the Holy Spirit fill our hearts with love to guide us in the right direction." Jeremy and I have to step up our prayers.

Jeremy and I were bellyaching today about our bad night's sleep and our aching backs when Drew said "I had the most horriblest day of any of the guys in our house. I flipped off the couch and hurt my back, I bumped my knee, and I fell going up the stairs."

One day this week while Drew was at my parents' house, my dad said he heard the washing machine go off. Awhile later when he went to switch the clothes to the dryer the clothes weren't there. The only person in the house was Drew so when he asked her what happened, she told him she moved the clothes from the washer to the dryer and started the dryer. Even more impressive, this is the new dryer that looks more like a spaceship than an appliance and I have yet to figure it out. Today she told me "I wish we had Grammy's washer and dryer." So do I Drew, so do I.

An Easter post right after Easter!

Good Friday and we finally decorated eggs! 

 She was into it for 15 minutes and got bored.

Posing in Grammy's garden.

 The Easter Bunny must have left hundreds of pieces of candy at Aunt Nancy and Uncle Don's. The Boys were looking for HOURS.

 She's getting so big...

 Grammy and her girl. Boppa stayed behind this Easter due to back spasms.

 The little kids' table.

 Cade and Drew had such a fun time together, they were so cute.

 Drew and her auntie.

Catching Up

February:

 -had a little lunch date with mom at the Spectrum and rode the ferris wheel.

-dinner at Chili's with mom and dad

-hockey game with mom

-Chuck E. Cheese with Boppa...jackpot!

-Regional Park with mom and dad

-climbing the wall American-Gladiator-style

-the reveal of the new baby...took a little while to sink in for Drew.

March:

-working on the music video for Sidney and Whiplash

-taking 5 with Sidney and Charlotte at the beach

-getting hair done

-preparing for the princess scene

-one of the last scenes...makes me tear up just thinking about it

-Happy 33rd Birthday, Jeremy! We got to be cool and sit in the BET box for the Grizzlies vs. Clippers.

-Jeremy and his girls at the game...the bright side to the Grizzlies getting humiliated by Blake Griffin.

ChChChChanges!

Blogging has obviously taken a backseat in the last couple months, and so has picture-taking of Drew (who now prefers to be called Gabriella), so I don't have many pictures to go with our updates, but here they are: we've moved (which has taken 4 separate weekends and is still not complete), Drew was asked to be in a music video by a friend and it should be uploaded to YouTube and/or Facebook within a few weeks, I just crossed the first trimester mark of Baby #2 (yay!), and most important of all.....Hunger Games comes out tonight!

Mixed up

I love that we are at the age where Jeremy and I can speak Drew-language fluently.

"Mom, do I have critis brown?"
"Yes Drew, you have bronchitis."