"Go, Zags!"

Add this to Gracie's verbal repertoire...

...Overtime stress currently looming in the Lochhead household...

...c'mon, Zags!

Dad is at Camp

A couple of weekends ago Jeff went to a YoungLife weekend camp called, "Fall Fiasco" with YL leaders and students from Rogers HS. Grace and I had a girls' weekend and apparently I made a big deal about Daddy being gone...she knew that Daddy was at "Hamp"...only now whenever he's at school or out of sight and Gracie's asked where Dad is, she replies very assuredly, "Dad. Hamp."

Words...

Grace has been entertaining us with her jabber for quite some time, now. Jeff and I think back and remember quiet car trips and evenings when we could talk over dinner without being interrupted...but these days are so much better! :) Grace is especially interested in knowing people's names and looking at pictures (on the frig or on Facebook) and naming everyone... But she's also acquired some funny favorite words that we never would've predicted and still giggle about...

1. "Hee-Haw." This is her favorite animal sound and she says it at the funniest times. Sometimes she mistakes pictures of moose for donkeys. She also likes camels...weird.

2. "Eight." This is her favorite number. She is able to count to ten with a little help, but when she gets tired or is feeling silly she'll just look at you and say, "Eight," after any number you say.

3. "Amial." She loves her amial (animal) books!

4. "e-I-e-o." This is her version of the Old MacDonald chorus. There isn't a trip taken without a round of this song bouncing off the car windows--and she always sings this line a good three seconds before it should be inserted in the song...always one step ahead of us!

5. "Hot." This is the name she's given our fireplace and she talks about it anytime home is mentioned. "Ready to go home, Grace?" Grace: "Daddy. Ba-yoon. Baby. HOT." (Listing all the fun things at home, I suppose...)

6. "Bye, ____" Every time we go up the stairs Grace has to stop and say goodbye to all sorts of inanimate objects in the room. Anything from her doll stroller to Daddy's "(gui)Tar" gets a farewell...and I feel like I'm in a weird version of "The Sound of Music" as she waves her way up the open stairwell. :)

7. "Peaches." This girl LOVES fruit. Every time we ask if she's ready to eat, she nods her head with authority and says, "Peaches." Oh, and don't forget her "NOON-LES." I think she could eat a box of Pasta Roni all on her own. (If there was no hope of peaches for dessert...)

8. "Amen." This is funny just because she says this at different points of the phrase, "In Jesus Name we pray..." depending on how tired and ready for bed she is when we're saying our bedtime prayers. On very tired nights we only say the "In..." and she's saying "Amen!" and diving for her crib.

Love this girl! She keeps us laughing. Oh, and this week we are MomMY and DadDY instead of Mama and Dada...we've finally graduated!

No Fooling!

The Lochheads are excited to welcome a BABY BOY to our family...due to arrive on or around APRIL FIRST. No joke...Really.

Looks like he's already working on his jump shot...

Trick-or-Treat!

Grace was all ready to wear her monkey suit on Halloween. We did the family tour...G'ma Colleen and Papa Scott's, G-G's, and Pappy and Granny's...



We're pretty sure Grace learned three things on this day:

1. She LOVES smarties.

2. She doesn't like masked kids coming to the door.

3. Grandparents give really good treats to costumed grandkids on October 31.

Greenbluff Days...All Gone?

Each year we look forward to them, and then we blink and the weather turns "November" on us...but we had several outings to Greenbluff this year to enjoy the caramel applesauce, the hay mazes, and the punkin' chunkin'...


We had a fun outing with our friends when the Schneringers came to town--Grace and I, Sarabeth, Rachel, Baby Lydia, Lauren, Baby Alia, and Megan


And the boys--Troy, Caleb, Robert, Johnny (with Lydia), Jeff and Joel





One Sunday the cousins got together at Greenbluff...here's Grace posing with Janie and Anthony



Gracie did NOT like the horse ride. She loves to say, "Hee-Haw" and loves to make horse noises, but this was a little too close and personal...and a little too close to nap time. We got our money back and Gracie got ushered to the car after this. Memorable way to end a fun day.