Yo Gabbba

Ummm...is it bad that my 9 month old has a favorite show? We don't watch a ton of t.v. around here, but this show is absolutely mesmerizing to Grace when it comes on.



If you haven't seen it before, you ought to watch a few minutes of it...pretty trippy.

Will and Grace

We had a great playdate with Karson and her kids today...
Can these two be any cuter?? Grace and her baby boyfriend Will.



Our best attempt at getting all 4 kiddos to look at the camera...3 out of 4 isn't bad!



My, how our hang out time's have changed, Karson! For the better, of course! :)

Almost There

Here's some video of Grace trying to crawl...she's almost there! Of course, Annalee had to get in on the footage too!

Snowed In

I know you've all heard about our record breaking snow by now. It was so gorgeous! We woke up Thursday morning to see our yard covered with it. I watched the news for 45 minutes waiting on school to be cancelled (we follow a local districts cancellation schedule)...it never happened, so I loaded up the girls and headed to Mother's Day Out. By the end of the day it had snowed 6-8 inches and local districts were having early releases. I am terrified to drive in bad weather, even more so with my 2 babies, so I had Terry and Jodie pick us up from school (a 5 minute drive from their house) and that's where we stayed until I got brave enough to venture home. It snowed non-stop all day for a grand total of 12 inches! Amazing.



We had to improvise for Annalee...those are Target bags on her feet!



Trying to eat the snow.




More snow eating!

The Run-Down

How about a run-down of what the girls have been up to lately?

Those pesky top two teeth FINALLY made their way through! It seriously took a month, wow! Grace has discovered them and now grinds them on her bottom teeth...makes my skin crawl.




This is the face of a happy baby just moments before the stomach bug took over our entire family for 48 hours. As I say every year, why us and why does it always start with the youngest?? See ya next year nasty virus!




Grace is loving her life in the big tub now and Annalee loves that she can hop in and join the bath party.



Asher and Grace have been trying to get to know each other a little better...he's 4 months younger. Notice the beginning of a terrified look on his face. He's not so sure about her grabbing and squawking!




Annalee had a very successful 1st dentist trip. I mean, who can't when it's set up like a carnival? She came home with more treats and goodies than when she goes to the grandparents house! Certificate, toothbrush, floss, toothpaste, fancy ring, balloon fish...it was greatness for her. They were playing Snow White and had toys everywhere. She was such a big girl. She let the doctor examine her teeth, count them and then brush and floss them. Next time we'll have an actual cleaning and x-rays.

Master Bath Before and After

Master bath time...before, again...wowzer!



And after...sorry it's dark, my flash wouldn't work with the sunlight coming through the window.
This shot was taken from the same vantage point as the 'before' picture. We removed the corner vanity and replaced it with a single one on the right side. We cut a doorway that leads into the master closet. This was one of the major changes that we made to the house. Before, there were only 2 small closets in the master bedroom and one very large closet in Annalee's room...well, we decided to change some walls around in order to connect the larger closet to the master bathroom and leave Annalee's room with a regular sized closet.



The new vanity...



The view of the tub.



We also replaced the toilet, painted, re-tiled the shower and raised the height of it, and re-tiled the floor.

Sneak Peek Round 2

Alrighty, here's our kitchen....before. Yuck!

And after...ahh, much better!

This is the view from my sink looking out into our family room to the right and our dining room and the living room to the left.




This room needed a ton of TLC. We laid hardwood floor, painted, replaced the countertops and backsplash, upgraded appliances, painted the cabinets, replaced the weird table thing for a peninsula with cabinets and removed the awesome saloon doors that closed it off from the dining room...pretty much a complete overhaul! I love the square coziness of it and the fact that it overlooks our family room.

Sneak Peek

I am still trying to get my house decorated. For some reason I am being really slow about getting stuff hung on the walls...not usually like me, but whatever. The girl's playroom is the most finished room in the house right now...so we'll start with it. I was super excited to finally have a room just for Annalee's toys (and one day Grace's). It's right off of one of our living rooms, so it's in the perfect spot for her (she likes to be within earshot of you).

Here's a before shot...this room had a door to the laundry room that we removed, french doors into the master bedroom that we had moved, and a little window into the hall bath that we covered up. It also has the backdoor and a door into the family room. We leveled the floor, added tile, and painted.

And after...

another view...

Come over for a play date anytime!

8 months!

Yes people, my baby girl is 8 months old! I can't believe it.





Today I had to move her mattress all the way down because she started grabbing the side of the crib and planning her escape route. She can also get up onto her hands and knees and rock a little, but she hasn't attempted to catapult herself forward yet. She has completely rejected baby food...won't open her mouth one millimeter for it...so we are skipping that stage and moving right into mushed table food. So far she has had bananas, black-eyed peas, beans, green beans, noodles, carrots, and peas. She will take about 6 or 7 good bites for me and then she is done. (Totally opposite from Annalee...she would eat and eat all the while saying mmm mmmm the whole time.) :) She also started eating the little puff cereal and yogurt bites. Sleep is a moo point for us right now...talking about it either jinxes or frustrates me!

If you look closely, you'll see her two top teeth trying their hardest to break through.




Of course sister had to get in on the photo shoot....she told me that she wanted to kiss Grace's sweet head...I can't resist either Annalee!




We love you Grace and we're so thankful that you are in our family!

Back to Life

The holidays were great, but we were more than ready to get back to regular life and our routine. We had almost a month off of school, which was great for getting used to our new house, but we were happy to get back.
So far this week we have....

had a great play date with Mallory...it was way too long since the last one!




played dress-up with daddy...he was the prince and she was sleeping beauty.

Visited our new museum with David and Judah. Yummy corn!

More dress-up and singing...if you can't tell...that's ariel hair, snow white broom and dust pan and a baby toy that also doubles as a drum

Grace at 7 Months

Oopsie...a little late on this one, but better late than never, right?

Grace is rockin' out at 7.5 months now. She is babbling more and more and on the verge of cutting her two top teeth. It's weird to see them through her gums, but they haven't protruded yet. She is happy as can be sitting and watching her big sis entertain her. She hasn't tried to crawl yet (but I'm totally fine with her immobility right now...I know it will be crazy chasing a 3 year old and a baby around the house!) I just started bathing her in the big bathtub as opposed to the kitchen sink, and she loves her new bath seat. We're in a pretty good daytime nap routine, but nights have regressed again...seriously, I know! She still isn't a fan of baby food, but we are diligently practicing. Her favorite place to be is on my hip, facing out so she can see and grab things. I may need some sort of back brace or therapy because I'm in pain by the end of the day! We sure do love our sweet baby Grace!

Annalee at 3 Years

Annalee's actual birthday wasn't all that exciting...we stuck a candle in her oatmeal (or oaky meal as she calls it) and sang a quick happy birthday. She thought her birthday was the day of her party, so we didn't want to confuse her even more.

She is so much fun these days. We are loving the kid phase now. I can't believe how grown-up she is getting. We are so blessed by her fun, sweet spirit.

• Things she loves these days:

all things princess...she knows them all and can sing their theme songs

baby dolls...especially putting them to bed-I find babies all over the house that have been covered up and put to sleep

bath time with daddy (mom is too much of a stickler and dad likes splash fights!)

chic-fil-a...she can order her own food...we actually encourage her to do it at all restaurants

hide-and-seek with daddy

pink and purple

coloring and stickers, she's actually pretty good at staying close to the lines

apple juice, waffles and eggs

crawling in bed with us early in the morning

routine, routine, routine

helping mommy in the kitchen

• Things she dislikes:

tomatoes, lettuce, any 'green things'

when you do one of her 'jobs' for her...buckling the seat belt, taking the lid off of the treat jar, etc.

going to bed

when Grace cries

bugs

most dogs and cats

• Funny things she says:

oaky meal = oatmeal

scranwich = sandwich

togefer = together

mines = mine

breapast = breakfast

"here you go, darling" (must've come from her teacher at school!)

"girl!..." (oops, think this one came from me)

"oh, sweet baby Grace" (definitely came from me!)

"Well..." and then does a little lip smack

If you call her any kind of adjective (like, hey sweet girl or you're funny) she gets upset and says "no, I'm Annalee!"

Christmas 2009

Wow, what a great Christmas! Where to begin....how about at the end since blogger added all of my pictures in reverse order!

This is my new favorite picture of Annalee-hugging bitty baby wearing their matching jammies!



Can you believe we actually had a white Christmas?!



This was in the middle of opening presents with 12 people! Berenstain Bears and Too Much Christmas!



Grace's favorite present...the foil tissue paper!



Annalee was all into Santa this year...leaving him cookies and milk.



Such sweet sisters!

First Christmas!

Making our cookies for Santa.

We braved the blizzard for a second to get a quick picture.

The Par-tay

Today was Annalee's 3rd birthday party! She is such a big girl! We celebrated at the zoo with all of her little friends. It was a great day.



blowing out the candles...love Grace's face in this one!



Family photo minus Grace



As part of the party package, they brought in 4 animals...this was my favorite! He waddled in the door so proudly.



After the party, we got to enjoy the zoo. There was hardly anyone else there, I guess everyone was doing their last minute shopping instead.

The Big 3-OH!

Well, I guess it's official...I'm an adult. After seeing the picture of me and the girls standing in front of a cake with a big 30 on it, I finally felt kinda grown up. On my actual birthday I had to work, but everyone made it extra special for me. Micah came in the house before I left bearing a lovely snowman cake. I would have been very disappointed if he hadn't shown up with a random character cake! Summer brought me a cake and a big button to wear that said old, old, old, old...thanks! The day before was moving day for us, so I was able to wake up in my new house (although it's far from being presentable....lots of decorating and unpacking still to be done). I also became an aunt again...baby Carter (Jeremy and Sarah's son) was born on my b-day...what a fun thing to share with him! Then, this past weekend Micah took me and 3 of our couple friends to San Antonio to see The Lion King musical! I've seen it once before and absolutely loved it, so he knew that I would love it again. He was actually able to keep it a secret from me up until a few days before. I was very impressed that the girls played it cool and didn't leak any info either.

Thanks for making my birthday extra special!!