Thanks Aunt Rachel!

Grace says thanks for the cute dress! She wore it today and we thought of you!

First Swim of the Season

How do you think Grace liked her first swimming experience?
At least she looked adorable in her little halter and sunhat!



This one, on the other hand was in heaven!




We got to play outside all afternoon today while daddy and Justin laid our new walkway. The weather was perfect too! Our front yard is almost done. I'll try to get before and after pics up when it's finished.

11 Months

A little late on this, but Grace is 11 (and a half) months old! She was way more interested in trying to crawl off of the chair than pose for a picture! This was literally the only decent picture I captured out of about a dozen. She's our busy little bee. This month she mastered crawling up and back down the step from our kitchen to our living room without banging her head on the floor! She also figured out how to cruise around the coffee table, couch, and other furniture. She loves school and her "school mommy," Ms Brandi. She doesn't fuss a bit when I drop her off...let's hope this continues next year with Ms Pam! She is eating lunch and dinner like a big girl and sometimes breakfast if I need to get some things done. She'll eat just about anything I give her, but isn't such a fan of the green veggies after a few bites. She uses her sippy cup like a champ for water at meals. Pretty much her only volume is loud. It's usually happy sounds, but it's still loud! We are so blessed with such a happy and sweet baby! Yes, she is still my baby!

First Gumball!

Annalee was beside herself today when I let her finally have a gumball. She's been taunted by the gumball machine at JoJo's house for years and I've always told her that she could have one when she was older like Caleb (he's 8 months older than her, so technically this would never happen). I just didn't want to go down the whole gum road with a toddler. Well, today, when she asked, I gave in. I wish I could bottle up the excitement that enveloped her in that moment. Pure joy. She graciously accepted her shiny penny from JoJo, put it in the slot, turned the handle and out popped the treasure, an orange gumball. Of course we had the whole "you never put gum anywhere but your mouth or the trash" lecture and then she partook in what was the shortest gum-chewing episode imaginable. She literally chewed 3 times, spit it into her hand, threw it in the trash, and sat on the couch so proud and satisfied with her experience. Alrighty then.

Yard Work

We are finally making some progress on our yard. It needs some major TLC and I'm not exactly the green thumb around here, but we are giving it a try! Annalee loved getting to spend the entire day outside playing in the dirt, water, and leaves.

Here she is finally making friends with Freddy. This took most of the day, but I think she came around to him in the end. Especially since instead of sleeping during naptime she was yelling "I need to see Freddy!"



Grammy getting some snuggle time with her babies! She was just going to stop by and dig up a few small trees we had growing, but ended up staying all day and helping us with the yard a ton! Thanks again for all you did today!



As Micah was trimming one of our large bushes he came across a nest of baby blue birds. I hope we didn't scare the momma off for long because I want to watch these birds grow up and learn to fly. Kinda freaky looking right now with their big eye sockets and no feathers!

Catching Up

If you ask Annalee who her favorite friend is at school, she'll say Cooper! We finally got these two together on a playdate to the museum. It was so adorable to see them hanging out and even holding hands a couple of times. Awww. Isn't he so handsome! And such a sweetie.




In other news, we are oficially growing our own pumpkin for Halloween! It has already sprouted it's two "seed leaves" and is well on it's way to it's first two vine leaves. Next step: transplant to your garden! I'll keep you posted on how the growing goes.



Annalee's photography skills were in full force today...I found about 20 random pictures on my camera from a very short person's point of view. These were some of my favorites.

New Favorite Picture

And this is a good one too!

Random Pics

I know I've done a terrible job lately of updating (sorry Aunt Rachel!). Here are some random pics of what we've been up to...at least the things that managed to get photographed!

pushing our friends around in a doll stroller!


crowding in daddy's lap



painting masterpieces


bouncing at birthday parties

shopping like big girls at Target

By the way, Grace turned 11 months old today!!! Her 11 month post will be up soon.

Easter Fun

We had a full weekend, that's for sure! After dinner Saturday, we went to Dairy Queen to get dipped cones! When's the last time you had a dipped cone? Yum! We made Annalee wait until we got home to share hers with Daddy...it was the most torturous 15 minute ride of her life (especially after watching me devour my cone in front of her eyes). I know that sounds kinda mean, but I was afraid it would melt and fall in my lap!

Grace was drooling and counting down the days until she gets to share one with Mommy!

After naps we dyed our Easter eggs. They really should label those little tablets because I totally put 3 of them into the wrong colored bowl!

So proud of her work!

The Easter bunny came! Funny side story; when I was putting Annalee to bed Saturday night I was telling her that maybe the Easter bunny would leave a treat in her basket. She said, "Miss Deborah is going to come in my house and bring me a treat??" At school on Thursday the "Easter bunny" came to visit our egg hunt (it was really our friend Lauren who was in a cute little costume...no big bunny head, just ears/hat and whiskers painted on her face). Annalee kept calling her Miss Deborah, no idea why. It cracked me up inside picturing Miss Lauren hopping in our house and leaving us treats!



At 5:30am, Annalee woke up, ran in our room yelling that the Easter bunny had come and brought her a treat!! I acted super excited for her, and then immediately told her to get in bed and go back to sleep!

Yeah, we eat some of our treats first thing in the morning, doesn't everyone?

After church and naps we headed over to JoJo and Papa's for some more fun. I wish you could see the girl's dresses better...Jodie made them and they have their monogram on the collars.

We had to get into our comfy clothes for some good ole egg hunting. Caleb was really comfy in his new jammies that his Nana put in his basket!

Watching all the fun from Papa's lap!

Happy Birthday JoJo!

Our JoJo is out of town today...so this is her birthday message!

and another...

We hope you have a great day!

10 Months!

Where is the time going?? I cannot believe that Grace is 10 months old today! I have already started planning her first birthday and I'm in a little bit of denial about it! This child is so wonderful, I can't even explain. Her new major milestone this month was learning to stand up all alone without holding onto anything! She will pull up on something and then let go and grin from ear to ear about her accomplishment. Unfortunately, it's short lived because she sits down after a few seconds. She is consistently eating dinner in her high chair and soon we'll move to a lunchtime routine also. She has the loudest squawk I've heard in a while. If she wants more of something, she'll bust out a super loud holler. We're working on the sign for more-more so she doesn't have to yell at me! The other day I was trying to teach her and I said "can you say more-more" while doing the motion, and from the other room I hear Annalee say, "Mom, she can't talk yet!" Thanks for pointing that out. She has also learned to wave 'bye-bye' this month. So precious. She usually does it when we leave a room or sometimes when I pick her up out of her bed. She also loves to point to things with one finger...I have been trying to get a good picture of this...she's letting her little light shine! We love you Grace!

Happy St. Patty's Day!

Hope you all had fun wearing your green today! We sure did! We had a lovely picnic with JoJo, Papa, and Aunt Betsy (Jodie's youngest sister who is visiting from Alabama this week). We spent loads of time just enjoying each other and the gorgeous weather and flowers. Grace was in a super mood...all smiles and claps. She showed off one of her new tricks to JoJo too...pulling up on your leg and then standing up on her own! Annalee had fun on an adventurous walk with Papa. What a beautiful spring day.

Sweet profile

Who's that peeping up from the big tree log??

Poor Baby

Imagine my horror when I picked Grace up from her nursery class yesterday and found her front tooth missing a large chunk!! I freaked...so much so that Annalee burst into tears as well. The most amazing part of the whole ordeal is that it was a complete mystery of how it happened. Her teacher noticed it within a few minutes of her being in class and assumed that it had happened at home since Grace hadn't even been set down to play yet and had definitely not fallen or banged her tooth on anything. I was 100% sure that it had not happened at home or when I was around because I would have noticed it that morning. After a frantic call to the pediatric dentist (lucky for us we already had a great one since Annalee just recently had her first visit) we were scheduled for an exam. Yesterday morning I had to take my 9 month old to the dentist! I was SO dreading it, but she was a trooper. She sat perfectly still for the exam and let the doctor get a good look at the damage. Apparently there are 3 layers to our teeth and her chip goes well into the 2nd layer (luckily not the 3rd layer which is where the nerve and blood supply are). She is at risk of loosing the tooth since it can abscess or die and fall out on its own. Super. The dentist had to polish and file it smooth since it had some jagged edges. She did really good during this part, but about half way through she'd had enough and started crying and moving alot.

We're still not sure how exactly it happened, but the dentist thinks she bit down hard on something because of the way it was broken, possibly my stroller bar since that was one of the only things she came in contact with in the short window of time that it could have happened.

So, until she looses that sweet jagged tooth...this is the precious grin that we'll get to see!

I took this right before we headed to the dentist, so it looks a little smoother now.

Beautiful Day

Today was such a beautiful day outside! We had a fabulous time hanging out with the girl's cousins, Caleb and Carter. We went to a park near their house and just let the kids run and play. Grace got to experience a park swing for the first time! She was in heaven...I couldn't choose just one pic!

The big cousins driving a car.

I'm just gonna throw this one in because I love her so much and I think she looks like such a grown up little lady here!

Blast from the Past

I just found this pic on my computer and I don't think I ever posted it here! What a fun memory. Micah and I drove up to visit his sister and her husband. We went to an Arkansas football game and camped out! It was on this trip that my morning sickness started with Grace (I was about 8 weeks preggo). I remember stopping at the drug store to get some Vitamin B6 to help with the nausea...ha! Good times, Rachel!

Booyah

What can you get for about $100 at Just Between Friends you ask....

2 complete summer wardrobes for my sweet baby girls!

Thats:

8 pairs of shorts

a bathing suit

4 sets of jammies

13 shirts

11 dresses

3 pairs of pants

I was absolutely giddy today to get to shop at my favorite resale event. I look forward to it every fall/spring. It literally saves our family hundreds of dollars!

9 Months!

Yay, I'm 9 months old!!

Sweet Baby Grace is 9 months old!! This has been a big month for her...she started crawling and pulling up! She also started eating better for me as far as table food/pureed food is concerned. She loves to clap her hands and wrinkle her nose at you. She is still doing great at school (2 days a week while I teach), but now she gets sad if she sees me in the hall and I don't pick her up. They push 6 babies at a time in the "Bye Bye Buggy" and it's the most adorable thing I've ever seen! I try to stick my head out to get a glimpse, but now it makes her sad. :( She has 5 teeth and 3 more that are about to cut through...we are over achievers in the teeth area. She thinks it's funny when she bites my shoulder and I tell her No No...she laughs at me. Yep.

In case anyone is wondering..no, she doesn't have a perpetual wound on her forehead...it's her birthmark. Technically it's called a hemangioma, basically a cluster of blood vessels just under the skin. It wasn't there when she was born, but formed at about 3 weeks of age. It has a very high possibility of shrinking and disappearing in the next year or so, but if it doesn't we can have it removed after she's a year old...or not, it makes her special! (She also has one on her tummy). Just wanted to clarify because I get stopped at least 3 times a week by strangers asking me if she has hurt herself!