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!!

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving holiday visiting Micah's family in Alabama. We always love staying at his Aunt and Uncle's farm house...so beautiful!




Annalee had a blast getting to know all of the cousins and aunts and uncles. Of course, her Jo Jo is always a fav.



Grace and Papa (wearing his infamous turkey shirt!)




Annalee also befriended their cat, Tina. Here, she decided to read Tina a story...it was about Jo Jo, Papa, and baby Jesus!

Grace did awesome on her first plane trip!

And Annalee was in heaven on the way home after Papa scored a great deal on a portable Dvd player!

6 Months!

I can never pick just one pic each month for Grace's monthly post! She is half a year old already!! For the special occasion she decided to cut her first tooth. Amazing. She also celebrated by trying rice cereal for the first time and was definitely not a fan. We'll work on that one some more. A few days later while we were headed to Alabama for Thanksgiving, she learned how to say "da da da da." I love hearing those sweet sounds. What a growing girl!

Sittin' Pretty

Looked who learned to sit all by herself this week!




Who is this big girl??

How Could I Forget??

I almost forgot to mention that we bought a house!! It's under renovation right now, but should be ready to move into in the next couple of weeks. Can't wait to show before and after pictures when it's done.

Cutest Almost 6 Month-Old Ever!

Trick-or-Treat

I guess I better get my Halloween pictures up! We had a great time trick-or-treating with Caleb(he was a ninja turtle...handmade by JoJo!) this year. Annalee was Snow White and Grace was a dalmation. Side note story: Weeks ago I ordered the girl's costumes-both dalmation puppies. Annalee was all into 101 Dalmations and she said she wanted to be one for Halloween. Well, that was a rookie mom mistake. Never again will I prepare a costume weeks in advance because she changed her mind! She started asking to be Snow White and I started thinking that would be cuter than a puppy, so the hunt began. I finally found one on Craigslist and she has worn it just about every day since! We couldn't come up with a coordinating costume for Grace, so she stuck with the puppy. Random...Snow White and a puppy dog. (Micah nixed the idea of letting her be a dwarf!)

Fun, Fun, Fun!

We've been thoroughly enjoying the beautiful weather lately!! This week we ventured out to the zoo with Caleb and Sarah (along with every other school-aged child on a field trip!). Unfortunately, we had to leave a little early because Caleb wasn't feeling well, but we sure did have fun while it lasted! Annalee wanted to hold Grace while we waited in the parking lot. Such sweet sisters!

Then, today we got to spend some quality time with Grammy! Such fun!

This is just a cute pic of Grace and her friend Will...their first official picture together! They are 9 weeks apart. Poor Will is surrounded by girls when we hang out.