Party Girl

Get ready for tons of pictures from Grace's b-day party. We had a wonderful day celebrating. Micah manned the grill and cooked everyone burgers and dogs. Then we just hung out in the front yard and enjoyed each other. She was in such a great mood and was happy to be held by anyone that wanted to hold her. Some of these are out of order, but I think you can get the idea.

Getting ready for the big day

Love this one, Kandi!

Daddy and the b-day girl

Grammy with some of her girls

Mmmm...more cake!

Our wonderful chef

The party table

Rocking in my new rocker

Lovin' on JoJo and Papa

Hi!

Stiff-arming sister

Part of the crew

Sweet girl laughing at Joe

The End!

The Birthday Girl

Happy Birthday Grace!!!

How in the world did we get from here...






To here in one short year...

Sweet...


And Sassy...



We had a great day celebrating Grace today. The day started with her 12 month well-check. I thought she'd be fine since I'm postponing her shots due to her ear infections last week, but she had to get her finger pricked to check for anemia. Poor baby cried and cried over that one. Then we headed out for some shopping and lunch with JoJo. We went to a sweet little tea room and had the place to ourselves.




After naps and dinner we gave Grace her first cupcake....that was quite an experience!

So proud and mischievous!




Very serious business.

Showing off her goods.

And the icing, a.k.a neon paint...looks like the Joker to me! It was straight to the bath after this one!

Grace,

You are just the sweetest thing in the world! I love how you tuck your arms in when you want to snuggle. I love how you suck in air and make a squealing noise when you are excited. I love how you wave bye-bye with all five of your fingers. I love how you "run" around the coffee table when you think Daddy is chasing you. I love how you think Annalee is hilarious. I love that you finally sleep 12 hours straight at night! (didn't think that would ever happen!) I love your little chipped tooth and your sweet strawberry birthmarks. I love how you kick your legs so fast when you are happy. I love everything about you! Happy Birthday sweet girl!

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!