CHUCK E CHEESE!!

Grace had her first trip to Chuck E Cheese this past weekend with Molly! She LOVED it. I wasn't really sure if she would be into quite yet, but boy was I wrong. Only problem is she was deathly afraid of Chuck. As long as he stayed away she was fine. Here are a few pics of the girls having fun!!

Grace went down the big kid slide all by herself (like 100 times!)

This was the first encounter with Chuck... Grace broke down in tears when he got closer. :) Grace and Molly riding the horse!
Playing Skeeball... LOVED it... stunk at it, but loved it!
The girls trying rack up the points.
Grace became more interested in the tickets after a while... she even tried to take Molly's tickets.

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to the best daddy around!!

Thank you for everything you do for us.

We love you! Lisa & Grace

This picture was taken today after we enjoyed dinner at Texas Roadhouse... Adam's pick! :)

Here are a few of my other favorites of Grace and her daddy.

Grace 4 weeks old (her first time to go to church)

Grace 4 months old... loving on her daddy.

Grace 8 months old.

VBS

This week I volunteered to help at VBS (Vacation Bible School) at my church. WOW... talk about a busy and tiring week!! I helped out in the craft room which was a lot of fun. Grace got to play everyday in the nursery and was so worn out when I picked her up that she normally napped for 3 hours in the afternoon!! Here are some pictures I took of the last day.

Here is Grace about to float away in the hot air balloon!

Some of the 1st and 2nd graders dancing!
1st graders...
2nd graders...
Kindergartners at drama... fishing!

Look who's talkin'...

Grace is really trying hard to talk... finally! She was pretty much saying "dada" for everything. She would occasionally say "hi" or "mama", but not very often. Just in the last couple weeks she has really ramped up her vocabulary! She is now saying these words:

*dada
*mama (still only on occasion)
*bye
*hi
*shoe
*juice
*stay (says this to the dog)
*no
*mine (I'm pretty sure she has said this... it is Molly's favorite word right now, so I guess she learned it from her :)!)

Oh and she is really trying to copy right now. She will do a couple animal noises: cow, cat, & dog. I'll try to catch some of these on video and post it later.

Where is Grace?

OUTSIDE! Her favorite place...

Sling giveaway....

I've loved my Baby Bjorn and Hot Sling so when I saw this giveaway for one lucky momma to win a $75 gift certificate to MamaKanga I thought I had to go for it. I would love to have a new cool sling! I actually really want a Mai Tai... you can read about it at their website. So go to Adventures in Babywearing to read more about it.

Where have we been?

Well... Adam had to travel for a few days so I went down to the Big-D to hang out with some friends and family. We stayed for Memorial Day weekend. Then nearly 2 weeks ago my mom had back surgery. Grace and I stayed for a week to help my mom out since my dad was busy with work and because she loves our company :) My mom is now doing GREAT and feeling pretty good. She still has a long road ahead to full recovery, but is already having relief.

Here are a few pics of our time in Dallas.

Grace LOVES corn-on-the-cob!

She also liked to play in the dog's cage... silly girl.

Grace also enjoyed her make-shift tent.

And enjoyed swimming!

Also, while we were in Dallas I went to see the play Camelot with my friend Tiffany. It was fun to go to the play and get out with girls, but the play was just okay. Also over Memorial Day weekend, Adam and I hung out with some friends that I went to high school with and celebrated a friends engagement! We can't wait for the big day Brian.

Then this entire past week Gracie had swim lessons at the local college. She LOVED every minute of it. We also learned she is pretty fearless when it comes to water. Maybe she will be my little swimmer!

Grace excited to go swimming!

Mommy and Grace swimming!

And in the mess of a busy few weeks, Adam and I celebrated our 4 year wedding anniversary. Since our anniversary fell during the week, we celebrated last night. We went down to Dallas and stayed at the Westin hotel in Frisco and ate dinner at The Silver Fox just down the road. It was great to have a nice grown-up evening. :)

OH and I almost forgot... one of my best friends, Katie, and her husband, Andy, welcomed a beautiful baby girl, Paige Elizabeth, into this world on Tuesday, June 5th. She weighted 8 lbs 4 ozs and was 20 inches long. Here is a picture that Katie sent. I can't wait to get my hands on her! (ignore the date on the photo... it's wrong)

I've also been busy with a few other things... including, but not limited to, doing 100 loads of laundry, helping my church prepare for Vacation Bible School (which starts tomorrow), chasing a nearly 16 month old cutie pie, grocery shopping a few times, more laundry, going to the lake with friends, found out our friends, Joey, Hailey and Molly are moving away (we are super bummed!!), making a myspace page (i know... dumb, but a couple of my friends convinced me!), and getting a job! Yup... you heard that last one right, I got a job. You are looking at the newest part-time teacher for The Sunshine School. It is basically a mothers-day-out program. I will be working on Mondays and Wednesdays from 8:30-3 and the best part is I get to bring Grace! I can't wait. I'll keep you guys updated when I start.

That's all for now folks. The girls say have a great day!

Grace (15 months), Molly (20 months) & Sophie (15 months)

coming soon...

Okay so sorry that I haven't updated in forever. And I don't really have time this week either. Plus I left my laptop at my parents house, so I'm computer-less all week (with the exception of right now, while I'm using Adam's work laptop).

Anyway, I promise this weekend that I will write a long post with LOTS of pictures. I have so many updates. So check back in one week!

15 month update...

So really she is 15 months, 1 week and 1 day, but today was her 15 month well visit. Here are her stats from the visit:

Weight: 21 pounds 9 ounces (25th percentile)

Length: 32 inches (90th percentile)

Here is a picture of her from last night wearing her new "bracelets" AKA... stacking rings. SO PROUD!

And here are a couple pictures from Adam's company picnic. We had another this past weekend (the joy of working for a company with 4 shifts... there is 2 of everything!). Grace LOVED the toddler time bounce house.

The zoo

Gracie and I went to the zoo yesterday with my mom's group. It was a perfect day for it... mid 70's with a light breeze. The zoo was about an hour away from our home so not too bad. The kiddos just slept on the way there and back. Grace LOVED the little monkeys. They were going crazy when we went past them, but all the other animals were too calm and boring for her. Anyway, here is a group picture of the kids at the zoo. Grace is in the pink shirt.

From left: Zachary (10 months), Audrey (20 months), Grace (15 months), Allison (28 months), Luke (3 yrs), Caden (5 yrs) and Madison (5 years)

another update

Busy busy busy... we have been busy.

Here is what we have been up to over the last week.

Friday (11th) - Girls dinner. One of the girls in my mom's group is moving, so all the girls left the kiddos at home and we enjoyed dinner at Chili's. (Everyone who knows were I live knows that it is the ONLY resturant... REALLY!)

Saturday (12th) - We got up and got ready to go to Adam's company picnic. It was a lot of fun. Grace had a BLAST playing in all the bounce houses that they had gotten. They even had one call the Todder Time which was perfect for her. The biggest hit at the picnic was the Cotton Candy... Grace LOVED it! Who wouldn't? After the picnic we drove 5 minutes to meet up with The Kwait Family who have a boat on the lake near us. We went for a cruise around the lake and tied up with some of their friends. The kiddos however just enjoyed planning in the cabin under the boat. Travis and Grace are so sweet together. They even were giving eachother kisses! (Sorry I don't have any pictures since I forgot my camera.. I was sooo mad at myself!). We left the lake around and dinner and picked up dinner on the way. We were so tired and Grace actually went to bed a little after 7 b/c she was so wiped out!

Sunday (13th) - MOTHER's DAY! Adam got me a gift certificate to get a much needed Manicure and Pedicure. I will probably redeem that in a couple weeks before our anniversary dinner in June. We got up and headed to church where they made each mom a homemade flower. All the kids spent lots of time making the flowers and they were so proud. After church, Hailey and I drove to Frisco to have a day of shopping! It was so wonderful. I don't remember the last time I really got to brouse. Anyone who has a toddler knows what shopping is like... get in, get out! When we got home, Adam and Grace made us dinner. It was altogether a great day.

Monday and Tuesday (14th and 15th) - Worked at the bank. Yeah I know I don't really work for them, but they asked if I could help out for a couple days. It is always nice to get my brain working a bit and Grace enjoyed a couple days with a babysitter. On the 14th Grace turned 15 months! Where has the time gone? She is walking and saying more words all the sudden. And just getting so darn fun. I wish I could capture this time somehow... pictures and videos just don't always do it!

Wednesday (yesterday) - Mom's Group morning... got to hang out with some of my friends and their kiddos. Then I headed to the grocery store (whichwas much needed!). The afternoon was just catching up... I had to clean and do laundry so bad! So we stayed in most the day. But the weather was so nice (70's) so we went to the park for a while in the afternoon.

Today is pretty uneventful as well. I just finished laundry. Tomorrow I am going to the zoo with a couple friends which I think Grace with LOVE! I wont forget my camera this time!

Since every post is better with a picture... here are a couple.

The first is of Grace and Sammie waiting for daddy. Everyday Sammie hears the garage door open and goes running to the back door, so now Grace has figured out that it means dad is home! How come I don't get that type of welcome when I come home??

This one is a cute picture of Grace on Sunday before church. This dress is so cute on her! It was a gift from Megan and Eleanor for her birthday. So glad she can wear it now that it is getting warmer.

Condiment Kid

I have a condiment kid. Do you know what that is? ....

Well its a person who LOVES condiments... you know... ketchup, jelly, etc. We have given her ketchup a couple times with tator tots and fries and she just licks the ketchup off first! Then this morning I gave her an egg and toast with grape jelly and she loved the jelly. You would have thought she got in a fight with the jelly! She also loves maple syrup. We have given her a little bit on pancakes and oh man does she love it. She even licked the plate with syrup on it! It's sort of gross to me since I really don't like condiments much... just a little jelly or a little ketchup. But if it gets her to eat something new we will try it!

Here is a picture of Gracie being silly this morning. It looked like she was trying to do a forward roll but couldn't get past this point. Don't you wish you could bend like this?

Pause, Rewind... Play

Have you seen the movie Click? It's about a dad that gets a "universal remote" for life. If he wanted to fast forward though his daily shower he could. If he wanted to mute an argument with his wife he could. Although I don't think I would want to use the remote quite the way he did, I just wish sometimes I could have a pause button or a rewind and replay.

Grace is getting so big and fun, but it makes me miss those days when all she did was sit pretty (in one spot I might add)! Grace is on the move big time. She is walking pretty much all the time now. Although when she is in a big hurry she will resort to crawling to get there faster! :) It just seems that in one moment we are wishing she was walking and then when they finally do the task you wish you could take it back. I guess it is all just apart of Grace getting older. Oh and I know we have plenty of memories still to come, but how thankful that I am to have so many already. I love her little laugh, and the way she points to what she wants (although it would be nice if she would say "Mom, I would really love a snack right now", instead of "ehhh, ehh"), and her just being silly. How do they learn to be silly? Anyway, here is a video FINALLY of Grace walking. And a couple pics of my silly girl.

Grace is practically running to try to catch me so its pretty fast. (Now you know why we have had a hard time catching her walking on video).

Where oh where has my baby gone...

Grace has just all the sudden really turned into a little toddler. She has started to get really interactive. Yesterday I was cooking and told her to hand me the oven mit.... I pointed to the drawer it was in and she went right to it. Well I ran over to the fridge and when I turned back to look at her she had the oven mit on her hand. How did she know it went on her hand? I quickly grabbed my camera to snap this picture. SO BIG!

Oh and can you see her little capri's (well they are a bit big so they look like pants) are pink camo! You can't really tell in the picture, but they are sooooo cute!

And here is a picture of her handing me the oven mit... I just can't get enough of her big blue eyes.

Recent Videos...

Again, sorry for the lack of posts lately. Grace has only been napping once a day lately so I don't have as much extra time. But I am going to try to be better about posting.

Here are a few recent videos. I am also still trying to get a video of her walking. She is taking more and more steps everyday. I think the most is about 10 steps at once. But it seems that everytime I pull out my camera she won't walk. Oh well... I will get it one of these days!

Here is Grace showing you how old she is...


Here Grace was a bit frustrated that she couldn't get into the cabinets. They have been baby proofed for months, but she just discovered she couldn't open this one...


We have started to let Grace feed herself with a spoon. She is getting pretty good, especially with stuff that sticks to the spoon. She also says "bye" in the video if you catch it, but she wouldn't blow kisses. Another video I guess...


Until next time!

What's going on?

Well I don't really know what has been going on, but we have been busy and I haven't blogged!

Here are some updates:

Grace is finally "going" like a normal little toddler! AMEN! If you read this post you know we have had a few issues with Grace and poop. Somehow it has just worked itself out and she is going usually once a day with little problem. Hopefully it will stay that way!

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My friend, Margaret, gave us 4 bags of hand-me-down clothes today! Everything is in GREAT shape. What a blessing. Those of you that have kids know that clothes can really add up quick especially since they grow out of them so fast. Here is a picture of the clothes (not pictured is about 50 pairs of shoes as well!)... I organized them by size and season. THANKS again Margaret. I really owe you!

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Grace is walking more and more each day. The most steps I've seen her take is around 10, but each day she is walking more and more. However, crawling is still her primary way of getting around.

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I'm also still on the pursuit to get more fit. Lindsay has started a new blog... the inner health nut. So I'm following suit and trying to get my butt in gear. I'm still doing Turbo Jam (which I love), but I'm going to try to go walking for 30 minutes each day. As far as eating better, well I love to eat... but I'm gonna work on that too. So if you are out with me and I try to eat something bad... remind me that I want to look good in a swimsuit this summer :) THANKS!

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Grace is into everything... I know I've said this before, but now I really mean it. She can open cabinets and drawers and love to pull everything out of them. (We have the cabinets with the cleaning stuff in it locked, but I don't think she has even tried to open that one!). Here is a picture of her reaching to pull stuff out of the top desk drawer. Lovely.

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Grace loves to wear her daddy's glasses. Here is a picture of her... doesn't she look so smart :)

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Oh and Happy Birthday to my blog! I've been blogging for 1 year now. Time flies when you're having fun.

I guess this is it for now. Be back soon!

Peak a boo

Gracie playing with her Little People doll house.

Naked girl

This picture taken a couple weeks ago when she had a really bad diaper rash from an antibiotic. So I thought it would be cute to snap a couple pictures of her enjoying being clothes and diaper-less after a bath. This one is the only one I decided to post since its the least revealing. Isn't she getting so tall and really leaning out? Where did her baby rolls go??? I guess she really is turning into a little toddler!

HELLO....

I haven't really been in the blogging mood lately so that is why I haven't posted recently.

Last week Grace had yet another ear infection (#8). The doctor actually thinks her ear infection from 2 weeks ago never healed... which totally explains why she never seemed like she was better. So needless to say the last few weeks have been pretty frustrating dealing with my unhappy and clingy and fussy toddler. Thankfully on Saturday a new Grace got out of bed and she had a much better weekend. I can tell her medicine is FINALLY working. The doctor mentioned tubes again... he really thinks that since its getting warmer this may be her last one for the year, but then we may be in the same situation next winter. He said we will talk about it at her 15 month appointment since we can't even do tubes until her ears aren't infected. I'll keep you updated.

For Easter weekend, Grace and I joined my parents and little brother on a quick trip to Kentucky to see my big brother and his wife. It was a nice weekend although it was COLD... temps were in the 30's, with wind shields in the teens (brrrrrrrrr...). So we mainly hung out indoors, but did get out for opening day at Keenland (horse races). It was pretty quite since it was so cold, but still fun to watch a few races. Then on Easter Sunday we went to their church with I loved. It is a great non-denominational Bible church with a really good pastor. All in all it was a nice weekend. Here are a couple pics of Gracie at the races.

Grace staying warm

Grace with grandma

Go #3!

Grace with little jockey

Adam stayed home Easter weekend because he was on call. He has off every other holiday this year so we figured Easter would be okay to miss. So he decided to make the best of being home alone all weekend. He took out our old, ugly florescent light in our kitchen and put in recessed lighting. It looks awesome! He definitely gets the Husband of the Year award. It sure is nice to have a husband that is an electrical engineer... sort of handy to have around and saved us a ton of money since he was able to do it all himself. Thanks Adam!

Oh I think that is about it for now. I'll be back soon! :)

Happy Easter! (one day late)

Grace wishing you a Happy Easter!
This was Grace wishing you a Happy Easter last year ...

Next year she will probably be holding the basket! :)

Happy Easter early...

Since Grace and I will be in Kentucky visiting my brother and sister-in-law for Easter Adam and I called up the Easter bunny and asked if he could deliver Gracie's Easter basket a little early. He said she has been the last few months so it wouldn't be a problem. :) The Easter bunny brought her a vacuum cleaner, a my little pony, food for her kitchen, a bunny and a new book. She was in heaven. Lucky little girl!!

Here is a picture of her looking at what the Easter bunny left her.

Eggs, eggs and more eggs...

Tonight was our church's Easter Egg Hunt for the kiddos. Grace had a good time eating a chocolate cupcake and banging the eggs together. She didn't want to collect eggs to put her in basket... she just wanted to hold them. Oh well... there is always next year! Here are a few pictures.

The little ones enjoying cupcakes (I was holding Gracie's).

Grace and Mommy (about to go hunting!)
I found an egg...
I think I will hold onto it...
Grace found a total of 3 eggs... we are so proud :)

BLUEBONNETS!!

Margaret over at Gogo's World took her little ones to take pictures in the bluebonnets and was so sweet to tell me to do the same. (Oh and just so you know... we only live 30 minutes from one another!).

Anyway, here are some pictures of Gracie enjoying a beautiful Sunday afternoon with the bluebonnets.