South Carolina Christmas

This weekend we went to South Carolina to celebrate Christmas with extended family. It was a short but sweet trip. Grace was shy with everyone at first but quickly warmed up and showed off her little personality.

Aunt Carrie has some neat rocks in her front yard that are so fun to play on. Grace loved climbing up on them and jumping off!

Hudson wanted in on the fun...
On a side note...Hudson is in love with Elmo, he can spot him anywhere. On Saturday night he spotted Elmo on the back of Grace's diaper (you can see Elmo in the picture below). He then followed Grace around watching her bottom in hopes of another glimpse of Elmo. TOO FUNNY!
Katie, Grace and Hannah
Hannah, Grace, Katie and Caleb

Grace really likes to play with Caleb.
Grace loved all the presents she got!
On Sunday we went to Aunt Kathy and Uncle John's for lunch and Christmas.
She loves this present with an airplane!

We now have a date...

We have set a date for Olivia's arrival...March 6th will be the big date for my c-section. It is so exciting to have the date and know when she will be joining our family. The countdown now begins....83 more days!



Below is a picture from "Breakfast with Santa" a few weekends ago. My friend Sharma took it. It is the only picture we have of Grace not crying near Santa.

Fun Times

We had a fun weekend! Chad took off Friday and was able to hang around and work on things that needed to be done (like a minivan that wouldn't start). Grace loved having him around and questioned where he was every time he left the house. Grace was SO good that evening with errands and a steak dinner out.
On Saturday morning I met Maw Maw and Grace left to spend a weekend with her Paw Paw and Maw Maw. They said that she was a very good girl. And who wouldn't of been a good girl with all the fun stuff they did...The Ritz gingerbread house, playground, 3 hour nap, eating out, golf cart rides, playing outside...fun times! Thanks Maw Maw and Paw Paw.
With Grace gone Chad and I were able to clean up around the house. It's amazing how much you can get done without an almost two year old around. We then had an adult only party at the house! Chad and I both don't have company holiday parties so this was our celebration time and their was no better way then with good friends. We had a blast just hanging out, eating, and playing games. I was trying to be a good photographer but it only lasted the for a few pictures. Sorry if I didn't get you in a picture.





On Sunday we had a couple shower for Aundrea and Learoy. They are adopting a little girl who is suppose to enter the world on December 28th! We are so excited and so happy to be able to celebrate a shower with them. (And I'm so excited to think Olivia will have a little girlfriend just two months older then her.)

Grace got a Christmas present on Sunday. She was so excited to open it. Olivia also got her first Christmas gift that Grace opened for her. Thank you Ms. Debbie!

Happy Friday

Hope everyone has a GREAT weekend. I just wanted to share a picture of my crazy girl. I just love her personality. I got her dressed this morning but she thought she would finish the outfit with glasses and shoes. She knew she was being cute b/c she came up to me and said, "cheese", so that I'd take her picture.

(notice the sticker still on the glasses)

(we don't always get the shoes on the right feet)

Busy Holiday Weekend

We had an extra busy but fun holiday weekend. These are the days that I love. Watching Gracie experience new things and watching her eyes as she checks everything out.

Our first activity for the weekend was breakfast with Santa at The Orchard. The food was good, the crafts were great and Santa was AWESOME. But some things never change, Grace still does not like men in red suits, hats and with white beards. The only way I even got her close to Santa was by telling her that he had candy...candy canes.

This first picture is of Grace anticipating the walk to Santa while she is watching other kids cry.

There you have it...the first picture with Santa of the season.The best pictures we got were after Santa was gone and we got to use his chair. I love this picture of Grace and Chad. He is always either kissing her or telling her secrets. And she is always smiling with him.

Grace loved all the crafts. She enjoyed coloring, sticking, and putting together a necklace.

This is right after breakfast on the way to Chad's soccer game. Grace is shacking a bottle daddy made with beads in it. It was "cool". (Grace's word)After the soccer game was naps and then a trip to Lake Lanier Islands to see the lights. Grace was so intrigued the whole time.

She sat up front with us to see the lights. She was very proud of herself. Her favorite was the twinkling lights!My favorite was the live nativity scene. Grace was amazed at it all and would point out baby Jesus, the star, and the animals. She kept telling daddy up, she wanted up as high as she could go so she could see everything. We stoped at the end of the lights for smores and to see all the action at the carnival.

On Sunday we made a trip to Paw Paw's office for the Chick-fli-a open house. It is so beautiful there so we tried taking some fun pictures. We also saw Santa and another live nativity. My favorite part was watching Paw Paw show off his Gracie.

Grace thinks she could do Paw Paw's job. She liked going through his desk.

Still don't like Santa!

22 months old

Can we really only be two months away from our second birthday? I pulled out newborn clothes this morning trying to see what I have for Olivia and I just can't believe how small the clothes are. Was Grace really that small? She sure is maturing fast. In the last two months she has diffidently become a little girl. She moved into her big girl room and has slept in her big girl bed ever since. Once she had a taste of that bed there was no turning back to the crib. My favorite part of Grace being in her new bed is that she gets out of the bed in the morning, opens her door and comes and finds us. She also got her first hair cut. She only has one more baby tooth to come in (her bottom right eye tooth) and then it's only molars from there. She is still trying to talk more and put more and more words together. She will answer questions with one word answers or by pointing. I think she would talk more but we can't seem to keep the paci out of her mouth. (I know the time will come for me to get rid of it, but I'm just not there yet.) She loves coloring. But trust me washable crayons are the only way to go. She is very good at only coloring on paper but she is not good at staying within the four edges of the paper. She also loves stickers, tape, band-aids, anything that has a sticky side. She loves watching TV. Gracie and daddy have a favorite show they love to watch at night together. I'd tell you what it is but I'm a little embarrassed that my child likes this adult animated show. She still loves getting out and seeing the world although she doesn't like getting into the carseat b/c she would rather sit and try to buckle the buckles over and over again and she is a bear to keep in a buggie or stroller. She would rather walk in a store, which is fine when daddy is with us but try grocery shopping with a toddler who doesn't want to stay in a buggie. As soon as Grace hears that we are going out she has to find socks and shoes and loves putting them on all by herself. She has gotten really good at it, 90% of the time they are on the right feet. She is beginning to hate the highchair at restaurants. She have to trick her to get her in one and then buckle her in real fast, if not she ends up standing beside us in a booth. She still has no interest in potty training and I haven't pushed the issue at all. She loves to take her pants and diaper off but if you don't put a new diaper on within minutes there is pee on the floor. We did buy a stool for the bathroom and she loves to get up and turn on the water and brush her teeth all by herself. Thankfully she has also found a new love for babies! Every time we see one in a store she points it out and wants to see it. She also is in love with her baby doll. She likes to feed her, put diapers on her and tote her around the house. If you now ask her were Olivia is she will point to my belly. Too cute! Only about 14 more weeks left of being an only child.

More Christmas in the house

More excitment with Christmas in the house. The first picture is of Grace sitting in a Christmas decoration. The little wicker chair is suppose to be for a stuffed Santa but it's Grace's perfect size. She carries it around the house till she finds the perfect spot then sits.
Yesterday Maw Maw came by and brought her first two Christmas presents of the season. What a difference a year makes. There was no telling her how to open the present. She knew what needed to be done as she tore the paper off. She was so excited!

Her first present was Christmas pjs. Can you tell by the look on Grace's face that she likes it?
Another gift was a book called Elf on the Shelve. If you have not heard about it I am sure you will on this blog in years to come. Below is a picture of Grace with the new shoes Paw Paw bought her. She was so excited and had to put them on right away. This girl loves shoes and loves putting them on all by herself.
Grace sporting her new pjs.
Grace got her very own Christmas tree in her room. She thinks she is hot stuff!