Happy Birthday Gracie!!!!

Today is your First Birthday Gracie!!! Man, how the last year has flown!!! I woke you up this morning singing Happy Birthday!! We got up and got your hair just like you like it and had to take a picture!!





Oh baby girl, look how far you've come!!! This was you in the hospital!!! After holding your big sister, I forgot how little babies were!!! I held you all the time...much to your daddy's dismay!!! I was so worried that I would miss a minute that I just carried you everywhere. I figured you would get tired of it, but no, you loved it. Even now, you would rather me carry you, but man you are such a big girl!!!









Lets just see much you have learned in 12 short months!!!

• You are jabbering all the time!! You can say Momma, Dadda, Gran, G-daddy (sorry Pop, I'm working on it) bye, one, thank you (kinda sorta), dog, hello. Just the other day you said Maggie and something that kind of sounded like Sophie Clare.
• You eat anything and everything. Mashed potatoes are the only thing that I have found your not too crazy about. No more formula (the pocket book is saying AMEN to that one)!
• The last time I weighted you, you weighted 25lbs. When you become Miss Alabama no one will care about that!!
• You can walk around the table or holding your walking toy, but you're still not sure about letting go. That's Okay because I know you can do it and one day you'll just take off.
• You are absolutely into everything. And have probably set a world record in how fast you can make a mess.
• You are above all else the light of our life!!! A blessing everyday you have been here!!!
  

I hope you had a good day!! I love you so very much, little one!!!

Playtime

This week has been very busy. This is Emily's second week of school and I'm still not use to it. Although, she has been a joy to get ready in the morning. No really, she has!! She wakes up without a fuss and is ready for school! That makes everything a whole lot easier. (I must confess it's just three days a week for three hours, but we call it school) She is so much better than last year. Next year will be the real test because she will be at school a much longer length of time. Nic, I think of you every time we head out the door, and I'm hoping you and your son are having a good morning!!!

It seems like there is always somewhere to go, but there is always time for PLAY at our house. Monday morning, we made a little rain.



Then Monday afternoon, I had to go pick up Gracie's highchair from the upholstery shop so we stopped by Gran and G-daddy's to play with their toys for a little bit. They weren't home, but we had fun anyway!! I'm thinking I may have to talk to Santa about a Barbie Jeep for our house.

Sisters make the best friends!!

Later all!!! Have a great day!!!

Party, Party!!

This past weekend we went to two parties in one!!! Our neighbors, Landon and Tyler, were both having birthdays around the same time, so they decided to combine them. It was at a place called Ace. Apparently it is a place were they give tumbling lessons because when you come through the door, they make you sign a release. I'm not going to lie, I was a little nervous when they did that, but there was nothing to be worried about. It was a fantastic place to have a party. There was something for all the kids to do, and if not, they could just run wild in a circle if that suits them.

As you can see it was an Alabama themed party!! Any excuse we can find for Emily to wear her Alabama cheerleader uniform we take it (but to be honest, we don't need one).





My mom made this dress for Emily and now Gracie can wear it!! It was a little big but still looked cute!!! Thank you so much Gran!!



Miss Laura!!! We love her!!!



Gracie couldn't crawl all that well in the dress, so we just took it off. I think she had as much fun as the big kids.

The birthday boy's moms!! Angela and Tammy

Tyler

Landon, who is always excited (ha, ha)

A fun time was had by all!!! Thanks for inviting us!!

First Day of School

This week Emily started her first day of school. She is just in Pre-K, which as most of you know is just a hop, skip and a jump away from BIG school. It's a whole year away, but I'm already dreading it!! Emily was so excited to go back this year! Of course we had to have a shirt painted for the occasion!! Thanks Grandmother!

I walked Emily in and at first she was hesitant, but she warmed up super fast once she saw her friends. Okay, I know people will have something to say about me putting Gracie on the floor, but she weights 25lbs!!!! And it's hard to hold her and take a picture!! She looks pretty happy though. A little dirt won't hurt!!

All smiles!!!

After I dropped Emily off, I met my friend Ashley at the walk track. Let me tell you, if I keep walking with Ashley, I'll be skinny for sure!!! She can burn up a track!! I kept up, but I was about dead!!

Gracie and Allie Kate ready for the walk!!!

Yesterday, I found this TuTu for Emily at TJMaxx. I just love it!! She did too and even wore it to WalMart. Everyone kept asking her if she was going to dance class. No, just felt like being super cute today!!

I know I take a ton of pictures of Gracie's hair when she wakes up, but today I just had to laugh!!! It looks like it had been rolled on hot rollers.

Have a great night!!! Later all!

Weekend Recap

Friday-Friends and Food

I Heart Girl's Night!!!! Friday night Maggie and I went to our usual hangout, Jeffersons!! I love my girls, but I do look forward to having just a few hours to myself with a good friend and good conversation. We always have a lot to talk about. My friend Jamee called and she was in town having a birthday dinner for her dad, so on my way home I ran by to see them. Jamee is a wonderful cook and she made a beautiful, three layer, red velvet cake for her dad. Of course I had to have a piece. I did all that and was home by 8:30!!! I would have pictures of all this, but I had a wedding the next day and I wore the same shirt!! I have got to go shopping soon!!

Saturday-Brett's Wedding

It's weird that as you get older, you expect other people to stay the same, you know...just stay the age of 12 forever. I had that experience Saturday. I've known Brett for way to many years to count, and since I've gotten married and moved away, in my mind Brett should still be a little kid. I have seen him many times since I've gotten married, but I just can't believe that now he's a grown man, getting married.

The wedding was at 3 p.m. so you think I would have had plenty of time to get everyone ready. Emily didn't want to wear the dress I had picked for her. She is 4!!! It's way to early for her to have an opinion on what she wears!!! And that day, she wore the dress I picked!!! Gracie kept pulling her bow out, which drives me insane!!! Now her hair is long enough to get in her eyes, so she needs that bow!! As you can tell by the picture below, she was not all too happy with me for telling her she had to keep it in!!

Have you ever driven by a building for years and years and wonder what it looks like inside? Brett and Lori had the ceremony in a church that I have driven by for half my life, but never had the opportunity to see what it looked like on the inside!! It was beautiful!!! Tall ceilings, stained glass...the whole 9 yards!!! The picture I took doesn't even do it justice!!

Brett and Lori!!! Don't they make a beautiful and happy couple?

The reception was as pretty as the ceremony! They had great food!!

This was Em's favorite!! They had a candy bar. You could fill little bags with all the candy you wanted. Emily ate most of hers before we got in the car.

The best part about going home to visit, is that I get to see old friends. This is Bobby and he was the director of the church drama team that I was a part of for many years!!! Chris and I miss he and family so much and always say that we are going to get together....but you know how life is.

This is Michael and Fran. Michael and I were just little when we started going to church together!! He and Fran are so sweet and Michael can always make me laugh!! Fran said she loves reading my blog, which made me very happy! I always think that I'm the only one that reads it! Keep reading Fran!!

Emmy loved the wedding cake!!!

My beautiful mother and her friend Carolyn(left).

A friend of my mother had some toys at his daughter had grown out of, so he gave them us. Emily just loved the vanity!! There were lots of books too!! Thanks Dean!



Monday, Emily started Pre-K!! Man the summer went by so fast!! Sunday we made chocolate chip cookies for her to take to school on her first day, but as usual, Emily like to eat the dough better than the cookies.

I hope you all had a great weekend!!! Later all!!!

Busy, Busy,Busy!!!

I can't believe I'm just now blogging about Monday!!! The past 4 days have been so busy, and Emily hasn't even started school yet! That should just add to the craziness! A friend form high school, Bonniegene, put a great quote on her Facebook page today...."Too blessed to be Stressed"!! I'm definitely going to have to remember that one.

What's sad, is that I couldn't even remember what I did Monday until I looked at the pictures! Monday is my "put the house back together"day. We got home late for church on Sunday, so it was all left for me Monday morning. After we (meaning me) picked everything up, we headed off to Hobby Lobby. Emily loves HL and I let her pick out a new craft to do.



She loves paint so we got two new bottles. It has glitter in it, so as you can imagine, I have glitter everywhere. Oh well, what can you do?

When we got home, Emily decided to work on her makeup. I bought her some from Dollar General and she can just make the biggest mess with it. I forgot to take an "after" picture but it was pretty funny!!

Emily has not been feeling real well and with school about to start, I wanted to get her well fast!! Tuesday morning we headed to see Dr. Rutland. Now, Emily is not a fan of Dr. R, but I like him the best!! I feel like I can ask him any crazy question and he doesn't make me feel weird for asking it. Before we left, I gave Em a big speech about being brave and that he wasn't going to do anything to hurt her, and of course I followed it up with "If you're real good, I will buy you something". Hey, you gotta do, what you gotta do!! It worked!! She was more that excellent! Gracie was the one acting crazy! While I was there, he looked in Gracie's ears to see how the tubes were doing. They were perfect, but since Emily had bronchitis and he felt that could be contagious, so he put Gracie on an antibiotic too.

Tuesday night, we met Chis' family at Cracker Barrel to celebrate my father-in-law's birthday.

Don't worry Sophie Clare didn't wear her bow like this. We were just having a little fun!

When we got home we had to get everyone ready for bed and passed out the medicine. I got these mirrors with the piece of furniture I got at the yard sale. I'm not sure what to do with them, so I may take them to Goodwill unless y'all can give me some suggestions. Gracie likes them just like they are.

How do you like my system of labeling medicine? I've always had this fear I would give the wrong child the wrong medicine. I hope in all my "blondness" that this will keep me from doing that very thing.

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you all have a great day!