Swim time at Nana & Poppie's

Since we didn't get to see Jeff's dad on Father's Day, we went to see him the next evening. We ate dinner with them and of course went swimming in their pool. Grace loves the pool. Well...Let me better phrase that, she likes anything that has to do with water.

Poppie feeding me yummy chocolate cookies.
"Who cares if I didn't eat very much dinner. I'm at Nana and Poppie's house."

Waiting patiently while Mommy and Daddy get their suits on.

Fun family picture before swimming.

Jeff pushed Grace around in this crab float which she didn't want to get out of.

Happy Father's Day, Babe!

We spent part of Father's Day just relaxing as a family at home. Later on that evening, we went to my parent's house to have fajitas and then to a Round Rock Express baseball game. We had so much fun and Grace was a trooper. She made it all the way to the middle of the 8th inning. She, also, received her first baseball glove which made Jeff's day. He is determined that she is going to play softball. :) Grace loved walking all over the stadium and drinking from the water fountain. She mastered that really well. "Drink just the water and don't touch the spout." :) It was a new toy to her.

Pictures these days are extremely hard to catch Grace looking at the camera.

Having fun walking up and down the stairs. Daddy you're the BEST!

Serious game face.

"Now let's see, how do I put this big baseball glove on?"

Jeff,

I hope you had GREAT Father's Day. You are such a wonderful, caring father to our little girl. I'm so proud that God made you my husband. :)

I love you with all my heart,

Lauren

Tacos and Margaritas

This past Saturday, Jeff and I threw his brother, Brad and his fiance, Tracey, a "Couples Shower."

Mr. Hollywood and Miss Hollywood. Jamaica here we come!

We had a taco bar with rice and beans and served margaritas (which Grace thought was lemonade and fussed everytime she saw the pitcher) and beer. For dessert we served sorbet which was all different tropical flavors and was presented in a natural fruit shell (ie: coconut shell, pineapple shell, orange and lemon rind). Thank you, Elva, for such a great idea and thanks Costco for making such a great dessert. ;) It was the hit of the night. We had a great time and I think everyone enjoyed it.

Here are some pictures from the party.

Grace wanted to open the present so desparatley. She got mad and the attitude appeared (the "tude" as we call it).

Daddy and Grace waiting patiently for the guests to arrive.

Nana and Poppie trying to entertain Grace.

The little ones loved helping open the presents.

Brad & Tracey,

We hope you guys had a good time. We wish you all the best!

Love,

Jeff, Lauren & Grace

1 year old: Check Up

Grace went to visit Dr. Thorstad to see how much she'd grown since her last visit.

Here's her stats:

She weighs 23 lbs. 4ounces.

She is 29 3/4 inches tall.

The verdict is that she is right on target and very healthy.

She has 12 teeth, which the doctor couldn't believe and we are glad that they are all finally through. Since you were cutting all 4 of your molar teeth and it was a very tense household being that Mommy and Daddy couldn't help with the pain. All we could do was give her Motrin every 6 hours. Poor baby!

She is walking everywhere and when she falls she gets mad.

She has a few words in her vocabulary. She says Mama, Dada, dog, Belle (which is one of my parent's dogs), duck, turtle, bye-bye, Papa (this is what she calls my dad) and she knows how to shake her head to say no.

We are so blessed by God to have such a healthly baby girl.

Happy Birthday, Sweet Pea!

For those of you who don't know...May 19th is Grace's birthday!

Jeff and I both took off work to spend it with our precious little girl. We started the day off with some homemade pancakes with homemade apple syrup (applesauce with a little maple syrup)compliments of Daddy. This was the first time Grace had ever had pancakes. At first she wasn't sure about it (We are having a difficult time with Grace wanting to eat table food. She would rather just swallow her food than chew. The only exceptions to this are Cheerios, Puffs, Goldfish, and chicken nuggets), but she soon realized the pancakes were yummy. After breakfast Grace opened up her presents from Jeff and I, which included her very own purse with coin purse, powder compact and cell phone that rings. A girl can't live without these necessities. :)

The first thing on our agenda for the day (since I'm such a planner) was the Austin Children's Museum. I haven't been there in years, but it's still the same just in a new location.

Here are some pictures of Grace at the museum:

Just in case you couldn't tell from the pictures, Grace is playing with musical instruments made out of various materials. The exhibit at the museum is "Play It By Ear." We had so much fun! The best part about it was that her birthday fell on a Monday which is Baby Bloomers day at the museum, ages 3 and under.

Next, we headed to a pizzeria down off SoCo (South Congress) called Home Slice. We had pepperoni pizza and again it was a first for Grace. She loved it! It was challenging for Mommy and Daddy to keep the bites coming because the pizza was so hot and we were trying to cool it as fast as possible to keep the bites coming, but at times Grace was getting a little impatient. Imagine that!

After pizza, we headed off for a special birthday cupcake. I had heard of this place called Hey Cupcake. Supposedly their cupcakes are fabulous, but unfornately they were closed. Bummer! So, Daddy took us to another cupcake place called Cakes and More ( I believe this is what it's called.) and they were closed too. I guess it wasn't meant to be because before we knew it Grace was fast asleep in her carseat sucking her thumb and rubbing on her "lovey."

We had a wonderful time with our sweet pea!

Happy Birthday, Grace!

Love,

Mommy and Daddy

Flower Power Birthday Party

We had Grace's 1st birthday party Saturday, May 17th. I had so much fun planning it! Both our families came over to spend such a special day with Grace.

This is a sign that I painted to put up in our yard. Gosh, it sure did bring back memories of painting crash signs in high school.

Here's the birthday girl! She just woke up from a nap and ready to party.

Mommy and Daddy posing with the birthday girl.

"Cake Time"

She was wondering why all eyes were on her. The attempt to eat her very own special birthday cake that Mommy made. Chocolate cake with white icing and colorful sprinkles. She stuck one finger in it and made a face. She does NOT like her hands dirty. Can we say sensory issues? LOL! She did like her cake only if Mommy was feeding her. :)

This was the dirt cake Mommy made more for (decoration than) dessert, along with colorful cupcakes. I thought everyone would eat cupcakes, but to my surprise they loved the dirt cake which was a concoction. I couldn't find a recipe that sounds good , so I made up my own. :)

Grace had so much fun opening presents or should I say Mommy had fun opening the presents. The poor little sweet pea just didn't have a long enough attention span.

This was her favorite present of the day. A cup with her name on it. Once she opened it, they were best friends. Thanks, Ryan and Melissa! :)

Thank you so much to everyone that came. Grace had a fabulous time and enjoys playing with all her new toys.

First Blogging Attempt

Okay...Now that another year has flown by and our sweet baby,Grace, is already a year. I'm finally going to try and blog. I hope I can keep everyone updated with our family and the fun things that are happening in our lives.

Ready or not, here I blog...