Grace is 2!!!

Grace had a wonderful time at her second birthday party! She is still eating cake and asking me to sing her the Happy Birthday song everytime she lays down to sleep. We had a wonderful day with friends, family and food! I can not believe that my baby is already 2! I have found myself just staring at her the past few days and reveling in the fact that she is my daughter and I am so blessed. She is so happy, beautiful, funny, and sweet yet sassy! I thank God everyday that he chose her for us. She brings us more joy than could have ever been explained to us. Just today we were outside playing in the spring mess. Grace has little red rain boots and enjoys splashing in the "wati." As she was running through a puddle she stopped suddenly and said, "Mommy, where's the quack quack?" She figured where there's water, there's ducks! It was so funny. The innocence of a child is a beautiful thing. We love you Grace!

Florida 2009

We went to Florida for a week in the beginning of March and we had a wonderful time! The weather was perfect! Mema and Bumpa came down too and as a last minute surprise, so did Aunty Erica. We all had so much fun just relaxing by the pool and hanging out. Our only outing was to Cocoa Beach one day. We'll probably do the Disney thing next time...

Winter Fun...

Here are some random winter memories....

The first time Grace set the table.

Faith and Matt having some ice cream.

Grace and Faith enjoying their ice cream.

Grace loves her pink bunny coat from Aunty Stephy.

This was a very funny evening. I was upstairs folding laundry in the hallway and Grace was playing "nicely" in her room. All of the sudden I did the Mom thing, I realized it had been too quite for too long! I went running in and this is what I found. Grace had found her lotion and powder. She first applied the lotion and then to complete the paste effect, she shook powder everywhere. It was actually pretty funny and fortunately most of the "paste" was on her pants and hair. Guess I will not ever forget to put the powder up high again!

This is a video of Roxy pulling Grace in the sled.

I don't know who was more entertained, Grace or me and Rick!

Too funny...

Even Grace likes her quiet time...

This is just a fun game to her right now, we are not potty training.

But it does buy me 10 minutes sometimes!

Christmas Celebrations...

Here's some Christmas in MN 2008.

The fam

1st cousins

3rd cousins I believe

Christmas morning with Daddy, Reba, meema, and bumpa

Playing Outside at Grandma's

Well before we went to MN for Christmas I had a very hard time getting Grace to go outside in the cold weather. We had battles numerous times with boots, mittens, and bulky jackets. I finally gave up and said to myself, "Fine, you can learn how to play outside from Grandma. I don't want to fight anymore." Sure enough, first day at Grandma's all the kids were going outside and my little darling was just as excited as the rest of them. No taking off boots or mittens or jacket at Grandma's, just a contented toddler enjoying the fresh air! She has been great since we got home too, now she wants to go out every time the door opens.

the girls

my sweet snow bunny

Grace and Daddy

Grace and cousin Tanner

House Pictures

Here are some pics of our new house. We could not be happier here! We knew when we were going through the whole fiasco of...
showing
no offer
showing
no call
showing
no show
showing
selling for less than imagined
buying
not buying
mortgage OK
mortgage industry collapses
renting

finding house of our dreams

mortgage OK again

and here we are

....that "God always works for the good of those who love him." We have everything and more than we desired in a home and we're so thankful to be here!

formal sitting room

kitchen and dining area

family room

master

library/office