Happy Holidays

I was hoping to post some pics on Christmas but we were pretty busy hosting our families on both Chrsitmas and Christmas Eve.  Grace had so much fun this year.  She really got excited about Santa coming and loved opening all of her presents.  She actually doesn't get that Christmas is over as she keeps asking us if Santa is coming again.  Jen and I have this week off so we will have some time to relax and enjoy some downtime and maybe complete a couple projects around the house.  Some pics from the weeks festivities below.

Cookies for Santa

Family pic

Backpack!!!

Bliss

Opening presents is serious business

Another family pic

Grace Goes Sledding

We got a little bit of snow this past weekend so we were able to take Grace out for a little sledding and she loved it.

Random Outfits

This is what happens when you let a two year old pick out her own clothes. Hilarity ensues.

A poncho and one sandal in December, nice

Bob and my boots

Dancin Boots

No ideaDon't even ask

Pants optional

Visit to Santa

Grace seemed to be pretty excited this year to have her picture taken with Santa. We have been talking him up for a couple days now so we were hoping that Grace would be willing to sit on his lap for a picture. She was pretty good while waiting in line, she kept peeking around the corner at him until it was finally our turn. That is when the she turned into velcro-baby. She wanted nothing to do with Santa. Luckily there were no tears but she was not sitting for a picture. So we tried with Mommy sitting next to Santa with Grace sitting on her lap. Still that was too close for our Grace. Our good Santa, the professional that he is, would not be denied. He slyly got up and walked a few steps away to admire the stockings on the mantle and jumped into the frame at the last second for the picture below.

Festive Weekend

We had a pretty busy weekend here getting into the Christmas spirit. We started the weekend with a little trip to see Santa Claus but that deserves a blog post of its own later. Saturday afternoon we headed across town to the Shah girls 2nd birthday. There were a ton of kids there and Grace had a blast as usual at the Shah fun house.


We got a little bit of snow Saturday night to get us in the Christmas mood so it was time to do a little holiday decorating. We put the tree up Saturday night and decorated it today with Grace. Our tree seems to be a little bottom heavy this year due to Grace not being able to reach the higher branches but she had a great time helping to decorate the tree. It's not the prettiest tree that we have ever had but I think it is our favorite one. Some pictures below.

Fall Fun

I meant to post a Thanksgiving greeting on Thursday but we got busy and I never got around to it. So I will make up for it with two posts today. We had a great Thanksgiving spent with family. Hope everyone had a great day as well. Our long weekend was action packed, I was hoping for a relaxing weekend but it wasn't in the cards. Luckily it was a productive weekend as I finally finished raking my leaves....with a little help from Grace.

Harade!!!!!

Or a parade to everyone else. Jen's school enters a float in the local holiday parade every year and this year we were asked to come along for the ride. Grace was very excited about the "harade" and was talking about it all day. It was a bit cold out but Grace was quite a trooper.

We tried to get Grace to ride in the float but she opted to be carried the whole way.

Not too sure about Lowla the bear

One of the neighboring floats was for Sesame Street Live. I don't think Grover was too happy when Grace asked him "Where's Elmo?"

Lady Gra Gra

Just in case you didn't know, we have a budding rock star in the house. See for yourself.

Pictures

Grace had some pictures taken at school recently and we also had some studio pics done for her 2nd birthday(a little late)

Missed my girls

Jen and Grace took a little trip down to Florida this weekend for Uncle Rich's change of command ceremony. This was the first time that I have been away from Grace for more than a couple days. It was nice and quiet in the house but I was really missing her by the end of the day today. I did get some nice big hugs from Grace (and mommy) this evening when I picked them up at the airport. They were supposed to come home Saturday night but there were some flight delays so they ended up coming home tonight.

Grace and her uncles

wa wa

Can't catch me Me-Me
Exhausted....

Enjoying some Halloween Candy

First Five Word Sentence

Yes, we are still alive....

Been a couple weeks since I last posted, sorry about that. We have had a bout of sickness go though the house that had us all out of sorts for a couple weeks. Nothing too serious, just upper respiratory stuff that seemed to linger longer that it should have. We seem to be back to normal now though.

We are still trying to settle into our new routine with Jen back at work. The first couple weeks dropping Grace off at daycare was pretty easy. Then the honeymoon period seemed to abruptly end and she wanted nothing to do with daycare. It is pretty heart wrenching to leave your kid while she is screaming and reaching for you. Even though her teachers say she is fine a few minutes after I leave it is still rough. This past week though she seemed to have turned a corner and didn't cry for drop-off so hopefully it lasts.

And of course this weekend we celebrated Halloween. We pretty much made a day of it starting in the early afternoon trick or treating at family and friends. We did a quick loop around our neighborhood in the early evening and then headed over to the Shahs' for some more fun with the twins. Grace really got it this year and loved saying trick or treat and getting a handful of candy. I hope she doesn't think that will work year round. I think Jen and I had as much fun as Grace did.

Our Little Ladybug

Gracie Ladybug with her cousins James "the frog" and Sammy "the monkey"

Getting ready to loot the hood with the twins

Planning our attack

Two at the Zoo

We met up with a few of the families from our travel group today at a local zoo to celebrate our girls' 2nd birthdays.

Want MaMa

Want MaMa seemed to be the Grace's favorite phrase this past week. She started with a little fever early Thursday morning and at one point on Friday it was over 104 degrees. It was pretty scary for a little while but we were able to get it back down to 101 with a little Motrin. With Grace being under the weather all she really wanted was to stay attached to Jen's hip. She would tolerate me for a while but was sure to let me know that she "wants mama".


Grace is normally on the go for all waking hours and doesn't usually sit and snuggle with is for more than a couple minutes at a time. This weekend there was plenty of snuggling to go around as all Grace wanted to do was lay on the couch with us which was kind of nice.


Even though she was sick, she needed some fresh air so we bundled up in a fall outfit and went out for a ride....

Dora Party

We celebrated Grace's birthday this weekend with family and friends. Some pics of the day below.

Blowing out my candles
For me?

Dress up with Bames

My sweet new ride

Happy Birthday Grace

We had a little party with just the three of us to celebrate Grace's 2nd birthday. As you can see she is excited.