Grace's First Birthday Party

Last Saturday, we celebrated Grace's first birthday! 

 I had a hard time coming up with a theme for her party because I wanted to do something that would be both adult and kid friendly. I decided to make her party "pie themed" (which fit perfectly with thanksgiving being around the corner.)

The invitation said, "Our little cute pie Grace is turning one..."

Once I had decided on the pie theme, I did some searching online and found this adorable party. She had some really great ideas (many of which I stole) for a pie-themed menu. In the end, I was really happy with how everything turned out! 

 Our menu:

Frito Pie

PB&J "Pies" (uncrustables)

Veggie platter

Fruit salad

Rasberry Lemonade

Apple Pie

S'mores pie

Banana Cream Pie Cupcakes

Nutella Pie Pops

Smash Cake

I had these great ambitions of making my own homemade pb&j "pies" for the kids, but let's get real, I had way too much do already. So I decided not to kill myself and went with the store bought Uncrustables. They looked a little trashy but were a huge hit with the kids!

The desserts!

I have wanted to buy frosting decorating tips for a long time and finally got some a few weeks ago. I'm sort of obsessed with them now, so I ended up going a little crazy with Grace's smash cake. 

Now let me introduce you to my new best friend, S'mores pie. 

(Kasey, I haven't decided if I love or hate you for sending me this recipe.)

These banana cream pie cupcakes were really just regular vanilla cupcakes with bananas on top...but I decided to still call them "banana cream pie" for the sake of the pie theme. A girl can only do so much.

Okay, how cute are these Nutella pie pops?! (Another stolen recipe) These might be my favorite thing I made for the party! I gave them out to the guests as party favors.

And now...some pics of the party!

The birthday girl.

She did not hesitate AT ALL with her smash cake. She dug right in!

She honestly would have eaten the entire smash cake, if I would have let her. I decided to cut her off about half way through so she wouldn't get sick!

All the kids pitched in and helped Grace open her presents!

This Minnie Mouse car from Grandma and Grandpa Jensen was a big hit. All of the kids were swarming around it waiting for a turn!

Grace LOVES pushing around her new baby stroller from Grandma Carter!

My mom, my sister Lindsay, and her daughter Paige, all flew in for the weekend. (They were a HUGE help getting everything ready for the party!) We also invited my in-laws and some friends from church. Thanks to everyone who came! It was a such a fun party! 

Happy Birthday Grace!

Happy Birthday to the cutest little ONE year old!

One year has gone by so fast but at the same time, it seems like forever ago that she was this tiny little baby!

We did a big birthday party for her on Saturday, so today we kept it simple and took her to Chick-Fil-A for dinner and got her an ice cream cone (which she loved). I also had to work today, so Grandma Jensen and Grace came and met me for lunch. Grandma even brought a birthday cupcake for Grace to eat at the restaurant! Isn't she the best?

Grace is such a sweet girl and I've loved watching her develop her funny little personality. I can't believe how much she has grown and changed in just one year. She has been such a blessing to our family and I feel so lucky to be her Mom. 

Happy Birthday Gracie! We love you!

Happy Girl

Took these pictures of Grace a few weeks ago at 8 months old. 

Her favorite sitting pose: One leg stretched out with the other folded in. Oh, and I love how she always has her toes pointed. A little ballerina in the making...??

I just love my happy little girl! 

Georgia Friends

We had the pleasure of hanging out with these awesome people while we were in Georgia! Before Keith and I headed back to Texas, we had a going away dinner at Jason's Deli, followed by a photo shoot in the parking lot (thanks to Shaun and Nicole's super professional tripod!) It was sad to say goodbye but it was fun while it lasted! 

Grace could definitely learn a thing or two from Jackson about how to model in front of the camera. Check out that pose!

Thanks for a fun summer guys! Hopefully we can all have a werewolf reunion someday...

Visiting Tyler

Sometime back while we were in Georgia, I fell off the blogging train. So this is me getting back on. 

While we were in Atlanta, Keith's brother and sister, Lindsay and Trevor, came to visit us. It was fun to have them! We were able to go visit Tyler's grave and it was really special for (almost) all of Keith's siblings to be there. Wish you could have been there too, Heather!

If your child ever has a hair tourniquet...

Last week, as I was feeding Grace dinner, I looked down at her toe and saw that a hair was tightly wrapped around it, digging into her skin. Her toe was extremely red and swollen.

In a panic, i tried to rip the hair away but ended up breaking off the end of the hair while also cinching it more tightly around her toe. (Great move on my part.)

Keith and I really began to freak out. We tried, unsuccessfully, to get the hair off with tweezers. Her toe was slowly turning more and more purple so we put her in the carseat and headed straight to urgent care. They ended up having to make an incision in her toe to free the hair and then stitch her toe back up.

Just imagine me, Keith and a bunch of nurses all holding Grace down as she is screaming at the top of her lungs, while the doctor slices her toe open. It was terrible and traumatic for everyone. 

The next day, we were worried because her toe didn't seem to look any better so we ended up taking   Grace to the ER. When we told the nurse what had happened, he said, "Oh, did they try putting Nair on it at urgent care? That's what we do and it just dissolves the hair away."

EXCUSE ME?

Well that makes way too much sense! So you're telling me we didn't need to slice my baby's toe open? Fantastic. 

Turns out Grace's toe was fine, but it will probably take a while to heal. So, to make a super long story short, if your child ever has a hair tourniquet, TRY NAIR! 

Here are some photos of poor Gracie's toe:

 This is her toe right after she got her stitches.

Her toe a few days later. 

Seven Months

Here's a look at Grace at seven months!

She still prefers eating books to reading them...

She is getting so active now. All she wants to do is find ways to stand up. I'm not going to be surprised if this girl is walking by nine months!

Love her!