A little bit of Grace.

Just a few things about Grace lately...

- She's been really into copying Crush, the turtle from Finding Nemo. She walks around the house now saying, "woah, dude!"

- She calls her pink rubber ball a "socky ball" (soccer ball) and whenever she kicks it she proudly says, "I sock!"...which obviously sounds like she's saying something else. It makes me laugh every time.

- No matter what she is eating, she absolutely MUST have a plate for it. It could be just one fruit snack - and I don't mean one pack, I'm talking literally one individual fruit snack - and she will go get a tupperware (because thats the only cupboard within her reach) and use it for a plate. We end up with tupperware all over the house and I don't know which ones are actually dirty, so I end up washing all of our tupperware at least every two days or so.

- She's been the best helper with feeding Chipper. Sometimes I forget to fill his bowl but when I go to fill it, I see that Grace has already beat me to it! Sometimes she likes to just top his bowl off randomly throughout the day and ends up putting in a little too much food to the point where its spilling over the bowl onto the floor. At least I know Chipper won't go hungry with her around!

- She identifies everything by its color. It could be cars, flowers, anything, really. Everywhere we go she's constantly saying, "Wook! A wed one! A boo one! A weh-wo one!"

- She also says bye to everyTHING, emphasis on thing, because they are usually inanimate objects. (She usually works in the colors here too.) "Bye boo one!" We were at Target and she didn't know the name of the store and apparently saw red everywhere, so she just said, "Bye wed!"
- She loves playing doctor and especially loves checking up on the baby. She puts her stethoscope on my tummy to check the baby's heartbeat. It's pretty cute.

- A not so cute habit she's picked up lately is that she is always taking her diaper off. If she's not taking it off, she's reaching her hand down the back of her diaper...and you can guess how that turns out. I really need to get the ball rolling on potty training!

- And lastly, the phrase she probably uses the most throughout the day is, "Daddy work!" To which i respond, "yes, Daddy's at work." This one actually breaks my heart. Between working full time and going to law school full time, we don't get to see too much of Keith these days. Now, even if Keith leaves the house to walk Chipper, Grace automatically chimes in, "Daddy work!" We can't wait for him to graduate this spring so we can see him more often!

Checkin' out some turtles at Northpark mall. Big surprise - she named them all Crush!

Her first haircut! (About 2 weeks ago)

Filling up Chip's food bowl. Its a tough job but someones gotta do it.

Cutie pie.

Doctor Gracie in the house.

Fresh Start

I've been feeling really guilty at what a terrible job I've done documenting our lives this past year. I'm afraid we are going to look back at Grace's second year of life and it will just be a big fat blank. I try to jot down the cute things that Grace says and does in my journal but even that has been pretty sporadic.

So, I'm giving myself a fresh start. I want to start writing in my blog again! Not really for anyone else but myself. I unfortunately have a terrible memory and if I don't write things down, they're gone. I love being able to look back and see how things have changed and remember all that has happened in our lives - both good and bad.

These past few months, we've been going through a bit of a rough patch with Grace. The terrible twos, combined with 2nd molar teething and a transition to a toddler bed haven't exactly made for lots of moments I'd love to document. Honestly, there have been days that by 9 am, I'm ready to just go to bed and start over. But for every sleepless night and every tantrum, Grace has so many adorable moments that make it all worth it. Those are the moments I don't want to forget.

Grace is a high energy, independent, fun and spirited girl. She's sassy and smart. She loves to laugh and her beaming smile melts my heart. I can't wait for her to be a big sister and to watch our family grow.

Here's to a fresh start on this blog!

Texas Bluebonnets

Has it really been five months since my last blog post? I'm blaming it on the fact that my computer is broken and trying to blog from my phone is a huge pain. But I guess these pictures I took of grace this weekend are cute enough to make a special effort.

It's springtime in Texas and bluebonnets are blossoming all over the place. If you've ever lived in Texas, you know what that means: time for your kids to take their annual photo in a field of bluebonnets! I'm still kicking myself for not getting any pictures of grace last year, so I was determined to not miss out again this year. I decided to take her after church, while she was still dolled up in her Easter best. I think they turned out pretty darn cute!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter! 

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!