Elmo Live, Oh my!

Today was a very big day for the little pumpkin! She attended her very first live performance and got to meet her favorite red furry guy!!! As an early birthday present, Noonie, Lance and I took Grace to a morning performance of Sesame Street Live. She LOVED it!!!

Waiting for Daddy to arrive (boy was it a windy day!) Her first glimpse of things to come...I wish I could have captured her smile, it was priceless! Characters on stage for the first time... Mesmerized! I love her little expression in this picture! Wonder what she's thinking...maybe..."are they real"? She kept looking at the stage, looking at us, saying Elmo, and then rubbing the little elmo face on the belly of her dress - so cute! She loved Big Bird, but of course Elmo was her favorite! Having a blast! (At one point, seeing her so happy/excited/in awe of everything made me tear up - yes, I quickly blamed it on the pregnancy hormones, after all we WERE at an Elmo concert!) And later at home, calling Elmo on her princess phone " He said, 'Hi, Grace'!" Don't you just love a toddler's imagination! She talked about going to the "Elmo Show" all afternoon! Happy (early) Birthday, Pumpkin!

And can I just say we made it out of there without the $15 elmo glow stick, $10 elmo balloon, $8 program, or $12 plastic elmo ball...a true accomplishment indeed! Geez, what's with concert souvenirs for kids these days!?!?

Firetruck Fun

This week it was Fire Safety Week at Gymboree. As a special treat, they had a local fire station bring one of their firetrucks for the kiddos to tour at the end of class. Grace had never seen one up close and personal so I was excited to see her reaction. We had been talking about it all week and by the time Monday rolled around, Grace was super excited! She kept making siren sounds a la Dora & Boots from one of their movies.

First a few pics from the class...

Isn't he the cutest little fireman giving the girlies a ride in his make-believe firetruck? :) Putting out the fire - check out the smoke (bubbles) and fire hose (jump rope) - so creative! I need to remember that for when we're home on a rainy day. Grace took the "rescue jump" activity very seriously. Here she is showing me the puppy and kitty she rescued from the fire :)

And now onto the real firetruck fun...

Can you see how excited she was?!!! Here she is with her teacher Ms. Bree who was so sweet to lift Grace way up for me (those steps are REALLY high!) and then sit with her as she giggled with delight. Guess the hat is just a wee bit big! My cute little firefighter! Such a fun day!

Baby Bennett Update

So excited to report that baby Bennett came off the ventilator yesterday Thursday, Feb. 19th, which meant his sweet mama Katye got to hold him for the first time!!!!!!!!!!!!! (He's been off the ECMO for about a week now) Bennett is 3 weeks old as of today. Praise God from whom all blessings flow! And just because a post doesn't seem like a post without at least one picture, here's a mini tablescape just because I can't wait for spring! When we found out we were pregnant with Grace, I was so excited to know I would be having a spring baby. Grace who was supposed to be a spring chicken was definitely an "early bird" in making her debut a month before time. I found this little bunny egg plate at Target last week and setting it up minus one egg makes me think of Bennett and his "early hatching". I'm so happy to see how much he is improving every day! Thank you for all your prayers!!

bread crumbs

Q. What are heart shaped valentine sandwiches good for?
A. Producing lots and lots of bread crumbs and crusts!

I've had a ziploc bag full of sandwich bread staring at me since the valentine playdate last week. So it was either make bread pudding or go feed the ducks at the duck pond. You guessed it, the ducks won (sorry A.J. ~ I know how much you love that bread pudding...I promise to make it soon!).

Tucked inside Grace's closet was this cute little duck outfit I'd forgotten about (note to self: must prune closet even further). Luckily it still fit her and I was able to stuff her little piggies into her halloween polka dotted shoes, which were a perfect match, so after MDO, off to the park we trodded to feed the ducks. This morning when I dressed her I told her where we were going and oh, my, goodness, was she excited! Her teachers said she talked about it all morning long!

Carefully inspecting our supplies

Deciding which ducks are worthy of our crumbs! So happy!!! Come and get it, little ducky I want a bite too, 'kay? One for you, two for me As our stash dwindled, the little pumpkin became very stingy with her rations And when we got home and I asked Grace if she had a fun time, this was her reply: "Yes, I do!"

And a little sneaky peeky of Grace's big girl room...SO, SO, SO EXCITED!!! More to come!

itty bitty hats

One of my favorite photos of Grace is from her newborn session where she was wearing a sweet little pink scalloped-edge crochet hat, matching mary janes and placed in a dog bed! Yes, a cute little white wicker Rachel Ashwell shabby chic dog bed!! Photo props, gotta love 'em!

Anyhow, I've been looking for a little hat for Hudson. I'd like to get a similar photo of him to match the one we have framed of Grace over our mantel.

~October, 2008

These are some of my favorites...if you didn't already have baby fever before looking at these photos, beware ;)

First, the classic - a sweet little two-toned "elf" hat from Tip.Top.Applesauce These next three are all from MadAboutColour and I love how fashion forward they all are!

Funky elfin newborn hat Striped toquish hat Way Cool fashion hat And this last one is from Cite'Fuzz - a cute little mini monkey flap hat So which one is your favorite?

Happy Birthday!!

Today was Lance's birthday so we celebrated by surprising him at work and taking him to eat Mexican food (his and Grace's favorite). Grace was too cute when she yelled SURPRISE! the moment we walked in the door to his office, loud enough for the entire office to hear. And what a treat it was for Grace to have Daddy join us for Gymboree later that afternoon! After dinner at home we capped off the day with an Oreo cake - yum! Happy Birthday, Hun! We love you!!

And is it normal to get excited about a paper product? As in invitations?? I must admit I was not sure how to pull off a cute farm birthday theme, but when I found these that all changed. The invitations came in the mail on Friday and I just love how they turned out (details blurred for blog purposes). Can't believe my little pumpkin will be two in a little over three weeks!

Little Hearts and Pink Sparkly Shoes

In case you couldn't tell by the overabundance of valentine posts, yes, I big puffy heart love Valentine's Day! What's not to love about a day dedicated solely to reminding the special people in your life you love them...and...an excuse to decorate with all kinds of pink and red and heart and sugary pretties.

Right after Lance got home from his morning tennis workout, Grace was ready to give him his gift AND open it for him!

LOVE THIS PHOTO!!!!!! It melts my heart :) After nap time it was Grace's turn (yup, we made her wait 'till after lunch/nap for all the sugary treats) Bathtub paints...this should be fun! A little Clifford book (now THIS furry red guy, I like!) And then it was time for THIS long awaited package Can you see how excited she felt once the shoes were on her feet? She kept saying, "I have SPARKLY pink shoes!" Every time we've been to Target since before Christmas (and that's A LOT of times) Grace has asked about these shoes. Not the red ones, not the silver ones, but the PINK ones.

Here's one of me with the little pumpkin (gosh, even my face is getting puffier!) Pink sparkly shoes, a lollie, and a new Dora movie = a very happy toddler! Oh, and the only way to get pink sparkly shoes off her feet? Hot Pink Dora slippers from Mimi & Pop! THANK YOU Mimi & Pop for watching Grace tonight so Lance and I could go on a date!

Hope everyone had a sweet Valentine's Day!!

...and yes, it is 2 o'clock in the morning and I'm still up thanks to the lovely heartburn compliments of our japanese hibachi grill dinner...pregnancy side effects - gotta love 'em!

Sweetness

Our little valentine playdate turned out great! Not a single tear was shed, can you believe it??? I'm so happy! I think all the kiddos had a great time and the adults had a fun time catching up. This morning when I told Grace today was Valentine's Day, she said, "PARTY!! Let's do project", guess she now has a very fun memory to go along with valentine's :)

Be forewarned - I have LOTS of pictures to share! Should have made a collage or something, but oh well, didn't have time for the extra step.

Here's the sweet table ready to go

A close up of the classic valentine conversation hearts

A little token of appreciation for the mamas Some of the sweet treats I had every intention of making more cupcake pops, but ran out of time so I ended up making the simplified version: marshmallow pops! And boy am I glad I did. I always think those are way too sweet for my taste, but the kiddos LOVED them - it was by far their favorite treat.

To balance out all the sugary stuff and since our playdate was from 4-6pm, I also served heart shaped chicken salad sandwiches (cheated and bought the chicken salad premade from a favorite local deli), grilled cheese pockets, blueberry muffins, "french fry" apples (thinly sliced to look like french fries - kids LOVE these! - thanks mom for slicing all of these!!), grapes, carrot sticks with ranch, and cucumber dip with chiken-in-a-biscuit crackers (another southern staple :).

And even though the table was set for both food and projects, everyone ended up around the mini buffet - figures! How could I forget the kitchen island is always THE place to gather!

I will say my favorite food moment was when one of the kiddos, although surrounded by sweets galore, asked me for more carrots because they were "yummy, yummy, yummy" - definitely a proud mama/hostess moment!

Amelia and Grace coloring Could this little brother be any sweeter?? Sweet little Ella Kate with her mama

Project Time! The glitter glue, although a little messy, was definitely a hit! Eric, you were such a great sport to bring Amelia and help her with all the girlie, glittery, heart-shaped art stuff!! Cori, we missed you and Abram bunches! I hope he's feeling lots better from all the teething and I hope he enjoyed the goodies we sent home for him with Amelia. Thanks for the sweet valentine treats and cookies - the kids gobbled them up! Could her piggy tails be any cuter?? She even let me twirl them around my finger, all the while telling me the sweetest knock-knock jokes - love her!

Grace telling me exactly which stickers she wanted where Hard at work...notice the marshmallow pop STILL in hand? Beau had lots of fun with the silver glitter glue! Sweet sisters Madeline and Ella Kate with their mama Heidi Thanks Noonie for staying at the last minute to help - couldn't have finished all the food prep without you!! Miss Maye and her mama Michelle Sweet girlies Finally Lance made it home! I think Eric was happy to finally have another guy to talk to :) You know you're a daddy when...you put crayons behind your ear like a pen. Our attempt at a group shot Hugs, kisses, and sweet goodbyes... Thank you Amelia, Maye, Beau, Madeline, and Ella Kate for coming to Grace's playdate. And THANK YOU Eric, Michelle, and Heidi for bringing them!! We had so much fun and we loved having you. Hope to do it again soon!