The ZOO!!!

Happy girl!!

Today we went to the zoo with Beeka, Papa, Aunt Merideth, Uncle Brooks, Kyla, and Shea to celebrate Beeka's birthday. It was a gorgeous day out, as the sun was shining and there was a nice breeze. Grace LOVED all the animals! She would touch any of them that she could reach! The pictures below are amazing to me. It's awesome that she loves animals as much as I do!

The azalea's are blooming!!

Daddy and Grace.

Scarlet macaw.

Grace was tired near the end of the day. She laid her head on the stroller tray and said nite nite! Poor baby!

Grace liked watching the Lorikeets drink nectar out of the cup. She would even reach out to try to touch them, BUT if one tried to climb onto her arm...she wasn't having any of it! I love her face in the above picture!

This bird tried to bite her when she reached for him. She didn't like that at all!

Kyla, Grace, and Daddy!

Grace petting the blue-tongued skink!

Grace petting a ball python. She actually tried to squeeze this snake, so we had to show her how to pet him nicely!

Grace touching the bearded dragon!

Grace walking by herself along the boardwalk. She's so independent!

Here is the best part of the day...

The zoo had a giraffe feeding area. Our tickets included 4 giraffe crackers. We had to wait a while for the giraffes to come over. Three of them finally came around the bend and last one headed straight for us. His name was "Doc" and he walked over to me and took a cookie out of my hand. Then he headed over to Grace.

Here he comes. She has her cracker ready....

And she gives him the cracker!! Look at her face...she really liked that! What a brave little girl!

Grace and I spent the day, after her birthday, together! I had to take her for her shots that afternoon, but we spent some quality time together in the morning. Grace was playing with a new toy that came with several plastic balls. In this video I was trying to show her how to throw it. She thought that was the funniest thing ever. She had the hiccups in between laughing and if you pay close attention in the middle of the video, she snorts! Too funny!!

I really enjoy spending time with her. She is an incredible little girl! I am truly blessed to be her mother!

Asleep in Shopping Cart

On Saturday, Grace and I ran errands all day. She was so exhausted by the afternoon that she didn't even wake up to go to her favorite place...the grocery store. Everyone kept peeking in the cart to get a look at her.

Grace and Mommy at Aunt Merideth's baby shower!

Thank you Aunt Midge and Julie for sending us the pictures!

It was great seeing you guys!!

XOXO

New words...

Grace talks all the time now. It's fun to have little conversations with her! Here is a list of words she can say. They are very funny!

boo boo= "boo boo"

phone= "own"

coffee= "caa-ffee"

nose= "nooooooooooose" (must be said with a scrunched up face)

Mazie= "dazie"

Grandpa= "gum pa"

plane= "pleeeeen"

Sascha= "Sascha" (her stuffed cat)

water= "wa"

walk= "wa"

(she will point to indicate the above two)

bottle= "ba"

balloon= "bloon"

These last 3 are my favorites!!!

Gracie= "Greasey"

cracker= "ca-ca"

ribbitt= "riddle-eet"

Where has our baby gone?

The afternoon of Grace's party, she started walking. She hasn't stopped since. In fact, she seems to have grown up so much in the past three weeks! Yikes!
Beautiful smile!!

Love those eyes!

Playing in a box with Simon! Too fun!!

The sippy cup is not acceptable. I need to drink from a big cup!!

All done!

More wa (water)!!!

She's absolultely gorgeous!!

Grace now has her own drawer in the kitchen. Every day she takes all the plasticware out and scatters it around the house....every night we clean it up!!

Ok, this picture amazes me. She already knows how to color! In fact, her doctor told us that this is a skill children learn at 18 months of age. She obviously gets her smarts from her mom!!!

More coloring! It was so funny to see her get down on her belly to be more comfortable when she colored!

This past weekend we went to Carson's 2nd birthday party. The party was held at a children's gym. Grace jumped right in and played on all of the equipment.

Ringing the bells to start the birthday celebration! She was really concentrating on watching what everyone was doing!

Little monkey!!

She liked playing with the balls!

It's hard to catch them when they are rolling around!

Our Birthday Girl!!

Yummmmm....cupcakes!!!

Where has the time gone? I can't believe it's been a year! We had a family get together for Grace on February 22nd. She had a blast! Grace is quite the ham!!

Discovery!!

Gracie discovered the dishwasher! We cannot do dishes anymore if she is in the kitchen!