Finally

Leaving milk and cookies for santaLook at all the goodies santa left!

My Kitchen!

A Bike!

"My Car"

playing with new toys!

I had a camera issue and it didn't want to share our Christmas photos, but we've got them now! Christmas morning was a BLAST. We came back to Decatur on Christmas Eve so we wouldn't miss Santa stopping at our house. Gracie left a plate of cookies and decided "he need chocolate milk". Not sure why she thought that. Anyways, Santa came that night after Gracie went to sleep and left her lots of surprises including her kitchen and new bike. We had to wake her up at 7:30 to get going. She yelled "My Kitchen" when we walked into the den. It was hard to get her to open anything as she just wanted to play with the kitchen. Alan and I each got some surprises too - Wii games for both, place setting of silver and a serving spoon for Mary and lots of grilling stuff for Alan So much fun. We then ventured off back to Birmingham to see MeMe and Chief and Aunt Elaine and Uncle Jeff. What do you know, but Santa came to MeMe's too! Gracie got lots of stuff for her baby dolls and a Power Wheel Barbie 4 wheeler which she LOVES!

Happy Birthday Alan!!!!!

HAPPY 30TH BIRTHDAY TO ALAN!!!


Gracie and I will be headed to Bham for some fun and Alan is BBQing all day for his bday fun. We just sang him Happy Birthday and brought him sister shubert sausage rolls bday cake in bed! He also got some "fancy" beers and Wii game!

Christmas Eve Eve Party

Mary and AlisonMom and Gracie

MeMe and Gracie

Gracie with her cousins

Pat and Aunt Dotty

The family

On Eve Eve Chief's family and some close family friends come over for a visit and dinner. Gracie had fun playing with her cousins Jana and Ashton and was up until midnight!!!

Christmas at Nana's house

Gracie opening her new princess outfit! Oh Boy. Thanks Katelyn and Karoline!

Decorating cupcakes

With Nana

Karoline keeps Uncle Big A in line!

Katelyn gets a new story book

Nana's house was full of activities on the 23rd. All the cousins got to decorate cupcakes first. This was a new activity for Gracie but I think she had fun. Then they went out to their playhouse to get their stockings and goodies. We did presents and lunch.

Christmas with Nanny and Papa

Dada helps Gracie open her ABC Zoo

Uncle Wills (as Gracie calls him) Aunt Katherine, Harrison and Hayes

Nanny and Papa with their new "Handprint Fish" Bowl

Karoline sleeps through presents

Ok, since we have lots of pictures and lots going on the past couple of days, every activity is going to be in a seperate post. We celebrated with Alan's dad and step mom at Alex and Karyn's on the 22nd. Alex and Karyn made a yummy dinner and we all enjoyed visiting together.

Gracie's Christmas Party

Gracie checking out her treats!She went straight for the sweet tarts and marshmallows

All her friends enjoying the party

Good juice

No party is complete without a little hammering on the slide.

Today was Gracie's school party. She had a fun time enjoying a special snack and extra playtime.

P.S. Gracie decided she would open Dada's Christmas presents while Mommy was in the shower this morning. She got about 1/2 of them opened before I put an end to her fun. She must have thought his presents weren't that great b/c she just threw them all to the side. When I caught her she goes "where mine?"

Annual Christmas Party

The A D Pi girls. Niccole and I are the pregnant bookends!
Me, Alison, Claire and Jennifer

Me, Alison and Heather

Heather, Elaine, Jamie and Melanie

Gracie does miss any action either! She wants a present too!

Every year, my mom, sister and I host a Ornament Swap brunch for our good friends. It's always so much fun and we look forward to it all season. We had a wonderful turnout and lots of stolen ornaments this year!

All Aboard the Polar Express!

We had such a nice day on Sunday. We started with attending our niece Karoline's christening in Birmingham. She was perfect during the service and afterwards we enjoyed a fun lunch at Alex and Karyn's house and visiting with friends.

The other big event of the day was our ride on The Polar Express. Our group arrived in jammies and quickly got lined up for our train ride. We boarded the train and then as we took off towards the North Pole the story was read over a speaker. After the story as we were approaching the North Pole, everyone began singing Christmas Carols. We arrived at our destination to see Santa, Mrs. Claus and the elves standing outside waving to us. The Elves boarded the train first and passed out jingle bells to everyone. Next Santa and Mrs. Claus boarded the train and visited with all the children. Gracie wasn't too sure about them, but still went to Mrs. Claus. After their visit, everyone had a snack of chocolate milk and cookies. I've never seen Gracie drink her milk so fast! She really loved the chocolate milk! The elves came back and passed out a Christmas present to all the children. We made our trip back to the train station and all the kids had a blast.

Ho Ho Ho!

Wow, much to our surprise, Gracie actually somewhat enjoyed her visit with Santa today at the mall. Alan and I were fully prepared to make it a family picture and have to sit with her while she visited. She was excited all morning to go. We finally get to the mall and she becomes very unsure of the situation. Luckily there were 2 little girls in front of us and she watched them. We SLOWLY approached Santa as it was our turn. We stood and talked to him and she gave him "5". Then we decided it was time to put her in Santa's lap. She went without much hesitation, but would never look at him or talk to him. But she didn't cry and she looked at the camera so I can't ask for much more!!!

Baby it's cold outside!

Getting ready for the parade!

Is Gracie in there?

Having fun watching the parade and especially the bands!

Gracie and Towns decorating a tree in the park!

This week has been filled with fun Christmas activities. Monday was the Christmas parade in downtown Decatur. We bundled up and braved the cold. Gracie enjoyed the parade, as did Alan and I. We came home and enjoyed watching Charlie Brown's Christmas. Thursday, Junior League had a little tree trimming party in the park. Gracie and her friend Towns had fun putting ornaments on the tree and playing at the park.

More Birthday Party!

Gracie's favorite past time is celebrating birthdays! When we are in Birmingham, she will get very upset if we come home without attending one. Alan and I have learned we also can't tell her she is going to one until time to go, because she gets to excited and wants it to be party time NOW. This past weekend we celebrated our friend Austin's birthday. She had a big time playing and singing Happy Birthday - which she can do quite well!

Weekend Fun!

What a helper!

Nope, I'd rather play!

Oh to be 2, and lay in the leaves!

Our house all decorated!

Dada and Gracie bundled up for the parade.

This past weekend we started off by raking leaves and decorating our outside for Christmas. Gracie enjoyed playing in the leaves. We went to see the Christmas on the River parade, but a train was stopped on the tracks and blocked all the good viewing spots. We decided it wasn't much fun trying to peek around the train and decided we'd have more fun at home.

Welcome!

Well finally! I have started a blog to share our family news, adventures and pictures! Just in time since Gracie is now 2. I'm sure our funny stories will just continue to grow as Gracie is into everything and we are anxiously awaiting the arrival of a new baby girl, Mallary, in March.