Sesame Street Live!

Gracie, MeMe and I went to see Sesame Street Live "Elmo makes music" on Sunday. I wasn't sure how Gracie would do, as we have never been to a "theater" type event or had to sit still this long for something before. But Elmo and music are some of Gracie's favorite things so I thought I had to take her to it. Well Gracie loved this show like I could not have imagined. She bounced and danced in her seat. She clapped and sang and had the best time! She enjoyed snacking on her m&m's and had her lemonade. She even left with a giant Elmo balloon! I had so much fun watching her and how much fun she was having. We have looked at the pictures several times so she could tell me all about the show again.

7 Months Old

Oh how the time is going by to fast! Sweet little Mallary is 7 months old today! She continues to be such a happy and sweet baby. In the past month, she is sitting up, sliding around to get her toys, and growling at us more than ever (actually a little creepy but she does it with a smile). Her bottom 2 teeth have broken through and are coming in so her chomps on our hands hurt a little more. She continues to love the Gerber DHA Organic (read: most expensive) baby food the most i guess it's the texture of the cereal and the combo of fruits. I wondered where the DHA came from and it's tuna fish oil - GROSS but she gobbles it up. We are graduating out of the infant carrier this weekend sniff sniff, but I can't hardly carry her anymore - it's so heavy. She loves to hold her own bottle now and grabs it away from me. I still help some, but she is pretty good about it. Bath is a new adventure as she can sit up and play with all the bath toys. She loves that! Mallary also gets to take a bath with Gracie sometimes and they both laugh and splash and love to be in there together. Gracie calls her sisty now and it's pretty cute so we'll let it stick. Da Da calls you fatty since you have to eat every 3 hours on the dot when you are awake! You aren't lenient when it comes to feeding time even if it's only 1/2 a jar of food - it's must be in your mouth. Nighttime continues to go great but naps are hit and miss. You are such a delight and we love you so much!

The 7 Month Photo Shoot

slightly rocking so it's a little blurry and messes up the color but not too bad

she decides chomping on the armrest is more fun and so is pulling up on the side

We move to the floor to try some shots, must go for mommy and the camera

Gracie decides to join us and Mallary points out her new teeth

Mallary lays herself down, being a model is hard work and she is done.
No More Photos!

Cousins

On Sunday we finally got some time to go play with Baby Andrew again. He's so tiny!!! He was sweet and slept almost the whole time. I'm not sure what he thinks about his girl cousins who are wild! We tried to take some pictures of them together and they turned out pretty funny! MeMe made us a yummy dinner and got the girls a new witch for Halloween (which they love!) Gracie and I also got to go to Kate Ryan's party to celebrate her 3rd Birthday and play with our Birmingham friends and other cousins Katelyn and Karoline. Alan went to the Ryder Cup this weekend so I'll see if he will be my "guest blogger later this week and write about his trip. No cameras were allowed inside so sadly there are no pictures from the trip - just a great memory!

Catch Up

Well since I had big plans for the park this morning and mother nature changed them with lots of rain I decided I'd catch up on our September. This month has gone by so fast and now looking forward - we have so much going on and I mean it when I say not another weekend with nothing planned until after the New Year! How can a 6 month old and a 2 year old have such busy lives?!?!
Anyways, here are just a few shots from what's been going on with us:

Mallary can sit up and has been for about 3 weeks now.
We've watched some Football, finally some pictures of the girls in their outfits (well Auburn ones for now)




We went to RiverFest - well had a picnic and played before the action started. We left Dada to have a guys weekend and came back for the results on Saturday. I did a recap of that on the BBQ page, but just in case you miss it - my dessert got 5th place! (yes i am proud of myself!)

Mallary wants a cheeseburger!showing off her toy

showing off her toes!

Playing in the cooler?

Nope, she said Dada you need a beer...she knows her daddy too well (it was after noon at least!)

Watching the awards on Saturday!

And because I can't make stories like this up...Gracie was "baking us a cake" after her bath. If you have never had the pleasure of cleaning up cocoa powder - you are missing out on a delightful experience. It's very fine and doesn't vacuum up like flour or coffee or sugar(I know from experience) and can get in the crevices of your floor and well it's just a huge disaster to clean up

notice the handprints all over the door knob - did she know she had made a huge mess and want to sneak out?

Oh and yes, she had to move the chair, unlock the pantry and then pick out the cocoa powder and lemonade mixes and then pour them out (I was bathing Mallary).



And finally, after all the time and effort (and lots of money) I put in to making sure my children have the cutest clothes from clothing shows, boutiques, etc. This is how I have to dress them to get them in the car without fussing and want to go do errands! (Gracie insisted Mallary be included)

they are wearing their disney princess dress up clothes and they still have jammies on under them and pieces from each princess. The errands were all drive thrus!

Craft Time!

Halloween is gradually working itself up to be a major holiday! Which is fine b/c I like it and there are lots of fun things we do in the fall leading up to it. Target is decked out in the whole back section of Halloween galore and I noticed the grocery store was already stocking their candy too. So to join in the fun, I (with some guidance from Gracie) made a cute little wreath for our door. I just got a small wire frame wreath, wove in 4 types of Halloween inspired wired ribbon and TA DA! I left most edges of ribbon kinda ragged on purpose to give it that ragged appearance.

Here is my final product:

Guns N Roses and Baby Names

These are for me so I'll never forget to share.

Something special for Gracie to do is to ride in Dada's truck. She gets to sit "up front" and loves having the windows down and they listen to...Guns and Roses Sweet Child O Mine. Yes, that is what she requests and knows the words - seriously. Gracie also loves all forms of musical instruments and lately has wanted to play "a concert". She gets on the coffee table to sing and makes Alan play the Sesame Street guitar and play GNR. Occasionally I get asked to join in on the little tykes xylophone. It's hilarious to me that she loves this song/band so much. Then the other day she comes in while I am on the computer and says we need some tunes - turn on the Guns and Roses. I guess I'll be looking online for a kiddie sized GNR Tshirt for her to sleep in and a poster of Axl Rose and Slash for her room since I doubt she'd fit in at a concert! (j/k about the poster but I really might try to find the t shirt...)

We have started naming our baby dolls. One by one they are getting names. So far we have Sesame Street and Baby Shamall (which comes from Lil Bill I believe). She is consistently referring to these certain dolls by these names so I think they are here to stay. The other night she brought them out to the living room and hugged and kissed them and said you stay here in the nursery - I'm going to Big Church!

4 Fabulous Years!

Happy Anniversary to us! We celebrated 4 years of marriage today. I got a dozen red roses today so of course I was all smiles!

At this time 4 years ago, we were dancing the night away at our reception! Here are a few shots from others that I have saved on this computer.

My pretty cake

Groom's Cake

Our Wedding Party

What a fun night!

The Shrimp

Last night Gracie and I were laying in her bed, prolonging sleep as much as possible. We were counting our family on her fingers...mommy, daddy, gracie and mallary. Then she wanted to count Elaine's family on her other hand, aunt elaine, uncle jeff and the shrimp!!! HAHAHAHA...I don't know what possessed her to call Andrew the shrimp but it was hilarious. We all got a big laugh out of that one!

Oh so cute

I had Mallary's 6 month pictures taken yesterday at Portrait Innovations. I want to post all of my favs, but I am sending them to family so I want there to be a little surprise in the mail.

Fun and Friends

I'm a little behind on posting about birthday parties, playdates with friends and other fun stuff...

So here is a random post to catch us up:
We went to Pump it Up for Gracie's cousins' party:




We helped celebrate sweet little Emma Hensley's 1st Birthday. I linked her mom's posts so you can see how cute the cake and decorations (and birthday girl) were and since my pictures weren't that great here and here.





We had a super fun lunch and playdate with Abby last week. We started off playing at chick fil a, then headed to the mall for a carousel ride, money in the fountain and a cookie! I just want to know why 2 year olds aren't on the Olympic track team b/c not only do the run fast, they seem to go faster with a friend around!





This is how Alan reminds me what he needed for his last BBQ festival. I thought it was funny

Some funnies for me

Just some of the funny things that happened this past weekend that I want to remember...

Friday night/Saturday morning I wasn't sleeping well b/c I was anxiously awaiting the news of Andrew's arrival. Well I finally fell back asleep after receiving the call that he was here and just when I did Mallary decided she wanted to wake and PLAY! Well I tried to quiet her down and tried a bottle, but nope she wanted to play. Then I hear a thud...Gracie fell out of bed. I raced to her room with Mallary and Gracie was all smiles b/c Mallary was awake to check on her. Well we all three laid in Gracie's bed for a pj party. Both girls were laughing at each other and then Mallary would grab Gracie's blankie from her and snuggle with it causing Gracie much distress that somehow her magic would end up with Mallary.

Saturday while we were at the hospital, Gracie insisted on using the potty in the waiting room instead of Elaine's room b/c it was too tall?! So when I got her situated on the waiting room potty she looks up and says, that's good now you can go back and visit Andrew and I'll stay here.

Saturday night Gracie was throwing a fit during her shampoo session. I stopped and said what's the problem and she said - I'M NOT RELAXED YET! (Oh my bad....please, get relaxed)

Monday at Publix, there is a man in a hat...not really a cowboy hat, but Gracie yells (Loudly) I see a cowboy, YEE HAW! It was hilarious.

Mallary suffered from middle grandchild syndrome on Saturday and did everything in her power to keep the attention on her from making silly faces and sounds to kicking and jumping whenever she could.

Just some funnies for me to remember...