Getting ready for CHRISTmas!

On Thursday we had a great Thanksgiving with friends! Grace started eating table food just in time to enjoy a big feast. She has ate her fair share of the pumpkin pie!

{the food almost didn't fit on the table there was so much... but it was all so yummy!}

{best buds - Grace & Maggie}

{they played together all day long}

Friday we spent the most part of the day putting up our Christmas decorations.

{Grace wore her Santa hat and helped decorate the window}

{She really liked touching the stickers!}

While Grace was napping we decorated the tree and started putting lights up outside. The look on her face when she saw the tree all decorated and the stockings hanging up was priceless! She kept pointing and saying "Ooooh! Ooooh!"

{She loves to play with her stocking}

{Mommy said that Santa Claus is going to fill this up with goodies!!}

Saturday we decided to go shopping and finished up our Christmas shopping! We also bought some Christmas candy, an Advent calendar for Grace, and another Precious Moment Christmas figurine.

{Daddy thought I would like this... he was right!}

{Look how messy I am}

And then that evening we went to the Christmas lighting at the hospital. They had booths set up inside where children could decorate cookies, make reindeer puppets out of paper sacks, and make reindeer food. Grace was a little to young for all of the activities but she did get to pick out a new movie! She got a Bear in the Big Blue House DVD and it was FREE. They were also giving out free hot dogs, chili, and cookies.

{The hospital all lit up}

{almost a year ago we were at this same spot taking Grace home!}

Santa also made his grand entrance on a firetruck! Grace really enjoyed watching the lights on the firetruck and watching Santa walk in. We were the second people in line to sit on Santa's lap!

{I think maybe Grace was thinking we should not have even been in line to sit in Santa's lap}

After we recovered from seeing Santa we went back outside where we saw SNOW! Well, not really but it looked like snow from a distance. They had set up a foam machine that blew soap suds out so we went to play in that.

{This is much better than seeing Santa Claus}

Then it was time to go home and go to bed. This morning Grace woke up ready to play. After playing with her toys for a while we went to look at the tree again. She enjoys taking off the ornaments and looking at them and then trying to put them back on. We made sure that all of the ornaments around the bottom were safe for her to play with, which is a good thing since she broke one already!

{how was this on there?}

Now we are getting ready to go to a barbecue at the beach and then tonight we are going to the airport to pick up my Mom who is flying out to celebrate Grace's birthday (and to make the cake!!).

And now, what you have all been waiting for..... some videos!!!!

{at the park - November 11, 2009}

{this is pretty much an everyday occurrence}

{books are one of Grace's favorite things}

{pickle, anyone?}

{trying out her big girl cup}

Long week...

I am sure some of you are just dying to see new pictures and videos of Grace since it has been over a week since I have posted anything so I thought it was time for a little update.

{sorry Grandma, I decided I like your Christmas sooo much I wanted to keep it!}

This last week was altogether too long and the weekend just seemed way too short. Dustin was very busy at work planning his battalion's ball. It took place Friday night and was a success! Grace wasn't feeling too well last week and was a little on the cranky side but has a new tooth as a result. She had a really difficult time sleeping during the day and just wanted to be held and rocked a lot. But this week she seems to be feeling quite a bit better, although I think there may be another tooth trying to pop through sometime soon. I am taking a ceramics class on-base. I won up to $30 off the class fee and this one was less than that so all I have to pay for is my supplies. I am making a pagoda and a Christmas teddy bear! It has been way more time consuming than I thought. I have already spent several hours there the past 2 Sundays in addition to the normal class hours of 6-8pm on Tuesdays. Hopefully after tonight I will have something to bring home!

{don't you think it looks better on me anyways??}

Grace is just getting so much more fun and changing so much every day. She is constantly blabbering about something! She has decided that she is too big for baby food most of the time so she mainly eats table food now. I try to sneak a little baby food in for breakfast sometimes while she eats her cheerios and watches cartoons. Some of her favorite foods are: broccoli, pasta, turkey and cheese quesadillas, and grilled cheese. Last night she had roast, potatoes, and carrots and I think she liked it! I wonder what she will think of Thanksgiving dinner??

{I am ready to go shopping!!}

Speaking of Thanksgiving, we are going over to our friends' James & Kelly (and Maggie's, of course!) for lunch. We made a list of things we want to eat and divided it up and are going to have a huge feast! I am making the pumpkin pie now and tomorrow night I am going to make the dough for the rolls. I am also making mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole (since Dustin is pretty picky about his sweet potatoes and this is the one and only dish he just has to have), and the gravy. Mmmmm!!! I can't wait!!

{I try to clean up my messes, I really do}

After Thanksgiving we will be putting up our Christmas decorations. I get so excited to put up our tree each year. Christmas is my favorite day of the year! We have already moved our furniture so we have room for our tree. We will have to go with the fake tree again this year. Getting a live tree when we are back in the states is one thing I am really looking forward to! Here, after about 2 days, they look like what your tree normally looks like when you take it down. We will just put our pine scented wax in the tree so it smells real :-)

{Precious Moments Nativity snow globe that we got as part of our "I'm Thankful for.." gift from Papa Bill. The other things we got were 2 Christmas DVD's for Grace and a stuffed animal that sings a Christmas song. THANKS!!!}

{listening to it play "O Holy Night"}

I will try to put some of more videos on here tomorrow. I can't do it now because Grace just woke up and we have learned that it is not so smart to hook the camera up while she is awake. Last time it was charging (and it has to be on the charger to transfer videos to the computer) she pulled it off the desk and then picked it up and threw it. She has a pretty good arm!

Maybe sometime soon I can get a video of her walking. She can do it but she thinks she has to be holding onto something... even if it is just carrying a toy in each hand!

Death by Chocolate Cookies

These cookies are so easy to make and so delicious! I think right now this may be my favorite cookie.

1 box Devil's Food cake mix

1/2 c. oil

2 eggs

Favorite candy bar/Chocolate chips

Mix cake mix, oil, and eggs together until well blended. Stir in chocolate chips and/or pieces of candy bar. I have made them with pieces of Snickers and chocolate chips and tonight I used Rolos and chocolate chips. I have tried them with Heath bar and Heath chips. Basically, anything goes! Bake on a cookie sheet at 350 for 8-10 mins.

Dinner at Chili's

Tonight Dustin is on staff duty. When we lived on-base he would come home for dinner or I would drop something by if he couldn't leave or I had something to do that night. Now that we live about 20 min away we always go see him at work and then have dinner together. Sometimes we bring dinner and eat at his desk and sometimes we go out to eat.

Tonight was no exception. As soon as I got Grace up from her nap and got her dressed we were out the door. We had a couple errands to run and then we went to Dustin's office and then walked next door to Chili's.

Grace was in the best mood. She was so happy and social tonight. Normally she will almost ignore people who come up and try to talk to her but not tonight. She tried to get everyone who passed by our table to stop. I think it worked. We had several employees stop by and our server spent quite a bit of time at our table just talking to Grace.

Grace got crayons and her own menu. She threw her crayons on the floor and the server picked them up and gave them back. This turned into a game until her food came. Yes, that is right. She got to order off the menu! The server was really good and asked us almost as soon as we sat down if we would like to order her food now. She had a cheese quesadilla and steamed broccoli. She loved every bit of it!

I really wish I had taken the video camera because Grace was such a little ham at dinner tonight. I guess it needs l become a permanent part of my diaper bag.

A Trip to the Zoo

We had a very fun morning today. We headed out to the zoo! We have been wanting to go back and count the tables and figure out the layout of the pavilion we are using for Grace's birthday party but we were waiting for nicer weather so we could spend a little more time checking out the animals. If you remember the last time we went to the zoo it was really, really hot so we didn't stay long at all. Today there was a nice breeze which helped out a lot but it was still pretty warm and sunny. We did make it around to see most all of the animals though!

On our way to the gate. She almost fell asleep in the car on the way because she didn't nap for even 5 min. this morning so she started out a little tired but quickly got excited and was in a really good mood when it came time to leave

We went straight to the area where Grace's birthday party is going to be -the Rides Corner. We checked out the choo-choo train

And then took a ride on the carousel

We made it to the Hippos just in time to see them being fed

Yucky!! We thought this was a pretty disgusting thing to watch.

Then we saw the tigers

And the Giraffe!

When we got to the Elephants it was almost time for the elephant show

This elephant can play basketball (but uses a soccer ball)

We watched this one get a bath!

He liked to squirt water!!

And here are a few funny signs we saw at the zoo...

In case you are wondering, this was found next to the tiger cage

Toes??

I have been trying to teach Grace where her nose, eyes, ears, etc. are. So occasionally I will ask her something like "Where is your NOSE?" and normally I will end up tickling her nose and telling her that is her nose.

Yesterday I asked her where her nose was and she bent down and touched her toes. I just corrected her and told her where her nose was and that those were her toes.

Later I asked where her toes were and she bent down and touched her toes.

When Dustin asked her where her feet were she bent down and touched her feet.

If we ask where her eyes/nose/mouth/ears are she does nothing.

How does she know her toes and feet when we haven't been working on those?

Since she was itty bitty I have always sniffed her feet and told her how stinky they were. She loves it! It goes something like this *sniff* "Shoooo weeee, you have stinky feet!" and then the giggles erupt.

And what about the toes? That is a game we play to get her to sit in her highchair when she wants to do something else. We tickle her toes and tell her we are going to get them. It usually brings a big smile to her face.

I guess learning through fun and games is the best!

My little girl

Here are a few pictures I took yesterday. I thought they were so cute I just had to share!

Grace got to eat some of her Halloween candy. After dressing up and being taken door to door in the rain I think she deserved a little treat :-)

These are of Grace playing in her toy basket. She absolutely loves to pull everything out and will check out each toy before she throws it and moves on to the next. She has started to put her toys back IN the basket occasionally too!

November already?

It is hard to imagine that it is already November. Grace will turn 1 NEXT month! Time has flown by. But my Mom will be flying back out for another visit THIS month! I am sure November and December will probably fly by just as fast. Then we will be heading to Australia and New Zealand in January. After we get back in February I am going to take a couple weeks to get things caught up at home (laundry) and then back our bags again and Grace and I will try to space-a back to the states for a visit. It is going to be summer again before we know it!