Christmas is almost here!!!!!

Christmas is only a few days away!!!

{the tree is decorated and presents are wrapped}

{the stockings are hung}

{the countdown has begun!}

And here is a glimpse at our decorations this year.

{Grace's first Christmas frame and the picture of her and Santa last year}

{Our Nativity set}

{coffee table which has been moved to the entry area}

{and these are a few of the things we had to put "out of reach." See the little teddy bear holding the Christmas tree? I made that one!!}

{my collection of Precious Moments}

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!

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

Last night we decorated the Christmas tree. We did drive by and look at the live trees at the BX and they looked a little old already and we heard that after just a week or so they will be very dry. Plus, we heard that sometimes the trees get bugs in them on the boat over here, so we just decided to stick with our fake tree this year. It will be nice not having to remember to water it and not having to vacuum up needles everyday with a newborn baby. Anyway, we never thought the day would come when we would have a fake tree, but we really like the tree and it is very pretty! We played some Christmas music, drank hot cocoa, and had some Christmas cookies too!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like CHRISTmas!!

Or at least at the McGriff house!

Since baby Grace will be making her much anticipated arrival soon we decided to get a start a little early this year. Normally, you will not see anything red and green in the house until after Thanksgiving except for any gifts that need to be wrapped and mailed out so they get to their destination before Christmas.

Dustin pulled out the Christmas boxes last weekend and we started going through them and decorating the house. We found our Christmas CD's and were listening to Christmas music and drinking hot cocoa (we had to turn the AC down a little cooler for that!) This weekend Dustin pulled out the lights and put them up all over the outside of the house. All we are waiting on now is a live tree and we have heard rumors those will be showing up at the BX on Black Friday. The plan is for Dustin to camp out for one and then I can join him to pick it out right before they open, which is of course super early. He actually came up with the plan himself and this is after he laughed at the crazy person who has been known to camp out for Beanie Babies and Furbies... at least I was making money for my efforts!

Here are some of the pictures of the house... look back after Thanksgiving for our tree!

I just realized we don't have any pictures of the house all lit up. I guess we have to wait until dark for that!