Nine Months

Our little girl is nine months old today.  Time really does fly.  She has gone from being my tiny little baby to becoming a little person with a personality all her own.

She is getting so big (I don't know how big exactly)!  She is so anxious to start moving around on her own.  She jumps while she is in my arms, and try to jump out too.  She still isn't rolling all over the place but she has decided to prove that she can.  She is into everything.  I really have to keep my eyes on her when we go shopping because she tries to grab everything off the shelves.  

She really loves her toys ... her favorites these days are her hippo and her frog.  She just loves to grab and cuddle them and then try to eat them.  She LOVES peek-a-boo and will play it with anyone!  She entertains other kids at the YMCA by showing off her skills.  She even plays peek-a-boo with aunts and cousins via skype.  Really it is her favorite thing. 

She is just such a happy and loving baby!  She loves to laugh and smile.  She is a total ham and knows when people are looking at her and she plays it up.  We love our little girl, she brings a lot of joy into our home!

Starved Rock

Eric had Good Friday off of work so we got all of our work done on Friday and on Saturday headed down to Utica, IL to go to Starved Rock State Park.  When we got there we had a picnic and then headed out for a short hike.  Here is Gracie getting a ride from Dad.  (Eric was a good sport and let me put the moby on him to carry the baby).  P.S I love it!

Gracie sported her cute hat to keep the sun off.  She liked it I think, plus I think it makes her look extra super cute!

Here we are on the high point of Starved Rock (to all my family and friends out west, yes this is a high spot for Illinois, I know, it's sad).  We are on the banks of the Illinois River for anyone who is getting their bearings.  

It really is a pretty area.  We hiked some more trails back in the woods.

Me and my honey :).

Dad and baby taking a look at the gorge next to us.

Not sure why, I thought it was awesome!

Baby is in this picture, she is just behind Eric's head.

We had a good time and it was nice to just get out for the day and enjoy time together as a family and time outdoors.

Pinsperation

I am a confessed Pinterest addict, that being said I don't just look at stuff all day long.  I do make a lot of things, try new recipes, work outs, craft ideas, sewing ideas, etc.  Anyway, here are just a couple example of my recent Pinterest endeavors.  

A few months ago I saw this cute skirt pinned on Pinterest.  It was for sale.  I wasn't interested in buying it, but it gave me an idea.

 

I had this skirt that I friend gave me a couple years ago.  I have always liked it cause it is comfy, but it is a little hard to wear since it is a little short on me and the slit in the front makes it harder.  So I took my inspiration skirt and my real skirt and tried to combine them.

I made a really long pleated strip of fabric and sewed it along the bottom of the skirt.

And to fill in the slit I added the piece of fabric for the handkerchief effect.  I am quite happy with the final project.  And the extra couple inches makes the skirt so much easier to wear!

Second, we have been talking about adding herbs to our garden for the last year and over the winter I found this picture on Pinterest.  I thought it was brilliant and that I could tweak it to make it work for our garden.

Here is our finished product.  Eric and I made it last weekend.  It has six-one square foot openings.  We are getting the soil this week and hopefully it will warm up again so that I can plant my herbs.

Really what is better than having fresh herbs right out your back door!

Easter

I am a little late with this I know, but we had a quite Easter Sunday.  Eric didn't have meetings in the morning so he got to be home with us.  We had a nice breakfast and then we all got ready for church.    This is Gracie before church in her Easter dress.  I was a slacker so it isn't anything fancy, but it is springy so fun.  If you are interested here is the tutorial I used to make it.

Here Gracie is after church on the lawn.  She has never experienced grass before so she is still deciding how she feels about it.

Daddy is showing her the tulip that is starting to open.

Gracie is a pro at presents ... here she is checking out her Easter basket.

She got some new hair bows and baby jewelry ... she tried them all on!

It was a nice quiet Sunday.  We had friends over for dinner which was fun.  It gave us an excuse to cook a big Easter dinner.