Big News!

Ok, ok, I know it has been FOREVER since I have posted.  Sorry ... I tend to get behind and then think that I need to do a million posts to catch up on everything and then I don't.  Sorry.  This is not going to be a catch up post.  That is too daunting.  So I will get going again and try to do better.

The one thing that I will catch you up on is the really big news.  I didn't share this until a couple weeks ago on facebook so don't feel like you are too in the dark.

This summer we are expecting an addition to our family, which is very exciting.  Grace is officially going to be a big sister and the really exciting part is that ...

I find the whole boy thing pretty overwhelming.  After spending the last almost two years with a little girl it just feels strange to start looking at boy thing.  We are very excited and anxious for him to make his arrival, it won't be until sometime around August 9th.  With any luck he will have a name by then, but I make no promises.  

In any case, getting ready for this little man is certainly keeping me busy.  I have been working on sewing his crib bedding and getting Gracie ready to move to a big kid bed.  Lots more to do and it is much more challenging this time around with a toddler trying to help me.

Grace's Birthday

I know I am really late at getting to this but last week just got really busy.  Grace has a small and simple first birthday.  She opened presents with mom and dad and Grandma Roundy via skype.  She got a music table, walker, some clothes, and an alphabet for the refrigerator.   She loves to open presents and had fun playing with her new toys.

Here is the alphabet I made her.  It was a fun little project.  (I made another one for my nephew and I hope he likes it too.)

Our friends the Timmin's came over for dinner.  We had some good macaroni and cheese which Gracie loved!  She wasn't so sure about the cake though.  She kind of looked at it for a while.  Touched it, and then didn't like the frosting sticking to her hands.  We couldn't really get her to eat the cake until I scraped the frosting off and then she liked it.  

So we gave her some birthday cake ice cream and she loved that!

And here she is in her post birthday dinner bath.  

We love this little girl and had a lot of fun celebrating her birthday.  I can't believe it!  It has gone so fast, but she is more and more fun every day.

I do have videos, but they are too long to post so if you want to see them let me know.

Grace and Her Walker

This one if for Grandma Roundy.  Grace has taken steps on her own and continues to do more and more but she stills prefer to walk with assistance which means we do endless laps around the living room so I am grateful for this toy.  At first she was afraid of it, but now she is really enjoying it. 

Grace Loves Water!

It was pretty warm the other day and Grace wanted to be out, but we were trying to get things done at home so didn't feel like taking her to the waterpark (which she loves) so we just blew up the little pool Grandma got her and let her play outside.  She loves to just sit and splash.

And she has no fear of sticking her face in the water.  Not sure, but maybe she has been watching Olympic swimming too much.

Here is a quick video of her excited in the pool.

Harvest Time is Here!

 As a kid/teenage I can't really remember an August that wasn't spent canning.  We had a huge garden and lots of fruit trees so there was a lot to do.  I remember a hot sticky kitchen and making a huge mess to fill the food storage room in the garage.  Amazingly enough, they are good memories of time spent with my mom and sisters in the kitchen.

Since then I haven't canned a thing!  I may buy some extra something and freeze it but that has been it.  I was always too busy with school/work or didn't really have room for food storage.  I started getting more serious about food storage when I bought my house in Aurora, but it was just me and I worked to much to can anything so I would just buy extra groceries and store then on a shelf in the basement.

Last summer was our first attempt at a garden.  It did produce well, but I had a baby at the end of July so I didn't really do much with it besides freeze some of the vegetables.  But this year I was gonna get serious.  So last week I got started and here is what I did.

1 batch pickles (cucumbers from my garden)

1 batch pesto (basil from my garden)

6 dozen ears of corn (from a local farmer)

36 pound of pears (were on sale at a local store)

1 batch beets (from my garden, aren't they pretty?)

1/4 bushel peaches (from a local store)

There was also some rhubarb jam with rhubarb from the garden, it is yummy stuff.  I need to do more this week.

And right when I thought I was done Eric suggested we go out to the garden and this is what we came in with.  Bell pepper, jalepeno peppers, chili Peppers, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, pear tomatoes, roma tomatoes, and Italian tomates.   

So I guess I am doing salsa and pickles this week.

Eric's Birthday

This one if for Eric's mom.  Eric's birthday is 4 days after Grace's.  It is an eventful day for our families.  Eric shares his birthday with my mother and both of them were born on their parent's wedding anniversaries.  Eric was really hoping that Grace would be born on his birthday too, but I like that she gets her own day.

His birthday was on Sunday so it was really a normal Sunday. When he got home we had a good birthday dinner and Eric got the one thing he really wanted; an ice cream cake.  We talked with family.  My whole family sang to him viz skype while they were at my parent's house for my mom's birthday dinner.  It was a nice relaxing day and it means Eric is five years older than me for the next three months which I really enjoy.

Twelve Months

Time for Grace's final onesie picture.  

Grace is officially one year old!  That year went so fast!  It doesn't seem like it was that long ago that we brought home our little tiny baby girl. 

And now she is all grown up!  She took her first steps a couple days ago.  She has been crawling around everywhere and cruises along all the furniture in the house.  She gets so excited for dad to come home; she makes he run laps with her around the living room.  She is just such a happy child and loves people! (and they tend to love her)

Grace has mastered her basketball hoop and is working on her building skills.  She is SO busy with toys and playing and LOVES books!  She goes into her room and sits at the bookcase and pulls our books and looks at them constantly.  I hope she keeps that one up.

Just a couple more pictures ... the first one is from the 4th of July (I never posted) and the second is just her when she wakes up ... she can't leave her crib without bringing and animal or a blanket with her.

We LOVE this little girl!  Happy birthday Gracie!