Trick or Treat

This was Grace's first "official" Halloween. I was so excited. The costume, the showing off, the candy...what could be better? And, let's face it, she was just collecting candy for me. Her jack-o-lantern contained an unusually high number of Reeses peanutbutter cups. What could be better?

Grace fell in love with her costume the day we bought it. In fact, she held it in her lap on the ride home. She would walk around the house daying "Pup-eeeee" until she found the costume and then ask me to put it on her. It was adorable at first but then got a little old. So, I decided to hide the costume in my closet. That didn't work for long. She just realized the "Pup-eeee" had relocated to a different closet and would lead me into my own room and say "Pup-eee" until she was, once again, wearing her costume. Needless to say, we got our monies worth. She wore it several times a day for a month before Halloween. Why not?

We decided to hit the cul de sac and just keep it short. Here are a few before shots. Isn't this the cutest little puppy of all time?

All ready to get some candy in that jack-o-lantern. I was so impressed that she managed to hold onto it.

The cutest little Pup-eeeeee ever!

Here we are in action at our neighbors house. Grace had a hard time getting used to the fact that we were just going to the front door to get candy and then turn around and leave. With each house we visited, she just walked in the front door and was ready to play in that persons house. I had to pull her kicking and screaming out of a house or two. She calmed down once she realized we were headed to a new house and she would have yet another opportunity to get mommy some peanutbutter cups.

After we hit the neighborhood, we went over to my friend Teresa's house for an after party. Grace loves going over there because they have 'big kid toys' (for her 3 year old) and a 'baby'. What could be better?Here is Grace with baby Ingrid in their costumes.
Now, the only question is how are we going to top this costume next year??

Sneak Peek

Grace is in love with her Halloween costume. I love, I tell you. She has worn it almost every day this month. It's already filthy. It also helped her learn, remember and constantly use a new word.....Pup-eeeeeee.

More pictures to come after the weekends festivities. But for now, I leave you with a quick peek of the cutest little pupeeeeee I know.

It's been a while

Wow, I cannot believe I haven't blogged in over a month. I was seriously considering quitting all together but decided to give it one final try. I just don't have much free time these days and downloading photos from my camera and uploading them to a blog (in addition to the actual writing) just hasn't hit the top of my priority list. Now that I think of it, there are a lot of other things that don't hit the top of my priority list anymore....laundry being one of them. You should see the pile in my laundry room right now. Oh well.

One of our favorite things to do is spend time in the back yard. Aaron is quite the yard guru and has created a nice little oaisis for us. Grace loves it and spends the entire time we are out there either chasing the cats or smelling flowers. This girl is always on the move. Here she is chasing Ya-Ya (her name for Oreo).

Oreo patiently sitting there while Grace 'talks' or yells at her and 'pets' or slaps her on the back. This is one great cat. She puts up with a lot of abuse.

Chasing Ya-Ya again.

Once Grace finally corners Ya-Ya, she spends most of her time petting her and giving her kisses. It's one of the cutest things in the worls. She loves to give kisses to things that she is in love with. Ya-Ya and her stuffed animals are the recipient of many kisses throughout the day.

Somehow giving mom kisses isn't at the top of her priority list when the cats are in the house. You can tell I'm totally cramping her style in this photo below.

Grace attended her first birthday party (other than her own). Her friend Brogan turned 3 and we celebrated at Out of this World Pizza. Good times. Grace really loved this little house. She spent most of her time walking into the house and playing peek-a-boo out the windows. When she had enough, she promptly closed all the shutters on the windows.

This little smile just warms my heart. She has taken a real liking to Ella (her stuffed pink elephant) and Blankie. She sleeps with them both and brings them out of her crib after she wakes up. They join her for a post-nap cuddle with mom and a glass of milk.

Dragging Ella around the house in the morning. That tail is NASTY. She always carries Ella by the tail and also sucks on it. I think I may need to buy a back-up Ella.

While I LOVE fall, I am sad to see summer go. She has the cutest summer outfits (the one below is one of my favs) that we had to say bye-bye to.

Stories with mama. If you want to know how a stay at home mom spends a majority of her day...it looks a little something like this. We read stories CONSTANTLY. I have every book memorized. Seriously.

Here Auntie is taking over in the story reading department.

Who, Me?

Here Comes Trouble

Grace is into EVERYTHING these days. Her specialty is anything that came with the word "child proof" on it. It took her about 5 minutes to master pulling the plugs out of the outlets. I don't know what I'm going to do. Duct Tape?? Who knows.

While she is 100% capable of walking anywhere she pleases, she still crawls a lot. It's just much faster. Plus, she's only 'comfortable' walking in familiar surroundings and certain rooms in hour house. I know, I know, this girl has a mind of her own! For example, she walks laps in our living room but won't walk in the kitchen or family room. What's w/ that? She's also grown quite attached to her blankies. We have a large and a small version of virtually the same blanket. She sleeps with them but is also fond of carrying them around when she walks laps in the living room. Thankfully, she settles for the small one when walking and I can stash the large one. She's tried to walk with the big one a few times and ends up stepping on it and tumbling to the ground.

She's talking a lot more too. Picking up new words all the time. Just the other day I asked if she wanted a waffle for breakfast and she looks up at me and says "waffle". Her new favorite word is "Abby", which is the name of our neighbors black lab. Grace loves dogs and cats and has developed a new fascination with Abby. She walks around the house going "Abby, Abby, Abbbbbby". Always 3 times in a row. She's also started calling me "mommy" which is adorable! I think that's how she got started with 'abby', they sound similar. Such a little sweetie....

Formula for a relaxing weekend

Good Friend

+

Good Wine

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Good Food

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Good Book

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Great Weekend!

Last weekend was my first night, make that 2 nights, away from Gracie. Aaron had Daddy Duty and Ang and I were off to the coast for a relaxing weekend. It was AMAZING! We lounged on the couch and in the hot tub, always with wine or coffee and book in hand. We ate things like hummus and crackers for lunch, accompanied by our favorite bottle of red....or white...we don't like to discriminate. We are Equal Opportunity wine lovers!

Mmmm, snack time.

The "BEFORE" shot

The "AFTER" shot. Mind you this was over the entire weekend. I know, those beers just kind of sneaked up on us.

It was so great to get away and be able to sleep in, read, and lounge. We decided to make this an annual trip. I also discovered that hitting the hottub first thing in the morning with a cup of good coffee and a book is a great way to start your day.

While I missed Grace, I was so glad I did it. I knew she was having the time of her life with daddy. Now, they are the best of friends and she calls for him from her crib when she wakes up in the morning. It's so cute! When I got home and she spotted me walking thru the door, she shouted "MaMa!!" and just about threw herself off Aaron's lap to come to me. It totally warmed my heart and gave me a huge smile. She was so happy and it made me so happy!

It's the simple things in life...

It's the simple things in life that bring a smile to my face and make me wonder why we spend so much money on toys!

You put your right foot in, you take your right foot out......

Some of the most entertaining moments of the day, for both Gracie and mom, happen during mealtime. She's also taken to 'lounging' in her highchair. Notice the one foot up. It's like her own little version of the Hokey Pokey.

The World According to Grace

Remember when you could read the newspaper in peace? Those days are long gone. She LOVES to take the paper apart and throw it, piece by piece, on the floor. Here's an action shot.

Grace has really gotten more into reading and even reads to herself on occasion. Some of her favorites are her animal books and she makes the animal noises when she turns the page. It's adorable!

Grandma and Grandpa came for a visit and got to experience life w/a fussy, teething baby. I secretly think my mom just ate it up because Grace wanted nothing more than to be held. After a long morning of crying, she finally crashed in Grandma's arms and took her second nap of the day (by 9am) with Grandma.

Gracie and Gramps w/ a stoic look for the camera. She was pretty needy that morning since her mouth hurt. You can see she has both blankie and her bear.

Crashed w/ mama in the chair. Boy, I'm now realizing these pictures are an accurate portrayal of life in the Gore house. This girl rarely sleeps but we somehow manage to capture several naps w/ the camera.

Life has been good, busy, hectic, fun and exhausting all at the same time. Gracie just turned 13 months old. She's crawling and walking around and, of course, getting into EVERYTHING. Her new favorite past time is 'helping' me put clean dishes away. This mainly consists of her taking the clean spoons out of the dishwasher, licking them, and putting them back into the dishwasher. I think I've had the same few spoons in the dishwasher since last week. Once she licks them, they just stay in there and get washed again. I swear she picks the same spoons to lick every time.

Everything has been in her mouth lately. She's cutting 6, yes 6, teeth right now and her 12 month molars are on the move as well. That makes a total of 10 teeth trying to creep thru her gums and also makes for one fussy, uncomfortable baby! Several of them have broken thru the gum line, so I'm hoping the worst is over (fingers crossed).

Grace's new favorite game is to take things out of a box and put them back in. She amused herself with my canning lids for about 35 minutes the other day. Just taking them out of a bag and putting them into a box. At least she 'tries' to be tidy! The other day she emptied out my Tupperware cupboard and then proceeded to put everything back :-) I don't expect this to last long. Oh, and she makes up for it by throwing Cheerio's on the floor in every room. Why doesn't she pick those back up? I've felt them smash under my feet and into the carpet more times than I'd like to count.

Grace has continued to fall more and more in love with the cats. I'm sorry to say, they do not feel the same way about her. You should have seen the look on their face when she FINALLY started crawling. They were like "oh crap, that loud baby MOVES too?!". Speaking of Gracie moving, she finally started crawling AND walking IN THE SAME DAY. One morning she crawled across the floor to grab my cell phone and then Aaron stood her up, faced her in my direction and let go. She proceeded to walk over to me and give me a hug like she had been walking forever. She was very proud of herself. I have no idea why she waited so long to do it. I think part of it is because she's a little scaredy-cat and is afraid of falling, so she wanted to make sure she could walk perfectly before revealing her new skill. She still doesn't let go of objects and walk to other toys. She mainly walks to me or away from me, but hasn't totally ventured out on her own yet. She can walk the entire length of the house though, so I'm sure it's just a matter of confidence and time. She has this strange crab walk/crawl that she does on the kitchen floor since it hurts her skinny knees. It cracks me up. As soon as she hits the carpet, she's back down on her knees and on the move again.

In other news, I'm spending a girls weekend away from Aaron and Grace next weekend. I'm both really excited and a little nervous. I've never spent more than 5 hours away from her at one time. A friend and I rented a house at the beach and we're going over there for some R&R. I cannot wait to be able to sleep in, although I'm sure my ability to sleep in has been permanently damaged thanks to the last 13 months of 5-6am wakeup calls. But, even if I'm up at 6, I'm going to stay in bed and read and drink coffee. Ahhh, what a luxury! Aaron will have the responsibility of getting up at 6 and spending a few days with Gracie. I'm not sure he's as thrilled about that weekend as I am, but he's more than capable and Gracie thinks any time she spends w/ dada is a real treat.

Mmmmm Raspberries & Then Some

Question: What happens when you shave a super fuzzy cat?
Answer: This

Oh man, Jack-Jack was PISSED about the haircut. It actually looks much better now, but it took a while to grow out a little. I think this picture was taken about a month ago. He was not pleased w/ the new 'do' but he survived.

Cut to this weekend and hot/humid temperatures. I think I caught him meowing a little 'thank you' to me. Next year I think we'll be shaving both, so one doesn't feel bad. Maybe they'll bond in their misery....like little Army cadet kitties.

Had to include this other kitty picture. Jack-Jack has been sitting on the ground under the bird houses that we have on our shed for many months. Much to his dismay, none of the birds actully flew from their houses and directly into his mouth. So, he decided to take a different approach. Although he didn't get any closer to a birdie dinner, I admire his innovation :-)


Mmmmm, Raspberries. Grace LOVES them. This is one of those foods that I strip her down to her diaper while she enjoys.

Ooooh, this one looks good.

Oh yeah. I love berries. Yummy!!

And why not top of the raspberry snack up w/ some blue frosting left over birthday cake?! Sugar overload!!

In actual Grace 'news', we have seen some steps from our little girl. Let me back up.... As of her first birthday, she wasn't walking OR crawling. Mostly sitting on the floor and whining because she was frustrated. Last Saturday, she decided to start crawling and then a few minutes later took her first steps. I guess she was waiting until she mastered both before showing either one of those skills off. While she isn't walking yet, she's taking steps between mom and dad and also getting a little daring and taking a step or two from us to the couch.

She is quite the talkative little girl. Hmmm, wonder where she gets that. Her vocab includes:

mama

dada

kitty

doggy

touch - hands down her favorite word.

boob

poop

Oreo (according to Grace, all cats are named Oreo)

kiss

hi

hello (only says into a cell phone)

fish

meow

no-no

bye-bye (along w/ a wave)

woof (as in what a doggy says)

sssss (as in what a snake says)

moooo (as in what a cow says)

rrrawr (as in what a tiger and lion say)

She's trying to say 'light' and 'boat' but I wouldn't call them real words yet.

She also learned where her tummy, toes and ears are. She hasn't learned where her own nose is yet, but will point to mine when I ask where her nose is.

What can I say, this girls brain (and mouth) have been busy!

Happy Birthday Gracie!

My little baby turned 1 today at 7:34am. She is officially a toddler, which is something that I never thought I'd hear myself say. I can't believe an entire year has gone by since she came into our world.

We celebrated her birthday with family on Sunday. Grandma and Grandpa were here, along w/ her 2 Aunties and 1 Great-Aunt. It was so nice to be surrounded by family to help Gracie celebrate her first birthday. She, of course, loved all the attention and was exhausted after everyone left. Here are a few pictures from the big day....



The cake. My sister took a sketch I drew on a post-it note and turned it into this. Amazing!

Side view of the 'Under the Sea' cake.

Grace also had her own personal cake. Marcie gave this fish Angelina Jolie lips :-) Very cute.

The birthday girl in her birthday dress. I bought this around Christmas time. It was too cute to pass up.

The Gore Family a year in the making.

Gracie and Gramps, one of her favorite people. She's always watching him as you can see from this picture. He is her favorite playmate.

Opening gifts. Her new toy from Daddy.

Singing Happy Birthday.

She wasn't very interested in destroying the cake. She doesn't like smashed food on her hands, which just cracks me up. She wouldn't touch the cake w/ her fingers, so I had to get her stared and then we gave her a spoon to trash the cake with and play in it while Aaron fed it to her.

All in all, a wonderful day. We love you Little G!!!