Well, that time of year is upon us...Grace's first Birthday! Ha ha, bet you thought I was gonna say Xmas! We have decided that the tree and decorations won't be up until after Grace's big day, advice from other friends who have children with birthdays close to the holidays.

Speaking of holidays, Grace and I went to see Santa last week and I must say she was a trooper, no tears, but it was close. I think she asked Santa for her two front teeth because that seems to be what she is getting!! A lump of coal would have felt better!

We are getting VERY excited for the arrival of Grace's cousins. Any day now is the word on the street!! YAY!

Well, happy shopping, parking, and waiting in line to you all!!

Moving right along...

Well, Grace has decided to try out walking, and she is pretty good at it so far! Each time she struts her new skill, I seem to be too busy freaking out to get the camera ready in time and it starts recording as soon as she is on her bum...however, stay tuned for a video soon!! We have had a very busy last few weeks...mommy went back to work and Grace has had some wonderful times with her Auntie Connie and Nanny Sue. The transition has been a little easier than originally thought but I still miss her terribly during the day.

For her first halloween, Grace dressed up as a very sweet and adorable lady bug. No trick or treating this year, but she loved going to the door and giving out candy.

We are getting ready to welcome Grace's new cousins in December. The stork should be dropping them of on the 9th, so we are very excited for their arrival!! Hard to believe Grace is coming up to one year old, it is just disgusting how fast the time has slipped through all our fingers. I hope you are all doing well and look forward to hearing from you all over the holidays!!

My new walking machine...look out!!

Well, up until tonight, she just wanted to put stuff in it but now she wants to take it places! Enjoy a little diaper dash!! I am so not ready for this!

We missed a month!!

Grace is now nine months old!! She is such a little character these days, mimicking laughter, playing patty-cake, and yes, she is STANDING all by herself! (Sorry for the cleavage...) Here is a quick snap from dinner lastnight, more updates soon!

Grace is Seven Months old

Hard to believe but our little bundle is now Seven months old! She has been so much fun to watch grow and learn! This month Grace has figured out how to crawl!! It really is so sweet to see her determination when she wants to get somewhere! No teeth yet, but according to her mood, these are quickly on their way! We have been busy walking and exploring the neighbourhood and playing out in the sun! Grace loves to watch Aries play and has quite a happy face for him. She gives a little "oof" back when he barks or runs by. Hope you are all enjoying the beautiful weather!

First Harvest

I took Grace over to the garden last night to have a look at what we might be able to harvest but it turned out that we were the harvest for the mosquito population this side of the rockies, so I had to bring her home. Just as well, there turned out to be quite a bit that needed to come out of the ground! This is the first garden I have had where I can actually say we will be eating a home grown meal tonight, minus the steak that I am going to treat us to!! A potato is a fascinating thing! You put a shrivelled up old sprouting one in the ground, and voila! You get about 12 beautiful big shiny ones back! Our beets were ready as well, the greens are gorgeous and the root is so red and sweet! A few carrotts made their way in to our basket as well, and onions. Looking forward to preparing a beautiful meal for my family tonight!

Calgary Stampede! Woooo Hooo

Well, we managed to make our way through the crowds to celebrate Family Day at the Stampede with Grace. I am not sure how 20,000 people ate breakfast before 830 in the morning, but I was fine with paying 5.00$ for a rather average corn dog instead of waiting for nearly 3 hours in line for some bacon and eggs. Have we lost all of our marbles people? (LOL) We spent most of our time in the Agricultural Tents cooing over the piglets and the miniature donkeys. Grace thought the horses were pretty cool, lots of big smiles and reaching out for pets...however, mommy had visions of circus animals that go bad so we didn't get close enough for her to touch. Amazingly Grace slept through an hour of mayhem on the grounds while Mom and Dad walked about to find the best fries and mini doughnuts. Basically, a good time was had by all and we can tag it in the log book as a mission completed! Happy Stampede everybody, only 7 more days till we get our city back!!

More Tree Climbing

Well, it has approached, the time is here, traffic jams, tourists, fireworks, booze induced coma's, that's right folks, Stampede 2010 is officially upon us! Bring on the pancakes and sausages, bring on the 11:00 am shooters, let the festivities begin!! (Okay, so I won't be indulging in these traditions, but you go for it!!!!) We are going to bring Grace down to the excitement this year on Family Day. We figure at least while she doesn't "need*" everything she sees that we could take her down and enjoy watching her in awe... Summer seems to be sneaking in a day here and there, but nothing to write home about, hence no updated pictures of our garden yet...but soon if mother nature plays nice! We have been spending some time with Grama and Grampa T in the yard, pruning and weeding, here Grace and I are taking a break together up in the Apple Tree, so cute! Happy Stampeding Everyone! See you out there!!

Grace has a photo shoot!

Grace celebrates six months with her first photo shoot! What a great find, Amber Holt Photography in Airdrie. So talented and professional! Grace was a star! Check out Amber's website. Happy Canada Day!!

Grace climbs a tree!

Grace climbs her first tree...with a little help from Daddy! So cute! We are going to try out swimming this week, mommy and Grace got new swimsuits! More to follow about that... :)

Happy Fathers Day!

Happy Father's Day! We spent the weekend celebrating Dad the good old fashioned way...with hugs and kisses! Grace is moving more towards walking than crawling making her momma wish she could slow down a little! Saturday we had a nice barbeque at the Turnbull mansion with the Coopers! Kanasta turned nasty once again...boys, beware! Sunday we had a fabulous brunch at the Black House! Thanks everyone, xxoo. Ps, does anyone know how I can make the video vertical?

Home Safe and Sound

Our West Coast Adventure has come to an end...but we are happy to be home in our little house on the prairie with Daddy and Aries!! We had such an awesome time and Grace can't wait to get back! But for now, we will be home taking care of a few little things. Our garden we planted has sprouted a couple of things, one is a mystery as the rain washed off the writing on our plant stakes, and the other is potatoes, purple ones to be exact. We are expecting rain the better part of this week, so it shouldn't be long before we have enough stuff to make a whole salad!! Grace is six months old as of yesterday, and we can't believe how the time has slipped by!! She is continuing to grow and learn at an astounding rate! She is on the brink of crawling if she could just figure out how to get those hands to go forward without losing her balance. She pulls herself up on small surfaces and has acquired quite an hilarious chortle. We are looking forward to my cousins wedding in August in Medicine Hat and maybe heading out to Edie's cabin in Saskatchewan in August as well. Other than that, here are some highlights from our West Coast Adventures...off to take on the day, Take Care everyone!

One more sleep and we will be home in Daddy's arms! What a lovely day we had, mommy finally got to get Grace's toes into the ocean! We spent the afternoon with Auntie Muriel and Cheryl down at the beach front. It rained for the first half of our visit and then got very beautiful and sunny! After the beach we had a yummy dinner at Uncle Greg and Auntie Sue's house. ALL of the kids were there and Grace got to have cuddles with all her cousins. Needless to say, all that sea air and cuddling has our little princess sound asleep dreaming of Daddy! It is very beautiful here and I miss the ocean and my friends a ton! But home is where the heart is and we are ready to get back to Daddy and Grama and Grampa and Aries. See you tomorrow!!

West Coast Adventures

Well, our west coast adventure has been such a wonderful journey! We have had some rain and some shine and some very special moments meeting new friends and embracing old ones! The plane ride was a breeze, Grace was a SUPERSTAR! She slept from take off till just before landing, not a tear, even made eyes at 15A behind us! We were greeted at the airport by Tracey and new baby Cavan, what a lovely surprise, not a dry eye for a mile! Grace is enjoying having her Auntie Connie all to herself! Tuesday we spent the day with Tracey and Cavan and Tracey's sister Teri. Cavan is just so very special and handsome and sweet, Auntie Connie made some very sweet tops for them, we teased that the pictures were potentially going to show up on their wedding slide show...so sweet! Then Grace got to meet her big cousins Kris, Ash and her boyfriend Tyler. She had nothing but smiles and hugs and kisses for them. Yesterday we had a visit with Uncle Greg and Aunt Sue and Tyler. Grace got to see uncles doon buggy, pictures to follow...Today we went in to Vancouver to meet Auntie Neo, Auntie Jenn and her two boys Sam and Ewan....SO CUTE! Our day ended at Auntie Tracey's house for a quick visit and a lovely barbeque at home with Tia Tat and Uncle Tress. Tia Tat gave Grace a very adorable new bath towel that has bunny ears and very cute little paws, so we had to have a bath tonight and try them out. As fun as our adventures have been, Grace misses her Daddy and her Daddy misses her. Only two more sleeps till they get to be in each others arms again! Tomorrow we are going to visit with some more friends and relatives and then hopefully the beach on Saturday before we head home, hope you are all doing great!!! See you soon!

Finally some sunshine! We are excited to get out and enjoy a nice walk along the river today! Our time seems to be going by very quickly...Grace has continued to be a joy and delight! We are getting ready for our big trip out west! So many people to see and places to go! Grace has decided that she might just go from rolling to walking, by pass crawling all together! Solid foods have been a hit, particularly apples, sweet potatoes and butternut squash...peas and beans are snuck in to the above mentioned! Grace has been spending her time singing and talking up a storm, she now sits with confidence and has been working on a couple of teeth, fun! Hope you are enjoying the nice weather, it's about time, hey?

Happy Birthday Daddy!!

We had a very lovely and quiet evening wishing Mark a very happy birthday! While he may not be very happy about the number, he loved the celebration with Gracie! She got her little fingers into that cake...so cute~so sweet!

Finally a little bit of summer to get us going!! We enjoyed the sun this weekend playing bocce ball and bb'qing in the heat! Grace took to the waves and got to try out her new bathing suit! She LOVES the water and is very comfortable in her new pool! Hope you all slathered on the sunscreen and got out to enjoy the rays!

Family Updates

Well, Grace will be five months old coming up and we have had an amazing journey so far with her! She brings such sunshine and happiness to our lives! Four month shots went MUCH better than two month and she has been the picture of health and a dazzling star! I can understand how people have more than one child now, if all the firsts in the world were like her! I barely remember my life before her arrival. I used to look at fashion and beauty ads, now I browse the internet for baby clothes and diaper sales! Worth every minute! Our time together has been so precious and humbling, such an incredible thing being a parent. I always knew I wanted to be a mommy, but I never imagined it would be this rewarding and amazing. Don't get me wrong, the first six weeks I had no idea what we had gotten ourselves in to. That overwhelming feeling has now turned into the greatest love I could ever imagine. And somehow, I seem to fall more in love with her every day! Just when I think, "...once she is asleep I can get this and that done..." I find myself lingering in her room just to watch her sleep and wish she was awake so I could hear her adorable giggle and watch her in wonder taking in the world. True, I miss her when she sleeps! Anyway, a couple of photo's to share our little amazing Grace!

Gracie gets a new hat!~

Grace has decided that she looks pretty cool in her new hat, she is very happy to get in to helping mom and dad in the kitchen!

Gracie and Maddie

What a busy weekend we have had! Sunday we got to go to Eau Claire Market with Auntie Heather, Uncle Jon, Grama and Grampa B! We had a nice walk along the river and I got a new pair of sunglasses from Grama and Grampa! They fit perfectly!

Monday we took advantage of a day off with Daddy and big sister and went for a drive out to Elbow Falls. I love the fresh air! It makes my cheeks pink with life and laughter!! Hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend with Family and Friends!!