Impromptu Water fight.

What started out as me distracting Grace with a bowl of water on the deck while I shucked corn for our Memorial Day Cookout...

turned into Grace and I dipping our feet in the bowl...

which transformed into Grace pouring the bowl onto herself...

Which turned into Daddy sneak attacking us with a water gun...

Which I stole and attacked Daddy ...

Which prompted Daddy to get the HOSE...

Which I promptly stole and turned on him.

Which produced a very WET, but happy family.

Big Girl.

What?? I'm old enough for NURSERY!??

Today was Grace's first day of NURSERY!! I can't believe that she is old enough, and it was a little bitter sweet for Stephen and I. 

 We were so excited to be able to fulfill our callings a little better without having to chase her around...but I have to admit, I was a little sad to see my 'baby' waltz into nursery like she owned the place! Lucky for her, her cousin Livvy is already in there, and she was excited to go play with 'liv-vly'. They even walked down the hall to nursery together....hand in hand. It was ridiculously adorable. 

My friend, Angel (nursery leader) said she did really well. Of course, she had some moments where she called out for me and Stephen...but was calmed down quickly. She even did pretty well when I had to come in to do 'singing time' with the kids. She fussed at first and wanted to sit in my lap...but then she started being Grace and sang along with me and even did all the hand motions.  Leaving was harder, and she did cry...but it was snack time, and we all know how Grace LOVES snacks! haha

There is nothing better than walking into nursery after church, and see her bound up to me and wrap her little arms around my neck.  She even showed me her color page she did. Her Daddy says he's going to keep it forever. And I think he means it.

Because...somehow....we are going to hold onto that baby girl of ours.

Don't grow up too fast, little girl. My heart can't take it!

I am a MOM.

And I feel so blessed to be just that.

Last Mother's day started out with a crying baby at about 5am, and poop on my bedroom carpet before 9am.

Let's just say, it wasn't the *ideal* way to spend my first mother's day! haha

But, with that said, this year was leaps and bounds better!  First off, I got to sleep in until 8am! (that sounds funny to my past single self) and that was my own accord, that I woke up and couldn't go back to sleep.

That could be attributed to the fact that I smelled bacon cooking in the kitchen. YUM!

I got in a little trouble when I opened the bedroom door...I was reprimanded to get back in bed! But, before I could follow orders, I saw my sweet girl who made me a mommy run down the hallway towards me and felt her chubby little arms wrap around my neck.

That would have made it perfect right then and there.

Stephen made me breakfast in bed: bacon, pancakes and scrambled eggs.  

When I was done feasting, I opened the bedroom door and was greeted by this posted on my daughter's door:

Ok...now i'm excited! I love games!

With Grace holding onto my hand, she leads me room to room to find the hidden treasures.

I start to leave them where they were, and Stephen says, "you have to pick them up!"

I laugh, and say, "why...you know i'm going to take pictures and blog about this, right?"

I had full intentions on just choosing my top 3 favorites.

I went through the stack pulling out my favorites...and then I had the same stack I started with.

So, here are ALL my favorites (aka...all 18)

And the last card led me to my flowers, (tulips: my favorite!) a fun game and treat!

I really am soo blessed to be a wife and a mother. 

Stephen and Grace make me happier than I could have ever imagined.  

And I am also blessed to have had the most wonderful mother in the world. I was able to spend the week with her recently when Stephen was away on business, and I was once again reminded of how lucky I am. There is no one more loving, more fun, more service-minded, more faithful, or more patient than my amazing mom.

And she surely has given me the best example of what I want to be to MY daughter.

I didn't realize.

I didn't realize how big Grace was until we visited one of my dearest friends and her 4 month old.

Grace was pretty 'beastly' in comparison (haha..get it, Emily?? haha)

First she tried to share her goldfish with Lydia Jane.

She was pretty proud of herself for sharing. 

I hope Lydia Jane knows that Grace doesn't share with a lot of people. She should consider herself LOVED. 

These girls are destined to be BFF's....and to get in a lot of trouble together.

Look...Grace is already whispering plots to LJ.

Emily, we are in trouble.

Two weeks.

What a difference two weeks can make.

This was the day we planted our 'garden'.

This is our garden exactly two weeks after we planted it.

They are even starting to flower, which excites me! Now, here's to praying that the squirrels and birds won't attack the veggies!

Grace Funnies...

Today, while I was repairing a book that Grace tore the pages out of, she wandered up and pointed to the tape.

I said, "Mama is fixing this book because someone tore the pages out. Grace, do you know who did it?"

She looked at me with those big eyes, and said, "Mimi".

Blaming her cousin (Nomi aka MiMi) already.

who could blame this innocent little face??

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The other day, Grace was in rare form, and I was dreading the errands I had to run. I thought about just giving up and not going, but I literally had no bread or cheese and, more importantly...no Mucinex!! (a MUST!) So, we loaded up for our adventure and went to Sam's.

Grace did pretty well throughout the short trip, and I thought we should get a treat to reward ourselves (her for being good....me for surviving the day).

I asked for a small Icee and got a HUGE Icee instead.

Turns out, Grace is a HUGE fan of Sam's now.

****

Grace is still obsessed with wearing anything as an accessory. After the Mud Run, my sister dropped by to drop something off at my house. My extra change of clothes (clean) that I had brought to the mud run (but didn't use) were sitting on a kitchen chair. Cara and I were chatting, when all of a sudden, Grace comes prancing in like this:

Yes, that is flowered underwear on her head, and a sports bra around her neck.

Needless to say, Cara and I couldn't control our laughter.

****

Speaking of accessorizing...Grace isn't an accessory snob. She also will use pretty much whatever is handy to be a hat. The girl obviously got my sense of style. Sorry, Grace.

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Grace is a very expressive little girl. I've been trying to capture her 'silly' face for a while, but she has been evasive. This is the closest I've gotten to it. But, if you can imagine this face with her lips pulled in like a old granny face, then you know what it looks like.  We used to just say, "show me your silly face" and she would oblige us, but she has gotten wise of us trying to get a picture. Now it only comes out when she is acting surprised. Either way...it is still hilarious. 

And she knows it.

****

We had family home evening tonight, and then we had our family/nightly prayer. Throughout the prayer, Grace put one arm around me, and then pulled her dad in closer to put her other arm around his neck. She would give us a family hug, and then fold her arms again. A few seconds would pass, and then she would do it again.

Melted my heart.

a Green Thumb perfect day

Seeing that May is literally a day away, it seemed like the perfect time to get my container garden going! So, Grace and I 'suited up' and got going! It was SOOO hot outside! I don't think i'm ready for summer if this is what it is like in April. 

BUT, the garden had to be done, so we just sun-screened up our fair skin, put on hats, poured water all over our deck (since the wood was burning our feet), and started planting our garden!

Grace was LOVING it. I brought out a big bowl of water for her to 'help' and gave her her own 'shovel'. She would just go from her bowl, to the planters and back again. She ended up making some great dirt soup in that bowl.  She also had a little cup that I let her water the plants with. She would fill up her cup at her bowl, and then proceed to walk over to the plants. But, as she would walk, she held the cup sideways on her belly, so all the water ended up on her. That didn't stop her from pouring an empty cup in the pots though!

She sure was proud of her garden (and so was I!) She even wanted to show Daddy when he got home from work.   

We planted cucumbers (Grace's favorite) tomatoes (cherry and Goliath), Red Pepper and banana pepper, and marigolds (just because I like them, and they ward off bugs).

We are far from being gardeners, and even further from having a green thumb, but we hope to produce at least SOMETHING this year. 

It was such a fun day today. I feel the need to document today because sometimes I only write about the not so great days.

We went to Target and ran some errands(where Grace was such a sweet and patient girl).

As we drove around we sang songs and talked (well, me talked, Grace babbled). When I asked her what song she wanted to sing she said, "round and round". (wheels on the bus= her favorite)

She is such a funny girl. I think she is really starting to understand that she is funny.

In the car, I would say, "Grace, are you Mama's FAVORITE girl??"

and she would smirk, shake her head and say "No!"

Then, I would gasp and exclaim, "YES! You are Mama's FAVORITE girl!"

And she would laugh, and then say, "yeah".

We went through the same exchange with all sorts of different words:

Smart

Crazy

Pretty

Silly

Sweet

to which she answered "No!" every time.

And then, we got to FUNNY.

As I asked her if she was my funny girl, she laughed and said, "YEAH!"

She is getting so smart. She definitely is not lacking in the personality department.

We then came home and played. She even let me read her a book (which is a rarity, since she insists that she read by herself).

Her TiCara came by with her favorite person in the whole world (Nomi aka MiMi).

They played so well together (for the most part) and Cara and I laughed until we cried at pictures we took on my new MAC.

Then we gardened, and relaxed with some popsicles (a hot weather MUST).

And to top it off, I got to rock my baby girl to sleep.

Perfect day.