Happy Birthday Mommy

So Kelly normally Posts, and I don't have the time or the creativity to rival her posts, but we love her and want to wish her a Happy Birthday. She is a great wife and a wonderful Mommy to Gracie.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KELLY

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Aunt Katie's Birthday Card

Happy Birthday Katie!

We Love You VERY MUCH!!!

Naked Chef

Our wonderful neighbors, Rachel and Stacy, treated me to a girls afternoon a few Sundays back to celebrate the end of my pregnancy! We went to a wonderful Asian Bistro and saw the movie Eat, Pray, Love (which was better than the reviews suggested - so I'm glad we decided to still see it). They also gave Pickle the carseat adapter for our BOB stroller. How sweet are they?

We are so happy in our new home and could not be more thankful for the wonderful neighbors that we have that have become our good friends!

So as a thank you to Rachel & Stacy - Gracie helped me bake chocolate chip cookies!

The Health Dept would not approve of the

no pants but I don't think anyone else cared!

Doesn't get any sweeter than this face!

Ready to sample some mini chocolate chips!

This is the face she makes when I say, "say cheese"!

Dress-up

Gracie has started to enjoy dress-up. I'll find her pulling things out of her closet or walking into the room with something "special" on that she's picked out herself. Lately, she likes hats, shoes (no pictures, sorry), and Halloween costumes!

I love this floppy flower hat (and she does too)!

Lobster for snack time.

Oh yes....I absolutely encouraged her wear her lobster costume to Wal-Mart. I wanted her to fit in with all the other lovely outfits you see in that fine establishment. Wonder if we made it on to the website - People of Wal-Mart ???

Gifts from Aunt Linda

My Aunt Linda is always so sweet and thoughtful....and has spoiled me for as long as I can remember and continues the tradition of spoiling by spoiling Gracie and Pickle. She recently sent some adorable clothes. Gracie loved opening the presents and I'm excited that they both have some cute new clothes. Thanks Linda!!!

Aunt Jody

Todd's Aunt Jody was in town for a conference a few weeks back and we enjoyed having her over for dinner one evening. Gracie had Jody on the floor working her "Max & Ruby" puzzle over and over. Todd grilled some delicious filets and we had a great time just catching up with each other. Thank you Jody for spending an evening with us! We're looking forward to the next time you are in town!

Big Sister Practice

A few weeks back, Gracie and I had the wonderful opportunity to watch our friend Katie's little girl, Ellie! She was so sweet and such a good baby. Gracie enjoyed pushing her in her swing and helped feed her a bottle and just loved playing with her.

It was perfect practice for our soon-to-be big sister! I think Gracie did a great job and I know she will be the best big sister.

Girls Weekend

My best girlfriends from SC and Nashville flew in to DC the 1st weekend in August to celebrate Pickle's upcoming arrival! I cannot tell y'all how special these girls are to me and how much it meant to me that they came up to visit! We had a blast talking, eating, shopping, getting pedicures and just being together. I didn't get very many pictures - just these! So at least there's a little photographic proof that they were here.

Thanks again Ashlee, Melissa, and Elizabeth for coming up to see me and for the gifts you gave to Gracie and Pickle!

Gracie and Ashlee

Elizabeth, Gracie, and Melissa

Adorable Big Sister Memory Book

Cameron Run - Splash Park

Another fun outing while BeBe was here visiting with us in July! Our little water bug loves the pool and splash park!

Metro with BeBe

Although it took 2 hours (instead of 40 minutes) to take the Metro to the National Zoo because of scheduled track maintenance - we still had fun riding the train!

Pickle's 1st Blanket

My grandmother's friend, Mrs. Gastineau, knitted the most beautiful, mint green, snuggly blanket for Pickle! I know Mrs. G spent countless hours knitting and put a lot of love into this blanket! We are forever grateful for this precious gift and can't wait to wrap Pickle up in it!

Thank you so much Mrs. Gastineau!

Gracie loves to open presents (who doesn't, right?)

She said, "It's a NightNight for the baby!" and gave it a big hug and then said, "I'm going to put it in the baby's room." So sweet.

Look at the beautiful detail.

(And BeBe is beautiful too!)

Double Binky

Hummm....

Do you think she's ready to give up her binkies?

While I'm not ready to work on taking her binky away just yet, does anyone have any good suggestions or advice for breaking the binky habit?