A little surprise...

DUE: MARCH 18, 2011

We are so excited to grow our family of 3 to a family of 4!

Grace Ann turns 2!

On Aug. 14th, we celebrated GA's 2nd birthday with a morning playdate (sorry no pictures from that, I seemed to have been a little busy...) and a family party that evening. Grace Ann had shown such an interest in Nemo this summer that we decided to go all Nemo-Out for the party! She loves anything to do with the ocean, so she was in love with all the party decorations. We had a such a fun weekend with our family and friends and feel so blessed that we get to be Grace Ann's parents.

Opening presents...
Blowing out candles

Wow..what a pretty cake Grace Ann!

With Meme and Pepaw

We loved the cake! It was so cute!

Weekend in Cleveland

Last weekend, GA and I drove to Cleveland to visit my folks. Thank goodness to a portable DVD player and Nemo, we made it to Cleveland without a hitch! We also got to stop and see GA's friend, Allie, who is 5 months old and just adorable! Grace Ann kept saying to me, "hold it" as if I were going to let her, a mere 23 months, hold this baby all by herself. She was also drooling over this baby like a piece of chocolate candy! It was too funny. But here are some pictures of my mom and GA that Rick took while they were out in the backyard swimming. I was at church, enjoying some peace and quiet and not having to worry that as soon as the homily began I would have to get up to go to the cryroom. However, today at church was a funny story....GA discovered the statue of Jesus and was mesmerized! She would look at me and point-"Jesus!" And to top it off everytime the choir music would become louder and get dramatic (to emphasize special parts in the mass) she would say and I quote, " Whoa...Jesus is coming!" And people this is the televised service! Everyone around us died laughing, but GA was some kind of serious! That is just too precious not to share. Enjoy the pictures and I hope all my teacher friends are enjoying there last days of the summer as August will be here too soon!

Fourth of July weekend with Oceana!

We spent our Fourth of July weekend jammed packed with FUN! We began with swimming, taking the girls to Toy Story 3 (GA's first movie experience...she lasted one hour! Then Russ had to come pick her up!) and then to the Circus-Zing, Zang, Zoom! Russ had never been to the circus and I must say he was impressed! We were not impressed however with the $9 terrible sno-cone and the $12 cotton candy! But we had a lot of fun! Then on the 4th we attempted the beach, but like I said before, the seaweed was so gross and the smell was even worse. So we headed to the pool and then dinner at Snoopy's! We saw fireworks at the Aquarium with some of our friends and ate some yummy brownies. Sadly, Oceana left today after another visit to the Aquarium to see the dolphin show and the "fishies." We will miss her and can't wait for another visit! Enjoy our weekend through the pictures!

Russ took the dolphin pictures and he did such a great job. There were several, but I thought I posted enough!

New pictures!

Eating at Doc's

Having fun in the backyard with the sprinkler Russ made for GA.

At the Water Pad downtown CC

Practicing some potty-training

Storytime with Pepop

At the Hook's Game!

After our vacation, we have kept a pretty steady pace of events. Russ, Grace Ann and I have enjoyed having company over the last few weeks. My dad came for Father's Day, then I went to my girls' weekend in Port A and just this weekend, Oceana came for a visit! I feel bad that our beaches have been overwhelmed with gross smelling seaweed! Yuck! So we have been going to the pool most days and I have been admiring the water from afar. So here are come pictures from the last few weeks.

Paradise- Days 4-7

The rest of our trip was pretty much the same: pool, lunch, nap, beach! I loved this schedule! WE had the best time and I can't wait to go back! I loved riding the bikes everywhere we went and just relaxing with the family. Russ and his dad were able to go fishing and they caught us some yummy redfish and trout. Eating fresh caught fish was delicious and it wasn't tar stained..win-win! Also we were very lucky that the oil spill hadn't reached the beaches yet, so the water was just perfect! So here are the rest of my favorite shots from the trip...

All through-out the neighborhood they had beautiful gardens and here is a shot of Russ and GA running through one of them on our way to the pool!


My camera lens would fog up when we went outside sometimes so that's why it is so blurry!

Eating lunch, while Russ and Earl were fishing.

Keith, Marcie and Jack

what cute cousins! they got along so well together!

quick family shot by the pool

parking the bike before heading to the beach

GA loved her shovel and pail!

the water was so gorgeous!

GA was deciding if the waves were safe!

Last night of the trip and you can tell they are wore out!
(They are watching Cinderella and Jack is so cute when he talks about the ugly stepsisters "those are mean girls, Auntie!" )

Paradise- Day Three!

Here we are this afternoon! After GA got up from her nap and Russ and I got back from lounging at the pool (thank you Mimi and Pepaw for watching GA) we headed for the beach. Marcie, Keith and Jack had gone earlier in the day and they had the best time, so we had to see for ourselves. And we were not let down, Grace Ann had so much fun and kept saying (over and over) "I swimmin', I swimmin'" and then after we had enough of the swimmin' we played in the sand. She was really unsure of the sand and kept on trying to touch it, but she was just paralzyed with this new activity. But after Russ and I pushed her hands in she went to town. Not so much making anything, but throwing sand everywhere screaming/giggling, "Daaa-deee, we made it! We made it!" I'm not quite sure what we were making, but we WERE making it! Russ and I laughed so hard! So far we have been enjoying the neighborhood and not making hard decisions, like pool or beach?