St. Patty's Day

Every year, Dallas holds a St. Patrick's Day parade and street party on Greenville Avenue. It is a pretty wild and crazy parade generally followed with lots of green beer. I have made it down to the parade off and on over the years we've lived in Dallas and always have a great time. It's funny how the years have changed though...

This year, we headed to our friends' home close to the street party to hang out in the beautiful weather. Thankfully they just had a little baby boy two months ago, so their parties have become kid-friendly! We brought Grace along and also met MA, Ryan and Margot. The girls had fun playing in the front yard and were both very happy all afternoon.

My New Sister

This past weekend by little brother got married... FINALLY! I am sure he was tired of hearing that word by the end of the weekend because it seemed that almost everyone used it in their toasts! But it was about time that he made Megan an honest woman and officially welcomed her into our family. I am so blessed to have such an amazing SIL, and Gracie is so spoiled to have such a fun aunt! Congrats to Megan and Steven!!! We love you!

I Love Coming Home to This

My two loves

Happy Holidays!

I don't know how to even begin to blog about Christmas this year, so I'm not going to write much! We had such a great time sharing the holidays with Gracie this year. Although she still doesn't understand what Christmas is all about, she did start to realize the excitement of opening presents. In all, she had six different Christmases in the span of a week, which is a lot for a little girl. We are so thankful to all our family and friends for their gifts!

Enjoying her first White Christmas with Aunt Megan!

In the holiday spirit

Christmas Eve with Granny 'Buff

Enjoying her water table

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

We took Gracie to visit Santa at The Galleria this weekend. We tried to beat the lines and arrived 15 minutes before Santa's arrival, but there was already a line of about 15 families. So, Trinity and I took turns standing in line while the other chased Grace in the Santa area, which kept her happy while we waited our turn. There was a cute little girl Grace's age in front of us, and she started screaming as her dad put her in Santa's lap. Poor girl cried while everyone in line laughed at her. I wasn't too worried about Grace crying, but I wasn't prepared for the reaction we did get:I'm not sure if it was all the attention or just the teething, but she wouldn't smile or take her fingers out of her mouth! And Santa was so sweet... he kept trying to sing and talk to her while Trinity and I stood in the background trying to distract her. But no amount of bribing with food or pulling her arms down would keep those fingers out of her mouth!

Holiday Party

Grace's daycare hosted a holiday party onFriday, so Trinity and I took 30 minutes out of our day to celebrate with her. When we got to daycare, all the kids were stripped to their pants/diaper only, which was a funny sight to see! They soon were digging into their cupcakes and cookies before running amuck.
As part of the celebration, they did a book swap! Grace wasn't sure what to do with her wrapped present, but she eventually got the book out of the wrapping with some help. Funny enough, the ripping of paper seemed to bother her! Maybe I need to re-wrap her Christmas gift in a gift bag?!?It was so cute seeing all the kids open their books and keep trading back and forth. They were an excited bunch of toddlers!

Giving Thanks

I was thankful for so many things this year, but most of all, I'm thankful that I could take this picture. I am so blessed to have my mom and daughter in my life!

Thanksgiving was spent in Midland again this year. We ate with my family first, as the guys wanted to get out of town for some hunting as soon as lunch was served. We were excited that Grandma got a day pass from the PT hospital (and even better news that she would be released to go home the next day). I was very proud of my very first turkey! I got up early with Mom so she could teach me how to cook the turkey properly. It turned out very moist and delicious!

Gracie loved everything we put in her bowl, but she loved the stuffing and mashed potatoes the most! I believe that she had two servings at our first lunch.

As soon as we'd finished with meal #1, we headed over to cousin Kristy's to give thanks with Trinity's family. There were lots of kids running around, and Grace ate her third serving with her second cousins! I loved that the kids had their very own picnic tables to sit at, but it really reminded me of how quickly Gracie is growing up!

The rest of the long weekend we spent flip-flopping between my family and Trinity's family. We are so fortunate that both of our families live in Midland!