Ilene's Wedding Saturday May 24

Grace's first time in the pool. She loved it and looks so stinkin' cute in her swimsuit! This was a weekend of firsts for the peanut.

And now.... the most beautiful wedding I have ever been to....

Ilene and Kyle got married on Long Island at sunset overlooking the water. Breathtaking.... not that I could enjoy it because I was praying to God Grace wouldn't cry or make any noise. She did decide to blow raspberries during a poem...LOL...

As we exited the ceremony waiters handed us daiquiris and pina coladas. We then had an amazing cocktail hour with so much food I was too full to eat much of my equally amazing dinner!
This is really the only shot I got of the happy couple.....Ilene looked absolutely beautiful....

As usual, us girls were a little out of hand. We danced the night away and cracked each other up and it was as if no time had passed since that last time we were together. I love you girls!

Congrats Ilene!

New York, Friday May 23

This is us finally departing on our teeny tiny plane to New York. Grace did very well on her first plane ride considering we were there 2 hours early and we were delayed another hour so she had to wait around in the airport forever. I was the big nerd taking pictures out on the tarmac of my family getting on the plane. Once in a lifetime photo op!

All I have to say is thank god for her nana and papa. It was so nice having them to available to help Adam and I out. Here she is looking over the seat at them and cracking up. She was such a trooper the whole weekend. Such a good baby...

The rest are just some pics from her first hotel stay. A nice white bed makes a wonderful background. The first night was a little rough with the sleeping but she did great going down for naps and at night the rest of the weekend considering it was a strange room and pack n' play.

We went to the rehearsal dinner once we got in on Friday. Papa stayed with Grace so Adam, my mom, and I got to stay late and enjoy ourselves. Ilene was so happy to see us which made our journey so worth it.

Think Pink: Ally's Show Sunday May 18

Ally had her "Think Pink" show at Western High School. This was a benefit for Breast Cancer so everyone had to wear pink, including Uncle Adam! She has been going to Joan Boyer since the fall and loves gymnastics! She met a cute little friend there, Jaycee, and they are going to be in the same class at Kindergarten next year. I love their little bellies in their pink leotards. They have no idea what is going on, I remember being there....Joan has the patients of a saint.

A front roll, some bar swings, beam moves, and her first medal. She made her Aunt Jane proud.

Tigers Game, Saturday May 10

I'm not what you would call a "baseball fan". In fact, Adam has threatened that he will never go to another game with me again. It seems as if every time I go it rains and we wait around for hours in cold rain for the stupid game to resume. My type A personality just can't handle this so when Mere asked me to go to the game for our birthdays I was a little nervous.

But I had so much fun. It was a perfect day, I had a giant daiquiri and nachos at our standing room only seats. What is it about ballpark food that is just fantastic. Those nachos...mmmm...
Like I have said before Mere and I always celebrate our b-days together. And when I say always I mean for the last 8 years. It all started with a trip to New York City for our 21st. Holy crap we are getting old.

Blakely, Lori, Petey, Mike, Jeff, and Ruth joined us. We went to the bar after because we are Spartans and that's what we do.

Mike was cracking me up. He did the "Bill Cosby Dance" in the middle of the street on the way to the bar. We really need to get up and visit these two more often.
The b-day girl! We decided for our 30th we are going to do it up big. Hawaii or Mexico or somewhere tropical where we can drink heavily :) Who's in?

NY or bust!

We leave on Friday for Ilene's wedding in Long Island. We are taking Grace with us and are flying. Should be interesting. My mom and dad are going as well so hopefully that will help. The rehearsal dinner is on Friday, the wedding at 7 on Saturday, and Sunday we are going into the city and are going to stay the night there. I am so excited! Adam has never been to NYC and I can't wait to see all my buddies!

I am off to pack. It is overwhelming the amount of stuff I have to remember for one small child. How do people do this with multiple children? Any tips on flying with a 9 month old?

Will I survive?

My Very Special Day

Today is my birthday. Today is also my first Mother's Day. How cool is that? I was born on Mother's Day and every so often it happens that my birthday is on Mother's Day again. I think it is pretty special that the circle of life continues with me celebrating being a mom for the first time on the day that I was born. My mom still says I was the best Mother's Day gift she ever got.

We have had the mother of all weekends. Friday I went scrapbooking. I had to work late so I only got about 5 hours in and I think I got three pages done. I just haven't had the time to print out the pictures so I just kind of felt disorganized and didn't get much accomplished. Oh well, I enjoy getting out with girls and hanging out mostly.

Saturday, in the annual tradition, I celebrated my birthday with Mere. Meredith's birthday is on the 10th so we always try to do something together. Last year was Disney to visit Lori 7 months preggo. This year we went to the Tigers game with a pretty big group. We had standing room only tickets and we all drank ourselves silly and had a good 'ol time. Lori came up from Indy and stayed with me last night and it was really good to see her too.

Today we had a BBQ with family. We had about 14 people in our little house because it was really crappy outside. It was fun anyway (and a little chaotic). I got lots of nice cards, a Coach wristlet, money, and a camera bag. Grace was an absolute angel and had fun watching her crazy cousins.

As I sit here writing this I am thinking that I might hit bed at about 8:30 tonight. I need to take a vacation day to recover from my weekend!!

Happy Mother's Day!

9 Months

She is going to hate me for this someday. I just couldn't resist the naked tush. I love her rolls. No wonder she isn't crawling yet, its hard to get those buns off the ground- LOL!

Grace was officially nine months on Sunday. She has now been in the world almost as long as she was growing in my tummy. Crazy.

• She is in full-on "stranger danger" mode and VERY clingy with the mama. Sometimes even daddy won't do
• Her two bottom teeth came in almost over night about a month ago and I think she working on the top
• She is laughing and smiling more than ever and has so much personality already. I have a feeling we are going to be in trouble. She is very good natured and strong-willed at the same time (which is an interesting combination)
• She loves books and to be read to. She reaches for her book shelf in the morning and at night after she has had her bottle. Her cousin Ally reads to her at Nana and Papa's house and it is her favorite part of the day
• She speeds around the house in her walker. She has now discovered she can pull things off of shelves and get into baskets and generally be a one woman wrecking crew. Let the babyproofing begin.
• She loves Gerber puffs and is so over baby food. She is drinking out of her sippy cup all by herself.
• Still no crawling. She can push up on her arms but can't get her hips off the ground. She can stand at things though and walks with you holding her hands
• She weighed 19 lbs, 5 oz and was 28 inches long at the doctor today and is in the 75th% for height and weight. She has gained two pounds and grown an inch in a half since her 6 month check-up.

She is the absolute light of my life. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't thank God for blessing me with the chance to be her mom.

Grandma is the BEST

Grandma Ann got Grace a "Little Tike's" baby swing a few weeks ago. She absolutely loves it and laughs and squeals with delight when we put her in it. She also likes to eat daffodils. Notice the "gimme gimme hand" that is always in full swing these days. The camera comes out and she wants to touch it. We show her a flower, she wants to eat it. I am talking on my cell phone, she wants to talk too. Always with the "gimme gimme hand".

My very crafty hubby got this big idea to take down a trellis we had in our back yard and build something we could hang the baby swing from. Now keep in mind as you look at the picture above that the baby swing can hold up to 40lbs, however this structure could probably hold me and a 300 lb man it is so sturdy. What can I say, he loves to build things.

Speaking of my obsessive compulsive husband, he decided to rip out ALL of the grass in our front yard on Saturday. We have had problems with standing water and grubs so he took out all the sod and re-graded the lawn with topsoil and is going to put in all new sod. I swear I'm going to catch him out there with the scissors cutting it someday. He takes pride in his lawn. Must be a man thing.

Again, with the "gimme gimme hand".

We also went to the annual Kentucky Derby / Cinco de Mayo party at Scott and Nicki's on Saturday. We ate lots of yummy Mexican food and drank Margarittas while we watched the Derby. Adam's horse was the big winner but his other horse got last place so that means the party is at our house next year!

I am officially addicted

...to making collages. It is so much fun! I have renewed my passion for taking pictures and scrapbooking and I just can't get enough of it right now. Here is my first attempt at making a collage (thanks to Nicole). These are a few of the pictures we have taken over the last week or so with our new Canon SLR camera (click on it to make bigger). I do have to give credit where credit is due and say that Adam took most of these pictures. Look at him all zooming in on flowers like he is a professional landscape photographer. Too funny. I am reading all these books on my camera and photography and he just picks the thing up and takes great photos. Its true what they say that it doesn't matter how great the camera is if the operator isn't any good (like in my case- LOL!)