Manners

We have been teaching Grace manners since she was born but she is finally starting to catch on. She says "please" about 75% of the time when she asks for something. She is also good at "thank you." This week she learned "excuse me" when she needs someone to move. She must have picked that one up by listening to us. It's very cute to be standing in a room and feel a little tug on your pants leg and hear " 'cuse me" as she brushes past. Today in the car I sneezed and I heard a little "bless you" from the back seat. I pretended to sneeze again just to be sure and I heard "bless you Mommy."

Bye Bye

I'm sitting in the family room watching Grace put her entire fist in her yogurt container and then lick her hands to get the yogurt off. Everytime I say something to her or try to walk in the kitchen, she says "bye bye." This is this lastest funny thing Grace does. Everytime she is doing something "wrong" she tells Jack or me "bye bye, mommy/daddy, bye bye." Sometimes if she is being really bad, we even get a "night night." I guess that means we need to leave for a long time.

Brrrrr....

We woke up Saturday morning with no heat in the house! Grace was cold so she asked to wear her hat and slippers to breakfast. She was very excited to eat in the family room because it was warmer in there. Jack was able to get it fixed Saturday afternoon so we weren't cold for long.

Grace had a busy weekend- she went to two parties and tried on flower girl dresses for her Aunt Kristen's wedding. She loved wearing dresses that make her look like a princess. Aunt Kristen came over to babysit so Jack could go and see Barack Obama on Sunday. Jack was given a special VIP place to sit close to the stage since he organized a service project on MLK Day for the campaign team. Michelle, the sensible Republican, went to the movies with some friends.

Early Potty Training

This actually happened a few weeks ago but I forgot to post it. Grace told us she wanted to go to the potty so we set her on the toilet. She only last a few seconds before she wanted to get off. Once she did get off the toilet, she didn't want to put her pants back on. She entertained us all for several minutes running around bare bottomed.

Look How Grace Has Grown!

Grace insisted on sitting in her blue chair today with the baby toy bar on top so she could play with the toys. Remember when she looked so little in it?

Bon Teer!

Every MLK Day we volunteer with Hands on Birmingham. Last year was Grace's first volunteer experience but this was the first she helped. Jack was in charge of volunteers at a site that painted a nonprofit's office. Michelle and Grace helped in the morning setting up the volunteer lunch. Grace helped to put out the tablecloths on the tables and was very concerned when they weren't straight on the table. She also liked telling us the colors of the tablecloths. They were a mix of colors but according to Grace, they were all "red".... The tv news was at the lunch covering the project. One of the reporters came up to Grace to tell her that he loved her hair and he bent down to say hello. When he said hello, she immediately stuck out her hand to shake his. He was very impressed.
After the lunch, Michelle and Grace's job was to be on the "War Team" which means they bring supplies to project sites when they are running low. Michelle told Grace they were going to volunteer which Grace pronounced "bon teer" and proudly repeated it over and over again as they were running the supplies around town. Grace got very frustrated at the end of the day because they always sat in the car and let the volunteers unload. She didn't think they were really "bon teering." At one of the last places they went, Grace cried "Mommy out, bonteer! bonteer!" Michelle decided to get her out of the car to deliver the supplies. Grace told everyone she met at the site "bonteer!" when they said hello to her. Grace loved her experience and was wimpering "bonteer" as she finally went down for her nap.

Weekend at Grandma and Pops

Grace spent this past weekend at her Grandma and Pops house. Michelle had her first scrapbooking weekend and Jack had some meetings to attend so Grace went to "Grandma Camp." Grace had a great time. She was able to spend two nights there because it snowed! and Jack wasn't able to get her on Saturday. Her Aunt Kristen took her outside to catch snowflakes on her tongue.

Grace loved playing with all of her Daddy's and Aunts old toys. She really liked playing with the Care Bears. She also liked played with her Great-Grandma and often went into her room to show her something or tickle her ;o) At one point, Grace got her purse to "go shopping" and had to run into her Great Grandma's room for "money! money! money!" Grace had lots of fun playing with everyone.

Grace had her first ice cream cone!

Grace and Bella

Grace LOVES her cousin, Isabella. She talks about her all day and always wants to call her. Everytime she sees a picture of a baby, she says "Bella." When we spent the weekend with her, Grace wanted to help with Isabella. She wanted to bring her toys, kiss her, feed her and even push her on the swing. She is always very sweet to Bella.

Disney Marathon

Congratulations to Jack and Jeff who completed the Disney Marathon! It was Jack's 5th marathon and Jeff's 1st! While we were proud of Jeff for being promoted from the "C" starting group of last year to the "B" starting group this year, we weren't sure how he'd do. He had an injury several months back and hadn't trained as well as he had hoped. The night before the race, he laid out a plan that would keep him just in front of the van that picked up the slow runners off the course. Poor Sarah followed the plan so she could see him on the course, and she missed him everytime because he was so fast! He and Jack did great!

Grace and Isabella did have a good time watching the runners and being able to see their Dads cross the finish line.

Pretty Toes

Grace and her Aunt Sarah decided to partake in a little pampering. Grace got her first pedicure! Grace went through all the colors and picked the one she wanted- pink. She sat still for about 30 seconds and then she started moving her toes. Sarah had quite a job getting those wiggly toes painted. We gave Grace a snack and she was distracted so Sarah could finish.

A few times a day she will remember and want us to take her socks off so she can look at them and say "pretty toes, Sarah, pretty toes"

Grace's First Trip to Disney World

Grace was very excited about her first trip to Walt Disney World in Orlando. We went with Uncle Jeff, Aunt Sarah and Isabella (Bella). We had a forty-five minute drive to the park and for almost the entire trip she was shouting "Mick Mouse, Mick Mouse." Needless to say, she really wanted to see Mickey Mouse.

We are still new parents and thus made a couple of mistakes in choosing Grace's first two rides. We failed to object when Uncle Jeff went to the Pirates of the Caribbean ride first. It was very dark and a little scary, but Grace seemed to do ok. She really liked the boat ride. Uncle Jeff upped the ante with ride number two, the Haunted Mansion. We were about one minute into the ride, when Grace said "Mommy All Done!!" She repeated her request several times, but finally settled down when Passy and Dolly came to her rescue. When the ride was finally over, she started asking for Mick Mouse. So far, Disney did not meet her expectations.

We hurried to Fantasy Land to settle Grace down. She enjoyed her time in the Hundred Acre Wood playground.




The next ride was the Carousel. Grace and her Daddy actually spent some time looking at the horses and Grace seemed very interested. She even said that she wanted to ride with Mommy. However, once the ride started it became the Carousel of Terror and Grace was again "all done."

All the fun and fear obviously wore Grace out, as she slept through lunch, which gave Jack and Michelle some time to ride roller coasters, including Space Mountain.





After lunch we went to Toon Town to finally meet Mick Mouse. We toured through his house and garden and after standing in line for a surprisingly long amount of time, Grace finally met him. As you can see from the picture below, Grace freaked out upon seeing him in person!




We eventually found a ride that Grace really enjoyed, It's a Small World (much to her Daddy's chagrin). She was mesmerized by the scenes and really liked the song, which for those of you who do not know, plays over and over and over again. When we were finished she waved to the boat and said "bye ride!"


After Grace's fascination with Mick Mouse ended, she developed a new obsession, balloons. She saw several kids with balloons and would point at them and say "touch boon!" When we asked her if she wanted a balloon she started to squeal and do the balloon dance (which consists of her waving her arms and spinning in a circle yelling balloon). Well, we promised a balloon a little too early because we could not find one. Jack went to a vendor in Fantasy Land, who sent him to a vendor in Toon Land, who sent him to a vendor in Fantasy Land, who finally sent him to a vendor on Main Street. Jack ran an equivalent of about 2 miles, but finally got a balloon for Grace. She was very excited.

We all attended a Monsters, Inc. comedy show, which was surprisingly a lot of fun. The show involved putting the photos of audience participants on a big screen. Jack was on the big screen and under his name it said "This guy will buy churros for everyone after the show." As you can see from the picture below, Jeff really thought it was funny.



After the park, Jack and Jeff were able to pick up their Marathon race packets. We are spending today resting and preparing for tomorrow's race. Stay tuned for exclusive coverage of the Disney Marathon

Traveling to Florida

We had an uneventful car ride to Florida this week. The only incident occurred early in the trip when Grace accidentally hit herself in the head with her Baby Doll (not too hard at all). For the remainder of the nine hour trip she would hold her head and say "head hurt." When we asked her what happened, she said "Baby Doll, Baby Doll."

Fame!

Grace had her first dance class today. She loved it! They danced with scarves, shakers, rhythm sticks and even feather dusters. They had a balance beam- ie a two by four- on the floor and she had to walk across that while dancing. Her friend Miriam is in the class too. All the kids had trouble but Grace turned herself sideways and shuffled sideways across the beam. She was very sweet and patient in the class, always waiting for the teacher before she started anything or touched the props. She even stopped dancing when she realized I didn't have scarves to dance with and went and got me some. She did have a little "moment" when all the props were put away and we were all singing "Head, Shoulders, ..." she refused to participate and went into the corner and silently pouted and said "no sing Mommy, play."

After the dance class, we had a play date at the park with some friends from church. Grace had a blast and didn't want to leave.

This evening was spent with Jack where they watched basketball and gave her baby doll a bath. Apparently the baby doll was placed in the bath and then Grace came in the family room and sat down with a book. When Jack took her back in the bathroom, she carefully washed Baby Doll with a washcloth and soap. After Grace's bath, Jack couldn't find any diapers so he put on a swimmie diaper and Grace yelled "Swimming!" She was disappointed when she realized there was no pool ;o(

Next update will be from Disney!

Relaxed Weekend

We all had a good weekend. Grace spent most of the day on Friday playing with her friend Lily. She impressed everyone by counting objects for the first time. According to Amy, Grace stacked blocks on top of one another and counted them as she did it- up to 4! Friday night Jack and Grace had dinner with Jeff and Kristen while Michelle went to the movies with Stephanie and Jessica.
Saturday was a cleaning day preparing for our new freezer in the laundry room. Grace's new trick was to get up on the couch with "no help!"
On Sunday Aunt Kristen came over to play with Grace. They played at our house and then hit the Summit for a shopping trip. Michelle was able to go to the Museum to see the Pompeii exhibit and Jack was able to catch up on some work. Sunday afternoon Ella came over to play on Grace's "prize" (aka her new slide). She won't call it a slide- just a "Sant-a" prize. Our new next door neighbor, 6 day old Miller, came over to play too. Grace and Michelle had a Girl's Night and ate pizza and watched "toons" since Jack went to Atlanta to a conference. It took Grace an hour to eat her pizza because every time she got sauce on her hands (every bite)- she yelled for a wipe. We used a lot of wipes....

Christmas with Grandma and Pops

Because Grace's Great-Gram was sick, we celebrated Christmas with them late this year. Jack's Uncle Jack and Aunt Carol Ann were also able to celebrate with us. Grace received many "prizes" from her Grandma and Pops. She loved playing with her new baby doll in the cradle Pops made her and the blanket her Great Aunt Barbara made for the doll. She loved spending time with everyone, especially her Great-Gram.

Two Dollys!

Everyone knows that Grace's favorite thing is her dolly. Jack and I bought an extra one about a year ago just in case dolly got lost. Somehow over the Christmas holidays both dollys ended up in her bed. Grace is in heaven! She has been asking to go to bed this past week and runs into her room yelling "two dollys! two dollys!" She is just beaming as we put her in her crib. Today she even held them together and told me "dollys hug, two dollys hug." Looks like we will have to go back to ebay and find another one in case we lose one of the "two dollys!"

New Year's Eve and Day

We celebrated New Year's Eve with Michelle's friends from high school- a tradition started long ago. Sarah, Wes, Erin, Tad, Brooke and Melissa were all at our house. The evening was started by playing with the kids before they went to bed- Grace whimpered as I was putting her down- "no night, night- party, party!" We had a meal catered by Chef Moore and then celebrated the new year playing foosball and watching Robbie Maddison motorcycle jumper extraordinaire . Everyone left by 1am- times sure have changed.
We spent New Year's Day low key. We did some cleaning and napping with some good family bonding time. We are looking forward to a great new year!

Finally a blog....

Well, New Year's Day seems as good a time as any to start a blog. I thought it would be nice to keep a record of our comings and goings and keep people informed and updated on our lives. I'll post a few pictures here but the majority of our pictures are still at www.kodakgallery.com/gracecarney. Thanks for reading!