More pictures from the park

I haven't had a chance to edit any of these, but we had a lot of fun at the park taking photos, so I thought I'd share a few more.







We're heading to the Creative Stitches Alive show this weekend in Edmonton. Hope to see some of you there!

It's Hard To Walk in Rubber Boots

Why rubber boots on a sunny day?

Because they keep the sand out at the park, and frankly, they're super cute (thanks Auntie Linda).

Family Photos

We always try to take family photos and they never seem to work out. These ones are a bit blurry, but at least we've got something. We'll keep trying...









The Paediatrician said Gracie is doing great yesterday. The nurse always takes us in first and we strip Gracie down to her diaper to be weighed and measured. She was in the 60th percentile for height and head size and the 30th percentile for weight. All in all, doing pretty good.

When the nurse left, Gracie was making laps of the office in her diaper, and when the doctor opened the door, she stopped running long enough to say hi and wave. Her doctor just laughed and said, "all right, she's walking, talking and has good motor skills. check, check, check."

What a performer.

Jada's a Star!!

These videos are for Jada.

We had a lot of fun with Gram's new kitchen when we were in Hanna last weekend. Hope these make you laugh as much as they did before. It's kind of a long one...



And a little shot of our two dancing queens:

Pictures!

Okay, Gracie's still sleeping so I might as well put a few pictures up.

Enjoying a chocolate cherry birthday cupcake:





Momma's Girl:



Gramma Gay and Gracie:



Four Generations. Great Grandma Sackett, Grams, me and Gracie.

Gracie's One!!!

Okay, I haven't posted in awhile. We've been busy. We always seem to be busy, I guess.

We had a wedding in Hanna last weekend, which was really nice. Aside from the pastor pronouncing them husband and man, it went off without a hitch. (Oops... he corrected himself, and recovered well).

Then, on Sunday, we had another party for Gracie on her actual birthday. She's officially one year old now.

*Sigh*

I can't believe it, but my mom was right, every stage is just more and more fun. I'm enjoying it all.

We got back from Hanna Monday afternoon and took her in to get her one year shots. Mean, right?? Fill her full of cake and excitement one day and then make her get three shots the next day.

She did well. The first shot made her give the nurse a dirty look, the second one she yelled at her a bit, and the third one, she screamed at the nurse, turned red, and tried to jump off my knee. Ouch.

It didn't last long, though, she was almost immediately distracted by a Winnie the Pooh mobile and some toys. She even waved at the nurse who'd poked her after 10 minutes had passed.

Her only issue is that she was a little wobbly on her feet for the next day and a half. She stumbled around like a drunken sailor and now has a bruise on her forehead to go with the bruise and puncture marks on her shoulders. Should make for some good family photos this weekend (we're heading to another wedding).

Anyway, she got weighed and measured and she's 19 pounds 13 ounces, with all her clothes on. I was hoping she'd hit the 20 pound mark, so she could officially use her front-facing carseat, but we turned it around anyway. Close enough. The nurse agreed, so that makes it all right.

I think they measured her as 30 inches tall, but she kind of eyeballed it, so I'm not sure how accurate that is. She goes to the paediatrician tomorrow, so we'll get another set of numbers.

So, that's the update. No pictures, yet, but I took lots so I'll add some shortly.

Ball Popper

One of Gracie's favourite toys was this ball popper. It just cracks her up. It was a big hit with the kids at the party, too.

Gracie's First Birthday party

Gracie's first birthday party was a success! We had a lot of fun and she loved seeing the other kids and playing with her new presents and eating cake.

A great day for sure.










Gracie's first experience with cake. She wanted to hug her cupcake and Brad wanted to smoosh it in her face for her.














We went to the waterpark at West Edmonton Mall the next day to celebrate Brandi's thirtieth birthday and it was fantastic, too. It's been a busy week, but fun and definitely memorable.

Almost Ready

Can you believe that it's almost been a year?

Gracie grew from this little bird,







into this little, cheerio-grabbing, roaring, smiley, happy girl.



I've been busy distracting myself with her parties, so I don't have time to think about where the year has gone.

The first of Gracie's three birthday parties is tomorrow and we're finally ready ( I hope).

I spent the last few days baking cupcakes (150 cupcakes to be precise- just call me Grandpa Sackett). Hopefully this will do all three parties, but we'll see. I have a feeling they may disappear from the freezer before her third party in October.

Tomorrow morning, I just have to ice these bad boys, decorate and put all of the food out before noon.

Then, the party begins. Can't wait to see her cute little face eating cake, watching the kids and seeing the balloons, banners, and streamers.

I'll try to post pictures after so you can all see how it went.

Snoop

She just can't help herself. Any closet, cupboard, door, tub that's closed, she must get into and explore.

Such a cute snoop in her pjs.

Changes

Gracie has been taking steps by herself since June, but last week, she really started to take off. I'd say it's definitely official now, she's a walker.



Now, when Miss Gracie was napping this weekend (because when she's awake, you really can't get anything done), we got our fence and deck painted. It looks so much better.

Originally, we had two sides of fence that was cedar with lattice, one side of fence that was treated, unpainted wood, and a grey deck. Who on earth though that combo worked?? So, we stripped and cleaned it all (okay, Brad stripped and cleaned it all) and started fresh with a dark brown stain.





Now, it just has to stop raining so we can put everything back in its place.

Sunday Playdate

On Sunday, we had some old friends over for supper and Gracie got to play with their son, Sebastien. It seems as though all of our old friends from Lake Louise are moving to Edmonton (okay, two couples, but still, coming from Lake Louise, that's huge).

Sebastien and Gracie had a lot of fun and we got a great visit in. Fantastic!

Brad's Back to Work

This is Brad's first day back at work since he took parental leave in July.

I think he's happy to go back, but he'll miss all of his Gracie time. The two of them are pretty tight.



Luckily, Gracie is entertaining all day, he'll be home in time to see her enjoying her bubbles:

A Special Kind of Crazy

You have to be a special kind of crazy to fit in with our little family, I think Gracie will do just fine....