It's almost September ALREADY?!?!

First pictures, of course: =)

I can't believe summer is almost over. I know I haven't posted a family update in awhile, but not much is going on. David's still unemployed, doing the odd contracting job here and there, watching Gracie the rest of the time. Poor guy is so bored.

Gracie is so big. She learns a new word every day, and we REALLY have to watch what we say in front of her now, as she repeats just about everything she hears. She hasn't had much interest in potty training, so we're just sticking with pull-ups for now. No rush on that at all. She is now opening a lot of doors (uh-oh) and climbing on EVERYTHING, including over the back of every single piece of furniture in the house (double uh-oh). We're also getting a taste of the two-year-old tantrums... *sigh* But she laughs and smiles most of the time, is obsessed with Yo Gabba Gabba, and her nite-nite kisses are the sweetest. She loves to give kisses and hugs. Such a very sweet child.

I've been swimming laps every morning the last few weeks, and decided to set a goal for myself regarding my fitness. I always wanted to run a marathon like my dad, but that plan was cancelled when I was told my knees couldn't stand running that hard and long. A guy at the gym pool the other day commented that my crawl is surprisingly fast and strong for someone who hasn't been swimming regularly, and suggested I try a small triathlon. It sounds perfect. =) I found a training plan for people who are "couch to tri", meaning out of shape and needing to lose weight. It is eight months of training, and recommends racing a Sprint Triathlon at the end of that period. There is a triathlon event in Austin over Memorial Day weekend next year, and one of the races is a "FirstTri", which is about half of a Sprint Triathlon. The FirstTri is approximately .3 mile swim, 6 mile bike ride, and 3 mile run. If I start my training program on September 1st (next week) I will be at that eight-month mark right at Memorial Day weekend, so this is perfect. I'm very excited to try this. I know it will be hard, but I will try. It will be an awesome accomplishment to say I'm a triathlete. =) A very cool fitness goal.

My diaper cake business has really taken off in the last week. I have an order for this Saturday (stay tuned) and I just had a rush 24-hour order yesterday that I finished and delivered this afternoon. Check it out--> http://sarasdiapercakes.blogspot.com/2009/08/pink-green-paisley.html. This was a very large, extravagant cake, and I was up late last night just getting it built. Then this afternoon I finally decorated it. My friend Amber made a decorative letter for the cake, and it's beautiful. See her and her sister's shop: http://www.needleinascrapstack.etsy.com/. It really helps that she lives exactly 1/2 mile away! =)

Monkey Business

My latest diaper cake is finally posted to my diaper cake "portfolio"! Gave it to my sister-in-law Brandi today at her baby shower for my nephew Gunner! Check out my latest "topsy-turvy" model idea: http://sarasdiapercakes.blogspot.com/

Summersummersummertime

So we haven't been up to much lately. David's still unemployed, staying home with Gracie, working a few contracting hours each week but no word on anything permanent. I've been making sure to work 40 hours per week, and managing to squeeze in a half hour of overtime here and there. I'm making some progress on our very chaotic filing room at work, so that's giving me a sense of accomplishment when I leave every day.

Gracie is just all over the place. So many words and phrases; she is able to communicate really well with us. I do feel that she is not on the same accelerated learning pace that she was on a few months ago, due to her not being in the social environment of her school anymore, but we are working with her and she continues to amaze us. Her daily and night-time routines have relaxed in the last few months, but we are starting to get back into them so we can all get some more sleep. Potty-training has stalled over the last week or so, but we aren't rushing her into anything, just trying to let her set her own pace with it. Everything is available to her, she knows what they are for and how to use them, so we will just let her do her own thing for now.

She can now reach doorknobs. You know, I've been so excited about her being so tall. I love that she's already in 3T size clothes at 19 months old, and that she can climb up and down off of the couches and chairs and beds without our help. But when she reached up and closed the bedroom door on me the other day, I wasn't too excited anymore. She hasn't quite been able to reach her fingers around the knob and turn it to open the doors, but she can shut them. All of them. All of the time.

Then I noticed that she can reach things on the stair banister. We used to put things like our drinks, cell phones, keys, sunglasses, mail, etc. up there where she couldn't reach. Now those things disappear. She's also figured out the buttons on the TV in the living room and the XBOXes downstairs, so those get turned off or on at her will.

"Wonder what would happen if I push this button while Daddy's playing his game...?"

"Uh-oh... Did I do that?" And she has just now discovered that she has the strength to pull hard enough on the cabinet doors in the kitchen to break the locks we have installed on them. *sigh* I thought this was getting easier (I know our parents are laughing right now. Amazing how the respect level for my parents has risen to astronomical levels since my daughter's birth). But she is an amazing child, the most beautiful and intelligent toddler in the whole world. =) Oh yes, and I can now french-braid her hair. Only happened once, during an exceptionally gripping episode of Dora the Explorer, but saw an opportunity and went for it, and it happened.

So there's an update of the last few weeks. I've had so much interest in my diaper cakes lately that I created a web page in blog form just to showcase them. See the link in the right-hand toolbar of this page, or just click here --> http://sarasdiapercakes.blogspot.com/ I will add a new one next Sunday, the 26th (have a shower that day and can't publicly reveal it until then, but it is finished and I've been told it's the best one I've ever made!).

Enjoy some pictures of Gracie goofing off over the last few days. Hope everyone's staying cool and having a wonderful summer!

Pig-tail Princess

Giggle-Monkey

Pony-in-a-Purse

She dumped all the balls out of her ballpit and wanted to climb under it. Look at her hair! LOL

Such a shame this picture is blurry; otherwise it's a great one!

Little bookworm

Piano prodigy (we are discovering that she is extremely musical)

"I know you're saying no, but I'm getting in here anyway..."

"See? I'm so cute it doesn't matter!" LOL

July 4th, 2009

We had a lot of fun on July 4th! We continued our annual family tradition of going to the Rangers game to celebrate Independence Day. This year our friend Shirley Ware invited us over for lunch before the game. Enjoy the pictures!

My beautiful Gran

Playing with Grandad

Despite the water and shade, Gracie ended up getting too hot. The nice security guy sent for a first aid person, who gave us an ice pack to put on Gracie's neck. We changed her into cooler clothes and she felt better pretty quickly!

With Grandad & Grangi

Famous fireworks!

Summer fun!

Well we're just having a blast this summer! The heat is affecting our patience a bit, but we love each other and Gracie's smiles and antics make up the perfect recipe for laughter and fun! Enjoy some pictures!

She loves the stairs

Blowing kisses

"I don't know!"

Making faces with Aunt Brandi

Sweet picture with Aunt Brandi, Uncle Jeff, and Cousin Gunner in Aunt Brandi's tummy!

She loves to throw all the balls out of the ballpit, lol.

My beautiful, darling ray of sunshine!

Breaking News: No More Diapers for Gracie!

Well, no more traditional diapers. She has been messing with them for awhile now, and in the last couple of days started throwing little fits to get them off. I think the heat combined with her increased activity is making the bulky diapers uncomfortable to her. She has shown interest in the potty, waving "bye-bye" to the contents of a dirty diaper when we flush them down the toilet. We brought out her little Dora toilet seat last night, and she sat on there awhile. Starting today, she'll be in Pull-Ups!

Let the potty-training games begin!

Father's Day 2009

Happy Father's Day! We spent Friday over at Papa Mike's house to celebrate Father's Day with him. Naturally, we thought we'd make use of his awesome pool, like we did last year!

This first picture was taken last Father's Day, in almost the same spot as this year's picture! Wow, she's grown so much!

Gracie posed with her shades, LOL.

Having fun in a ducky float!
Absolutely precious kisses for Daddy!
Going fast on a big float!
Hi, Papa!

Sunday we went to Grandad and Grangi's house to continue the tradition we started last year of Dad and I making our enchiladas together. The recipe also honors Angela's dad, Gerald, who sadly passed away last October. About eight or nine years ago, my dad and Angela were dating and Gerald gave Dad a packet of an enchilada sauce mix. The next weekend while I was visiting, we searched online for an enchilada recipe we could make together. We found an easy one, and the enchiladas were awesome! Dad and I have made it several times since, and it's always a special thing to do together. After we ate lunch, we played a game of Carcassonne (Dad won), and then we played a couple rounds of Star Trek Scene It (Dad's Father's Day gift). Dad won both of those, too. =) It was hard, as there were Voyager and Deep Space Nine questions that none of us had a clue about, but there were some fun ones about the Original Series, the movies, and Next Generation. Even David knew a couple! So we all enjoyed a very fun and special Father's Day.

To Mike, Eric, Greg, Grandpa Burton and David,

Happy Father's Day! You are the best dads and grandads anyone could hope for and we are so blessed! Thank you for all that you are and for loving us so much!

In loving memory of Papa Duane, Grandad Richard, Grandpa Gerald, and Grandpa Claudy. We miss you very much and think of you often.

We love you!!!

A Day At The Ranch

I got off work at 11 one day, so we decided to go to the ranch! I'll let the pictures tell the story of our fun day!

Gracie was a giggle-monster the whole way there, pointing at every airplane and big truck.

She made sure her Sweeties Bear had plenty of juice to drink.

When we got there, Daddy got busy mowing the lawn around the house.

Then he and Sherrie tried to fix this ancient tractor, but it was smoking and not wanting to cooperate.

Gracie watched the tractor shenanigans from the sidelines with a cool snack of chocolate ice cream.

Momo, the horse, got a haircut, then a graham cookie snack.

I put cookies on my shoulder to get this picture. He likes me now.

Nelly and DeeDee, the donkeys, love graham cookies, too.

Gracie got caught playing with makeup in the bathroom. This face is so precious!

After all that sun and fun, she passed out for the ride home.


What a fun day!