WV Trip

On Sept 25, Grace & I headed to WV and we've been here since. We have had such a wonderful time, but will be very excited to get into Daddy's arms this afternoon. Grace did great on the flight up and I hope today's flight will be just as uneventful.

We came to help my mom recover from knee replacement surgery and she's going great. Grace had so much fun playing with all of our family here. We even got to spend these last 3 days in Elkins with my Dad & Step mom. Grace is certainly going to go through withdraw when we get home and it's just Mama all day. :) Anyway, here are a few of the photos from our time here.

Cuddling with Dudley (the bear)and Grandma4 Generations. I've been meaning to get this shot every visit, but we have it now.Playing with Great GrandmaWalkingThis toy played music and cheered every time you pushed the hoop down. Grace loved it!Kisses - Grace loves this game.Just some cute pictures of my sweet girl

On Sunday Morning, before we headed down to Elkins, we got Grace and my cousin Jenn's 2 kids, Truman & Maggie, over to my Grandma's house to play. Truman is 8 weeks younger than Grace but is the same height and has about 6lbs on her. They really enjoy each other. They played great together and laughed and touched each others faces, it was very sweet. Grandma hasn't been feeling well lately so it really brightened her spirits to see her 3 babies playing together at her house. Grace fell asleep in the car not 3 minutes after we left she was so wiped out! Here are a few pictures of the fun.

Great Grandma and her babies. This was the only shot we got...Maggie didn't want to have her photo made. Great Grandma with the 2 little onesCousins!My cousin Jenn with her 2 kiddos and Grace - with all 3 babies smiling!PlayingSweet Truman Chasing the laser light Maggie posing for the camera. I love her attitude!Jenn & MaggieAunt Reta is so much fun

What a fun and enjoyable visit!

Catching Up

Wow, apart from our anniversary post, I haven't posted in over a month - sorry all! We have a good excuse, we've been with family and friends and busy having so much fun. Here's a brief recap of our last month...

On July 21, Grace & I headed up to WV to visit with my side of the family. This time I left at 2am so she would sleep the first half of the trip and it made it much more manageable. It's still 10+ hours in the car no matter how you shake it, but it definitely helps for her to sleep through half of it. The preschool prep videos worked a little, so that was good. She was VERY ready to get out of the car when we arrived and she scooted all over the house for an hour before she conked out. All in all I would call it a success.

First up was a few days with my dad & step mom. Grace just loves all her grandparents and I think she is just even more blessed to have 3 sets instead of just 2. She sure is spoiled by love and attention when we are all together and I love it. While we were with them she had a blast with their cat Caspur. She would chase him and play with him in his tube, I have a video but it keeps publishing to youtube choppy and I can't figure out why. Here it is anyway as it's just too cute not to share.



Here are a few pictures from our time in Elkins...

She LOVES her Nana!Cuddling with GrandpaI love this face, cracks me up!Playing with Caspur - so fun!

On Friday afternoon we headed up to my mom's place where we would spend the next week. We had a wonderful time hanging out with all our family in Fairmont. Unfortunately Grace's cousin was sick so we couldn't play together until the end of the next week, but we got to spend lots of time with her Great Grandma and she LOVED having us as company. David flew up Wednesday night and my dad was gracious enough to go to Pittsburgh to play golf and bring him home for us. I certainly appreciated not having to spend another 4 hours in the car. :) Grace was so excited to see her Daddy, she woke up at 2am hungry and just about leaped into him when she saw him in the bed. It was so sweet.

We went to see my Great Grandmother (my Dad's Grandmother) and introduced her to Grace. For a 95 year old lady she held on to our little squirmer with ease and just loved playing with her.

Here they are togetherHere's a group shot with my brother & Kayla as well

We had a great week in Fairmont capped off by our family Reunion at Rock Lake on the 31st. We always enjoy seeing all the extended family and David had a blast playing hard at the lake with all our cousins. Grace had her Aunt Kayla wrapped around her little finger I think, she definitely has bonded with her (and Uncle Mark too!) We'll have to get up to MI to visit them or have them down so she can spend more time with them. Here are a few pictures from our trip, I stole some of these from my dad and my cousins...I definitely need to learn how to take more photos while toting around and caring for Grace.

Playing with Daddy & Great Grandma'sDavid going down the slide at the lakeSplashing in the lake with DaddyCrazy cousin John giving Grace a new 'doMy old NKOTB towel...found it when looking for a few beach towels to use - made me laugh out loud!!

We returned home again leaving at 2am only this time the trip wasn't as uneventful. I think the country roads didn't sit well with our sweet girl as she threw up about an hour into our trip. I was so tired I was standing in the Go Mart parking lot holding her tight just crying. David got us all settled down and I rode the rest of the way in the backseat with Grace...made me long for the day when we'll have a minivan! :) I hope once she'd forward facing she won't get carsick, but her Daddy does so it's definitely possible.

We had a week at home just the 3 of us before my friend Jennifer arrived for a week long visit. We met in college and have been best friends ever since. She is such a hoot and we had a wonderful, relaxing, silly time. I miss her dearly and I am so glad she was able to fly down for a visit. I'm even more grateful for her husband, parents and in-laws who kept her 2 girls so she could come down. I am realizing more and more than you need silly, crazy, girl time as a mom to keep your sanity. :) Here she is with Grace one afternoon before we headed to the pool. (Jen put the scrunchie in her hair and she didn't pull it out!)

Disclaimer on the silly video below...Jen & I LOVE The Jerk. We made David watch it for the first time with us while she was here. I often sing the Thermos song to David in our every day life. So, Jen decided to be super silly one morning and this is the result. It's a little dark, but still funny none the less. Hope you enjoy the silliness!



Before Jen arrived, I let Grace watch a Baby Einstein video for the first time ever. She was so cranky and not feeling the best, so I caved and let her watch 30 minutes of TV. I tried to get her attention to take her picture and this was the result - they sure do learn early!!
So that's been our month - we hope you all have had as much love and fun in your lives as we've had in ours. We are blessed, truly!

Time with our Trumbos

I finally got a decent nights sleep last night, so I am taking advantage of feeling a little more alert to blog a bit.

On April 15th Grace and I headed up to Pinehurst, NC to visit with our Trumbo family. It was so great to get to visit with Lacey and the kids and get to spend some QT with Jane Dare. Plus, Gracie got to meet her Auntie Lacey and cousins, whom she just adored. It was hysterical to watch her watching the kiddos play - she constantly looked like she was "talking it all in". Ryan was in TX for a class so it was just us girls and the kids. The trip SHOULD take about 5 1/5 hours, but with my cranky girl it took me nearly 8 hours to drive up. On the way home we stopped in Greenville, SC for lunch with my dear friend Court and her kiddos. It made the trip back much more enjoyable and even with a 1 1/2 hour stop we made it home in 7 hours...much better!

We had a great visit. I always try to get up to visit Lacey when Ryan's gone and with 5 kiddos, I was beat. I am definitely in awe of my BFF and her ability to keep up with 4 kids under 5 every day solo. She is a remarkable woman! We did get some time to just visit and chat after all the kids were in bed, which was wonderful. It's hard not living in the same area, so we treasure any time we can get together. David & I want to try to get up there sometime this summer/fall to visit again when Ryan is home. Here are a few of the highlights from our time together...

Jane Dare & GraceJane Dare giving Grace a kiss square on the lips - it catches Grace a little off guard...too funny!!A turtle the kids found while exploring for Bamboo for Pong (Pong is Jake's "class pet" and he got to take him home for the weekend. We had lots of adventures with Pong besides exploring for Bamboo that included going to CFA and to a carnival/summer fun event)Jake with Pong and the TurtleReid wanted his photo taken, but wouldn't look at me, silly boy! Such a cutie though...My sweet AinsleyGiving Gracie a hug goodbye!More hugs...Friends Forever

Grace's 1st Easter

We had a wonderful Easter this year. We headed up to WV to celebrate with my family for the first time in a long time. It was the first chance my brother Mark and his wife Kayla were going to get to meet Gracie and we got to celebrate Truman's baptism while we were there. It was a wonderful weekend and, as always, we are grateful for our family time.

We arrived LATE Thursday, well technically Friday morning, after an 11 hour trip. Grace did GREAT and it was so much easier doing the drive with David. I was able to pump and give her a bottle in her seat minimizing our stop time which was great. Travelling at night is alot easier and I think as she gets older we will try to do it more..

Friday my dad and stepmom came up to meet us for lunch at the hot dog place. They stayed with us at my Aunt Reta's place all afternoon and we had a great visit. Friday night we did pizza and salads at Grandma's. It was bittersweet since it was the first time we were all together since my Grandad went to be with Jesus, but it was still sweet family time. The Dairy Creme Corner had opened a few days earlier, so we got ice cream cones (massive ones, like Amusement Size servings for $1!) on our way home.

Saturday mom & I took Gracie to run some errands and then went back to Grandma's where we did an Easter egg hunt for Maggie and had a big Easter dinner. Sunday morning we got up WAY to early (5:45am to be exact) to make it out to my cousin's church for the early service for Truman's baptism. It was a sweet service and then we went back to Jenn's for a massive breakfast. We all parted from there and David, Grace & I headed down to my Dad's for one more night.

Monday morning we got up early and despite Grace not sleeping well the entire trip, we made it home in 12 hours. She went right to sleep in her cradle when we got home and has slept like an angel ever since - I guess even 4 month olds appreciate the value of their own beds...lol. It was a really great, but too short, visit and we look forward to more time together soon. Here are just a few pictures from our trip.

All smiles with Aunt Kayla & Uncle MarkMaggie's 1st Easter Egg Hunt, Grandma's back yard. Once she figured out there were M&Ms in the eggs, she was all into it. Mmm...M&Ms...Cousin Truman, ready for the big game!Grace & Truman - Grace is 8 weeks older, but Truman is actually bigger than she is. We start them early, I suppose Grace will go to WVU or Auburn if family history proves anything, lol. We'll have to get her an Auburn outfit for the fall. :)Truman & Grace with their Great GrandmaHere is some of my family at Truman's baptism on Easter morning. Gracie & her Grandma (my mom)Grace stylin' her bunny ears from cousin JennLiz with Grace's Froggy showing us her "good side"Johnny Paugh's random silliness, the bunny editionDavid & I being silly too