3 Parties & a Last 1st Holiday....

Ok, so I was not able to update as often as I orginally tended too. Since last Sunday we have had 3 parties, a last 1st holiday, and a whole lot of other stuff in between. Everything went off without a problem and we really enjoyed seeing everyone. I was very exited to see 2 of my best friends at the b-day party in Greenfield. It had been so long since I had seen either of them. Gracie got a lot of fun new stuff. She loves all of her new toys and clothes. It was interesting to see all the stuff packed into CC & Dianne's little Sunfire. Gracie was so packed in...at one point we had to take a suitcase out to get her out of the car! It was so funny. Now to think about it, I should have gotten a couple of pictures of that! Gracie had a lot of new foods to include real turkey, sweet pototoes, and birthday cake...which she loves. She must take after Liz on that one! Everytime she sees cake, she makes a "mmm" sound like "hey where is mine!" But after having 3 birthday cakes, who wouldn't right!?! She even has one more very small party at home on Saturday. We are hoping to have our friends Brian and Leda down to go see a movie and have cake and ice cream afterwards! Well, I am feeling a bit discombulated after our trip so I am not thinking straight. I will provide more fun details and tons of pictures when I have my thoughts together. I just didn't want you all to think I had forgotten all about you! I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. We have so much to be grateful for this year!

The Cunningham's @ Thanksgiving


Mommy, Daddy, & the Birthday Girl


Princess Gracie & Daddy

We made it and stairs...

So after a VERY long day in the airport, we finally made it to St. Louis. We got to Uncle CC & Aunt Dianne's to relax and eat some yummy pizzas with some of our friends here. Gracie loved being the center of attention but passed out early due to the long day. The yesterday we just took it easy. Uncle CC and Matt went to the Rams/Bears game where I have to say the Bears pounded the Rams which made Matt extremely happy. The girls just hung around in jammies, it was fun! Of course we had more friends over last night for dinner. It was such a good time.



The other thing we have figured out which is so SCARY and exciting considering we are moving into a 2 story house is that Gracie figured out how to crawl up the stairs all on her own. Aunt Dianne and I had this conversation about how the stairs in the new house is making me kind of nervous not 5 minutes before Matt called up stairs (where I was at) to come to the top of the stairs and there was my little girl just crawling her way up the stairs. I just can't believe it. I had no idea she could do it considering she hasn't been around stairs in 5 months! Baby gates are definitely in our future!!!!!! There is a video down below of her adventures up the stairs.



Well, today is Gracie's photo shoot for the university. For those of you that forgot, earlier in the spring, Uncle CC bought some University of Missouri @ St. Louis gear for Gracie and in appreciation for it I took some pictures and sent them to him. Well, of course, he had to show them off. Well, the bookstore wanted to blow her picture up into a poster and diplay it by the baby clothes. So now that we are in town they want new pictures so we are heading over there today to take some. Don't worry, mommy is going with the camera so I will be sure to grab some and post some!



Alright, well I have some things to do while Gracie is sleeping so I am going to go! Have a great day and I will post more later! Enjoy the pictures so far!!!!





"Look at how far I am"






Gracie & Daddy this morning!







Gracie in her ducky tub!





Stair Climbing

UGH....Airports

Hello all...we sure hope your Saturday is going well...ours is not. We got off fine in El Paso, but as soon as we got to Albuquerque, we discovered our flight was delayed because of fog in San Diego. We were supposed to be on a plane into St. Louis by 11:30 (it is now that time) and we not have to wait until 2:10 to be in the air. If you want my opinion, I am not happy. Thankfully Gracie is being a good girl and sitting in her stroller chewing on her bink. I am going to try to keep her content there since we have to be here for so long. Eventually we will have to get up and walk around. She loves to look at all the new things. I am hoping she sleeps for most of the flight into St. Louis. Ok, I think I am done venting...ha ha! I thought I would just let you all know that our trip is turning out to be interesting to say the least. Like I said before I promise to keep you all updated throughout the trip! Have a good Saturday!

WOWZA...

What a week. So let me just give you an overview of my week:

Monday-very busy at work
Tuesday-went to the toe doctor, singed off half of my toenail, went to the dentist, extracted a tooth
Wednesday-went to work in pain, got sent home, had to go to the zoo to replace Pengy since Daisy decided to use Pengy the Penguin as a chew toy
Thursday-VERY long day at work, got off early, Gracie fussy due to another tooth coming in
Friday-busy busy busy-dropped Daisy off, took pictures of our new house, and attempted to pack

Tomorrow we leave for our much deserved trip home to see family. We are starting off seeing our family in St. Louis, then heading to Greenfield, and then off to West Frankfort. All in a week or so! Gracie will have 3 parties while we are there to celebrate her upcoming first birthday. She is getting to be such a big girl.


Speaking of Gracie, she is doing great. She is experiencing more and more with standing on her own. I don't think she is going to take her first steps before her birthday or even by her birthday but that is A-OK with me. Walking turns into running and I am not ready for that.


So we are officially moving at the end of December. It is going to be crazy but we are excited. When it comes down to it, we are just out growing our house now. It is a fabulous deal that we cannot pass up. Even though we are just renting it, we are going to make it our own. I still won't be able to paint, but there are ways to make white walls look good. We have been doing it for almost 8 years so why change now! ha ha!


Well, I am exhausted and have to get up early to finish packing. Busy busy day! Here are a few pictures from the last week along with a few of our new home. Enjoy your weekend and I promise to update as long as I can while we are home!

Me attempting to get a good Christmas picture...


Entry to our new house



The kitchen...much bigger then the one I have now


The outside

My happy girl!

Good Sunday Morning~

Good Chilly Sunday Morning....it is so cold here this AM. But don't think I am complaining! I am EXCITED! I love cold weather which is why we won't be staying in El Paso after our 2 years here. I like warm weather, but it just gets too hot for me to handle.

Yesterday was such a great day. I started out by doing some housework which was majorly needed and got it all done by the time I needed to go run some errands. After I got back, Matt and I strapped Gracie into her car seat (who is sitting forward facing now) and headed over to look at another house to rent. It has a fireplace, a separate laundry room (not in the garage), a better kitchen, a bigger spare bedroom (very important for you all that have come to visit), double sink in the master bath, and pretty much the fix to all the gripes we have about our current house. With all of Gracie's toys and stuff that comes with having a baby, we need the extra 600 feet it is going to give us. So at the beginning of the year, we are going to be moving. That should be interesting.

Other then that, today we are hanging out at home. Matt needs to get caught up on some school work and I am going to set up the Christmas Tree. Since we leave for vacation next weekend I want to do it this weekend, not to mention I am totally in the Christmas Spirit already!

Well, you all have a fabulous day and I promise to post some pictures soon!

My Veteran's

Today is a special day for me. It is a day I get to honor my husband, my grandfather and Matt's grandfather. All three of them, among many others I know and don't know, have fought in wars in the past and in the present. Today is a day for all of us to celebrate, take a moment, and appreciate those who have served, are serving, and are deployed to foreign lands to protect all that we have here in the United States. So far Matt has only done one deployment to Iraq, but we are looking towards another one in the spring. I am so very proud of my husband. He sacrifices so much of his own life and things he loves to fight for our freedom. Many people ask me if I like being a military wife, which I admit at times I don't, but you know what? I am married to a guy who unselfishly fights for a cause that many people don't agree with. He gets up everyday, puts on his uniform and drives to work to do his part in protecting our country. There are times where he has to put his job before his family but I know that he loves his country and does it to protect our freedom. I know Gracie is so proud of her daddy. I look forward to telling her stories of the things her daddy has done and stories of her grandfather's that she will never know. Matt is my hero, he is the man I love with all of my heart, and he is my man in uniform. Whatever decisions he decides in the future, I will be there by his side. So Happy Veteran's Day to you Honey and to all of those out there that are serving, have served, and will serve in our military. Your dedication and service is appreciated by all!

My hero and his little girl!


Such a perfect way to describe what today is really about:

They Did Their Share

On Veteran’s Day we honor

Soldiers who protect our nation.

For their service as our warriors,

They deserve our admiration.

Some of them were drafted;

Some were volunteers;

For some it was just yesterday;

For some it’s been many years;

In the jungle or the desert,

On land or on the sea,

They did whatever was assigned

To produce a victory.

Some came back; some didn’t.

They defended us everywhere.

Some saw combat; some rode a desk;

All of them did their share.

No matter what the duty,

For low pay and little glory,

These soldiers gave up normal lives,

For duties mundane and gory.

Let every veteran be honored;

Don’t let politics get in the way.

Without them, freedom would have died;

What they did, we can’t repay.

We owe so much to them,

Who kept us safe from terror,

So when we see a uniform,

Let’s say "thank you" to every wearer.

Cheerios for Two

So, Gracie has figured out that not only does Daisy love Cheerios like she does, but sharing them is not only nice, but fun! For about 10 minutes I watched Gracie eat a Cheerio and give one to Daisy. There was a couple that Daisy attempted to get out of Gracie's little fingers but was unsuccessful and almost ended up in Gracie's mouth with puppy germs. I am so proud of Daisy, she is such a great dog. Most dogs would keep trying to get the food from some one's fingers until they got what they wanted, even if that meant biting, nipping, or whatever to get it. Daisy with all of her puppy patients would take it if she could get to it without hurting Gracie. Daisy is so great with Gracie, we are blessed to have a dog like Daisy. Either way here are a couple of pictures of the two dining on Cheerios!

Here Daisy, try these!!!

Daisy loves him...have some more!

Taken a few minutes ago...her hiney is up in the air! How Cute!

Relaxing weekend...feeling icky!

Well, what a nice long weekend. Gracie hasn't been feeling great and quite honestly neither have I so I left work early on Friday and just stayed home all day. It was an extra bonus to have Matt home too considering he had 24 hour duty on Thursday. He gets a 5 day weekend due to Veteran's Day on Tuesday...lucky duck! I still have to go to work tomorrow but I do get Tuesday off. Either way we had a nice relaxing weekend. We got some stuff done around the house that I have been dying to do. I wanted to go through a couple of things before we drug all of our Christmas stuff out. Yes, I am getting the Christmas stuff out next weekend because we usually set the Christmas tree up the day after Thanksgiving but this year we are going to be home in Illinois for Thanksgiving so I want to have it done before that. I know, I am nuts, but I love Christmas and I would rather do it now rather than later.

Gracie cracks me up. She now sticks her tounge out all the time. As soon as we go outside, that tounge pops out. I have some funny pictures down below of it! She is just too cute. She is doing great and just hung out all weekend. We did get out of the house for a little bit today and went to the park to take some fall pictures. Keep in mind we live in a desert climate so our fall is everything brown. The very few trees that have leaves that turn are just now starting to turn. Also, it was still 72 today....we are just now starting to cool down. Either way, I still got some cute pictures of Gracie. There is even a small video of her walking for you to enjoy. She is getting better at it but still stumbles a bit as you will see.

Gracie and Daisy have always been the best of friends, but lately they have been almost inseprable. It is so cute. I decided to see if I could get some pictures of them together considering when they are near each other it is hard to get both of them to stay still long enough to snap the picture. I have to say the more mobile Gracie gets, the harder it is to get pictures.
Well, enjoy the pictures and enjoy the week! I will be sure to post more pictures soon. I finally got my good camera back so I am a picture taking fool again. Until next time....

So precious!

Me & My girl!

Walking...and doing a good job!


"So Daisy, this IS a great idea!"

Typical Gracie smile


Video of Gracie Walking

1 month shy!!!

Talk about me taking my own sweet time typing an update but I haven't had the few minutes to gather my thoughts, trust me, I wouldn't have made any sense of I would have typed one earlier this week. Either way, things are going great here! Believe it or not, Gracie is officially one month shy of her 1st Birthday! I can't believe it, my baby is going to be a year old. Where does the time go. She is getting to be such a big girl. We are over 20 lbs now and I am sure she has grown at least a 1/2 an inch which means she should be close to 29 inches...she is all body and short legs, just like her Daddy. Considering I did a blog at the 10 month mark that listed 10 things, I am going to keep that going and do one for 11 things...that Gracie now does! So here you go:

1. She sticks her tounge out to taste the air. It has been breezy the last couple of days and as soon as we get out side, out pops her tounge!

2. She is starting to talk more and more. We say ma ma and da da a lot along with many other sounds.

3. She is starting to walk when we are only holding one hand. She is still wobbling a lot but she is getting the hang of it.

4. She is starting to like more and more table food. We are slowly getting away from baby food, but she loves the apples so that one I think is going to be hard to let go!

5. She is getting more independent, in good and bad ways! She will play on her own a lot but she also wants to feed herself, which I don't mind until I have to clean up the mess!

6. Other then apples, she has found a new favorite food, CHEERIOS! My oh my, if she is getting cranky, give her cheerios.

7. She makes the funniest faces when she is banging everything against everything and I do mean everything.

8. She is starting to show strong, very strong, attachments to things, such as Pengy the Penguin, Dolly, and Daisy (she starts to look for her if she isn't around.)

9. She is laughing so much. Tonight she was taking her evening nap, which was lasting 2 hours so I woke her up or at least attempted too. She was about 75% asleep and I was laughing at her funny faces and she just smiled and smiled because she new something was funny. There is her Daddy's sense of humor again.

10. She stands on her own, but gets lazy or impatient (remember she is my daughter) that she hasn't figure out how to go and sits right back down.

11. She is the most perfect little girl that brings laughter, joy, and happiness into our lives. We have been truly blessed with this little girl. With each passing day, it is bittersweet to realize that that day will never happen again but the excitement for the next day makes it all worth it.

Well, Matt just came in to tell me that I needed to go to bed so I better. But before I go, here are a few pictures of our 11 month old Gracie!

"No way Mommy, Daisy didn't do that!"

Standing on her own with Pengy!

So, do you think this tastes like apples?

Happy Girl

One month old...so much bigger now!!