Hello St. Louis!

So I have been MIA for the last couple of weeks…why you wonder?  Well, we have been back at home!  It was a long awaited visit that was full of family, fun, birthday parties, and let’s not forget the turkey!  Gracie had a blast seeing all of her family.  We started off our trip in West Frankfort with Grandma Beth, Nica and PJ better known as my mom, Aunt Joy, and Uncle Joe.  We were there the longest.  While there we had a birthday party, played with brand new puppies, and did some shopping.  Here I learned a valuable lesson for the holiday shopping season with Miss Gracie, I cannot take her with me when I am buying presents for her.  I attempted to buy her birthday present and she knew it was for her.  I even tried to tell her it was for someone else, it did not work.  Thankfully she had already forgotten about when it was time for her party…but more on that party later.  Yes, if you remember 2 years ago, she had three parties, this year is no different.  So here is the West Frankfort leg in pictures (forgive my camera, you know it’s been on it’s last leg for at least 3 months, but my hubby (the best ever) remedied that for me over break, but more on that later):

A visit home always leads to a trip down memory lane.  I was looking for my doll clothes my grandmother had made for me when I was little to give to Gracie for Christmas and I found my wedding box.  In it I found my bouquet, tiara, candles, and all the other stuff that I saved from the wedding.  When Matt and I got married, just a few days later we were heading to Ft. Lewis WA where Matt started is active duty.  So it was a nice journey back to find these things.  The little message on our cake topper made me well up with tears.  Just to think all the things Matt and I have been through to get to this point and the best is yet to come!

So off to our next and very short stop in St. Louis.  We were just there for a night to pick Matt up from the airport for the weekend.  And honestly, I was just trying to get everything ready for Gracie’s party so I didn’t take any pictures.  But the next morning, I made 2 batches of cupcakes and Aunt Dianne iced Gracie’s cake that everyone called the E cake instead of the 3 cake because it kept getting turned around! Ha Ha!  But you will see pictures in a moment.  The best part of the Thanksgiving was this:

We got to see our favorite person in the world!!!  We picked up Daddy and then headed up to Greenfield.  Gracie, of course, was the center of attention which she did not enjoy at first.  She is a little like her daddy in this department, she is ok once she gets comfortable, but she is completely hands off until she gets there.  After awhile and once she discovered Aunt Amy’s dolls, she was fine.  As a matter of fact, she spent the first couple of hours hanging in Amy’s old room that has now turned into Gracie’s room.  Just ask her! ha ha!  After a yummy dinner, we started setting up for the party.  When I found out that we were going to be spending the Thanksgiving weekend at home, I knew we would be doing a party.  After talking with my mother in law, we decided it was better for all involved if we just did a simple cupcake party after dinner.  It turned out fabulous.  The most important part was that Gracie enjoyed her party!  Again, here is some pictures:

And of course after cake comes presents!  She made out like a bandit! I had to ship 4 boxes, have 2 suitcases maxing the weight, and have 3 carry-on’s to get it all home!  Thanks for everyone, it meant a lot!!!!!

So that is pretty much it for the big events.  We did some pictures at Sears, my friend Emily took some pictures, I took some more pictures (not surprising right!)  Especially since my husband gave me my Christmas gift early.  That’s right folks, I am finally a proud owner of a Nikon 3100!!! I am so excited.  But you also know I have no idea how to use it!  Anyway, I am going to leave you with all of these pictures.  I know it’s overload, I am probably leaving out a lot of details.  But I plan of doing a “What is Gracie doing at 3 post” either tomorrow or Sunday.  Her actual birthday isn’t until Sunday so I promise I will do it this weekend.  I am suffering from major jet lag!  As I leave you with a ton of pictures, I hope you all had a fabulous Thanksgiving, I know the Cunningham’s did!