Father's Day

Oh how I can't wait for Father's Day. Jamie is such a great dad and deserves such a special day. Here lately he has been so helpful. I have been working extra at the hospital because of training, and he has stepped in and is keeping us afloat. It is the most beautiful thing watching him play with Grace. To say she is a daddy's girl is an understatement. She goes right to him anytime, and always wants him to read to her. He even makes comments, "why am I the only one that she wants to read to her?" He is trying to teach her how to play with her blocks, and is teaching her numbers and letters. I have some special things planned for him this weekend and most importantly want to spend some time relaxing and enjoying each other.

Sam's Graduation Party

So, finally the last of the busy weekends have come and gone. It was fun to just show up and not be responsible for anything. I did volunteer to bring Cheesy Potato Casserole and let me tell you - I made two 13 x 9 pans of them and there wasn't a bite left. I also brought the cake. I ordered it from Sam's Club and that was an ordeal of its own. For a prank, I had them write "Congratulations Sam James". The Sam James thing came from his graduation ceremony where instead of calling out his name Samuel James they called out Sam James, and we all thought it was pretty funny. So, I show up at Sam's Club and on the cake it reads, "Congratulations Sam and Jan". I told the man that it wasn't correct and he told me that he could fix it. Fifteen minutes later, a lady brought it out to me and it still wasn't correct. It said, "Congratulations Sam Jan". So, no "and", but still "...Sam Jan". Come on now! I was very nice and by this point running terribly late, but she told me that she could fix it. Twenty minutes passed, and she comes back out to me and asks me if I was running on a schedule because they were going to have to make me an entire new cake because it looked so bad. I told her that yes, I was already late but I would wait for a new cake. Ten minutes or so passed, and the cake finally looked great. Later that day when they cut the cake, it was one of the best cakes that I have ever tasted - so unbelievably fresh!! I had a great time talking to my mom's friend Susie and her daughter, Stephanie. Stephanie has a daughter that is 5 months older than Grace, so they played and got their little swimsuits on and played in the sprinkler. It was laid back with great company and good food and drinks.

St. Louis Weather and Babysitters

The weather here has been super gross lately. It has rained or been super muggy and humid everyday. The good thing about it is that I have been working a lot of night shifts for the past two weeks and I don't feel guilty about Grace missing out on outdoor stuff because its been too crappy for her to even go next door to the park. Since I have been working more I have had my sister, Sarah and brother, Sheldon babysit Grace. It works out perfect because my dad will drop one of them off in the morning on his way to work before Jamie has to leave, so Grace never has to be woke up and put in the car and can wake up as she normally does. Last week Sheldon watched her three days and Sarah watched her one day, but now this week is a different story. Sheldon has hand, foot, and mouth disease that he caught from my nephew. So Sarah luckily is able to step in and watch her all this week. Not to knock Sheldon but Sarah does such a fantastic job with her-- it must be a girl thing. She puts cute new clothes on her and does her hair, takes her over to the park, etc. Also, its nice to have them come to the house for the fact that I am sleeping in the other room and can get up at anytime and check on her, or if they have an issue I am right there to jump in.

Icky Sticky Messy Fun Day

In a pool of jello

In the pool of spaghetti noodles


This was the start of the Messy Day


So the title speaks for itself. Grace and I were invited to the 2nd annual Icky Sticky Messy Fun Day. Let me explain; its a day planned for children to ruin their clothes and get crazy messy. Oh, and by the way have a GREAT time while doing all of that. Grace was a little young for it. A lot of the stations scared her but she did okay. It began in a circle holding hands and saying a prayer that ended with Amen and the beginning of shooting each other with silly string. How did Grace respond? By standing in the yard screaming!!!!! It was so funny that I could have died laughing!! Then we proceeded with letting her get in a kiddie pool full of spaghetti noodles, then a pool of jello, then oatmeal, etc. It was a great day and was fun seeing Grace run around having fun. Enjoy the crazy pictures.

Save as Draft

Grace's First Birthday

Well, her party was a great success!!! I am sad that it has come and gone.... I only obsessed and dreamed about that day for the last twelve months. She got tons of fun stuff and some really cute new clothes. Everyone we invited pretty much came which made for a busy afternoon. We were so busy entertaining that we only took pictures of Grace eating her cake and that was it. Some things that I realized with all of this birthday hoopla: 1) Throwing parties is outrageously expensive! 2) If you're the host you don't get to enjoy yourself as much as you'd like. 3) That you don't get to love on your baby the entire day. 4) That next year it's no big shin dig!!!! Thanks to all that came, we love you, and Grace is lucky to have such important and amazing people in her life!!

Arnold Rec Center

Well, I took the plunge and bought the membership to the Arnold Rec Center. Oh how we love that place!!!! I took Grace swimming the other afternoon with Shelden, Stephen, and Seth and she had a great time. I have enclosed a few pictures of her playing in the fountains. The water was FREEZING the day we went so we only stayed for an hour, but we had a great time. Bring on the fun there this summer!!!

Jenna's Graduation Party

Jenna's (Jamie's little sister) graduation party was a great time. It was at the Pacific Civic Center and was a perfect spot. Susan had it decorated really cute and had great food. Jamie and I had fun watching Grace run around and play with the other kids. We enjoyed seeing everyone and are very proud of Jenna. Before we were getting ready to leave to go to he party, we got a call from our real estate agent that someone wanted to come see our home in the evening so the entire day we were thinking about that. They made their appointment from 6:30-7:30 and I had to work so Jamie took Grace over to the park the entire time and let her swing. The feedback we got from our agent is that they didn't like how small the kitchen was--nothing we can do about that. Oh well, it will happen for us one day.

Sam's Graduation

Well, Sam did it, he graduated. My mom is so excited that he made it, because we all know that Samuel didn't like school that much. My mom's number one priority and wish for us kids is for us to graduate from school and so far we all have. He walked with his friend Shane and we got some cute pictures of them. After the ceremony my parents took us all out to dinner at Steak N Shake and we had a nice meal. Grace acted like a fool in the restaurant so I am sure they were glad to see us leave. During the graduation ceremony my Aunt Janet came over and watched Grace, and she did a fabulous job. Grace seemed to be happy and it was nice being able to leave her and not be nervous at all. Sam's graduation party is this Sunday so can't wait to see everybody.