Birthday Blitz

We had a busy and very fun weekend. Saturday Jamieson and I took Grace to our friends Marjie and Jeremy's daughter Madison's first birthday party. We were only able to stay for two hours because we had my nephews first birthday party later that afternoon. Madison has grown so much since we seen her last. She is so skinny and cute. It was fun to visit with everyone but as usual the host and hostess were super busy.

My nephew Collin's first birthday party was a lot of fun. Everyone was there except my sister Sarah which she had prom to go to that evening. They had barbecue and cake. We were all outside and it was about the most gorgeous day to be out. I got Collin a play center/water activity table that all the kids flocked to play at. It was so funny seeing all of them play together.

Sunday, Jamie and I had some major cleaning to take care of

Willoughby Farms

The weekend before Easter I took Grace to a portrait party. We paid a flat session fee and she gave us a disc with copyrights. The photographer had chicks, bunnies, and a barn- What else do you need!!!! That morning it was very cold and rainy and Grace was in a bad mood, but she got some excellent shots. Here are a few previews of my little cutie!!!

Easter Festivites

Since I am soooo behind on blogging, I thought I would make one big post to catch up on how Easter went over at the Starck home.

Our first Easter activity was at our church, they had a egg hunt and bible story. We let Grace sit at the front of the church with the other children for the children's message, BIG MISTAKE!! She lasted about two minutes up there, and the entire time she was laughing and waving to the entire congregation. She did like the egg hunt. Each child was able to hunt twenty eggs a piece and if we pointed them out she would put them in her little basket.






For Jamie's family Easter get together a few of us just got together and we ate dinner at Bandanas. I forgot to take some pictures because we were in the restaurant but it was a nice time. Jamie's mom put together such a great Easter basket for Grace. She got her the movie "Finding Nemo" which I had been wanting to get for Grace and lots of other goodies. We had a nice dinner and came home that evening and cleaned.

Easter Sunday we attempted to take Grace to church with us. It was a DISASTER. Grace and church- not a good combo. The nursery was closed, I guess because of the holiday and we attempted to let her sit with us and she lasted about a whole two minutes. She just can't ever sit still, its terrible!!! We ended up sitting in the nursery with her playing and listening to the service thru the intercom thing.

Easter afternoon we went to my Aunt Janet's. All of my family was there and it was nice to see everyone. The food was yummy and Grace got some awesome Easter baskets. My mom made her a basket with all of her favorite things in it, peanut butter crackers, animal cookies, peeps, a clipboard, new jeans, shirt, and Elmo pajamas. My aunts made just one giant basket for her and it had all sorts of fun stuff in it. This little girl is soooo spoiled. They did a huge egg hunt and she was doing great until she realized that she could open them and there was candy in them because after that she just wanted to sit in the middle of the yard and eat candy. I had to change her outfit and I got some wonderful pictures of her.


I love Easter, I love the meaning behind it, I love being with family, and most of all I love making all of these wonderful memories for my daughter.

Busy Week

Sorry I have been missing in action this week. What a week its been!!! I literally worked every other night, that is terrible on a night shift worker but oh well its over. Some things that we did this week:


Play and Pray
Our church had a play and pray group and we took Grace. I don't know exactly what she thought of it but it was cute watching her interact with the other kiddos. They sang songs, made a cross, had story time, and ate a snack. Jamie went with me and I love that he is so involved with us. He is the best husband EVER!!!

Our Anniversary
March 24th was our three year anniversary. My mom picked Grace up from Ms. Judy's so we could be alone for the evening. Jamie and I decided to make dinner versus going out. Jamie made kabobs, steak, gourmet augratin potatoes, and we had bread. We had some wine and sat outside on the deck and talked. It was such a nice evening!!

Well we got big plans for this weekend, I will post pictures later.

Bring on Easter!!!

The Great Date Night 1

I had blogged before about participating in the Great Date Night, well we went on our first one. Jamie and I went to Bar Louie for dinner. We had a really yummy meal. Then it was raining when we left so that put a damper on what our second part was. We had thought about going bowling but on a Saturday night it would have been impossible to get a lane. So we took a drive and talked. Then we stopped by Schnucks to get each other a $2 dessert. I got Jamie a Greek pastry because I know he has never tried one. He got me a fudge brownie. We sat in the car and ate out dessert before we went to pick our little sweetie up from her Grandparents house.

We had such a nice time, and think that "Great date experiment" is a phenomenal idea.

A new addition to the family

Jamie won a recent argument over at the Starck home. We are the proud new owner of a little kitty cat. She is a cutie!! Jamie named her Penny short for Penelope. Wish us luck, the last few days have went okay. Poor Grace doesn't understand that she doesn't want to play. She sees Grace coming and runs off instantly.

We got accepted

We got a post card in the mail yesterday that Grace got accepted into our church's Children's Day Out program. It was so cute and official looking, ha ha!! She will be going starting in August every Thursday and we even got her in the early bird program so Jamie could take her when he heads into work that day. My two girlfriends children will be in there with Grace so it will nice to have familiar faces with her.

Sick Baby

I got one sick little baby at home. She has had fevers, cough, congestion, runny nose, emesis, and just feeling lousy.

My heart has been so sad for her seeing her so pathetic. She has been laying around the house, sleeping on our bed (she never does that) and laying on the floor randomly falling asleep.

I hope she gets better real soon, because I can't take this sad little face anymore.

Here are a few pictures that I took at the doctors office.

Bridal Shower

Tuesday I was suppose to be on call during the day from 7am until 3pm. My work surprisingly didn't need me to come in so I was off the hook to play with Grace all day. It was rainy and gloomy out and I needed to run some errands. We went out to lunch just her and I and it was so fun. We went to Qdoba's and Grace sat there and ate her entire kids meal. She did so good, I was so excited.

Then next we went to Walmart to pick up a few things. I got to tell you, I am a Target girl and they just built a brand new Walmart by us and it was so quiet in there and they had some cute stuff. We just took our time and browsed. I got a cake that I needed to bring to a bridal shower for that night. They totally misspelled what i wanted iced on the cake, but it was funny.

Julia hosted the bridal shower at her new house and it was just a bunch if us there, it was so much fun to hangout with all the girls and not be at work. I drank some wine and ate good food while Jamie had Grace at home, it was a relaxing night!!!

Gosh it feels good to get outside....

Wednesday the weather got up to the 70's and it was so sunny. So sunny in fact that it hurt your eyes. Grace and I headed next door to the park. We first stopped in at the Farm side and then made way to the playground. We have been reading some farm animal books to Grace and she knows some of the animals and what sound they make, so it was funny to see her with them.

The playground was packed!!! I bet there were a hundred kids playing, which made it difficult for poor Grace which she usually has the playground to herself. Both my friend Julia and Laura were there with there little ones. We swung on the swings for awhile and then Grace walked off and grabbed my hand was ready to go.

When we got home it was too entirely beautiful to go inside so we went for a LONG walk. We went all through my subdivision and up to an adjoining one. Grace held my hand and walk along side of me like a little angel. When we finally made it back to my condo we came inside to get something to drink and then played some more out on the deck.

She played and played and I sat in the chair outside getting some sun. Grace came up to me and I held her and she put her arms around me and then........ She puked from my neck all the way down me. I could have died it was so gross and out of no where. I instantly got us cleaned up and showered. My poor little Grace got sick just like that.

What a weekend

This weekend was great!!! It started off by me going to a baby mania consignment sale with my friend Jaime. We bought so much stuff and had a great time. I found the cutest summer dresses, swimsuits, and fall clothes for Grace. After that was over I stopped by my mom's house to see Grace. My Mom invited Grace to stay the night with her Friday evening because Jamie went into work some over time Saturday morning and I had to work Friday night shift. When I walked in the door she squealed with excitement ( F.Y. I. best feeling for a Mom), and I was sure happy to see her. My mom had my nephews and they were playing together.

Saturday afternoon when Grace was napping my brother Sheldon watched Grace for us and we went and had a quick dinner at Chilli's. We had a nice time, and came home to a still sleeping baby. Then we stayed home for the rest of the evening and played and played.

Sunday morning we went to church. Today was a big day the first time our daughter went to church. We usually go by ourselves and drop her off at my parents house. We want Christ to play an important part in Grace's life and help us mold her so we were giddy today thinking about how exciting it was. We should have known our strong willed daughter because she made it perfectly clear that she wasn't going to sit still and quiet just because we were in church- it was a disaster!!! Next week she is going to play in the nursery so we can focus on church.

After church we went home and Jamie barbecued us dinner. Grace LOVED it!!! After dinner we went to the Magic House. Our church rented it out for the evening and it was super nice. Jamie was giving me trouble about even going saying that Grace was to young but he was so wrong and I loved it!!! Grace had a great time, Jamie even had a great time. We both played as much as Grace did. I touched the magnetic ball and Grace's hair stuck up so high it was SO funny. After the Magic House, Jamie and my brother Sam went to the movies together so we headed over to my parents house. We walked in and Grace was so happy to see everyone. She rules the roost over there and they love her to pieces. Grace plays like over there like it is her house. Its nice for her to have Grandparents like them that are so involved in her life and love her like they do. It warms my heart to see the way that my daughter loves my family.

Anyway, it was a fabulous weekend. Hope everyone had the same.

Lady Bug Watcher

Have you ever just had one of those amazing nights???? A night where you really didn't do anything special but the entire night was just remarkable.... Tonight I played on the floor with Grace, we laughed so hard that I cried (and maybe peed in my pants!!)

She ran around me in circles, we danced, laughed, sang, and just played!!!! She laughed so hard as we watched a lady bug fly around in the living room, it was the funniest thing I have ever seen.

As I go to bed tonight, my heart is incredibly full. Full of love and happiness, I ask myself daily how did I get so lucky and fortunate to have all I have. Grace kissed me and wrapped her arms around my neck this evening and I thought my heart was going to explode with happiness.

I LOVE being her mother!!!!!!!!!