Again, too much time has passed since my last post. Our lives have only gotten busier since the beginning of November it seems. We had a wonderful visit with my parents Iron Bowl Weekend. My parents had a dress up photo shoot with Gracie Saturday before the game (See picture above). Gracie got that beautiful coat and hat from her Fairy Godmother, Betty, but sadly I'm not sure she'll ever get to wear it in Mobile. Maybe one day it'll really get cold here. We had a great vacation in Birmingham the week of Thanksgiving. We got to spend time with all of the family, Julie and Ryan were there from TX, and Marland and Betsy were around as well. Gracie enjoyed her Thanksgiving lunch like the rest of us. She actually started smacking her lips as we walked through the kitchen one time before lunch. The first picture is of Gracie at Thanksgiving lunch with her beautiful silver spoon that matches Gran's pattern.

We all went to Charlotte, NC the week after Thanksgiving for the National Youth Workers Convention. We were able to drive up to Chapel Hill and attend Christmas at the Corner at UBC and loved it. It was very special seeing everyone, and we even got to see some friends who were also back in Chapel Hill for a visit. We stayed with RG and Carlita the night we were there and Gracie LOVED playing with Aspen, who is deaf and pretty much blind. We discovered that weekend in NC that Gracie could crawl up stairs. She did it like she had been doing it her whole life (all 11 months =)). Jason got to go hear some great speakers in Charlotte and also got some great cd's and books dealing with different aspects of Youth Ministry. We broke the trip up to NC by stopping of in SC to visit the Voelkert's. Gracie had a lot of fun watching and playing with Eric and Emma. On the way home she even got to jump on their trampoline and loved it.

Our Christmas tree did get put up, but not many ornaments or lights on the bottom. Gracie has done really well with the tree. She does like to pull at the branches a little and likes to try to put the lights in her mouth, but she gets bored with it fairly quickly. She's opened a few Christmas gifts that she's gotten from church members and really likes to eat the paper. With all of the Christmas hub bub we were out every night last week except one and Gracie was a champ through it all. Last Tuesday we were at the church for our Sunday School party and Gracie stayed awake until after 9 and was having a blast. She thrives off of being around other people. I think sometimes she gets bored when it's just us =) We got some funny gifts from the dirty santa games and some generic old wedding gifts as well. We ended our parties tonight with the college kids that have come home for break. We left early because Gracie was ready for bed. We're leaving Mobile tomorrow afternoon to head to Birmingham for Christmas. Jason was able to get Sunday off so we will be able to spend more time with family. It'll be a busy weekend for sure.

Every once in a while when Gracie wakes up she's got really bad hair...that was the case in the picture above. She was actually in a good mood, but when I clicked the camera she was kind of making a silly =) face. Nobody likes bad hair days. She's doing great. She's discovered how much more fun it is to eat food that she can feed herself than eating mushy baby food and that's been a little frustrating at times when she won't eat anything but Goldfish. She's still growing like a little weed, so I'm not worried. She's speed crawling and crusing all over the place. She's discovered over the past couple of days that she can cruise along a wall and even turn corners. She is standing on her own really well and has taken a step or two by herself. She really likes to walk around holding one of our hands. She is babbling all the time and is still discovering the range she has. She's still sleeping well and getting much better at naps. Still no teeth...maybe for her birthday she'll get all of them =) Gracie will be 1 on Jan. 11 and we are very excited. I can't believe it's almost been a year! Time flies when you're having fun. Merry Christmas and lots of love!

Sarah