Gracie wasn't so sure about the hat at first!


Gracie tested out the icing for a bit before she got to the cake.
Gracie was kind enough to share with Mommy and Daddy!


Gracie had a blast with the cake!
Gracie has learned how to climb over and into things.
Oh, the life of a Youth Minister!









We had a wonderful Christmas in Birmingham. We got to spend time with most of our family (Julie and Ryan were in TX) and got to see a lot of friends too. Gracie has really enjoyed her wagon that she got for Christmas and loves her Little Mermaid riding toy.

Gracie is now a big one year old toddler! At her 12 month check up she weighed in at 19 lbs, 11 oz. and 29 ¾ in. tall. She still doesn’t have any teeth, but gums just about anything you give her. She loves to eat whatever Mommy and Daddy are eating. Her favorite foods right now are fresh strawberries and cheese! We are in the process of weaning her off the bottle, she’s down to one at night before bed. She’s off of formula (yippee!!!) and in the past couple of days she has started drinking milk in the morning too. She wouldn’t touch it for about two weeks, but now loves it. We recently turned her carseat around and she loves facing forward. She seems to really enjoy looking out the window! We had a wonderful birthday party for Gracie. We are so grateful for all of our family who came to Mobile to help celebrate with us. Gracie LOVED her cake and even shared with Mommy and Daddy! She enjoyed opening her presents more on her birthday than she did at Christmas and that was fun for us to watch. Gracie has started walking a lot by herself over the past few days. She gets very excited when she reaches her goal. She’s clapping all the time now and looks at us to clap with her. She hasn’t gotten the “roll em up” part in patty cake yet, but loves to play. Gracie loves to be outside and loves walking around the yard chasing squirrels.

Jason has had a very busy start to the new year. We concluded Family Ties (Disciple Now) this past Sunday and it was a big hit! The kids had a great time and learned a lot. Jason got a great speaker and band (Chris Brooks and David Walker) and the kids really seemed to enjoy them. We’ve heard only positive feedback from church members. Saturday night our house was rolled by some Sophomores and Juniors. It was really kind of pretty in the middle of the night and looked like a snow storm had come through Mobile! One of the students thought it would be funny to bang on our front door and ring the door bell over and over again. I’m just thankful Gracie didn’t wake up. We’re glad to be initiated into the group =) It was a great weekend.