All the information you need to keep you updated on Jason, Sarah, Gracie, and Sweet Baby James.
"The Pizza Crust" is a reference to our good friend, Mitch Simpson, and his uncanny ability to have "The Peace of Christ" make Jason think about food!
Gracie's 3rd Birthday! I can't believe our baby is 3!! She's such a joy and loves life. We had a wonderful birthday party on Sunday with family. I figure this may be our last family only birthday party as Gracie learns that parties can include friends too =) Before opening gifts Gracie did a little jig while Jamie and Jackson played a little Rock Band. I wish the picture was a video, becuase it is so fun to watch Gracie dance along with the music. You can kind of tell that she's "moving" in the picture. Gracie wanted a cash register for her birthday and she was so delighted when she opened the gift that was the cash register. She plays with it 24/7 it seems. It even comes in the car with us. She loved everything she got, but she is really into her new princess dress-up things and her craft cart. When she woke up the morning after her party the first thing she said to me was "Can I put that on?" as she was pointing to her new princess dress. She also wants to make a craft anytime we're downstairs. I think she's just really excited to have her own scissors and glue stick!
Other big news in the Cook household: We are paci FREE! On Monday, Jan. 5, 2009 (this is a big deal) we collected all the paci's we could find (9 to be exact) and put them in a ziplock bag and headed to Toys R Us. Gracie picked out a new baby doll and handed over her paci's to the cashier to "pay" for her new baby. The first few days were pretty rough at nap time and bed time (those were really the only times she got the paci anymore), but after a few days she has settled into a paci-less life nicely. The past few nights she's actually gone to sleep easier than before and is sleeping great at night. She has even stopped her one middle of the night wake-up to go to the bathroom and I couldn't be happier about that! We'll be doing plenty of middle of the night wakings come May!
Gracie is still very excited about having a baby brother on the way. She always wants to know if the baby is awake or asleep and loves to talk to and touch my belly. She is so tender and likes to give the baby a kiss, especially at night.
Friday evening we went to Zoolight Safari with Bill, Suzanne, Grandmom and the Bratchers. The kids had a fun time looking at all the lights and riding the carousel. The line for the train was a little longer than we wanted to wait, so we passed on that. After Zoolight Safari we had delicious take-out from PF Changs and then set up one of Bill's new Christmas gifts. Suzanne got him a small cotton candy machine. We all love cotton candy and we're very excited about trying it out!
The first three pictures in the slideshow are from Christmas Eve. The remainder are from Christmas afternoon. The kids had naps after lunch and we opened more gifts after naps. Gracie and Noah were a bit overwhelmed with all the gifts and festivities of the day, and Noah kept going to the back to play with his trains. I think Jason opened most of Gracie's gifts and she would pick one or two and play with those. Jason got a Wii and it has become a big hit in the Cook household. We got Rock Band 2 yesterday and we've been playing non-stop =) I'll post more pics of Rock Band later.
We had a wonderful Christmas and loved being with family.
We went to my Mom's house for Christmas lunch with Marland and Betsy. We had a delicious lunch and had fun opening gifts. Gracie really enjoyed playing with the wooden train under that tree. The train was Marland's when he was a boy. It was good to be together as a family and my Dad was missed tremendously. We shared a few memories about my Dad during lunch. After lunch we sang "Happy Birthday" to Jesus and Gracie and Uncle Marland blew out the candles. I made my Mom a photo book of the pictures we used for the slide show at my Dad's funeral. I think she was pleased to get it since she doesn't have all of the pictures at her house.
I didn't take many good pictures at my Mom's, so this slideshow is pretty short.
These pictures are from Christmas morning at our house. We had a wonderful and special time being home with the three of us. We had a lazy morning and even ate breakfast before opening gifts (I guess this might be the last year that happens). Gracie loved her new things, especially the new princess lunch box. She carried it around all day.
