Lilypie Third Birthday tickers

Lilypie Third Birthday tickers

Lilypie First Birthday tickers

Lilypie First Birthday tickers

Friday, September 30, 2011

September

I figured I'd better try to sneak in a post before the month was over - I guess you can tell when cross country starts to get busy by the lack of posts!
The month started with a visit from my sister and her family.  Grace and Ellie shared some cousin time and were able to play in the baby pool together for a few minutes before the mosquitoes tried to eat us alive.  I was hoping we would get to see my sister a little more while she was here, but there's a chance they may be moving back here as early as November.  Now that both girls are walking really well I'm sure they'll be able to get into a lot more trouble together!
One of my friends from high school held a Labor Day/2nd birthday party and I was able to catch up with some friends and Grace was able to flirt with some little boys :)  It's seems like only yesterday that we were all sitting around the table in the cafeteria together and now here we are with kids!  I can't believe how old I am starting to feel.  Yesterday I found out that the flower girl from our wedding is getting ready to go to her first homecoming dance.  YIKES!


This feather doesn't taste too good!
The weekend after Labor Day we went camping at Holland State Park.  Grace had gotten a cold a few days before we left and did not sleep well at all the whole trip.  We didn't get there on Friday night until 10 pm so that didn't help matters, but she didn't end up falling asleep that night until after midnight.  We took our bikes and the bike trailer and rode to the beach everyday and then after dinner we would ride down the road a few miles and get ice cream.   We had perfect weather the entire time, and of course Grace had a blast at the beach.  On Saturday morning I was watching the people around us and realized that the people about 100 feet down from us looked very familiar - it was Jeff's cousin Jill and her family!  They live about a 1/2 hour away from us and we hadn't seen them since Easter and we ran into them 3 hours from home!  It's funny how small the world is.  We were also able to meet up with my roommate from college who I haven't seen since sometime between 2004 and 2006 (neither of us could remember!).  She now has three kids so it was great to have the kids meet each other and catch up a little bit. 

Last Sunday we went to the Toledo Zoo - we had gone a year ago when Grace was only 4 months old and it's amazing the difference a year can make.  She seemed to be interested in the animals but was mainly interested in the playgrounds and threw a fit when we passed one as we were leaving and she couldn't play on it. 


Toledo Zoo 2011


Toledo Zoo 2010
Wearing mommy's shoes!
It's so funny to watch her personality develop - in general she's a very happy and easygoing kid, but when she decides to get mad, look out!  She is still a little goofball and loves making people laugh.  She has a pink bucket that she got for Easter and loves to walk around putting things into it, but the other day she decided to put it on her head and try to walk around that way.  It was pretty funny!  She started throwing a ball and can even kick it as she walks.  We have a bedtime book that we read pretty often and most of the pages have a moon on them and she can now point out the moon on every page.  Some days I am just so amazed at how many things she knows and what a special little girl she is.  I think this age is definitely my favorite so far - she still little and cuddly but is more interactive and really becoming her own person.  She has started to love on Toby a lot and will randomly go up to him and hug and kiss him.  He tolerates her a little more now, especially since she sometimes carries around food :)