Gracie is beginning to learn her body parts and animal sounds and we try to practice them daily.  As you will see we are still working on “nose.”  This video was done a little late in the evening so Gracie was pretty tired…so bare with the blank stares.  Hope you enjoy!!!

This year Gracie was Elmo for Halloween.  We weren’t sure if she would be interested in wearing a costume but turns out she LOVES dressing up.  Throughout the whole day of Halloween Gracie put on her fire hat, Indian head dress, tutu and other various accessories.  She loved showing others how to dress up as well as  you will see by Aunt Sam wearing a fire hat in one of the pictures.  We carved pumpkins as well and put dum dum pops for the hair. Gracie muched prefered to swing but she did  end up doing a little trick or treating just going to two houses but mainly she just wanted to follow around the other kids that were dressed up.  Aunt Sam and Uncle Brian came over to the house along with LaLa and Pap and Brad smoked some ribs…which were hot but good.  We had planned on Gracie going to her LaLa and Pap’s for a sleepover but with Gracie’s recent cold she didn’t quite feel up to it.  All in all it was a great day!!

A couple weekends ago we went down to Olive Branch to celebrate Gracie’s cousin Gavin’s sixth birthday.  While there we also went to the Peabody Hotel to see the famous Duck March with Aunt Mer as she was in Memphis for a wedding.  Gracie loved the Duck March and even tried to climb in the fountain too.  Gavin’s birthday party was held at Jump with lots of inflatables.  Although a bit nervous at first Gracie ended up having a great time!!!

This past weekend Brad took Gracie on their first father/daughter outting by themselves (mommy unfortunately had to work).  Daddy chose to take Gracie to the annual Native American festival that is held at the state park by our house.  Gracie and daddy had a great time as you can see by the picture Gracie even got her own head dress which she refused to take off the rest of the day.  She also got a drum and a bird whistle which she plays with often.  According to her dad Gracie’s favorite part of the event was the dance competition and when a little boy did a song and dance to a song about a dove.  Gracie even did a little dance herself and loved cheering at the end of each dance.

Today Gracie’s Nona, Grandma, Aunt Jessica, & Gavin came to visit so we decided to go to the pumpkin patch.  This year we went to Walden Farm in Smyrna.  It was a beautiful farm with lots of fun activities for the kids to enjoy.  Gracie had a great time seeing the animals (a piglet was mommy and daddy’s favorite), playing in the corn crib, and climbing the hay mountain.  Fall time is so much fun!!

This past weekend Pap-Pap, Gracie, and mommy went to visit Gracie’s GiGi Krebs for her 83rd birthday.  We had a great time!!  Gracie took her fourth plane trip (pretty good for only being 18 months old) and we spent the weekend playing and having lots of fun.  Gracie met her Fabulous Aunt Marianne and cousin Megan for the first time, we went to a party to celebrate GiGi’s birthday, and even went to a pumpkin patch.  Gracie had a lot of fun playing with cousins and going on her first pony ride!!  Here are a few pictures from our great weekend…

We recently got Gracie’s 18 month pictures done and were incredibly happy with how they turned out.  We had planned for a two hour shoot but due to rain and Gracie’s grumpy attitude the shoot only lasted about 45 minutes.  Good thing you can’t tell by the pictures that she cried most the time!!!  Here’s a few of our favorites…

At the request of Gracie’s Auntie A and her wanting to know what Gracie has been up to I have uploaded the picture below.  Sorry for the poor quality I took it with my BlackBerry.  Gracie loves this picture  (almost as much as she loves her beaded necklaces) of her LaLa and Pap-Pap, so much so that she often carries it around with her talks to them.  “Hi Lala”  “Hi Pap-Pap” is often heard around the house.  Note: Contrary to how it may appear this picture was not at all staged.  Gracie really set the picture in the position…the look on her face is the attitude she’s giving me for yelling “no, hold still” so I could capture the moment.

Then (Gracie 2 weeks)

Brad and I just wanted to take a minute to say a heartfelt thank you to all of you that have taken an interest in the life that is our beautiful daughter Gracie!!  I can’t believe that so many people have checked out our little site and it truly makes us very happy that so many people love our daughter.  Gracie has been the biggest blessing our lives have ever had and getting to share her with each of you is something we look forward to with each post.  So keep checking back for more updates and please leave a comment so we know who is looking at our site!!!

Love,
Laura & Brad

Now...Gracie 16 months

Last week we spent in Cape Cod Massachusetts and had a blast!!  For once Brad and I had great weather on a trip we took together and we were both very excited to introduce Gracie to the Deckel side of the family.  Gracie’s Krebs Family all came on the trip and we stayed in a house that Pap-Pap rented for the week.  We had a great time going to the beach, playing with family, and just relaxing. 

The house had a wagon that Gracie loved to ride in when going to the beach, she also loved playing in the ocean and looking at the sea gulls.  The house we stayed in had lots of stairs so Gracie had a lot of fun climbing them! It was a great choice in trip for Gracie as she is still taking two naps a day so it worked out great that the house was only a 5 minute walk from the beach so mommy or daddy could take her home to rest and then go back to the ocean for more fun!!  Below are some pictures of our great time!  We can’t wait to go again it was the best trip we’ve been on!!