"Cookie!"

So... a little update...

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Gracelee is really coming along in this world! She amazes us more and more every day! She has a list of words that she says, and on her 13 month birthday I thought I would share:

mama

dada

more

juice

go- go

no (*which is her favorite)

stop

hop- hop- hop

hi

bye bye

bit- tee (*the definition is personal)

Lady

dog

neigh

moo

baa

"hiss"

shh!

and the newest one: COOKIE!!

The list is quite full!! I am probably forgetting a few, but really, I am expecting to wake up one morning really soon to her saying, "Good Morning, Momma! It is a beautiful day!"

She is such a love!

Cheese Dip, ReAlLy?!?!?!?!?!

She is so funny!

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The girl LOVES hummus...

she loves kalamata olives...

and, apparently, she loves spicy cheese dip!

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Just look at that tongue go! ; )

Gracelee's first Trip to the Zoo!!!

We had the perfect weekend for a trip to the zoo!

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After her morning nap, we headed to downtown to see the animals!

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This was a very exciting trip because Gracelee loves her animal books, and she can make the majority of the sounds! We were very curious how she would respond to the life-sized, non-cartoon versions!

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The meerkat is a favorite among all small kiddos, and I think it is because they are small like children. Gracelee was no exception! She giggled out loud at the sight of these small creatures scurrying about their daily business.

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We stopped into the petting zoo to see the quite rotund, happy goats! She enjoyed petting the big "dog" as she was calling him, but wanted to stay close to momma, with a firm grip on my arm!

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The giraffes are a favorite because her favorite book (as of right now) starts with...

"Here comes the morning sun. TIme to wake up and stretch. Do you like to stretch? Who else likes to stretch? GIRAFFE likes to stretch!"

The Elephant's on the bus go "trumpety- trump"...

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This elephant is pregnant and due to have her baby any day... she is two weeks over due... doesn't seem that abnormal until you realize she has carried that baby for 22 months already!

And these birds we pretty cool, but lets face it, when you go to the zoo the real excitement are the BIG animals!

The monkeys were next...

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Take one...

So cute! Her mouth is full of apple! LoL!!

Does she have hands like a monkey?

Not quite! = )

I don't really know who enjoyed the Carousel more... Gracelee or Momma?

It was a great time! We cannot wait to take her back! She is so "in-to" everything... she loves to learn! That excites me to no end!

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Gracelee,

You are so much fun! We love you more than anything in this world! Please keep that spirit and that drive to excel, learn, grow, and imagine! You are an amazing child!

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God has blessed us with you as our first child... You are the one who will help momma and daddy the most when it comes to the other children! You are the one who will help us when it comes to them learning and growing!

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You have an amazing start to your little life! Keep it up, sweet girl!!!!!!

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We love you!

Momma and Daddy

Splish! Splash!

In the sink that is!

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She loves the running water... as you can see from the soaking wet, precious little face and legs!!!

So fun to be SOAKING WET!!!!!!! Just look at that face!

Such a pretty girl!

Yay! Thank you Momma for letting me play!

I hear the 80s calling!

Remember Jellies????

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I L.O.V.E.D. my jellies!

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She now has 2 pair... one in coral red and one in clear! I love those toes!!!!

Ring a round the rosey...

Roseola that is... Poor baby!

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This was the morning the day the rash appeared before "school"

April 14th, 2010 Little Gracelee showed signs of Roseola... She had a low grade fever to start, and so we kept her home for a day and a half, and thought that was the end of it... technically, it was, but by the time I picked her up on Friday, she had a rash HEAD TO TOE!!!

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They say it doesn't itch or anything, but being the nervous nelly that I am, I bought Aveeno bath and lotion, and took care of what looked like an itchy rash.

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Still in good spirits!

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Luckily by Monday, there was nothing left... not even a trace that she had any virus at all! TLC and rest at home (zoo plans foiled again) took care of her ailment!

There is a book called Do you like...?, and it has made it's way into the top 5 books that Gracelee owns... which BTW is a vast library of, I am sure, over 200 books!

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I am the type of reader that gets very animated when I read... our daughter has picked that up, as she immatates what she sees.

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The last page of this book is her favorite... I don't really know why. It is not because SHE likes to say good- night... maybe she thinks the penguin is cute??

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Anyway, the words are: The moon is high in the sky. Time to say good night. Do you like to say goodnight? Who else likes to say good night?

And then we flip open the flap and say, "Shhhhhh!"

Penguin likes to say good night!

Here is little miss priss... shhhshing so penguin can sleep!

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So cute!

Little Lovebug!

You are my sunshine

My only sunshine

You make me happy

when skies are gray

You'll never know dear

How MUCH I love you

Please don't take

My SUNSHINE

away!!

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I love you, my little lovebug!

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Where does the time go??

Princess Video

Dear Grandma,

Thank you for the Princess Sing-a-Long DVD!

Did you know momma knows ALL the words?

We have a LOT of fun watching it together, and pretending we are Real, Life Princesses!!!!

Love,

Gracelee

She's Fancy!

Thank you miss Shannon for my new purse! I love it and I K-N-O-W how to wear it!

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Girl Power!

I just love this little outfit!

The Aquarium

Let me just start by saying how I wish my job was to predict the weather.

There is no other job where you can be wrong 90% of the time and still have a job and get paid boo-coo's of dollars!!

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So, Saturday was supposed to be gorgeous... 0% chance of rain, highs in the mid- 70s, BEAUTIFUL!

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Upon waking up for what was supposed to be a gloriously beautiful day at the ZOO, we saw a gloomy, sprinkly day...

No worries because we were promised that by 10:00am the rain would be gone and that this BLIP on the radar came out of no where and would soon disappear.

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ReAlLy?!?!?!?

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So, once up from her morning nap, we packed up to go to the zoo... 10:01 am, more than half way there, MORE RAIN... 10:30 AM @ the gate... Raining so hard we needed the wipers on full speed...

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NICE!

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Any weathermen up for punching bag of the year award?

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This was supposed to be our first trip to the zoo... Alas, it was our first trip to the Aquarium Downtown. And we had a blast!

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We were a little concerned that Gracelee would not get it and that she would be too young to enjoy it, but we were wrong! She did fabulously, and enjoyed every minute of it... so did daddy and momma!

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The gloom and doom of the day was quickly forgotten as we strode through the entrance to the smiles and squeals of a 1 year old girl in the land of the fishes!!!

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God has a way of doing that, ya know... not our plan but His... even in the little things!

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It is a nice reminder to go with the flow and enjoy the day for what it is!

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With that... here is a picture adventure of our day:

Uh... yes! That fish scared the beejeezus out of me! In the picture above you see where he was to start and then he quickly flitted his tail and smiled for the camera... Reason number 103,000,001 that I WILL NOT go into water that I cannot see the bottom!

Gracelee did cling for dear life a couple of times... you just don't know what the animals are thinking and that is just plain scary!

I love her sense of wonderment!

Daddy would explain and she listened intently!

A kissy for a fishy!

That poor window had a bunch of spittle on it as it belonged to the Tiger... and at our house the kitty says "Hissssss"

YIPES!!! Touching a starfish...

And some of our animal friends...

Gracelee's favorite!

So we will try again for the zoo THIS saturday... who knows where we will end up!