Big Week!

As if cutting her first teeth wasn't big enough, Gracie started crawling this week, too!

Friday, while I was catching up with a friend on the phone, I got out some strawberry yogurt. I always share with G and she wasn't going to miss out. She crawled about 2 feet to get her share of our before-dinner snack. I was absolutely astonished! She's been crawling in reverse for months, but she finally put it in drive and moved forward! My exclamation made her so giddy... we both started clapping and giggling! So big! When Daddy got home we showed him... this time chasing Cheerios. Yep, she's our daughter - loves her groceries!

She's continued to crawl further all weekend, but she doesn't go far from us yet... still a little wobbly.

I'll get some video soon so you all can see! But here's a sweet sleeping pic for now!

Gracie is ready for the lake!

If this isn't the cutest thing ever, I don't know what is?!

Farm Wife

Okay, so I'm not sure if I ever told you that my secret dream is to be a farmer's wife. I mean, I wish Ryan were a farmer and my main job was to take care of him, our children, and our home. I would be so happy to wear an apron and knead homemade bread on a regular basis. And of course, I'd churn homemade butter to go with our homemade bread. But that is just a dream. So instead, tonight (while watching Alcatraz on the DVR) I made Ryan help me "churn" butter. I read about it online and just had to try it.

It was super easy and satisfying to a wanna-be farmer's wife. All you need is a jar and some heavy whipping cream. Both of which I happened to have on hand tonight. You just fill the jar halfway with cream and screw the lid on tightly. Then shake vigorously for about 15 minutes. It will first become whipped cream-like (about 7 minutes in) then like watery butter. Keep shaking and the buttermilk will separate from the butter. Dump (or save separately) the buttermilk and rinse the butter by swishing some water in the jar. Use a fork to smash the butter, releasing any pockets of buttermilk. Again, dump the buttermilk. Salt butter to taste and enjoy! I've read that it's good for about a week in the fridge.

It was so yummy! Creamy and soft and perfect on fresh french bread! Mmmmmm! Ryan didn't want to try any. My 'farmer' didn't trust it. He has this weird thing with dairy... we'll discuss that later. But I loved it and will most definitely make it again.

Two teeth!

Our little love cut her first and second tooth this weekend! The first came on Saturday and the second on President's Day. It seemed to be a relatively painless process for her. She certainly enjoyed her frozen-applesauce-in-a-washcloth teethers though.

Blueberries and Bananios

Monday we had our first (hopefully only) snow day of the school year. Even though I'm not too thrilled that the school year will now be extended by one day, I definitely enjoyed the unexpected day home with my baby girl!

Our morning began with Bananios - a little idea I had to help Gracie feed herself bananas. She's still eating purées and mashed foods, but she's a huge fan of feeding herself bites of big girl foods. Every time we try bananas, they just slip right out of her hands. So I got to thinking and discovered that rolling them in Cheerio-dust (made by taking a rolling pin to Cheerios) makes bananas much easier for Gracie to hold onto. Ingenious if I do say so! Gracie loves Bananios!

G also ate blueberries for the first time. Again... loved them! So far, store bought baby food peas are the only thing she hasn't loved.

We spent the rest of our day play-play-playing! So fun! She worked so hard for 2 hours (no joke) trying to master getting from her belly to a sit. She'd try and fall again and again. She finally got it and we cheered and cheered! Yay Gracie! It's so fun watching her develop. Amazing, really!

I'd say she's just a few weeks away from crawling. She is so close and working so hard. She is a persistent little bugger, that's for sure.

Enjoy these pictures from our snow day!

Valentine Pancakes!

Since Valentine's Day is this week, I decided to get a little Pinteresty this morning and make heart-shaped pancakes. A yummy and fun start to the day! It was Gracie's first pancake experience and suffice it to say that Gracie hearts pancakes!

8 months old!

Yesterday wad Gracie's 8 month birthday! She's getting so big and learning so many new things. She knows where to look when we call for Tysie. She knows how to crunch Cheerios, even though she has no teeth. Gracie will repeat 'da-da' and 'ma-ma' but hasn't identified it with Ryan or I just yet. She likes to sing and dance before bath time (her fave!) and snuggles her baby bear every night before bed. She giggles all the time... and at all the right things. She has mastered waving bye-bye and hello. Sometimes she doesn't actually wave bye-bye until after the person has left the room... but she's working on it!

She is still as happy as ever and cute as can be. See for yourself!

Waffles!

Last Friday night we had breakfast for dinner and Gracie was really eager to eat Momma's food. So we let her try some waffles. She enjoyed it very much! Momma's looking forward to all the table food in Gracie's future!

Swinging on January 31st!

I think Gracie will be very surprised next winter. She's kind of getting spoiled this year!