Grace- 11 months!

I can hardly believe that this is likely my last post about Gracie before she turns 1! Tear. :( This year has gone by way too fast with our littlest girl! 

One day I found Grace all curled up in her blanket while taking a nap, so I couldn't resist taking a picture. She often likes to have her blanket wrapped around her or over her head when she is sleeping- cozier that way I guess!

Cooking in the kitchen with Bella- Gracie absolutely adores playing with her sister- if only somebody would let her do it more often... :)

Gracie also has just a bit of an infatuation with her Mommy I'm afraid- apparently I make my girls much too attached to me! She pretty much wants me if I'm in her eyesight- gets a little tiring after awhile, but honestly, I wouldn't really want her to be attached to anybody else. :)

Practicing some aerobic skills like Bella apparently. Grace has not started to take any steps on her own yet, but she is standing all the time and cruising along furniture. She has also stood on her own, but as soon as she realizes it, she sits right back down. She is not really too interested in walking yet, so it'll be interesting to see when she does!

Gracie is also starting to "play" a little more, rather than just chew on toys. She particularly adores babies, especially our outdoor play baby! She carries that doll around whenever she gets ahold of it and gives big wet kisses.

In terms of eating, Grace has remained pretty true to the past months of her life- up and down. :) She either eats really awesome or completely battles us in eating! She does like table food much better, but sometimes she is not into that either. So apparently she likes to be unpredictable. :) She does have some definite fans that she typically always like though- goldfish, meatballs (strange), mashed potatoes, cheese, bananas, yogurt, yogurt melts, and Nutri Grain bars. Everything else is hit or miss. I also started giving her whole milk this past month, although she is not technically 1 yet. So far she seems to like it, which is good because I think she is almost done with nursing! 

Ten months old! And chewing on something as that was the only way I could get her to sit in the chair.

Gracie started to become very into music and dancing! She does this crazy dance move where she bobs her head up and down wildly and shakes her body all around. She loves her music!

I don't think she has said any new words this month- we mainly hear mama coming out of her mouth. ;)  Occasionally dada, baby, and a word that sounds like Bella. But she does know what a lot of words mean- like more, no-no, kitty, uh-oh, kisses.

She did make some new noises- she started clicking her tongue and doing an Indian noise (talking while covering her mouth). She also has a silly panting laugh that sounds like "he he he."

Loves to empty out all the food and dishes from the kitchen!

I'm sure she's thinking why aren't you holding me right now? 

Gracie has such a sweet and spunky personality! She is definitely more easy-going than her sister was, but she also has a major stubborn streak- and can be a bit ornery too! In particular, she knows that Bella doesn't want her to get certain things- so whenever she sees those, she takes off for them as fast as she can go. :) Just asking for trouble!

Waving hi! Grace still waves hi and bye when asked, but apparently we might have worn out her other tricks. She was holding up 1 finger when asked how old she was going to be throughout July, but she must be sick of it because now she just ignores us. :) Hopefully she can resume it for birthday time!

I don't have the pictures on here yet, but Grace also got her ears pierced at the beginning of August! Derek was all worried about it because Bella was not happy to say the least when hers were pierced. But Grace was a little rock start! She didn't fuss when they marked her ears (which is what made Bella mad), and she hardly even cried when they pierced them! And they look oh so adorable now. :)

Here is a nice picture of all of missy's pearly white teeth! She got two new teeth in July- both the top right ones. I don't think any are coming through right now, but 6 teeth is pretty good to have by 1.

Life of Bella

Summer seems to be just flying by! I can't believe it's already mid-August, and fall is just around the corner! We had a very busy month in July, and Bella continued to have lots of fun being her silly sweet self. :) 

Bella went bowling for the first time this month during a family reunion weekend. She looked pretty sweet in her bowling shoes. :) And actually enjoyed bowling quite a bit, although she was pretty insistent on doing it herself! Which made for some interesting scores...

Snuggling with her kitty friends and feeding them some type of food. This many cats are usually drug up from her room on a daily basis- partly because we have discovered a new fun game of dropping the kitties down our stairs onto Bella's head. She thinks it's pretty hilarious!

Bella has also been very into cooking lately. Many people and animals are served meals throughout the course of the day!

Loving on Tommy. :) It still amazes me how much he actually likes her! She pets him, sits by him, gives him kisses, and he doesn't do anything at all! That just shows that he is not as mean and naughty as other people would like to say. :)

Doing some acrobatic dance moves on the couch! Bella is signed up for dance lessons this fall, so I'm sure we will be seeing even more dance moves once those begin!

Complete with her dance moves, Bella also is quite the little singer. Much of her play throughout the day involves some type of singing as well- either real songs or ones created by her. :)

Another fun new game this month has been to have a "campout" over by the sliding door. She drug a pillow, this big blanket, and all of her stuff over there on a routine basis to do her camping party. I have no clue where she came up with that idea at! (Notice the straight hair in this picture- I straightened her hair one day for fun! It looked sooooo different- and long!)

Posing with some treasures from her Fancy Nancy book- and doing a very strange smile! Bella is quite the little Fancy Nancy herself. She still loooooves dressing up and making herself into a beautiful princess! I don't even know why I bother putting normal clothes on her most days, as they are usually taken off to wear a princess dress.

Bella is very good at riding on her tricycle now! I think she'll be ready for a big girl bike next year for sure. 

Hee hee, I think she looks like the wicked witch of the west riding on a broomstick here. :) 

Apparently Tommy got lots of love from her this month.

We continued to spend lots and lots of time at the pool! One Saturday afternoon, I took Bella by herself to the pool while Gracie stayed at home to nap with Daddy. Then I could actually take a few pictures of Bella swimming- not possible to do on my own with two kids!

Making some "soup" for me to eat. :)

Having a little snuggle and tv time on the couch- most likely watching her new favorite show (to my dismay)- Caillou. Bella is quite obsessed with Caillou for some odd reason and doesn't ever want to watch anything else. Apparently, when she starts liking something, she has to fully immerse herself into it!

She loves that pink nigh-nigh. :)

Doing some more cooking and eating!

Bella got a new cash register earlier in July as well- and she became quite obsessed with playing grocery store and doing check-outs. Mommy had to alternate between checking out groceries and going grocery shopping many many times! As I said, she tends to become obsessed with things she likes. :)

Another fav- playing games on Mommy's phone after the day at Adventureland. :) Even better when there is a furry friend to sit by!

Ozarks Trip!

In July, we went down to the Ozarks for a few days with our De Haan family! We spent lots of time swimming, which our girls obviously adored. Bella also enjoyed spending time with her De Haan cousins. It was a great relaxing vacation!

Splashing around like a little crazy girl. :)

The water was a little chilly in the morning hours for Miss Grace, but when the sun came out over the pool in the afternoon, it was great!

Loving on little missy. :)

One night, we went to drive go-karts. Bella was excited about this pre-trip, but she only lasted two laps with Daddy before getting out because she was scared. A little too young yet!

She probably would've been perfectly content to just sit in the car and pretend to drive. :) 

Cruising around with Daddy.

We also went on a boat ride one afternoon. That too lasted about all of 10 minutes before Bella was done. :)

She did like getting to wear a princess life vest however!

All the girls. :) 

Bella was much more intent on going to swim rather than sit on a boat! 

She is getting pretty good at swimming with all of the pool time we've had this summer!

Bella and Cayden discovered a new fun game to play with each in the condo- pretending to be Mommy and Daddy and take care of their baby (Bella's baby doll). This was pretty amusing to listen to! We also got a very funny picture on Derek's phone of then wearing Grandpa and Grandma's hats. :) Apparently those were needed to be the mommy and daddy.

The last night we were there, we went miniature golfing- Bella's first time! However, she didn't last long with this activity either due to the heat and the fact that she hadn't been getting a whole lot of sleep.

On the morning we left, we tried to get some pictures of the kids together. This is the best one caught before Nolan escaped. :)

Cayden and Bella were much easier!

And here is all of the siblings and kiddos!

Back in Pella, we did some more family pictures while Matthew and Melissa were still here- the last one before a new little girl makes her entrance into the world! :)

Attempting another shot of the cousins together- pretty successful, despite that Bella looks like she has a death grip on Grace.

Such sweet little kiddos! We had a great family week with everyone!