some more pics of the home...

We love our home!!!

Home is becoming more & more like home everyday. It seems like yesterday it was being built...when we moved in i felt so far away from making it "a home". Little by little we continue to put forth pieces of ourselves, our new life, and most importantly our hearts into it. It has reached it's point of then feeling like a "new house" to our new home!!

Although we still have some empty spaces...(needed furniture), empty walls...(time to put all those pics in frames) i'm finding myself more thankful for that space as gracie gets more moble and continues to accumulate "baby stuff".

Mark surely new what he was doing when he built this home! "Prepare for the future!!" :) I'm so proud of you Mark!! ...and so thankful for the love & devotion you have for your family. xo

A well needed trip to Siesta!!!

...day at the beach with Aunt Sarah & the girls

Unloading the car was different from what we remembered...lol! We unloaded one huge umbrella for baby gracie, her diaper bag stuffed with everything "she might need"(so no that wasn't going to zip up this time)lol!, chairs, blankets...you are probably getting the picture here by now considering that was my car alone...Sarah had her stuff too that she too would need for the girls , it was comical!

As we were walking in we took a load off at the park...gracie was able to have her FIRST SWING RIDE!.... there was a jungle gym where the girls got to do some climbing and sliding too.
As soon as we get all settled on the beach we were no sooner attacked by a zoo of seagulls! They were everywhere!! No thx to the people next to us who were the ones flocking them near us to begin with by feeding them by hand, who by the way went disappeared all of the sudden, until they were gone.... in the middle of all this the big umbrella I was telling you about flew right out of the ground, it was tumbling ...or maybe even bouncing away by the wind, so while I was chasing after that, the girls were were chasing away the seagulls to safe our lunch! lol!
Good lord, I haven't laughed that hard in so long!! One came down and took a bite right out of Isaana's sandwich, lol!!!...Sarah was hysterical!!! They soon found another family down the way and we were free of seagulls...i have never sees so many in my life???
it was now time to relax and enjoy!
Leelee our little angel was making sand angels in the sand & "sand balls" ...like snow balls!! :) While Isaana our little fairy was literally dancing with the wind. What blessings they are! We even saw a rainbow. :) Out of all the trips to the beach Gracie was finally able to discover sand... what a day!

quote of the day...

"The will of God will never take you where the Grace of God will not protect you."

Go Giants!!

....And the season begins.

The first Giants game was the night we got back from our trip. You can see that Gracie was pooped!! (awe)

Meanwhile daddy was in position, geared up and roaring to go. ... with a tan :)

Mark plans for little Thomas to be his side kick for the games this season...it's so cute!!! For all those weekend games we plan for girls day out...while the boys have game time :) jeez, i feel sorry for them sometimes...they really are out numbered with girls. lol!

MARCO ISLAND

For the weekend of my birthday Mark took Gracie and I to Marco Island. We stayed at the Marriot hotel, which is where we have looked into having our wedding. We've received most of their details but wanted to see it for ourselves & kind of get a feel for it.

It was great to get away and enjoy the island atmosphere....the only downfall was that both gracie and I got sick just before our trip....meanwhile daddy had just gotten over being sick. I was basically walking around with an average of 2 hrs of sleep per night....I honestly don't know how i was coherent??? Poor Gracie had no idea what was happening to her, but she too somehow got through the day with her gracious presence of nothing but fun in the sun! :) It honestly may have been a good time to get away and be in vacation mode... we needed all the relaxation we could get.

We both love it there but I am still hooked on checking out Boca Grande instead. So that will be our next adventure... it's close enough that we can go at anytime just for the day.

Here's a few pics of us on the beach... awe gracie....she's our lil water baby!!

Finally I begin my blog!!!

I wasn't sure where to begin with all the pics I have...should i date to the beginning and try to catch up??? Oh gosh no.... playing catch up would be the title of my life right now, lol!


So here I start with this past weekend, I will just slip out of order along the way with some favorites in the last year.

While October is approaching we can't help but think of the fall leaves, crisper air, and a cozy warm sweater. But as it is the summer's passing straight through September as we know it.

I assume Gracie's used to the warmth by now but the past summer was so hot, we limited the out door fun with lots of shade, mornings & evenings , b/c they were best, and of coarse the beach!! The breeze that comes off the water makes a ton of difference no matter how hot....it's just arriving "equipped" that can make it almost comical.

Our dogs are known to follow us pretty much where ever we go, so even though you can't see them in these pics...they're there!!! all eyes are on the puppies!!! Gracie has become in love with the dogs!!! Thank goodness they have been like angels to her, despite her wanting to tug at times they really are very gentle and extremely humble with her. They give her a whole lot of love, smiles & laughter...it's really cute.

All eyes on the puppies!!!