Getting to Know Little Grace

Here are some images of Grace over the past week . . .

She's working on her smile . . . or working on her gas problem :)

Aunt Toni and Uncle Dick dropped by last week to meet Grace. They brought food and extra arms and laps for baby duty so Mommy was very happy :)

Then the Grahls dropped by . . . they also brought food and extra arms and laps. Mommy thought she died and went to heaven! Here Karen is on Grace duty . . .

However, some of the Grahls were more interested in a game of euchre . . . I understand the ladies kicked some butt :)

Nonna on Grace duty . . . Grace is demonstrating how hard it is to be a baby . . .

Grandma Grahl will sit still for hours at a time if it means keeping Grace happy. She takes her Grace duty very seriously.

Big sis is up to no good, but wait, is little sis copying that face? Look out Dad! It might be two versus two, but I think we're outnumbered.

Aunt Tracey is trying to let Ella know what it's like to be a little sis so she'll take it easy on Grace.

I don't think Ella was listening very well . . . she decided she didn't like the fact that Grace was shirtless and decided to put some clothes ON her!

Here Ella is not happy to be made to pose with her little sis . . . in the teaching world we call that "stink eye."

But Ella can be sweet . . . as long as she is kissing and not headbutting Grace.

Greg Cooks Again!

The very next weekend after our elk burger cookout, Uncle Greg came back with some abalone that he got himself from somewhere up near Fort Bragg. Here he is slicing up the abs.

Ella was having fun outside . . .

She was watching the adults pound the abs. You have to pound them really well to get them to be tender. Afterward, Nonna and Uncle Greg breaded and fried the fillets, but I didn't get a picture of that :(

This is Grace at the end of the night--she ate too much abalone and passed out early :)

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Last Sunday was Grandma's birthday, so Uncle Greg came over with four pounds of ground elk meat (yes, he killed the elk himself) to make us all elk burgers. They were delicious!

We spent part of the day outside. Here is Ella in her swimsuit taking a break from her baby pool to say hello to her little sister :)

Grace was not very interested in the pool or in the Baggo game going on in front of her. Napping was tops on her list of things to do at a birthday party.

We had a mother/son Baggo game . . . here are the two grandmas having a ball . . .

I made JoAnn an ice cream cake. It had a brownie bottom with Pralines n' Cream ice cream in the middle and yellow cake on top with butter cream frosting. Ella helped Grandma blow out the candles . . .

Here's Grandma with her two granddaughters . . .

And here's Aunty Tracey and her million dollar smile . . .

Ella felt the need to help with the tissue paper . . .

At the end of the night we played games . . . Nonna ended up falling asleep with Grace on the couch . . . look familiar?