Gracie turns 4!

My little sweetie turned 1 yesterday! I can't even believe a year has passed by. I am a little sad, but a also excited for what's to come. It's so fun to see her learning and growing. She has the cutest personality.
She loves music and she bounces up and down when I'm singing or Max is dancing around the front room.
She is getting huge! She was over 20 pounds last time I took her in to the doctor.
She loves the bath and will literally try to crawl in if she hears the water running. If she is ever in a bad mood, the tub will cheer her up!
She absolutely loves Max and he makes her giggle all of the time.
She gives kisses, claps, and waves hello really well.
When we leave the room she gets upset and throws a little tantrum by laying her head in her hands and crying. She is very dramatic about everything.
She is a very good baby and is rarely cross unless she is tired or hungry or someone leaves her alone in a room.
Mike taught Gracie to lay her head on his shoulder when he says "ahhh!." It is very sweet and we absolutely love it when she snuggles with us!

Ayla was staying with Grandpa and Grandma Ulrich and she came to Gracie's party with them. She was so cute trying to feed Gracie her birthday cake.

Gracie was very spoiled on her birthday and got musical instruments, a Jessie doll, 2 books, outfits, cowgirl boots, mary jane shoes and stacking toys! The other kids loved her toys as much as she did!
She kept trying to grab the candle off of her cake. It was a bear with a tutu. The colors were very bright and fun just like my little chubbykins!

Grandpa Dave and Ayla

It was extremely difficult to get Max and Gracie to smile at the same time and the flash was bothering Gracie so she kept squinting.


Here is a spread of some of the toys she got for her birthday. I took the picture before Grandma and Grandpa Lewis and Ulrich showed up:)

She did pretty well opening her presents. She ripped open the paper on her own.


Happy Birthday Gracie Kay! We love you so much and we love watching you grown. You can stop growing now please!

Happy Fathers Day!

Can I just say that I have the most amazing husband on the planet! I am so in love with my Mikey and, although it is cheesy, I just want him to know how grateful I am to have him in my life. He is an amazing father. Gracie and Max just adore him. We are so lucky to have him in our lives. He works so hard for our family and never complains. Never. He is so nice to everyone he meets and honors the Priesthood. I am so glad that I will be with him for all eternity!

I am also so grateful for an awesome dad that taught me that I deserve to be treated with respect. I am so glad that my parents didn't let me settle for anything less than the best. I knew I would never marry someone that they didn't approve of, and they sure let me know when they thought someone wasn't good enough for me. I really appreciate that now, looking back. Thanks for bringing out the bat Dad! It made me feel like I was special, and I knew I could count on you to always be there for me. I love my parents! Happy Father's Day Daddio! You really are the best. I hope you know how much we all love you!

Super Hero Max turns 4!

I can't believe it, but my little Maximo is 4! Right now he is pretending that he is in space and that gummy bears are attacking him. He keeps calling me on his cell phone while he is flying through space on his new transformers scooter that Cassie sent him. He told me he can't move because there is hot sauce all over the ground. He is so imaginative!

Max says words like fantastic, amazing and spectacular all of the time. Today he asked me, "Do you mind if I ride my scooter now?" He is always making me laugh and his mind never stops working. He loves his cousins, aunts and uncles so much. He also has a lot of great friends in our neighborhood like Mikey, Carson, Courtney, and Ethan.

Max is constantly dressing up as every character he can imagine, including a pirate, princess, Buzz Lightyear, Iron Man, Woody, Jungle Bob, and a fireman. Lately he has been asking me for his 'two choices' if he doesn't want to do something. He says, "Give me two choices Mom. Either go play, or go to bed!" Of course, those are never the two choices I give him, but he knows how to attempt to work the system. I rarely have to get mad at him. He is the best little boy around.

He is extremely smart and can identify all of the letters in the alphabet and he knows their primary sound. He has been able to write his name since Christmas and he loves to make up songs and rock out on his air guitar in the backseat of the car. He is a sweetie and tells me I look beautiful all the time. He LOVES his little sister and always treats her very nicely. He is always very helpful and helps me keep her happy while I'm trying to clean the house or fix dinner.

Max is starting preschool in the Fall and I am a little worried about Gracie and I. How will we stay entertained in the hours he is gone? He absolutely adores his Daddy and when Mike has to leave for work Max tells him he has been 'missing him for three days' without fail, every time we talk to Mike on the phone.

There are so many things that I love about my little guy. I could go on and on all day. He is very clever and everyone tells me how much they love him! I am so proud of him and I want him to stop growing up!

Gracie Kay, 9 1/2 month stats!

This post is about Gracie, but I just wanted to share this little picture of Max! He loves healthy food. While we were at the grocery store he begged for carrots so he could pretend he was a bunny. When we got home he wouldn't leave me alone until I got it out for him and he gobbled the whole thing up!
My sweet little Gracie is 9 1/2 months old. Here are her stats from her 9 month check up.

18.15 pounds, 50%
28 ", 52%
Head circumference 45 1/2, 80%

Max and Gracie love story time. Their eyes look a little freaky from the red eye, but I was laughing because they were both loving the new book that Grandma Julie brought to Max yesterday. It was the cutest book ever and it was about a boy named Max. I swear that the author has been stalking us, because it was like it was written all about my Max!
Gracie nibbled on a carrot too. This is her first hair do! I managed to pull it up into a little ponytail. She absolutely hated it. I did piggy tails today and she screamed bloody murder! I think she's in trouble, she doesn't realize how crazy her mother is about doing little girl's hair!
Gracie really is the sweetest little babe. She is rolling everywhere and seems like she might be getting on her knees to crawl soon. She says Mama and Dadda and Ya ya ya. Max is her favorite form of entertainment. She just cut her bottom two teeth and we can't believe she is growing up so fast.

Gracie Kay, 8 1/2 months!

I might be biased, but I really think she is the cutest baby girl ever!! Brooke took these pictures on Saturday.
She is always so pleasant, and she is really getting chunky! I absolutely love every little roll and crease! She loves her big brother and laughs at him all day long!

Cruise and Cute Kids!

Look at this adorable baby! She is so squishy and cute! She is rolling around occasionally, but she is very laid back and chill. I don't think she will be crawling anytime soon because she seems content to just lay around and watch Max act like a maniac. She is a VERY happy baby. It doesn't take much to make her smile. She loves food and her biter biscuits right now. We love her so much and so does her big brother!
Here are some pictures from the short cruise Mike and I took last week. It was awesome! We saw a ton of dolphins and sea lions and we even saw a bald eagle! Nothing makes a vacation better than seeing wildlife!
Here we are right before we saw our first dolphin in Catalina. The dolphins were so playful and we even saw three mommas and their babies!
You know how I love my sleep, and since I haven't been able to sleep too well over the past 8 months Mike and I slept most of the time, which made it the best cruise ever!
We got a shake the other night when we got home and Max loved his strawberry shake in his very own bowl!
Max always relaxes with his hands behind his head like this. It's so cute and grownup.
Grandma Julie sent Max these little pamphlets about animals and Max wants to read them every day. Here he is reading all about the Great White Shark. He is dressed in his Buzz Lightyear costume that we got at Disneyland.
Mike got his old helmet out for Max so he could complete his Buzz costume.
Here are Buzz and Woody, I'm either Jessie or Bo Peep, depending on whether or not Gracie is awake. She is usually Bo Peep! Max always tells me we are going to get married when he is pretending to be Buzz and I'm Jessie. He says "We are going to get married in the temple, so we should hold hands!"

Max absolutely loves Gracie. He really is an awesome big brother and he was telling Gracie all about the animals!

I am super smart mom...

Just wanted to post all these cute pics. We have been busy lately, but we love it. At the end of this month we are going to DISNEYLAND!!! We can't wait.

Gracie is loving solids. She is ravenous! She grabs the spoon right out of my hand every time! She was such a mess tonight, and Daisy wouldn't get away so Gracie kept grabbing her hair. Now Daisy is covered in plums and oatmeal.
Max just loves his little sis. We are so blessed to have two beautiful, healthy and happy kids!
Max thinks he is hilarious. He is always calling people stinkers and teasing everyone he can. Today at church someone stopped by to say hello and as they were walking away he said, "Hey wait a second I want to tell you something, I need to tell you all about my toys!" He is very friendly and wants attention all the time.
Mike and Zac wanted to kill me for letting Max dress up like a girl, but I thought it was funny. He is always pretending to be someone else. He was pretending to be Gracie on this particular night.


Max loves reading with his new Tag Reader that Grandma Kim got him. Gracie just loves watching Max do anything and everything!
Max also enjoys playing tug o' war with Daisy. I tell him it will ruin his teeth but he can't resist.
My sweet little Gracie. She is so happy all of the time. She is the best little babe and makes us so happy, especially Max.


This picture looks a little creepy, but it makes me laugh because Max has been quite the poser lately. If there's a camera around you can bet he'll be telling me to try and get a good shot of him. My little model.

Max is a great big brother and is always kissing and tickling Gracie. He loves it when he makes her laugh.
Max has been inventing a lot of things lately. This was his "Into the FUTURE machine," (Imagine him saying it with a lot of gusto and his arms up in the air).
Gracie is such a cute little stinker. She just had her 6 month visit and was 15 pounds 9 ounces. She is in the 50th percentile in height and weight and is officially bigger than Max was at the same age. Not to mention the fact that she was 8 weeks early!
Here is Max's robot machine friend. He just comes up with the most creative ideas lately and he tells me all the 'destructions'. This machine had a 'treat compartment'. Max was concerned that Daisy might bark at his new friend, but was pleased when she didn't.
Max loves taking pictures with his new camera. The other day we were talking and I told him he was such a cute boy and he said "I know, and I'm also super super super smart, I have a big brain and that makes me smart. I also invent a lot of awesome things...I'm awesome!"

I'm glad he is confident:)
This is Kate with Gracie. Kate is my good friend Michelle's baby and is only 3 weeks older than Gracie. She is also 4 pounds heavier. She is super cute!