March 3, 2007

Grace and Suki share a quiet time with Dad before the birthday party.

Aunt Tina reads a book to Grace while cousin Lucas rolls around with a good book nearby.

PaPa sits with his girl Suki.

Aunt Tina reads a book, but you can see that Lucas is not feeling well at all.

Bambi gets ready to take cousins Loralei and Lucas back to their hotel -- they were just too ill to party.

Suki rests with Granny.

Grace reads My World with Granny and Suki.

Suki finds her way back to PaPa.

Four sisters all together.

Mom's family, missing only a few people.

Suki loves sleeping with her grandfather!

Suki looks very happy with Grandma.

Grace and her crowd of admirers.

Dad and Mom take a break from party prep.

Reading Stars Will Still Shine.

Two sisters by two sisters.

Grace plays with Aunt Melissa under some balloons.

Aunt Tina, Aunt Cyndie and Grandma under the palm trees.

Grace and Suki play with PaPa.

Aunt Tina holds Suki.

Opening a fun Dora card.

Examining the gears. She is getting more used to the noise of the gears already!

Admiring her Dora figurines from Aunt Cyndie.

Grace was so thrilled to receive her Clifford puppy made by Aunt Tina! It's amazing.

Grace loves the look of this Dora CD player!

Another one with Aunt Tina and Suki.

With her puppy and CD player.

Examining a camera book with Grandma.

Uncle Jeff holds Suki, who was happy just a minute before :)

Playing with Grandma.

Enjoying some books from Granny and PaPa.

Reading her Dora bathtime book.

Grace loves her Shark pop up book!

1-2-3 Pop Up!

Time for cake! Mom brings over the monkey cupcake with a candle as we all sing.

Grace is wide-eyed as we blow out the candle together.

Cake!

Taking a little rest on Clifford.

Mom and Aunt Tina share a laugh.

Another one of the four of us.

Grace and Vin join our crowd.

March 2, 2007

Distracted by the comb before she gets dressed.

So damn cute!

Grace tried to interact with Suki while she was sleeping and ignored her while she was awake.

Slouchy but sitting.

Aunt Tina arrived today! She'll kill me for posting this but it was so sweet how she took to her nieces right away, toting one and entertaining the other with a rendition of Itsy Bitsy Spider.

Holding Suki.

Aunt Tina reads a book to the girls.

And another book -- Aunt Tina was in high demand. Grace was asking "Aunt Tina to read it?" left and right.

Then she actually started clamoring to sit in Aunt Tina's lap! This is pretty much unprecedented behavior from Grace.

She loves the marionette Aunt Tina and Uncle Steve brought her from Italy.

And Suki was fascinated by the bunny puppet book.

Of course, it didn't take long before Grace had to get in on that!

While reading Poky Little Puppy, Aunt Tina showed Grace how to pant like a dog. Grace thought it was a hoot.

Tickled by the bees!

Grace especially loved the air pump Aunt Tina brought to inflate some balloons. She even learned to use it herself!

My favorite memory of this evening was definitely when my sister helped me with Grace's bedtime routine. We had so much fun, the three of us lounging on the bed and laughing -- it was such a sweet moment for us.

March 1, 2007

Definitely warming up to the monkey chair.

Reading a story with the monkey.

PaPa shows Suki her new Tigger toy from Aunt Rebekah. She was fascinated by it!

Smiling at Granny.

Suki finds a familiar place to nap.

Fascinated by fingers.

Grace has fun balancing her new birthday figurine on her finger.

Grace examines the Winnie the Pooh toys with Granny.

Competitive Clara here is not happy with her own Donald Duck, she needs to have Suki's as well.

What a fun evening with Granny and PaPa!

February 28, 2007

How to know you might want to start fastening the belt in the swing.

The view from above.

Grace just loves to read.

Today, for the first time...

...Suki laughed! And laughed and laughed and laughed. It was amazing.