The Espejos

Grace is such a happy baby: This week, I've come to the realization that she isn't going to be a baby for much longer. BECAUSE... We've discovered her  FiRsT tOoTh !! You can't see it very well, but it's there. Just barely poking up through her gum on her left side. So, now she  LoVeS  this: And these are her new best friends: I don't want to jinx anything, but we've been very lucky. She hasn't been hardly any more fussy than usual (which is  HaRdLy EvEr  anyways). I'm not sure why, but this first tooth is making me horribly sad. It just feels like my little baby is entering childhood. I guess I just assumed that she'd be a baby for a lot longer than this. I always say, "I wish she'd stay this way forever." But then she gets another week older... and does something so sweet... and makes her daddy and me laugh... and learns something new... and amazes us... and then I say, "OK, now I wish she'd stay THIS

Two days after Christmas is Kasie Marie's birthday. Since she turned 25 this year, we decided to get together to celebrate. Our plan was to head up to Mt. Charleston, go sledding, and then come back home to a nice big pot of chili. Unfortunately, there was an avalanche warning on the mountain. Instead, we had a game night. Kelli and Eddie came over early to help make chili, and cupcakes for Kasie. While they were there, we exchanged Christmas gifts. I got some of my blue kitchen accessories I've been dreaming about. I'm SoOo ExCiTeD to collect them all. They brought Grace a stuffed puppy named Violet that learned her name and teaches her how to spell it.  Violet also knows that Grace's favorite food is sweet potatoes, and her favorite color is pink. She loves it! She especially likes to ride with Violet in her wagon: When Kasie and Jeremy arrived, we sang Happy Birthday, and Kasie made a wish. Then, Gracie opened her presents from Uncle Larry

This Christmas, we knew we had to do things a little different because of Grace. Usually we would stay the night at my mom's house on Christmas Eve, wake up and make a quick stop at my dad's, go to Isaac's dad's for homemade enchiladas for lunch, be to my grandma and poppa's by one, then head to Isaac's mom's all the way across town. Having our own family now, we wanted to wake up at our own house Christmas morning. Since driving to Isaac's mom's at night didn't sound like a good idea with a baby, we asked her to come stay over at our house so she could wake up with us Christmas morning. It made Christmas day A LoT easier. When Grace woke us up, we took her to see all of her presents: Her favorite was her red wagon: She opened one: Played with this little car: And then went back to bed. While she was sleeping, the rest of us opened up our gifts. Craig and Lisa: Zacarias: Isaac and I haven't gotten each other gifts for the

For the past few years, we've stayed the night at my mom's house EvErY Christmas Eve and woken up over there to celebrate Christmas. This year, we decided that we wanted to wake up at our own house since we now have our own family. Sooo...we changed up the traditions a bit. All of us kids went over there for our usual Christmas Eve dinner of prime rib. It was ExTrA  delicious because mom used new recipes for the green beans and carrots ! Then we all helped with the dishes. Instead of waiting until the morning to open our gifts, we opened them all that night so that Isaac and I could have more time with each of our other families on Christmas Day. Mom always gets us all matching pajamas and makes us take a picture in them...we cooperated well. Don't worry...we made the parents take a picture in theirs too! Grace was so excited to open her first present. " FoR mE?! " We had a lot of fun spending time with everyone and then headed home to put Grace to

Every year, Lake Las Vegas sets up an ice skating rink over the lake for the holiday season. I have never been before, so I was pretty scared. You always hear stories about how you fall all over the place when you're ice skating. My family decided to start a new tradition and go every year on Christmas Eve. Since we were celebrating Christmas together on the 24th, Thursday was our Christmas Eve. When we got there, we walked around and looked at the beautiful lights and decorations: Jeni and Kailen (her new boyfriend that I ReAlLy like) came to meet up with us, and we went to eat at Luna Rossa: Grace drank some water for the first time ever. I think she liked it! After dinner, we rented ice skates and headed over to the rink: I'm proud to say I didn't fall OnCe !! I even took my mom around for a few spins. I was pretty much a PrO iCe SkAtEr : I was even pulling Isaac around the rink: We had SO much fun: I can't wait to continue this tradition next

...I caught Grace playing with her binky while hanging out in her swing. ...she got some sweet new shades from Grammy. ...we celebrated her  half birthday ! ...Grace texted her friends (she's getting pretty good). ...she tried carrots for the first time. She doesn't love them like she does sweet potatoes, but that didn't stop her from eating them and getting a little messy them eVeRyWheRe . ...we took Grace to Memphis Barbecue (if you've ever read our blog before, you know that it's our AbSolUtE fAv ) where she begged Daddy for some sweet tea. He gave in and let her have a taste. That was just asking for it.  She was VERY kind of upset when he wouldn't let her try some chicken fingers. ...Pa took a break from work to stop by and play with Grace. He does this pretty much every day. ...Grace fell in love with my puppy blanky.  I've had it since I was a baby and still sleep with it every night.  I found her chewing/sucking on it when we wo