How does a baby

go from this 

to this

 in a matter of 24 hours?  

Stomach Virus?

A Conversation with Ava

Me:  “AJ did you know what Sarah has a baby in her tummy?”  

AJ: (pensive look oh her face) “Well did it taste good?”

Me:  “Um, I don’t know but I will ask her” (try not to die laughing)

AJ:  “Babies must be tasty!”

Me:  die laughing! 

The Cake Part 2

So here is what Kohen’s Blue’c Clues cake ended up looking like.  I think for my first real cake I did good.  

Black and White Cupcakes that were frosted to look like paw prints.

I had to make another cake to get a second ear. 

The first thing the bo went for was the strawberr.  My boy loves his berries!

So what you think?

A year of Kohen

Here is a year in review of The Boy.February 20th 2008

March 2008

April 2008

May 2008

June 2008

July 2008

August 2008

September 2008

October 2008

November 2008

December 2008

January 2009

February 20, 2009.

Happy Birthday My Sweet Boy. Life has not been the same since you joined “The Gang”. The giggles and smiles you give us everyday are truly a blessing we will be eternally thankful for.

The cake part one

So you might ask “Lovelace how do you get your son so messy with birthday cake?” and I would answer “Oh that, first you decide to have test run of the cake you will be making for The Boy’s party.” “Well Dear Reader, its really quite simple first look up a recipe for buttercream icing. Whip that up while you bake your cake for the night”.

‘While that one is in the oven mix up the batter for the official party cake and be sure to make it look pretty before putting it in the oven.”

“Lastly you should test the pattern on the cake you are baking for the test run and make it look pretty. Testing is very important because it will let you see how to cut the 9×13 sheet cake to look like the dog. Making a test cake will allow you to see what won’t work and what will leave you with a one eared dog.” Oh and I lied (:P) for real the last thing you should do is let your son have at it.
Follow all these steps and you will surely have a son who will look like this at the end of the night.
Tomorrow’s will look like blue and not Sprinkles but I thought this would be cute and still use the pattern. I moved his nose (the strawberry) to fit the candle.

Hiiii

Video of Kohen before he turns one tomorrow. I love his lip when he talks and the sweet sound of his raspy voice!

kohen from Grace Lovelace on Vimeo.

MHR Valentine’s Day

Katy asked that we post our first Valentine’s Day story. Kev and I celebrated our first Valentine’s Day my freshman year in college. We went to eat at Tripps which is a restaurant at Broadway at the Beach in Myrtle Beach. I remember we went to eat with my girlfriend Sarah and her then boyfriend. I also remember we stayed up late and played spades with the other couple. It was a fun evening and so sweet to have Kevin drive down to SC from VA to be with me. He has been doing things for me since the beginning of our relationship.

So this week I had determined pretty early in the week why he rocked then I got 2 more added reasons as the week progressed. I have to decided if I should share them all or save them up for a week when he hasn’t rocked so much 😉

1. On Monday I asked Kevin to go to spin class with me. He doesn’t really like it because he hates the cardio workout it gives him. He reluctantly agreed, but told me he wasn’t going to work that hard and didn’t need a towel or anything. This makes me a little sad because I am making him do something he really doesn’t want to and what kind of wife am I impose my likes on him? One who is trying very hard to lose weight, I guess. Anyway, I looked over to him at the end of class and he was panting as hard as I was. Then he gave me that great smile and wink, that melts my heart. Reason number one he rocks this week, he doesn’t do anything half-ass (excuse the expression).
2. Reason number two he watched the kids while I went out to dinner with some girlfriends this Thursday. He let me enjoy some time away. He understands that we both need time with our friends.
3. Last night he went to help out my parents who are selling their house and need him to let someone in to pick up a couch. He did it because he didn’t want me in a potentially unsafe situation. Kevin is great with my family and has truly earned their love and respect by being a great in-law to my parents, cousins, aunts and grandparents.

Not Me Monday!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

Okay this is my first time doing a Not Me post but I couldn’t refuse the chance to win a prize form MckMama. So here goes don’t judge because I certainly did not ask my husband to call our babysitter and let her know I would be an hour late because I was at a happy hour with my co-workers and enjoying it a bit too much. I also did not go out with making a single home cooked meal for dinner. You can bet I didn’t cancel a date night with my husband so we could stay home and watch Horton Hears a Who with Ava. I certainly did not sit in our room with Kevin and laugh as Ava threw a temper tantrum in her room. I did not let AJ stay up with me on Saturday watching Scooby Doo just so I wouldn’t be alone while Kev was out. I didn’t eat a cupcake at school then AJ’s doughnut at home. I didn’t tell AJ I wasn’t sure what happen to her doughnut. I didn’t use Not Me as a journal prompt for my students.

Mr. L

Kevin has called my Dad Mr. L as long as I can remember. I have called him Dad since I was 4? I don’t remember the exact time I started calling him Dad but I do remember my aunt suggesting I call him that. I can’t imagine having ever called him Douglas like I am told I did. He has been my Dad since I was around 2. Shortly after the sperm donor left I would guess. The truth is he is the only Dad I know. He is the Dad that God intended for me. In one of my few conversations with said sperm donor I thanked him for giving me the best Dad possible. In the past two weeks my Dad has gone to the hospital twice. He first went in on January 20th I an joked with him that he wanted to steal some attention away from President Obama. This week he was taken back via ambulance. My father has sarciodosis and it is effecting his lungs. Most recently he has been coughing up blood and having lung hemorrhaging. Needless to say this has me utterly scared and very worried. I worry about him and my Mom. I fear a world without him. I fear a life without him. I fear my children growing up and not knowing or remembering their Papi. He is wonderful with both the kids. AJ adores him and has always lit up when he comes into a room. She is close to him and is blessed to spend time with him every week when he picks her up from school. She benifits from his love of snacks and sweets every Wednesday on the way home from school. She told me on the way home from dropping of my sis at the metro that it was not time for Papi to go to heaven because she needed him to watch cartoons with her and play with her. She told me that Jesus knew he need to watch them with her. I want this for Kohen so bad. My Dad always wanted a boy. When I was pregnant with AJ he saw me buying pink and things that said princess and remarked that he didn’t understand why I insisted on buying Princess things for a boy. He said the nursery would look pretty funny in pink when we had a son coming. I was a little worried he would not be as into AJ because she was a girl and we knew that at 18 weeks. But from day one he was adored her. He came to the hospital and brought Kevin and I each a gift to celebrate the birth of our first child. He got his boy in Kohen and I pray that the Good Lord and Jesus are trully speaking to AJ when she says its not time because my Kohen deserves the love that only my Dad knows how to give. Please keep my Dad in your prayers!

Bragging on Little Miss Sass

Little Miss has grown a lot the past few months. I have been remiss on not only noticing but also sharing. It seems I forget that she is only 3.5 years old. I often think she is like my students who are six and seven but just shorter. So as I was saying she is growing she will soon be four and from what I see she is acting more like it everyday. Not only is she out growing clothes too quickly she is also learning things I don’t think I did at her age. She now has conversations with Jesus more than I do. She has learned to turn to him when she is lonely or in need of guidance. She is a little perturbed that he doesn’t always answer her but hey who isn’t? She is also starting to disobey us and knowingly do what we ask her not to. Right now this is mainly showing in her wanting to sleep in our room and sneaking to our doorway after we put her in her room. Many nights Gish finds her like this. She has also found her creative side and is often working on different crafts. We are coming home to see pictures and drawings taped to our wall. I bring home foam crafts from school for us to do together only to be told I got it Mom (when did she get old enough to just call me mom?) you do one with The Boy. So I take my own craft and leave her alone. I remember just a short while ago she wanted to make hers just like mine and asked my opinion on everything. Most shocking really is the growth she is showing academically. She had homework to do this past week and I got her all set to start so I could make dinner. I had told myself before hand not to meddle and to offer guidance only if she asked for it. I had prepared for a scribbly picture and had even considered how I would tell her how it is important to stay inside the lines when we can and use different colors. Then I saw this. Never mind the fact that she is a better colorer than some of my first grade students! Do you see the cutting? She blew me away when I saw how well she cut the sun out and the groundhog even more. I had been concerned about her fine motor skills because she tends to fill out forms with very short tight peaks and valleys but boy was I wrong. I realized that maybe I need to let her be 3 (uh more like 4) and raise my expectations of my students. I guess you can color me proud.