Summer Weekend FUN...
in the SUN

This morning Daddy informed Grace Anne that Saturdays are much different in the fall... and to be prepared. That's right.. this is football country in the fall... but today is only July and its only fitting to enjoy the sun and splash in the water. Grace Anne loves the water... there is no doubt she got that from her Gran Gran and my Mom would have loved spending the day with her today. Fortunatly, her Daddy loves water just as much and truly enjoyed spashing in the water at the Splash Pad and then going to Miss Connie's pool (We didn't open our pool this year.. and we've been much less popular because of it). Grace Anne loved the time in the water and almost 5 hours in the sun! Daddy is sunburnt and exhaused... Grace Anne is still going going going like the energizer bunny (no nap mind you).

Also, this weekend Poppy bought Grace Anne the "big girl carseat." The carrier days are over... but I am very happy to have the new careat for safety reasons... after much research and reviews I feel very good about her new seat! Mommy isn't sure what to think about her moving out of the carrier.. why is she growing up so fast?! But, I will admit.. these days are great and I loved her being tiny but I love watching her grow and crawl now.

The most amazing thing happened today...
Grace Anne Kepley took a NAP..

Our child is queen of the catnap. A 10 or 15 minute nap is all she needs and then she is ready to go for hours. I've tried to break this and tried very hard to get her to sleep more than 15 minutes. For months I've struggled. Over the weekend we spent some time with Kris' grandparents and four of their friends. All six of them were amazed at the fact Grace Anne needed such little sleep and was so smiley and active on very little ZZzzz's. BUT, today I told Kris I was putting her down at 1pm for a nap. It ended up being nearly 1:30, but she went to sleep and slept almost 2 hours. She woke up, had a bottle and slept another 20 minutes. It was so amazing. I got sooooo much done. I didn't realize it was possible to mop, clean the bathroom, straighten up the den and do other tasks during the afternoon. We usually play all afternoon. So, I'm going to try this again tomorrow. I hope I'm as lucky, although I am realizing that she had to be absolutly exhausted after an exciting weekend and waking up at 5am... But, maybe my theory of exhaustion is wrong and she will atleast sleep an hour a day.. maybe?

Other milestone news, our scooter is a crawler. Yesterday we saw the big transition from scooting to crawling. So watch out world. Tonight she has been ALL over the den!


Daddy thinks Grace Anne is ready to try driving the BMW... Mommy disagrees!

What doesn't kill us... makes us stronger!

Let me go ahead an not even begin to apologize! Yes, that is right.. I haven't blogged and I'm nto even saying I'm sorry! I am glad that your here though.. reading my updates! I'm guessing some people have given up on us... which brings me to my next thought.. a thank you to all those concerned and caring friends that have reached out to us during the series of Kepley catastrophes!
Kepley catastrophes? Yes, we are in the midst of a bad luck... plague! Daddy's job search-- no luck, washing machine--shot... lawnmower has gone to lawnmower heaven .. we've had electrical issues.. air conditioning issues.. and the latest costly catastrophe.. a gas leak. But, the gas leak has been fixed.. its amazing what money can buy.. On the same token, its also amazing what all these catastrophes can cost!

Grace Anne is growing like a weed! She is so long!! (or seems like it to us) She isn't crawling really-- its more of a scoot.. or army crawl, but she can move ... and really loves her o-rattle ball and her stacking/nesting cups.There is nothing better than being parents and more and more we realize that Grace Anne is the best thing that ever happened to us. How any parent could abuse or neglect to their child is simply unfathomable. Parenthood truly shows you a different kind of love! Sadly, not all parents can put behind their selfishness-- but Kris and I have embraced the opportunity. There are so many occasions we look at one another and think -- wow we really put Grace Anne first.. she is number one! On that note, I'll add... I have fewer shoes and purses than I've ever had in my entire life.. and that is saying something.

PS Anyone have any leads on a job for Kris? haha