Play date with BOYS!!!

So Grace and I went to a playdate at my good friend Trish's new house. She has two boys Camp who is 20 months and Andy who is 8 1/2 months. They are so adorable and Grace thoroughly enjoyed being around other children. They all played so well together. It really melts my heart to see her with Trish's two boys. It seems like just yesterday that neithier of us had any children and now they are all in one room playing happy and healthy. Wonderful just doesn't do justice for the feeling I had in my heart.
They all ate lunch together at the table and Grace had her first hot dog. She ate almost the whole thing and then washed that down with some Macaroni and Cheese. Ahh to be a kid. We headed home shortly after that where Grace proceed to pass out within 10 minutes of being home. That's one way to ensure a good afternoon nap.
The heat wave continues here so I am retreating to the living room to rest. Love to you all!

PS: Here is a little montage!



Play date and walking

The Pritchard name...

finally is in Hollywood! That's right my younger brother Hap is going to be a regular cast member on Flip this House on A&E. If you have never seen the show it a home renovation show where Trademark Properties buys houses, flips them in two weeks, and resells them for hopefully a large profit. The show is filmed in Charleston and Greenville and one of the girls on the show is one of Hap's best friends, Ginger. She is the one that got Hap on the show as the landscaper. That is what Hap does in Charleston and now is the landscaper for Flip ths House. They have already filmed two of the shows that he will be on and as soon as I know when they air I will be sure to let you know so you can see him! Who would have known!

Also sorry I have not been blogging a lot but I have learned that having a toddler leaves very little time for blogging. IWe spend most days in the pool or taking bike rides. I will do my best to keep updated. Love to you all!

I am sorry I made you wait...

to see a video of Grace walking. Now this video is a little dark, not sure why. She likes to walk straight in front of the TV and from what I can tell try and jump into the TV to become part if the cartoon. I spend most of the day pulling her back from the TV. Finally I just have to turn it off and close the doors to the entertainment center. There are also some other pictures of her on this video. Enjoy!


Grace walking

A birthday,a U-Haul, a sick baby, a thunderstorm and no power...

I never get tired of this view from the deck

Double fisting it



So the above blog title about sums up our weekend at Pumpkin Lane. I turned another year older but not wiser. I am hanging on to my 20's with the cold grip of death as I can still say I am 29. Then there was Grace who got some sort of nasty virus that decided to rear its ugly head the first night we were in the mountains. Now I might could have handled it if she just cried for a little while and then fell asleep but right after she did one of the biggest thunderstorms to hit the area was on top of us. I could actually fell the lightning in the hair on my arms as it raised up with each bolt. Then a flicker of the power and then...darkness. Immediately Grace is awake screaming not real sure of where she is and a fever. Of course about 20 minutes after we lose power the storm rolls over. But still no power and I can feel the temperature of the house rising with no A/C. So what do I do in a crisis...call my Mom and Dad who are 10 minutes down the road (and have a generator so they never lose power) and let them know Grace and I would be bunking over for the night and would be there in 15 minutes. So we did...and I woke up Saturday morning at my parents instead of in the bed at PumpkinLane with Neal. Oh well...today has to be better I thought. Grace was awake at 6:30 am after being mostly all night as I really confused her by bringing her there last night. We headed back to my Pumpkin Lane first thing in the morning where Neal was waiting with power...which came back on 2 hours after we left...son of a B@#*@!

Saturday was good...cleaned and unpacked everything we had unloaded from the massive U-Haul we rented. By the way it had a big picture of SacaQweea (don't know how to spell that but she was the Indian that traveled with Lewis and Clark). Point being, Neal looked pretty damn funny driving it. Grace was in okay spirits but still not her usual happy self. Kind of blah. So Rob and Melissa were coming up from Greenville to spend the night that night but I was really dreading it considering Grace was sick. Her fever was 102 degrees right near bed time so we gave her Motrin and hoped for the best but was a long time away I learned. After 2 hours of crying she finally fell asleep and Rob and Melissa showed up at about 8:30. We grilled out and took a dip in the hot tub just in time to see the sun set. I retired that night at about midnight knowing Grace would be waking up soon and she did. She was awake on and off all night. I think I got about 2 hours of sleep. Uggg... I was ready for the morning.

After everyone was up we packed Grace in the stroller and we all walked down to the Pumpkintown Opry to look in the shops. We bought some John Deere place mats that are perfect for the cabin. Dad would be so proud!

We ate lunch and they headed back to Greenville. Grace's fever seemed to break that afternoon after it had reached 102 and she went to bed that night like an angel. Neal and I immediately jumped in the hot tub and soaked away the sick baby blues. She slept all night and we headed home the next day. So after an exhausting trip we are home and I have noticed that Grace is cutting her top two front teeth and another one on the bottom. Three all at once. Oh sweet jesus.

Water baby

Here is a little montage of Grace in the pool the other day...she really does love the water. I hope everyone is well!


Grace in the pool

The birthday girl then and now...

Today is Grace's actual birthday! She slept all night for Mommy and Daddy and woke up in a great birthday mood. It is hard to believe that this time last year I was in the hospital waiting for her to be born. It wasn't until 3:21 pm that she actually made her appearance. And not a minute too soon! Here are some pictures from then...

She was so SMALL! 6 lbs 13 oz and 21 inches to be exact. It is amazing the peace Grace has brought to my world. Neal said yesterday, "I don't know what I would do without you and Grace. I am so glad I went to Yellowstone and met you, there is noone that would take care of me the way you do." And I said, "Thank God for Yellowstone, I would never have found someone to put up with me the way you do." Full circle I tell you. Grace and Neal are my soft place to land.

And now just one short year later she is calling my name and throwing temper tantrums, King Kong style. Ahhh...welcome me to the new world of having a toddler! Here are some pictures now...

So is it time for us to get started on the next one?!

Time of my life...

What a wonderful day!!! It was Grace's 1st birthday party and a good time was had by all. We had such a great turnout, probably 25 people. The tent was a big hit and Neal was glad we had even though he was the one who had to put it up. The King's were in attendance. Sally came walking up the driveway double fisting the pies. Don't worry Amanda they were lima bean pies and you didn't miss anything. Grace got so many great presents and had a great time opening them. This whole was right up Grace's alley, I mean she was the center of attention, just the way she likes it. She played so well with all the other children. My friend Blake who I went to high school with, who now lives in Charlotte came down with her 5 1/2 month old , Gracie. She is so adorable, all smiles and laughs. It was great fun to catch up with everyone. It is still hard to believe it was Grace's 1st birthday! She was so worn out from the day she went to bed at 7 and didn't wake up until 7 the next morning. Steve and Susuan came over last night and we played some moonlight croquet. The tent proved to be alittle challenging to hit around but we took it as a challenge. We decided to look at it like a putt putt course and of course the drinks we were having made it even more fun. I am overwhelemed at how much I love Grace and how wonderful this day was. I finished my day off with a slice of Lima Bean Pie and laid my head on the pillow thinking happy thought of our daughter's first birthday.

I can't get the grin off my face....

We're home from our first overnight stay at the cabin. We loaded as much as we could fit into Neal and I's car and were on our way. The trip was eventful from Grace screaming to Neal's car almost breaking down. But after a sudden black cloud explosion from his muffler it seemed to run fine after that. Neal likes to think of it as a James Bond like smokescreen. We unpacked the cars when we got there and my parents drove over to see us. Grace really loves the cabin. The living room is so full of sunshine from the sliding glass door and she has a lot of room to spread out all her toys. And there A LOT of toys. So after being there a couple of hours we were reminded that we are in the woods by a black snake that seemed to have made the front door his home. Now I am not a huge fan of snakes but I do know that black snakes are good to have around to eat mice and such. So we didn't bother him until we noticed a bird nest above the front door and realized our snake friend who we named Bellzibar was really after the baby birds. So neal launched a plan to catch Bellzibar and relocate him. So that night Neal opened the door and when he did he heard a thump. The damn snake was on the rafters and almost fell on his head. That was it...Neal grabbed his paddle and scooped him up to put him in the cooler. Once in the cooler he drove him down the hill and set him free.

Grace went to bed at 7 as usual so Neal and I cranked up the hot tub, opened a bottle of wine and watched the sunset while soaking our tired bones. Ahhhh....

The next day we put Grace in the stroller and went blackberry picking. They are all around our house. About a half a mile from the house is Pumpkintown Opry so we walked there and got some great pictures of Grace in the pumpkin house.

We also did some yard work and then cleaned up since Mom and Dad were coming over for drinks. We sat on the deck and visited. They stayed for a while after Grace went to bed and then headed back for their house. Neal and I then assumed the position in the hot tub for the sunset. Does it get any better than this?!

Also see the new website on the left with Neal, Grace and I pictures. It is just another way to show you all a lot of pictures there isn't room for on the blog. :o)