18 Month Pictures

Gracie and I headed back to Winchester today, after her nap, to JC Penny's for her 18 month photo shoot.

Gracie was in rare form today at the photo studio; she didn't cry! Usually she hates to have her pictures done, even though she poses for the camera at home. I had already decided I wanted to show off Gracie's interests/skills at this stage in her life, through her pictures. I told the photographer I wanted to have pictures of Gracie reading her books.

Gracie's face lit up as the assistants brought out a huge basket full of books. She smiled and babbled and "read" the books, making for a great series of pictures (I have included them above, they were scanned in from a black and white print out, but you get the idea). My little girl loves books, and you can really see that in these portraits. I can't wait to get them back!

After the photo session, Garren showed up at the mall to surprise us after he got off work. We had dinner in the food court and exchanged Gracie's shoes (I had accidentally gotten her double wide walkers, and couldn't figure out why they didn't fit).

Following our mall outing, we headed to Wal Mart where Garren got a haircut, and Gracie ended up with another pair of shoes. You see, 2 months ago, we found Barney shoes at the Winchester Wal Mart, when we went back to get them a week later, they were all gone. As we headed to TN that month, we checked EVERY Wal Mart from Woodstock, VA to Greeneville, TN desperately looking for Barney shoes. No one had them. We had given up, until tonight, when Gracie and I browsed the shoe isles waiting for Garren to get his hair cut. There they were--on the clearance rack!! 2 pairs left, both of them size 7's!!! We thought it only practical to get Gracie's next shoe size up, so as not to waste the ones we had just gotten an hour earlier. Luckily for us, her next size is 7! She was ecstatic, and we were content.

Gracie had a great day. We all hope you each have a wonderful weekend, and if you are feeling down--go buy yourself a new pair of shoes, or two! It worked for Gracie!