Our little Gracie the Birthday Girl

Grace turned 4 January 7th and it was a fabulous birthday celebration that we stretched out over a two different days! We celebrated on her birthday day and then again on the Sunday after her birthday at the house with our extended family - it was a really fun celebration!

Grace is the sparkle of our family, she entertains us, makes us laugh and finds happiness in the simple and ordinary. She says some of the absolute cutest and silliest things and she is dead serious as she is still trying to master the English language and use phrases she hears grown-ups say in the cutest of contexts - it is so fun to listen to her and there are plenty of opportunities - this girl talks non-stop - never seen anything like it . . . OK well since Audrey! They are similar in personalities in a lot of ways - very cute!

So since it's her birthday post I have to share some stories about her - she is just so adorable! Where to start though - that is the question!

I'll start with a couple of cute things she has said lately! The first one and one of my favorites is that every time she is asked to say the blessing on the food she says "bless the food and help us to wash our bodies." Instead of "help it to nourish our bodies." It is all I can do to not snicker every time she prays! It is so cute and I often wonder if she doesn't think that is a strange line herself, but that is what she has "heard" us say so she just repeats it exactly as she heard it! Just cute!

The other day I bathed her and Jonas in the morning and then that night when Larren got home from work she was telling her dad about her bath and she said "oh and dad I drown-ded myself!" Larren asked her "what?" like three times and then he looked at me and said, "what happened?" and I said she is trying to say "drained it" not "drown-ded." Larren was concerned there for a moment perhaps about a lack of supervision, but then I assured him it was the lack of supervision at breakfast (involving oatmeal) that resulted in the need for a bath, once in the bath they were supervised just fine! But it did sound rather suspicious and pretty funny I must admit!

She also uses the phrases "really" and "I'm serious" and the combination "really, I'm serious" or "I'm serious, really I am" all the time in everyday conversation - it is so so cute! She adds to the ends of a lot of her sentences, it is so funny! I love how she is using language and learning to communicate correctly, she is just fun!

And finally some birthday antics to share! So on her birthday I said to Larren that morning, "will you grab her presents out of the garage and bring them in so I can get them wrapped for later." He brought them in, they were all in bags and he just set them in the bottom of his closet and left for work. Later I was in the kitchen cleaning up from breakfast and Grace came around the corner into the kitchen and said, "Mom, I peeked at all my presents and I LOVE them!" What a little turkey! Of course she still wanted me wrap them for her! But how do you get after a cute little thing like that for peeking and I tell you what she was good as gold the whole day because she wanted those presents BAD and she wasn't about to do anything to jeopardize her chances!

One final story so she wanted to go out to Red Robin for her birthday dinner, so Larren met us there at 5:00pm because Savannah had a dance class at 6:30pm so we needed to squeeze dinner in before her class and my parents and Emily also joined us for dinner. It was a lot of fun. We had such a nice dinner, good food, perfect kids and a happy birthday serenade just fun! So at the end of dinner Larren dashed out with Savannah in his car to get her to class and I stayed and paid the bill, wait no my dad bought that night! Thanks dad! Anyway, I got the three kids in the van and was pulling out of the parking lot and literally, at that moment I am thinking to myself, "that was so fun, what a nice evening with everyone, the kids were so good!" Just thinking happy blissful thoughts, when I'm brought back to reality by Grace saying out of nowhere, "Audrey, do you want me to kick your butt? Seriously I could, I could totally kick your butt!" WHOA! I was like what the heck did she just say?!? So I said, "Grace, that is a naughty thing to say, we don't say things like that at all!" And then in a momentary act of stupidity I asked, "Where on earth did you hear something like that?" She replied, "from Savannah Mom, you know she is evil, I'm serious Mom EEEE-VIL!" Well, what can I say ask a stupid question . . . I got my wits about me again and decided not to ask where she had learned the word "evil!" In Savannah's defense she was later cleared of all accusations, I'm still not sure where Grace came up with all that so I'll just blame modern media! Ha ha ha! Just kidding, she has two older sisters who said some crazy things themselves at times, kids just come up with crazy stuff sometimes - but that was pretty hilarious and certainly tops them all! Like I said she is entertaining! And yes that is a huge understatement!

Now to wax all sweet on her for a minute! She is such a joy, she is full of compassion (a Savannah quality), thoughtful, obedient, loves Jonas to death and is always watching out for him. She is my "big helper" all day while the girls are gone. She love to be big and help me with anything and everything, she is fiercely independent and likes do things herself and in her own time and way! I like that she has such a strong quality, I hope it will serve her well as she grows. She tells me she loves me, several times a day, she is quick to give hugs and kisses and still loves to cuddle on my lap to read a book! She rarely complains, a wonderful quality! I just love her she is so happy and brings so much joy to me, I signed her up for preschool for this coming fall and the thought her her being big enough for that just kills me! I will miss her so much! She is such a important part of our family and I love my little Gracie Carolina!

She woke up to a fun present a "birthday girl" shirt to wear all day! She was so excited, she got dressed right away!

She called her daddy at work as asked him to take her to lunch, she wanted to go to the "pizza place," (Primo's) so daddy took her to lunch, mom and Jonas got to come along too! Here is Jonas and Grace riding the helicopter at Primo's!

Red Robin for dinner as requested by the birthday girl!

Savannah, Audrey and Grace at the Red Robin birthday celebration!

Grace with her balloons and her birthday sundae! The staff was singing to her which she wanted and she loved but at the same time she gets so shy about things like this, cute!

Diving into that yummy sundae! Yum-O

She wanted necklaces so bad for her birthday, she got her wish and her sisters got her butterfly necklaces she was thrilled!

Necklaces still, she is saying, "YES!!" The girls' present was a hit!

She wanted some Littlest Pet Shop things too and look at all that loot behind her on the couch, she had a great birthday!

On the way home from Red Robin we stopped at the store to grab some cupcakes, she knew she would be getting her birthday cake at her family party, but she wanted something for today and so did the big girls, she picked out white cupcakes with chocolate frosting because they had Dora rings on them! We sang happy birthday to her and she went to bed one brand new happy 4-year old!

My little troublemaker lady got into her chocolate cupcakes the next morning before breakfast even and when I walked in to the kitchen I found one chocolate covered mess! You should have seen her - she headed straight for a bath before I thought to snap a photo, but goodness she was a sticky gooey mess! As was the kitchen floor and oven and cupboards and kids I tell you!