Gracie's FARM CAMP

So then it was Gracie's turn.  And G'ma did some of Gracie's favorite things:

 1. SWIMMING WITH MEGAN at George and Connie's pool

 2. And SHOPPING.  Summer lemon dress for the sweet girl

 And then her family had to end her SPECIAL time by joining in on the Farm Fun.  We came down for the day to pick her up.  THREE nights of being an only grandchild...she loved every minute!

I had to get a pic of Papa's Gator car seats...Pepsi cubes, of course!

Our Birthday Girl

Here's our Memorial Day Weekend baby!  She was born on the Tuesday after Memorial Day and each year she gets a three-day weekend right near her day.  This year, she turned SEVEN and we decided to let her have a family AND FRIENDS birthday party...at the YMCA!  This girl LOVES the water, and we thought it was the natural place for her first birthday party out of the house.

Her theme was a SUMMER PARTY! Again, perfect for our girl who would wear flip flops even through the winter.  And we didn't make a cake this birthday, because she wanted these blue jello swimming pools for dessert.  Score!  The first birthday Jeff and I weren't up late the night before a party!

Gracie was so honored to have so many of her friends and family come to the party.  We didn't want to leave anyone out, so we invited the girls in her class, the girls on her soccer team, and a few friends who didn't fall into those categories.  We thought that we'd have a hard time getting people to come--on the Saturday of Memorial Day Weekend--but there were SO MANY PARTIERS!!!  It was so fun.

 We had lots of help--friends and brothers helping open presents, G'ma Colleen and Linnea helping me set up the party room, G'ma Joan helping take pictures and hold babies, Papa Scott running around with Micah during the party--making the day a success!

The girls decorated flip flops and then we dove into goodies and presents.  The hour before swimming flew by!

 But swimming was definitely the highlight.  :)

Of course, MY highlight was the margarita waiting for me at Rancho Chico afterwards!  Mom and Kelly and the kids ate dinner with us before they headed back to the farm.  Ahhhh, the relief after a day of partying.  Gracie loved each moment.  (And her brother tried hard to be the second fiddle...)

The Meerkat

Aren't these little rodents darling?  Is there any wonder why Grace chose this little creature to be the topic of her independent animal research project?  Over Spring Break, Grace recorded all of the important information she needed to know about the meerkat.  In class, they spent their writing time creating topic sentences with details to support them.  Then, by a certain day in May we had to have her visual aid created.  She could've made a poster, a diorama, a model...but she knew right away that she wanted to make a mobile.

She was very concerned with getting NO HELP on this project.  She listens very carefully to her teacher's directions.  She thought she may get in trouble because on one of the pictures I drew the meerkat's tunnel.  But Mrs. Marcia didn't seem to mind.

Next time you see Grace, ask her about the meerkat's habitat.  Or their water source.  Or the contents of their diet.  She knows them.

But please don't ask her if you can see this mobile.  When it came home it hung from our kitchen light fixture for a week...and then one day when she was at school, a cleaning mother ON A MISSION threw it away.  Grace didn't notice for six weeks.  She asked me about it in June, finally.  I reassured her that we had pictures of the mobile to go on the blog.  Saved for all of posterity, in it's original quality.  :)

STAIRS!

He's found the stairs.  And the pantry shelves.  And the disgusting bathroom floor.  And the ficus plant in the living room…

…and BOY, is he proud of himself!!!  :)

 This was the bedtime magic show that had daddies disappearing and reappearing.  Joshy was amazed.

And this is the sweet Donuts with Dad invite that Gracie hung on our bathroom mirror for her dad.

A Gracie Riddle

Question:

Answer:

"I guess I do!" (At least she ended with an exclamation point--it makes the "guess" stronger.)

"I was MADE for basketball." -Gracie Lou Who

We had such a fun time watching Gracie play on her first basketball team!  She made several baskets throughout the season, got really good at dribbling her basketball (in my kitchen, thanks to her coach's suggestion!), and has decided that this is HER sport.  :)

And she is also A READER, folks!!!  She was so cute one night--she fell asleep "practicing" her reading with Cat in the Hat.  Oh, we love this girl.  She's so brave to be the first-born, showing her brothers how to do all of these first-time feats...

"I know, Bubba…"

"…it's hard being a baby."  -Gracie

("Look, Mom, he likes to suck on my finger!")

The Lone Tooth

This tooth is completely cracking me up!  It is literally hanging by a thread, and Gracie pops it out of her mouth all by itself to make me laugh.

Stay tuned…I'm sure soon you'll be seeing pictures of a girl with her two front teeth missing!

The Author

I just had to document the beginnings of a great author:  Grace Lochhead.  She's suddenly stapling pages together and illustrating stories about crazy things!  I think Daddy helped her with some spelling on this one, but she's getting more and more excited to record words!  This story actually has a problem and solution.  Later on it says that the mean monster had a baby monster and then became a nice monster.  :)

I wonder if this monster that scared Auntie Julie was a Lightning Monster…  :)

Micah's Mirror

It's nearly finished!  Gracie and I went to the PolkaDot Pottery to complete Micah's last tile.  We had a great time together!  We also got to arrange and rearrange the tiles to see where they looked best…  We can't wait for them to glue the tiles in so we can bring it home!

In January, Fish Hang Out at the YMCA

Things we learned during Gracie's January swimming lessons at the YMCA...

 1.  Arm strokes and kicks…Gracie loves the water!

 2.  Pool noodles make surprising water weapons when aimed correctly.

 3.  Goggles should not be left at the pool or Daddy will drive back to get them and have to take them off of other kids' swimming heads.

 4.  Warm aquatic centers make for great napping environments.

 5.  The game center at the Y is so fun!  The kids played air hockey, foosball, 

and fun board games and tech games!

6.  And near the end of the month, we realized that Jeff and I could take turns working out while the kids were in the pool.  

But the biggest lesson learned:  It IS possible to go to the gym with three kids!  

Possible, AND entertaining (for bystanders?!).