Grace colored this pic today. We bought Noah some Superman pajamas the other day, so I guess she had him on her mind. Other than the duck-like feet, I think this is a pretty good likeness. :)

Finally!

We finally upgraded to a digital camcorder! I know...silly. The upgrade became inevitable when our old Hi8 camcorder wouldn't eject the tape. I finally got the tape out only to have a mysterious camcorder part fall out in my lap. It was definitely time!
I thought I'd post a few videos of Grace pulling out one of her teeth. Brace yourself....it's very dramatic. :) Our preferred method for pulling teeth is the floss-tied-to-tooth-tied-to-door method. No waiting around with dangling teeth here!

Double Birthday!

Here are some photos of the girls' double birthday a couple weeks ago. Both sets of grandparents came down for the big party as well as Eric, Christi and Tim (uncles and aunt). Elsie wanted a Cookie Monster cake and Grace wanted an ice cream cake (see post below for video on ice cream cones). My mom made the Cookie Monster cake above (way to go Mom!) and I made the ice cream cone cakes (with help from family). If there is one thing I learned from the ice cream cone thing it's that I did NOT get my mom's talent for decorating with frosting. As I was attempting to decorate the cake cones I was having very strong negative feelings toward the lady in the video. They have got to have some special effects going on in that video because it was NOT as easy as it looked! The cupcake would fall apart as you tried to spread the frosting on. I think more cake and frosting ended up in my tummy than on the cone :) We did find out, however, that both Christi and Eric are quite talented at ice cream cone cake decorating (I'm sure this talent will come in handy quite often in their lives)!

Grace's 4th Birthday Parties :)

Our big 4 year-old was spoiled enough to get 2 birthday parties this year. A few weekends before her real birthday we went to Bend for the weekend and had a party with Papa Craig and Memaw Mary. My mom made Grace a beautiful Strawberry Shortcake cake to celebrate. Grace had a fun-filled pre-birthday weekend which included a visit to the High Desert Museum with Papa, Daddy and Weston.

The weekend before Grace's birthday we celebrated at our home with Papa John and Memaw Shirley. I made a sad attempt at a pink heart cake with sprinkles. I'm sure it was cute enough but when you're raised with birthday cakes like my mom's the bar is set high :) We had a wonderful visit with John and Shirley and they took Grace to the Build a Bear store for her special present. Grace picked out a dog with a hot pink and red heart dress :) She also talked them into a baby dog and a hot pink dog bed with fur trim to go with it. These grandparents sure are pushovers!

We have enjoyed these past 4 years with Grace Hannah so much! She brings us joy everyday. Grace loves to sing, dance, run, play with dolls, and pretend. She seems to be very musical and loves for us to play the music LOUD. Her latest artwork has been clown faces colored in pink, red, white, and purple. Grace is so loving with Noah and will sit and hold him for long periods of time. She definitely has a soft spot for babies. So far Grace has been the most difficult to parent but we know there will be great rewards if we remain consistent with loving discipline. We are working with her on being a peacemaker (as opposed to causing fights with Weston and Elsie) and also on being a hard worker (she'd rather move slowly and let Weston pick up all the toys by himself). Grace loves to go shopping with me and is very friendly towards people. She also loves to cuddle and melts when we give her lots of hugs and kisses. She also recently learned how to write her name in all capital letters and moved into the top bunk bed when Weston moved into the "boy" room.

Grace wanted to wear pink tights under her swimming suit for some reason. She loves to dress up and pick out her own clothes now. I usually let her pick out her outfits as long as we aren't going anywhere that day :)

My beautiful pink heart cake!
Time with Papa John and Memaw Shirley! You'll notice Grace has her birthday dog with the pink dress!

My Silly Girl

The other day Grace skinned her knee on our front patio. Ever since she has talked daily of how much it hurts and how she needs medicine (we are talking a little tiny scrape here that's already scabbed over :) I finally got tired of hearing about it and applied some "medicine" for her. I took a bit of coconut oil on a napkin and gently rubbed it in to the scrape. She was so happy and right away said how it didn't hurt anymore. The coconut oil also rubbed off the remaining goo left from the bandaid which was a bonus. We'll see whether she asks for more medicine tonight. I'm guessing she will :)

3 Year-Old Sweetness!

The other night I headed upstairs to say goodnight to the kids and came upon this conversation between Weston and Grace. I was standing outside their door and they didn't know I was listening.

Grace: "When we grow up I can mawwy (marry) you."

Weston (voice exasperated) : "Grace, you can't marry your brother."

Grace (getting upset): "Weton, den who will I mawwy"?

Weston: "I don't know. A boy."

Grace (starting to cry): "But den I won't see you anymore!"

Weston (referring to Grace's wedding): "But Grace, I'll come to the party. Brothers and sisters come to the party.

Grace (still crying): "But I won't see you everyday!"

At this point I had to tiptoe downstairs and tell Mike what I'd just heard. Later I asked Grace about it and she was still upset. She knows she wants to get married someday, but at this point the only boys in her world are Weston and Daddy. It makes her so sad to hear she can't marry either of them! Sometimes 3 year-olds are pretty sweet!

Grace is Funny!

Grace was on her way upstairs for bed and I asked her if she wanted to bring her baby "Pat" to bed with her. She's been carrying Pat around all day nurturing and loving him/her (we're not sure if it's a boy or a girl) so I was surprised she wanted to leave him behind. I asked her why she never wants to take her babies to bed with her and this was her answer, "betause he might pretend cry and keep me awake".

Grace Turns 3!

Our little Grace Hannah was three years old on Sunday, Feb. 24th! We had a wonderful weekend celebrating with both sets of grandparents. Grace loved every second of "her" weekend and asked me this morning when it's going to be her birthday again.
Grace had requested a butterfly party, so her Memaw Mary worked diligently to produce this pretty cake. Now that Memaw Mary's done so many birthday cakes, no one is going to let her quit. Whether she likes it or not she's signed up for the next 18 years of cakes for all 4 children! She keeps trying to get me to take a cake decorating class so I can make them. Now why would I do that when I can get her to make them?!

She had to have help from Papa blowing out her candles.

We gave in and bought her ANOTHER doll for her birthday. She definitely has a nurturing personality. I think she owns about 12 dolls now and she plays with all of them!

Our little princess!

We also played "pin the tail on the donkey" as part of the party. Grace didn't enjoy being blind-folded but she enjoyed watching everyone else. Much to Weston's disappointment, I won by about 1/2". Memaw Mary lost as her tail ended up on the donkey's ear. It's a good thing she wasn't blindfolded when she made the cake!