As always we started the morning singing happy birthday to our sweet girl then opening her presents from us and her brothers. James and John-Mark were so excited about getting her a gift - they have been talking about what they were going to get her for months -lip gloss! (We have friends with a 5 year old little girl that has her own lip gloss - that is where they got the idea - and the fact that she likes to go in my purse every day and put on chap stick:) They also got her a Hello Kitty necklace and bracelet, little make-up bag, and bubble bath. We got her a new princess dress up dress with shoes and tiara, the Cinderella movie, and some cute new dresses. By far the lip gloss and chap stick were her favorite! She carries her little "lip gloss" bag around all the time and puts some on about every 5 minutes - and the boys love it too (but don't tell Daddy:)
After presents her birthday breakfast of choice was chocolate chip pancakes. Then for her special birthday lunch with daddy she wanted pizza. She cracked us up at lunch when she asked to pray and we all held hands and bowed our heads and then she proceeded to sing Happy Birthday to Gracie - and we all just listened and Amen'd at the end! When Daddy got home from work he brought her a beautiful bouquet of flowers. A perfect day for our one and only princess :)
Sunday we had her Pink Princess Party! This is the first year she has a had a party with anyone other than family and she has been so excited about it! The boys always have a big summer pool party or slip n slide bash so I was trying to figure out what to do for her - and who to invite. Most of my friends have boys so she doesn't really have friends like they do yet. But we had fun with a few sweet girls. Of course I didn't get a pic of everyone but the girls that came were Emma, Ali, Emma-Katherine, Ava Ruth, Naomi, Nally, and Fallon. Mom-Mom and Papa Steve, Papa, Nonny, and Chrissy also came to celebrate with us. We're so blessed by all our family and friends that came to celebrate the life of our sweet Gracie Belle!!
Dear Gracie -
Our sweet and sassy baby girl! You add soooo much more to our family than just all the pink that was introduced in our home the minute I heard your daddy say "It's a Girl!!!"
Over the past year your personality has really blossomed and it has been too fun watching and "hearing" you grow over this last year. Just like me, your daddy and your oldest brother James you LOVE to talk, and talk, and talk :) You also LOVE to ask why and why and why. You crack us up with the things you think about and ask. Just the other day out of the blue you asked my why the itsy bitsy spider climbed back up the water spout! Ha! Deep thoughts :)
You are a beauty and bring smiles to everyone who meets you. You love to act silly and make people laugh. When you get in trouble you also like to get silly and giggly in the hopes that we'll forget what you were getting in trouble for - sometimes it works :)
You are sooo smart! It's really hard to believe you're only just now turning 3. You love to be read to and I won't be surprised if you are reading on your own by this time next year since we're teaching James and John-Mark I'm sure you'll be right there with them.
You also love to dance and sing and just like me you can hear a song once and almost know it by heart. You love to sing and worship with me in the car. I think your favorite worship song right now is Hillsong kids "Let your light shine" and you ask to hear it any time we're in the car. Nothing makes me smile bigger than when I look in the rear view mirror and see you singing and dancing in the car :) My grandmother LOVED to sing and dance and tried to get my mom to do little numbers to Barbara Streisand but she would have none of it. Then I came along and loved all that stuff so I thought for sure if I had a little girl she would not - but lucky for me I get a little singer/drama girl too. Yes, you definitely can be dramatic when you want to be :)
You are a fun girl that loves to play with your brothers and any little girls that cross your path :) Anytime we're at the park if you meet another little girl you will run off with her and play until it's time to leave. You still call your brothers "the boys" which I think is sooo sweet. Now you have the two younger "boys" to refer to as well. I think you are just the perfect combination of girly and tomboy. You love pink and lip gloss but also wear your brothers old New Balance tennis shoes to play in and fly down our drive on the mini four wheeler :)
One of your favorite things to do is look at your newborn photo album and point out me and you and everyone in the family. I think you pull it out atleast once a day to look at and talk about. I need to add more pictures to it - it stops at about 3 weeks and Benjamin and David don't even have one!!!
Now that you and I are for sure the only girls in the family you always call me "your girl" and if you want to sit by me and someone else has already taken that spot you'll say, "but I'm your girl" :) You continue to be quite our sassy sister and I'm pretty sure you tell me at least once a day that you're not going to be my friend anymore only to quickly change your mind and grin and say "I still your friend mommy".
This year you became a big sis for the 2nd time and while I think you wanted a little sister you adore both your little brothers. You love to hold David and kiss him all the time. You also are a great big sis to Benjamin and you two play together quite a bit. You love to tickle and chase him - and he loves it too - most of the time :) You are also becoming a great little helper doing things like grabbing diapers, emptying the dishwasher, sweeping, really whatever I ask you to do - except clean your room. You and John-Mark will do anything to avoid cleaning your room :)
It amazes me to think about how God placed you so perfectly in our family. Smack in the middle of all these wild and crazy boys. The perfect spot for the princess :) Your brothers love you like crazy and there may be times as you grow up that they drive you crazy but I hope you always remember what a lucky and special girl you are. I pray the love and protection you get from all these boys will be a great reflection of how much your Heavenly Father loves you x1000!!
Love Love Love you sooooo much baby girl!!!
Birthday Morning
Putting on our new lip gloss :)
Princess Grace
Birthday Lunch
Sweet friend Emma. Gracie was sooo excited to have all these little girls to run around with :)
Sweet Ali Rae!
Precious Emma Kathryn - she has two older brothers too that are close in age to James and John-Mark and her Daddy and Jeremy have been friends for years. It's so fun to get to do life with all these friends and watch our kids become friends too!
These last two pics are to show both her sassy and sweet sides. Can you tell which is which? Ha!
"Mommy, I not going to be your friend and more"
"Mommy, I am going to be your friend"
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