Fabulous

Gracie's '5 Birthday'

Grace wanted a surprise party so we hid and surprised her. She jumped pretty high, it was too cute! Unfortunately I had the camera so the picture didn't come out well.

Princess Grace and Princess Madeline ready for the 'Tea Party' (sans tea).

Time to dress up for the Tea Party...

It looks like Peter is toasting the birthday girl.

Party guests: Uncle Josh, Aunt Becky and Cousin Miriam

Papa giving a look.
(Someone's in trouble!)


Nana's ready for the party.

So is Great Grandma.

Aunt Becky is going for the movie star look.

Great Grandpa joined in the festivities too!

Miriam eating a balloon. (She's so cute!)

I think she's excited.

Beautiful decorations made by Nana.

Princess Tea Party food

Cute petit fours made by Uncle Josh.

Birthday Playdate at the Bouncy Slides

It's impossible for me to get pictures of the girls playing on the bouncy slides but there was face painting too. The girls stood in line for an hour and, as you can see, Grace was thrilled.
I got a brief smile for mentioning "Birthday Girl'.

Finally got their faces painted.

Princess face paint.

Outdoor Soccer

Tooth #3

Bad Parent Incident No.7492 - Evidence

Sometimes we threaten our children by saying we will cook Buster for dinner if they don't behave. In church a couple weeks ago Grace asked for prayer (in front of the whole congregation!) that we wouldn't cook Buster. The next day I got home from work and found this note written by Maddy on the table. I thought it was pretty funny but it gets funnier. According to a few eye witnesses this note was actually taped to the dog at one point. I guess we better stop using Barbecued Buster as a threat but, it's so much fun!

Cheetahs

Maddy and her team mates (twins, Kate and Kelly) with their soccer trophies.

These girls are amazing at soccer. The teams are supposed to have 8 players so each child can play at least half a game. Maddy's team (the Cheetahs) has dwindled down to four. This game they only had 3 players up against 4. They don't get to switch out players like the other teams so these girl play for the whole hour and they still kick butt! They are also the only team of girls, all the other teams are all boys. To be fair, the other teams do have some pretty young players so they aren't as coordinated. But the best game had to be when one boy on the other team was talking smack saying they were going to win easy because they were just playing girls. The Cheetah's won that game, easy. Smack-talking boy cried. HA HA! (I'm so mean.)

This is Grace's "Where's my trophy?" face.

That's a better face, Gracie. But we did have a long discussion all the way home about why she didn't have a trophy, and "No, it's not all about Maddy all the time. Just right now it is."
Oy!

Aloha

Our dear friends of the family, Leo and Teddie Coonradt, celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary last week. We were privileged to witness the renewing of their vows. It was a beautiful service. I cried, of course.
The theme at their party was Hawaiian so we had leis and ate BBQ pork. The girls got their pictures taken as a surfer and hula girl. I love how Maddy is looking at Grace! :)

Fuzzy Cows

These 'fuzzy cows' live down the street from us so I see them almost every day. I don't know why, but they always make me smile when I see them. They usually have hay all over their faces, which makes me laugh. I think of them as God's gift to me to lift my spirit. I want one. (I still want an elephant, too. Do you think they'd get along?)