Happy Birthday 5 year old!

I just realized this morning that although I thought I had posted the pictures from Grace's birthday, I had not. It is yet another symptom of the half of a brain that I am functioning on these days. Oh well. It hasn't been a full month yet, so I am pretty sure I am still covered by the grace period. No pun intended.

Anyways, due to some unexpected circumstances, Gunnar and I were up until after 1 in the morning the night before, so we were pretty wiped out on the day of her birthday. Gunnar had bought her flowers and a pink donut and I had decorated the night before so when she woke up the kitchen was ready for a birthday celebration. She, of course, was thrilled.

Almost as soon as she finished her donut, the phone started ringing with happy birthday wishes. Her little cousin Elena sang to her on skype (video chat on the computer). There she is, talking to her Grandma while waiting for Elena to come online.
Both my girls love skyping with Ann, Elena and David!
Grace's birthday party was a costume cowboy party. I bought the girls new dresses. They were a compromise, as the more cowboy looking dresses were too blue for Grace. But I think the look worked.
My mom made a cardboard fort, for the girls to go in and out of. Grace had requested my mom make "The city of Jerusalem" out of cardboard, but of course, that wasn't really feasible. :)
Here we are, ready to yee-haw it up!
My sister Maria bought Grace pink roses, which she LOVED. She wanted to carry them around with her the rest of the night.
There are the cutie cousins. It is hard to get a good picture of these four, although they really are cute no matter what they are doing.
A family tradition at my parents house is a "love fest." Basically, the birthday person sits in the middle and everyone goes around and shares some "love." Either something the special person has done they appreciate, some characteristic that they appreciate, or...well, you get the picture. Something nice. This was Grace's first "love fest" as she was a little young before this. She LOVED it had smiled so big the whole time. I am so thankful for my sweet girl and it was sweet to hear everyone say such nice things about her. Especially since they were true. :)
Then came the present opening. She was very excited about each gift. I love that girls enthusiasm.
She scored playmobil's the best toys ever invented.
My mom hand crafted a barn. It goes with the doll house my mom made her a few years ago. Super cute and perfect for our little cow girl.
My sister Maria made the very best cake I have ever eaten in my whole life. Six layers of delicious chocolatey goodness. So delicious, I could have skipped dinner and just eaten that!
Lastly, Grace took some pictures with her guest. She had a slightly lower attendance than usual, as her Grandpa Dick had gotten sick. We missed him, but I guess that is a downside of having a birthday during cold and flu season. :(
No birthday for Grace would be complete without some baby David snuggle time. She is such a good baby holder!
Uncle Danny and Michael Sanchez, a good friend of Maria's, rounded out the birthday guest list.
Elizabeth loves her little cousin, David. She loves hugging him and trying to "hold him." It kinda looks like a case of the blind leading the blind with those two.

The famous princess Grace

Grace loves all things princessey. And by love I mean that more than once she has been in tears upset that we didn't name her Cinderella. Even after I explained to her that it means "Little girl who sits in the ashes" she STILL wishes that were her name. She found some consolation in her name when her Grandma Carol told her that there really was a famous princess named Grace. So now, Grace likes to walk around proclaiming herself as the "Famous Princess Grace."

That being the case, her birthday present from her Aunt Michelle was perfect to Grace's liking. Michelle sent Grace a princess dress up dress. It worked out well, since Grace had grown out of her other dress up dresses (mostly dresses too "foo-fee" to wear out in public). Grace loves the new dress and loves to wear it and pretend to be a princess.

She also received for her birthday a little princess tiara from my mom, so her look was complete.
While I was taking Grace's picture Elizabeth came out side and stood next to Grace and held her hand. She must have sensed that Grace was the center attention and wanted to get in on the action.
Thank You Michelle! Grace loves her new dress!

Little sickie

She may have a hacking cough, but it is good to know she has plenty of attitude left.

The days of our lives

I think I may have previously mentioned that I have been doing a project this year to capture a picture every day. Hopefully when I am done, I will have one picture per day for the whole year. Having to take pictures EVERY SINGLE DAY hasn't been as big of a challenge as I though, as my kids as so adorable, that is easy. Having the pictures be different and fun and creative, however has been a lot harder. I end up taking a bunch of pictures and hope that one comes out well.

On the positive side, however, I do find myself taking pictures of the ordinary, almost boring, parts of our lives. I think I almost prefer some of these pictures as they capture the girls as they are. Silly, cute, funny, the joys of my life.

This particular day Elizabeth and I were playing on the porch while Grace drew with her new sidewalk chalk.

On a side note, at almost 18 months, Elizabeth is really getting in touch with her silly trouble making side.
She is almost over "upside down baby," one of her first "tricks." But with a little coaxing she will still usually put out.
Grace, ever the little artist, loves her new sidewalk chalk. I love the way she refers to herself as "an artist, like my Tia."



Elizabeth was a little bummed she wasnt allowed off the porch to play with chalk. She did however enjoy watching Grace. Grace often says "I just love Elizabeth's smile" and I would have to agree. It takes over her whole face and just lights up the room!

My precious cargo

What else do you need for a successful trip?

My little book worms

I love library days with my girls!

DAAAAAAAAAAAvvvvv

All the sudden Elizabeth has started to become her baby cousin David's biggest fan. She wants to hold him, kiss him, hug him. It is cute. It is also kind of funny, because she isn't that much bigger than he is. It kind of looks like a case of the blind leading the blind. She calls him "Daaaaaaaav."




We still have not had any luck getting a good picture of the four cousins. It is hard to harness that much cuteness.
This particular day I was able to wrestle David from the arms of my girls and go to have a little snuggle time. Can you say score? There is nothing as wonderful as snuggling with a sleeping baby!

A dream come true

After reading a story about duck driving under the water, Grace really wanted to see one dive under water. We had gone to the Wild Animal Park, and although we had seen ducks, non of them were diving. We took a family walk on a new trail, and came upon some ducks that were diving. Grace was so excited she just kept saying "My dream came true! My dream came true!" She was so excited. It was adorable.
Me and my sweetie!
Ellie has been turning into such a daddy's girl. They weren't as excited about ducks as Grace and I were. I did catch them kissing though, and I thought it was such a sweet picture.

Grandpa Hiltons

I am really sleepy and uninspired at the moment, but a picture is worth a thousand words though, right? So instead of writing some clever diddy, I will leave you with the pictures from our most recent visit at Grandpa's.