Saturday, July 29, 2006

No time to 'spare,' Gracie's birthday is here!

Friday was Gracie's family birthday party with Grammer & Pappy and Uncle Josh, Aunt Beth, Ann Elise & Morgan. While waiting for my brother & family to arrive, Gracie got in some practice on her new bicycle. She did great! She & Katie also splashed in the pool. Putting our feet in helped lower the temperature alot! After they arrived, they swam & played on the swingset while Chris grilled some yummy hamburgers. We ate inside because the mosquitos were getting bad then we had strawberry icing cupcakes and Gracie opened gifts. She was blessed immensely by aunts & uncles, grandparents & us.This is a 'Madeline' activity book from Aunt Erin. This is a bracelet making kit from Grammer & Pappy. She will love doing this! This is from Gramps & Gramme. When we opened it up, we realized that I'd bought the "old" version so Chris had to go find the right one. All is good now.

Saturday was the friend birthday party and it was alot of fun! Grammer & Pappy graciously agreed to watch Katie & baby Morgan (5 months) so we could have our hands free at the party. I thought the party went really well! It was lots of fun watching the kids bowl and they all did well. Gracie actually won which I thought was neat! There were 7 children along with assorted parents. I have an absolutely wonderful picture of the 7 of them but not all of my friends are into blogging so I try to be respectful by not posting pictures of their children since I think some of them might not like it. It's really tempting though because it's a cute picture where they're all making silly faces.
I loved the bowling party because it was a relatively easy party which is always nice. I showed up and did a little decorating. The man had the lighter balls picked out, gave them instuctions on how to be safe & how to bowl, put the names into the computer and put the food out onto the table. After it was over, we cleaned up a little but that pretty much just included taking things to the van and throwing away some plates. It was not too expensive either which is always a great thing! I totally copied the cake from Stephanie! She had posted a picture of Kolby's cake and I showed it to my friend who was making Gracie's. My friend liked the cake and thought she could make it and she did a great job! Gracie is blessed with having good friends. Many whom she has known since before she was a year old and some who have just become friends in the last year. I love how God places people in our lives!
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After most of the house napped, we went to dinner at this great fish place called 'Old McDonald's Fish Camp.' It is goooood! They have all-you-can-eat grits & hushpuppies to go along with your meal. You get your grits out of a big barrel which is neat. I got the fried catfish & fried shrimp. I didn't say it was healthy, I just said it was good!

Yesterday afternoon before we went to dinner, Mom helped me get the roast ready for the crockpots for Sunday's lunch. Since there were 6 adults & 3 children, I needed a pretty big roast and ended up getting 2 and using both of my crockpots. I copied the recipe from the comments section of Mandy's blog and it was really good! We had lots leftover and that is just fine with me because it will be great for lunch and maybe even dinner this week. It cooked in the crockpot from about 11 last night until about 12:30 this afternoon. The bigger roast was still a little tough so I actually ended up cooking it alot longer into this afternnoon with the hope that it would get more tender. (Mom's suggestion!)
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We had church this morning then home for Sunday lunch. It was nice filling up a row at church with our family. After everyone left, I took a great nap! We had Life Group tonight then went out to eat afterwards. We had a good discussion at Life Group about the importance of fellowship within a Christian family. I'm tired but needed to update the blog. I find it to be quite therapeutic! It was a good weekend! Gracie, Katie, Ann Elise & Morgan. I love this picture of Katie with Grammer.

5 comments:

Kimberly said...

What a busy but fun weekend! I'm so glad Gracie had such a great Birthday!

terrible speller said...

what a sweet girl. Looks like she had a BIG day!

Kristen OQ said...

Looks like it was a fun & festive birthday for Miss Gracie!

You can tell you throw a great party from the pictures.

TMK said...

Looks like FUN! I love that cupcake tree. TOO CUTE!

Erica said...

What fun!! I love all the cakes and cupcakes she got to celebrate:) That is my kind of party. I am so glad Gracie had a special weekend and fun with family and friends.