Gracie's Birthday Weekend

on june 30, 2011, we welcomed a beautiful baby girl into our family. somehow the 2nd half of 2011 and 1st half of 2012 had shorter hours (pretty sure quite a few hours passed with only 30 minutes), shorter days (or maybe not as many?), and shorter months (did we skip a few?)...because june 30, 2012 came and went.  an entire year passed when i blinked.  now, babycenter emails me about a toddler not an infant.  liars.  every single person that works at babycenter...all liars.  just ask evan...she isn't a big girl yet.  she is still just a baby. 

and of course we celebrated!  it was definitely a birthday to remember.  the day before a storm (or tornado) whipped through and took our fence and electricity right out.  since living in a house that has no running water, no flushing toilet and no air conditioner in 200% humidity and 90+ degree days didn't sound like fun, we packed up and headed to the lake.  WHERE we lived with running water, an outhouse, electricity (that came back in the evening) but no air conditioner and a giant lake as our bathtub since the cottage lacks a shower! 

ev and gracie's pals/cousins were up, so grace got more help opening up and trying out her presents.

this is what a 3 year old big brother looks like who is trying very hard to learn that sometimes gifts aren't for us, and sometimes we have to wait patiently for someone else to share a toy with us, and sometimes we might have to play with someone that is younger than us even if they don't play the way we want to play.

yep, gg shirley, philbin will do JUST fine : ).  grace LOVES, LOVES, LOVES stuffed animals.  she has recently started crawling up to them and either laying her body/head on the stuffed animal or picking it up and hugging it to her body.  since gg shirley gave grace philbin for her birthday, it has become one of her favorite things to sleep with/cozy up with when she is going to sleep.  the first night, she literally slept on top of philbin.

note to self, taking a picture of 3 kids is hard enough.  taking a picture when you are about ready to dish out cake to them - impossible.

by the time you are three, you totally understand the yummy goodness a cake is.  ebie is practically willing the candle to stay lit so that we can sing and get to the eating part!  grace - totally into the moment as well

THIS is what happens when you celebrate a 1st birthday multiple times and each time give the birthday girl her own piece or individual smash cake.

and this is the face of that girl who totally thought this was her smash cake and doesn't quite get while we pulled her hand out of it.

yummmmmmy icing.  unfortunately, i did not get to make her ACTUAL birthday cake (lack of power really hinders the dessert making process!), but grace wasn't disappointed with the store bought variety!

something he isn't having a hard time learning, birthday cakes taste just as good when they are for your sister, dad, mom, aunt, uncle, random stranger, or you!

and claire may not like to eat any other form of food, but when she happened to roll over on a stray plate that still had some icing on it, she found out that not all big kid food was yucky!

water skiing!  evan can not wait to be able to take FULL advantage of the lake.  he spent all day, every day walking through the yard on the neighbor's skis.  and every other moment, he would ask either bret or i if he could try them out in the water