Happy Halloween

Bat Girl was Gracie's choice this year. I guess that is what happens when your best friend is a boy. Her and Levi are really into superhero's and 'agent's' right now. One day as we were pulling up to school she said, "...sigh... I really hope Levi want to play agent's today". I do like that she picked the pink costume instead of the black one because it means that she isn't a complete tom boy like I was.

Our ward party was Saturday night. Gracie and I went early to help set up and my friend was asking her what her costume was, it went like this:
F: What are you dressing up as tonight?
G: It's a surprise
F: Can I have a hint?
G: ...
F: Is it a scary costume or a pretty one?
G: Neither...It is just awesome.

And so you have it, one awesome bat girl. (Who got tired at 7:45pm and wanted to leave the party to go home and go to bed).

The next day at church Gracie went to give her tithing envelope to the bishop he shook her hand and said, "Thank you Bat Girl". She thought that was the coolest thing that happened to her all day.

pumpkin time

we had a little family time this weekend and painted and carved pumpkins. i thought i was getting out of the mess of carving because gracie was only talking about painting the pumpkins, but then...levi started talking about 'curving' pumpkins incessantly one day and that was the end of it. we needed to 'curve' a pumpkin too. have you ever seen a rainbow pumpkin? she can make anything into a rainbow!

the finished product.

gracie finished painting in about 5 minutes and then harassed paul and i the rest of the time about when we would be done. she did a little break dancing on the kitchen floor while waiting. then she negotiated my camera away from me and took the next 3 pictures. i was actually impressed that she got the people/pumpkins in the pictures.

waiting not so patiently to carve. mom i know you just really want to get your hands on gracie's hair right now, but lets admit that this is what it looks like sometimes so that is part of documenting the moment right?

paul lucky for me got the dirty job. gracie was all smiles and ready to scoop out the guts.

then she decided that it looked 'bescusting' and didn't want to touch it.

now she didn't even want to look at it.

paul was trying to talk her into touching it, telling her that it wasn't so bad.

forcing herself to try

nope, still didn't like it.

she finally was half way ok with it, but not loving the mess.

the finished products:

paul decided to paint a little byu action. i think it was because i pulled him away from the football game to do this.

We have been cooking around here. This day Gracie wanted to make cookies so I thought I would let her try to do it herself...I took 2 deep breaths and let her go. I thought the kitchen would be destroyed, but she is a very tidy baker! She was in heaven because every time I cook anything it is a constant negotiation of how many things she can do by herself.

The finished product...I'm not sure what happened to them but I only had one. Paul and Gracie liked them though.

And then there was Gracie's birthday party. Gracie has been spoiled by Candice's extravagant parties so I knew there was no way I was getting away with pizza and a Costco cake at the park with family kind of birthday party. Gracie will actually 'play Candice' now. She will come and invite me to her bedroom. I have to knock and she invites me in and she has a table set and all kinds of games planned, it is hilarious.

Weeks before the party Candice would call or text me almost everyday with a new idea/decoration for the party, but I'm not Candice so I could deny most of them (Candice I'm not downing you in any way...I would love to be you, but I don't have the enthusiasm for parties that you do)

Robyn and I made this cake. It took us 5 yes FIVE hours to make. Candice and April came in for a little while to help too. I guess you could call this a true SG cake as my Mom would say (SG-Stewart girl).

Look, there's Zannie to the rescue of Piper so she didn't get trampled. She is so nice, every time I went outside Zannie was in the bounce house with a slew of kids helping Piper.

After the whole party was over I asked Gracie what her favorite part was and she said, "The Pizza". Ok mental note for next year - all we need is pizza!

One of those ideas that Candice called me about was asking if she could invite Rapunzel to the party. I agreed to that one because Gracie is in love with her.

She was a great Rapunzel and was so fun with the kids. She painted their faces, sang songs, had a treasure hunt and did a magic trick. Gracie couldn't take her eyes off of her.

So in other news, Paul went back to school! He is working on his master's in Marriage and Family Therapy. It took him about a year to actually decide to go because he feels old, but I'm happy he decided to do it. It will be a long 4 years, but worth it. This is him on his first day. He didn't want me to take his picture so he only agreed to stop for a second before he left.

And one last thing. I woke up one morning to this:

Everybody needs a chair on the table to read their scriptures while they watch Max and Ruby right?

4G

In keeping up with Apple and all the other technology companies I would like to introduce our version of 4G. On Sunday, March 6th our Gracie will be 4!

I'm sad that today is the last day she will be my 3 year old. I wish she could stay little for me. Do I need to stop calling her my baby...because she thinks I need to.

Birthday Statistics:
Height: 40 inches
Weight: 39.5lbs

A few birthday questions... She was answering these as if she were in a beauty pageant:

Favorite color: pink, black, purple, white and green. Me: do you like one better than all the rest? G: I just like all of those colors...and red too...and pink

Favorite food: chicken

Favorite treat: starburst

Favorite thing about school: music time

Who is your best friend: Levi

Favorite toy: my pretend kitchen

Favorite song: Belle song

Favorite thing about Primary: singing "Scripture Power"

What do you want to be when you grow up: Rapunzel

Favorite tv show: Bubble Guppies

Favorite movie: Robin Hood

Favorite sport: Soccer & Swimming

Favorite book: Cinderella

Favorite thing to do with Daddy: playing tickles with him

Favorite thing to do with Mommy: ride my bike

Least favorite thing to do: not fighting

What do you want for your birthday?: Baby alive with teeth

Gracie is amazing! She has come a long way from being a baby and crying if someone other than mom or dad looked at her or when she was a toddler and passed out at the top of the slide because someone she didn't know said, "hi" to her (true story). Now she says hi to everybody she can and gets really excited if they say hi back. She loves to go to friends houses and play and likes to tell me to, "go run some errands" so I don't stay with her. She is our social butterfly, she needs to leave the house at least once a day or she goes crazy by noon. She loves loves loves school and Mrs. Robyn. She is ok with Primary, but 'happens' to get a stomach ache every Sunday around 2:00. She loves to dance, but not ballet or anything close to that, she does some funky hip hop action. Gracie also loves to sing and is constantly requesting different songs in the car depending on her mood. She loves to ride her bike and is a little trooper, she rode 3 miles to the library the other day (our longest trip so far). I miss having my baby, but I know I will love my new 4G version too!