Gracie woke me up for her birthday. We sat down together and planned out the day. She was so excited!
I made her favorite breakfast, oatmeal and ice cream. Then, we just chilled most of the day waiting for Doug to come home from his first day back at work, so that the party could begin. Once Doug was home, we went to Chili's for dinner. (Imagine that.)
She was more than excited about the big chocolate shake that Ben, the manager, sent over to our table for her. Gracie loves chocolate! Gracie loves Chili's!
After dinner, Gracie chose to go swimming at the High School pool. I passed on the swimming because that's the coldest pool in America and I stayed home to prepare the birthday treasure hunt and Gracie's "birthday cake".
The kids always choose whatever they want for birthday cake. Liza chooses Pretzel Salad. Grace chose Phizzookies ~ a chocolate chip cookie topped with ice cream, chocolate syrup and caramel syrup.
The B's joined Grace and fam for the festivities after Chili's. As Grace opened each gift, Miki cracked us up with a huge, "whoooooooooooooooo" or "wow!!!!!" Too funny!
Gracie was gracious and excited all day long! She's pretty excited about being thirteen, being old enough for her own Facebook page (a modern-day passage?) and to be able to start wearing a little makeup. Oh my! I'm so not ready for a teenage girl in the house again! YIKES! She teased me all day, "Mom, you're just going to be crying all the time now because I'm growing up too fast!" She's right! So right! I'm thrilled for her, but I would be perfectly fine to keep them all young forever! Being Gracie's mom is a delight!
We ended the party pretty quick because it was bedtime for Doug and the kids. Back to school tomorrow and back to"normal" life. After everyone was in bed, I let Grace stay up long enough to Skype with Liza for a bit. Liza had wanted to Skype during the party, but, it was so crazy, trying to get everyone fed and ready for bed, that it didn't happen until after the fact. Bedtime got serious again tonight.
Earlier in the day, I was actually a little teary at the thought of this perfect two weeks coming to an end. Gracie's birthday falling the day after New Year's Day always let's us extend the celebrating for an extra day, but, it's always a bit sad to me when it comes to an end. Now, it's time to settle in for the long, cold Cache Valley winter. Please pass lots of snow!
A few other rambling thoughts:
- Several friends have commented that they are anxious to send the kids back to school. I do love my personal time during the days while the kids are in school and Doug is at work. I have missed that. (I'd be lying if I denied it!) BUT. This past two weeks has been great - no fighting, no cabin fever, just lots and lots of fun together. Loved every second of it!
- On the other hand, I'm excited for a very long lunch with Denise!
- Mom's coming over to do my ironing and watch the Help together today. I love that Mom does my ironing. I love the Help.
- I still haven't done my real 2011 in review here on the blog. This weekend went by too quickly! But, my puzzle is done and back in the box!
- Since I did all of my winter de-junking in early December, the only thing left is my kitchen cupboards and the hall closet. Does that mean it's time to paint something or what? ;)
Goals are dreams with deadlines.
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