Birthday Month Continued: Strawberry Fields Forever

Luscious strawberry goodness! You just can't beat this. Yum!

June packs so many birthdays. Feels like we celebrate the entire month. This week, we took the party to the strawberry patch to celebrate Em's birthday. What a great idea for a party. I'm all about exposing kids to new experiences & this certainly provided that opportunity for most of Em's party girls. The strawberries were so plenteous; plants heavy laden with fruit. Picking was easy. AND talk about tasty! This fruit is good & will be yummy in some strawberry jam. Just have to make time in all the party going to make it. Oh, yes. We are headed to B's 3rd birthday party today! What a month!! Happy Birthday, girls! 

My Strawberry Shortcake. Now that's what I call sweet. =)

Fresh Strawberry Pie

Girls Rule - Boys Drool

After a fun filled afternoon & evening at friends, Gracie fell asleep in the car on the way home.  Groggily, & with some help, she made her way into the house. She crawled into bed & said, "Maybe it's true that boys rule/girls droll, 'cause I was falling asleep in the car & I think there was a little bit of drool coming out of my mouth." =)  

Celebrating Seven

Jazzy joins the birthday fun...like she has a choice. =)

We celebrated Gracie's 7th birthday a few days ago at Monee Reservoir with a fishing theme. It was simple, outside, and loads of fun. Despite the little mist for a bit, some of us played the day away until 5 pm. What's the rush? The kids are playing today - good clean fun, so to speak. We did take dirty kids home, but they washed up nicely. =) 

Seven years old came too quickly, but here we are. They grow so fast. Now I understand that line. They grow so fast. I treasure the moments and the memories.  I'm proud of who Grace is and who she is becoming. She is kind, clever, adventurous, daring, and brave (except after watching Scooby Doo).  She is fun, friendly, confident, creative, compassionate, and conscientiousness. I love that Gracie Cakes. I love that she loves to sing, dance, snuggle, travel, explore, create, be outside, make up songs, write books, draw pictures, make new friends, include others, tell jokes, tries to trick me (every day is April Fools Day) & worship God.  She is such a treasure. She is my treasure. 

Seven came too quickly. She tells me now I can't call her "Babele" - I got that cutie name from my friend, Nae. In my mind, it is short for Baby Love. I have a song that goes with it nicely, but that's over now she said. Can't call her that or sing the song. She's too big. I hope she forgets she said that. I hope she changes her mind. =) In the meantime, I have a plethora of other names I call her with permission and love songs I can sing. 

Here are a few fun pics of the birthday fun.  

Gracie snags a lily pad

Gracie and friends

Gracie finally gets her gun...did I mention she has a good memory? She's wanted this pink gun/holster since she was 3 years old. 

wet sponge relay - the teams race to see who can transfer the most water using big sponges

cooperating - I love it!

sizing up the lake & preparing to fish

Birthday Month

Gracie is turning 7 soon. A special request was made by the girl herself to take her bestest friends to Key Lime Cove to celebrate her birthday. We scored a deeply discounted stay at the resort; and I do use that term loosely, but that's another post. So, making some calls or sending some texts rather, we invited C & E, along with A. Whooo, C &E were THRILLED beyond belief. We found a weekend that worked for us. A was unable to join us, but I saved that sad piece of info for the very last moment. In doing so, Grace was already in the midst of bliss with her other two besties to fret much. Good call, Mom.

The car ride up to Key Lime Cove was NOISY to say the least. Who knew happiness, joy, & giggles could get to deafening levels so quickly? ACK! None was so happy to arrive at the resort (again, loose interpretation of the word). Those girls were splish splashing & slip slidin within the hour. I did a bit of birthday decorating when Gracie wasn't looking & viola - it's a birthday party!

The girls swam the evening away, as well as the next day! Whoo hoo! To celebrate the birthday, we dove head first into a gargantuan sundae called the kitchen sink sundae with elaborate toppings and spectacular mini fireworks - all served in a small kitchen sink! It was amazing & sooo much ice cream, we didn't even make a dent! It was indeed fun trying. =)

On the ride home, I asked the girls what there favorite part of the weekend was. Each replied, "Being funny together." True. True. I've never heard so many knock knock jokes before in my entire life. However, the joke that garnered the most giggles was this one: Hey, what's that under there? Under where? HA! I made you say "underwear"!!! Hilarious, even the 100th time. =)

Ready to ride!

Splash!

BFFL

Birthday Girl Surprise

Gearing up for a good day

Say you're surprised

Kitchen Sink Sundae

So hungry they could eat a kitchen sink!

Fireworks

Birthday glow

Traveling Tutelage

I love traveling with Grace. On the return trip from Missouri Memorial Day visits, Grace and I filled our driving hours talking, singing & story telling. Winding away the the miles, we talked about the story behind the Star Spangled Banner and why I often cry when we sing it.  I explained why grace and mercy are my most favorite  words.  We decided friends should be chosen based kindness, not the color of their skin, how they look, or how well their body works or doesn't work.  Grace wants to visit the place where Jesus died for our sins. She wants to see His body.  In her disappointment and tears that even if we go to Israel (and we will go), she won't see His body; but rather an empty tomb because He rose from the dead. We talked about heaven and how we will see Jesus, face to face; and that He knows her name.  This is how we teach them; day in and day out,how we teach them.  This is how we live our faith, passing it from one generation to the next. 

Memorial Day

We headed home for the long weekend to be with family.  We also caught some time to visit with a dear friend, Val, on the way back to Chi-town. Always good to visit friends who love like family, or fremly, as some say. Aunt Helen was tearing down a house. We helped out, mostly by keeping out of the way. Auntie Val was moving the office. We helped out, mostly by keeping out of the way. =)  Just kidding, we did help really. Thinking it was actually Labor Day weekend, instead of Memorial Day. 

The weekend was hot, full of work, beds were sparse & the air wasn't working. Ah, but I'm not complaining. The kids played, explored, rode horses, climbed on tractors, swam, played with puppies/kitties, and visited Grandma's grave to say, "We love you." It was a bit emotional.  Gracie laid down on Nana's grave, cried, & prayed. I love her tenderness. We bought flowers to put at her headstone, but Gracie willed hers to Haddon to place.  She said it hurt her heart to go back so soon. Sigh~ I know. 

 

 

Chicago Turkish Festival 2011

What an opportunity to experience other cultures right in your own front yard?! Gracie and I visited the Turkish Festival downtown. Though it was chilly (we had to buy a little coverup for Grace), we enjoyed meeting new friends, as well as the tastes and sounds of Turkey.

Eager for a hands on experience, Grace made a gorgeous print using a paper marbling technique. Forget the flowers, butterflies, stars and such; Gracie wanted a horse. There's a first, according to the master painter.  It was a fascinating process indeed. What a great way to experience the other side of the world right here in our own front yard. It'll do until we can get there in the flesh. =) After all, we have an Uncle Volky and his sweet pea to visit first chance we get.

Bathtized

Gracie was recently baptized on Mother's Day. She calls it "bathtism" for obvious reasons. I think it's because we are washed from the inside out! It was the most amazing gift! They say joy shared is twice as nice. Thanks for celebrating with us.