Gracie's 4 Years Old!

Gracie invited a few friends and we had a birthday party at McDonalds.  (Heidi, I'm thinking you're right, we should be celebrating me on her bday too, but that's another topic.)  Anyway, the party went great.  Luckily, the McDonalds people let us stay, even though we had cake, which is apparently against the rules.  (cake in the floor surface = huge mess)  They supervised me the entire time I served cake so I'm not sure if all the kids had a chance to eat all their cake because as soon as they looked away for a second, I swiped their plates into the trash.  If I would have known all of this, I probably wouldn't have had a chocolate mouse double layer cake with chocolate frosting made for Gracie's birthday.  Enough about the cake.

Gracie had a fabulous time playing with Tomas, Nikko, Elle, Camryn, Teagan, Lincoln, Emma, Bella, Caleb, and Ryker.  Yes, I'm crazy, I realize that now, but you only turn 4 once!  

Another very special part of the day is that both of Gracie's aunts were there to spend the day with her!  Lexie flew in the day before and completely suprised Gracie.  I told Gracie we were going to get a surprise for her and we hopped in the car.  As we were driving, I asked if she knew where we were headed.  (She knows her way around pretty well, so oftentimes she can tell where we're going.  My little GPS.)  She said, "No, we're going too far, Mommy."  As we pulled into the garage pick-up area at the airport she asked, "Are we at the mall, Mommy?"  No.  "Are we at the dr.'s office?"  No.  Keep guessing.  "Are we at the airport?  Are we picking somebody up?"  I told her yes, and that she should look out the window.  Perfectly timed, Lexie walked out.  Gracie was so excited, but played it cool for a little bit.  She couldn't contain the grins and the laughter and was soon talking a mile a minute.  I love it!  She is so connected to her aunts and uncles and loves them so much!  Mal was also able to come because she didn't have class or school.  Thank goodness for their help, I don't know if I could have done it without them!  And it was so fun to have them there!