Family Prayers in the Toilet

We have successfully had family prayers most nights since having children. Many of them are entertaining and some are down-right wrong. Anyone with kids knows that it sometimes is just endurance. Lane is a funny kid. He just says and does funny things constantly. He decided to start talking about 2 weeks ago and there isn't a word he won't say. Some of our favorites are "cookie", "Jesus", and "chocolate". I will try to record some of those. Anyway, he loves saying prayers at night and will fold his arms, raise his hand to say "my turn", and then bow his head clear down to his knees. Usually the kids brush their teeth right before prayers which is another ritual that Lane loves. Lately, he has decided that climbing up on the stool that I have provided for the bathroom isn't good enough. He instead climbs onto the toilet and then up on the counter to sit all-but-in the sink. Sometimes he can't get down and then will yell "down", until we go get him. So back to family prayer, the other night the kids brushed their teeth and then Jaden and Grace returned to the living room. We were all sitting on the couch with arms folded waiting for Lane. We had hollared to him a few times and he would reply "coming". It was a fairly peaceful night and then here comes Lane pattering into the living room carrying the toilet lid. "Mom, broke", "Mom, broke", he was saying and handing it to me. Apparently kids climbing on toilets wears down the screws that holds the lids on and he had removed it. He was so concerned and the look on his face showed it. Needless to say, we had a hard time with the giggles through that family prayer. On a side note, the toilet lid is back in place!

"A" for effort

As part of Grace's birthday she wanted to go with me and have her nails done. She has gone with me in the past and always wanted her own done. How could I say no? We decided to go on a Friday night so the boys were taken care of. She was so excited and so cute. She sat so still the whole time and when my cute friend Amanda was rubbing lotion on her arms...I thought Grace was in a trance. She loved it so much that she didn't talk the whole time and was relaxed and peaceful. She chose cute pink nail polish and even a cute flower sticker for her ring finger. When she was done she held her hands so carefully to let them dry and then waited about 16 hours before washing her hands(it was night time...so it wasn't too gross). She was excited that Amanda put on a "special polish so the paint won't come off for a while". She hates that once she gets in the bathtub her fingernails look bad. Anyway, that was a week ago Friday.

Saturday Grace was invited to a birthday party. She really wanted to go and was bouoncing off walls. She had to wear her favorite princess dress. When I went to pick her up...she told me they had played games, ate cupcakes, played barbies, opened presents and "the big girls painted our fingernails".

"WHAT!!!!! "
"The big girls painted my fingernails."
"Didn't they see that they were already done?"
"Yeah, but they said I had do it like the other girls were"

At this point I wasn't sure whether to scream, throw-up, or what... I was shocked. Really!! The teenage sisters had created a "primping" station and had wiped my daughters nicely done nails off and created some ugly-very ugly polka-dot art on my daughters hands. I'm not mad at Grace....actually I'm not sure who I'm mad at. Couldn't they have done her toes instead? Needless to say, Grace enjoyed both activities and that's all that matters. I thought it was such a special treat to let Grace have a manicure.....I never had one. I think I know why!

Happy Birthday Grace

Today Grace turns 5! I really don't know where 5 years went. It seems like yesterday that she was born(my body looks like yesterday too). With Jaden it didn't seem to move so quickly. Grace has been a very fun kid to have around. She is tough as nails and rarely crys over pain but she is also very "girly". She loves to have her hair done and paint her nails. She loves shopping. This weekend my mom took her shopping for shoes and the two of them tried on every shoe her size. She is usually very positive and happy. She is the best big sister. If it weren't against the law I would leave her to babysit Lane any day of the week. She gets him dressed, kisses his bo-bo's, and is so incredibly patient with him. She loves to sing and dance and makes up songs that always make us laugh. She is very smart and loves learning. The other thing I love about Grace is that she is confident but she isn't cocky. She really doesn't try to hurt other people's feelings and has always been "blissfully unaware of negative things around her". I happen to think she is the cutest thing in the whole world...but I might be biased. I'm sure you all agree though.

So this weekend we had a birthday party for Grace. Grace's grandpa has a birthday on the 1st of March so it makes for a special couple days. Although yesterday when Grace called her Grandpa to tell him happy birthday she kept calling him "old". Not sure if he appreciated that.

After last year's Fancy Nancy party...I thought maybe we would shoot for a smaller scale. She wanted a friend party but I talked her out of that and we decided on cake and ice cream with family. Grace really wanted ALL her cousins to be here which is only 7 so we thought ok but we weren't sure they could all make it. Well what started simple...never ends simple but was so much fun and even though I'm usually tired the day after...I wouldn't trade it for anything. We love that we have so much family to love us and it makes birthdays so special.

Grace had 3 out of 4 of her Great Grandparents(I wish grandma Floyd could have been here), all 4 of her Grandparents, all 7 of her cousins, and most of her Aunts and Uncles(we missed Preston and Chad but we did get Preston's better half). So we started out with dinner of Pizza, breadsticks and salad. Anyway, we had a bubble gum party or as Grace would say(up until this party when she finally said it correctly) "a buggle gum party". Grace loves gum so we made a bubble gum machine cake:














When everyone arrived we let everyone guess how much gum was in a container.You can see the container by mom and Melody. To be totally honest I was secretly hoping that Crysti or Angie would end up with the container and all of its 308 pieces of gum...I could have had a good laugh. As it ended up though Grandpa Paul won and donated it to Grace. Thanks a lot.







After dinner we had a bubble gum blowing contest. Angie won hands-down. Her prize was of course, gum.












Then we all got in a circle and played "bubble gum, bubble gum in a dish, how many pieces do you wish" by slapping hands and the person who ended the number was out. Jaden won this and of course he got more gum.



Next we opened presents and Grace was spoiled but I haven't heard or seen much of her since then. She has played, worn and loved everything that was given to her(not just being nice...she really has...I wish I could put it away now). I even managed to find a bubble gum machine gift bag.













Finally we ate cake and ice cream. Then each of the kids got blow pops, bubble gum and bubble-gum-flavored bubbles to take with them. I think it was successful and I know Grace had a great time. Thanks to our family who took the time to come. Hopefully you had fun too.