Gracie's 5th birthday

Get ready for a major picture overload! Today, August 1st, our Gracie girl turned five years old. We celebrated by having a tea party at the barn with her closest friends. My eyes were overfilled with cuteness! Well, you'll see for yourself. These girls were just as adorable as they could possibly be! I had so much fun putting this party together and I think I was living out my childhood dream. It truly was the perfect party for my beautiful little girl. Enjoy these pictures...

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{aunt katie made gracie this beautiful horse cake}

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{the girls coming downstairs after they had changed into their special party outfits}

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{the birthday girl!}
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{our craft project... homemade rag dolls}

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This next photo is quite possibly the cutest picture I have ever taken. I am showing several versions of it (color, sepia and black & white) because I love them all.

{friends forever...}

{gracie, megan, lauren, summer, julia & ava}
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{pee-uuu a barn is a stinky place!}

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{time to groom shadow}

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I LOVE this next one...


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{Everyone got to ride... even fletch. It was no surprise that he didn't want to get off either! "I ride, I ride"}

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{me and my beautiful nieces}
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{Sage and I... some of you will remember her as a baby that I used to care for during the day. She's all grown up now and just as sweet and beautiful as she could possibly be. She helped out with Fletcher today while her sister Summer (who's one of gracie's best friends) enjoyed the party. To think that the cute little baby that I used to care for is now caring for my baby is enough to make me feel really old!}

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{I love this picture of sweet kaya}

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{we then went swimming to cool off but that's not to say we're not cool already!}

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{All the girlies left the party with their tutus and shirts, their cute little dollies that they made and also the pretty green pillows that grandma made for the girls' chairs at the tea party. This was just way too much fun!!!}

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{Gracie with her favorite gift... Kit Kittredge}

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Well, my sweet little girl is now five. I have been practicing saying that in my mind today "I have a 7, 5 and 1 (soon to be 2) year old." Everyone says it like a broken record, but yes, they are growing up so extremely fast. I look forward to many, many more birthdays to come with my little treasures.

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We love you Gracie!

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Break Time

My computer and I have become nearly strangers lately. Other than checking my emails every so often, I have taken a much needed break from my computer to get some other things done.

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So, what have we been up to lately? Well, after surf camp ended we headed up to Gainesville for a weekend visit with family then last week Colton did another week of horse camp while Gracie enjoyed a week of ballet camp. They both had a great time at their camps but again, the running around totally exhausted all of us! We enjoyed some down time this weekend while visiting with some family in town.

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Now, to find out how I've been occupying my "free time" lately, you'll just have to check back after Friday. Hint, hint, Gracie's birthday is in 4 days!

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{colton, gracie, pop pop and fletcher}

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{pre birthday girl Gracie and post birthday girl aunt kathy}

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{fletch shares his spaghetti with lucy}

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I didn't get any good pictures from ballet camp but here are the few I took...

{gracie is on the right with ava next to her}

{gracie and ava on the right}

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A couple pictures from the last day of surf camp. Colton blew my mind! He just couldn't get enough of it. We left for Gainesville after surf camp ended and Colton said "Hey Dad can we bring our boards?". "Sorry buddy, no beaches in Gainesville." He's too much!

Surfer Boy

Colton is doing surf camp again this year and today I finally remembered to bring my camera. He really is doing amazing! He needed some encouragement last night though since for some reason he felt that he wasn't doing as good as the others. We had to help him believe that at his age he is really doing great and should be so proud of himself (the average surfer at camp is 10 or older). Today he went back with his head held high and with a strong determination to prove to himself that he really was a great surfer. He surfed for nearly 45 minutes, came up on shore for just a few minutes then asked his surf instructor Jordan if he could grab a board and go back out. We were amazed! He then went on to surf for another 45 minutes or more. We left the beach with a little boy with a huge smile on his face feeling very proud of himself with one request, "Mom, do you think we can go to the sushi restaurant tonight to celebrate?". No, I don't have a sushi lover on my hands or anything it's just that we are finishing up reading a book called "Dragon of the Red Dawn" which is about Japan. It has lead us to study about Mount Fuji, the Imperial Garden, the ancient city of Edo (now named Tokyo), the famous Japanese poet Basho, teahouses, samurai, sumo wrestlers, cherry trees, bamboo huts, the Great Bridge and of course sushi. A Japanese restaurant in town has little rooms where you get to eat as they do in Japan. Shoes off and sitting on the floor at a low table eating with chopsticks. That is all his proud heart wants to do.

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{that's colton to the right of the tall guy in the middle}
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{daddy made sure Gracie and Fletch didn't feel left out...}

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