Grace is 2!

Today, two years ago, Grace was born! As we did last year and hope to do every year, Jack and I spent the entire day with her. We had a great time!
We woke Grace up this morning and she showed us her present and balloons right away. Last night, Jack and I moved out her rocker and put in a new chair and desk. She was very excited about having her own chair and desk. She ran right over to it and sat in the chair and opened the drawer. She loved the balloons so much we had to take them in the car to breakfast...

The first stop on the birthday train was IHOP. Breakfast has always been Grace's favorite meal so we decided to take her out for breakfast. She loved looking at the menu of all the breakfast food and choosing the Dr. Suess Horton breakfast with decorated pancakes, ham and eggs. The IHOP service was less than stellar and Grace did a great job waiting for her food for the 30 minutes it took. She did start saying quite loudly "Where food? Food coming! Food cooking? Where food! Grace food!" They finally got the hint and brought her her food. She was excited to eat her fancy pancakes and loved the ham.

After breakfast, we went home for a short nap for Grace because we knew we were going to have a big afternoon. She was less than thrilled "no nappie!" but snoring about five minutes after we put her down.

After about an hour, we woke her up for the next event- the Habitat House dedication. Jack has been coordinating a Habitat build for our church and today was the day of the dedication. It was great to celebrate with the new homeowners. Grace was super excited about the cake offered at the end....

Next- the highlight of the day. Chuck E. Cheese. We had told Grace the day before that she was going to Chuck E. Cheese and she definitely hadn't forgotten it. We pulled up to Chuck E. Cheese and saw the 20 person line outside to get in. We thought about going home for about one second before Grace literally started a Chuck E. Cheese chant and dance in the backseat. We've never seen her so excited. So, we got of the car and waited in the very long line that took us about 20 minutes to get through. Grace just didn't understand what was going on. She did entertain everyone with her excited Chuck Cheese dance. She rotated between that and "See Chuck Cheese. Come on Mommy- Chuck Cheese." At one point Jack was holding her and she was pulling his shirt saying "See Chuck Cheese, come on Daddy, push, push, push!"


We finally were able to push into Chuck E. Cheese where Grace had a great time playing and eating. She LOVED putting the "money" in the machines and would grab the cup of coins and just start putting them in the machines. Jack and I played many games we had no intention of playing but the money had already been paid... She was out of control with those coins. And she liked pulling the tickets almost as much- those were also "money." We stayed at Chuck E. Cheese for close to two hours and had a great time. Grace loved picking out her prizes with her ticket "money" and really liked the stickers she got which she placed all over her legs and the dollies on the way home (Jack wiped her face after lunch....)

After Chuck E. Cheese, Grace went home for a much needed nap.
She woke up excited to celebrate more birthday. We went outside for basketball and playing. Grace had the most fun with some bubbles and ended up soaking all of us with her blowing efforts. She had the most fun "painting" her Daddy with the bubble wand. She thought it was hysterical and so did Mommy who kept re-dipping the bubble wand ;o)

The final stop on the birthday train was a stop at Bruster's Ice Cream. Grace asked for chocolate ice cream and ate it quickly. Elliot was also treated to ice cream. After ice cream, Grace wanted to play on the playground until her Daddy suggested she help her Mommy finish hers. That was uncalled for because I wasn't looking for help and didn't have another bite after that comment.... Grace ran up and took one lick and said "oh, I sit right here with Mommy." She ate all my ice cream and I thought I would at least get the cone but Grace said "oh, eat Mommy's cookie." After eating the entire cone, Grace had a great time on the playground and was sad to go.

Grace had a great birthday and Jack and I had a wonderful day with her. Thanks to all the family who called- sorry she was a little distracted today....