I said, "NO RUNNING AT THE POOL!"

Moms and dads all over the world tell their kids over and over to quit running at the swimming pool! I can't tell you how many times I say it in just one visit to the pool. Well, Grace learned her lesson today. We were packing up to go home for lunch and Grace was running from me to her daddy and she slipped and fell. I'm not sure if it was from the slick, wet concrete or if it was because she was wrapped up in her towel like a mummy, but she busted it.

Her forehead and nose were skinned and her lips were fat....her two front teeth were what worried me, though. Especially her right tooth. It bled pretty badly for at least 30 minutes, then slowly leaked blood for about another hour. She is pretty tough, so her tears (especially how long she cried) let me know she was really hurting.

These photos are from about 30 minutes after the fall. She asked to take a picture and then kept asking to, "make a movie." Is she my kid or what?
This photo is from the trip to the pool. She likes to go under water now to make bubbles with her nose. This is her and daddy making bubbles from above water.When she was finally feeling better, she asked if we could go eat and play at Southpark Meadows. How can you say no to such a pitiful, little girl? Have you ever seen anyone eat mustard on their spaghetti??




In this video - don't think I am such a bad mom for laughing...she just and acted to pitiful and she kept asking to make a movie.

The Party!

This year, we didn't really have a theme. We just wanted to have a backyard bash. I picked hot pink and orange for the main colors, with other vibrant colors mixed in. Here are some of the decorations.

The favors:

The Balloons:
The Pinatas:

Sand for Three

Friday afternoon while mom was baking the cake and I was doing some last minute shopping with Nandy and Aunt Shanna, Rachel helped us out by keeping the natives, I mean girls, occupied. She took them (along with Shawn David) for a walk, sliding and, of course, to play in the sand box! The kids always LOVE to get in the sand box, esp. Grace who just wants to be buried over and over.

For those who don't know Grace's cousins, Abby is the older one in the red plaid dress and Aly is the younger one in the pink plaid. Thanks so much, Rachel, for helping us out (did I mention I will be so said while you and Sean are in Jersey?).

Pedi's and Mani's

OK, so if I did all of this for Grace's third birthday, what do you think she is going to expect for her 16th?? LOL

The night before her party, her 2 cousins (Abby and Aly) were at our house, along with her pal Aubrey (whose mom so kindly offered much help, labor and time in making Grace's party happen). Since all the girls were there, we decided to paint their finger and toe nails. Shawn David assisted by helping the polish dry a little faster.

The girls were so cute, lined up in a little row. I can't wait for slumber parties! Each girl picked either hot pink or orange (Grace's party colors). Of course, all of them wanted hot pink. Aubrey was the only one to break tradition with orange fingernails and hot pink toe nails. I even tried to get them to let me put orange polka dots on the nails, but the "Whatley" girls just wanted to stick with pink!

Grace's Third Birthday Party - THE CAKE

Grace's birthday party was so much fun! We had a houseful, even though several people had to cancel at the last minute. I know Grace and her friends had such fun. While having it at home seemed a bit more stressful than hiring a location like last year, it was a lot more fun and totally worth all the work. I enjoyed watching Grace interact with her friends and family and experience the fun and play and CAKE!

I have SO many photos (I took - thanks to Jeanie - over 500 photos! Nandy took over 225...no telling how many photos Mimi, Nonni, friends and family took). I am going to upload all of them to York. If any of you are nuts enough to want to look at all of them, then e-mail me and I will send you a link to the album.

Of course, I want to share some of my favorites. So here goes.

First, the CAKE! It was awesome! Nonni made and decorated the cake. She and I tossed ideas back and forth for a long time, and this is what we came up with. I think she did an excellent job! Grace LOVED it. She keeps talking about her birthday cake! It was mostly gone by the end of the party, with just a small amount leftover. She blew out all her candles, so hopefully, she will get her wish. You can see she enjoyed it immensely.





Since there is so much to say & share about her party, I will be doing this in installments! LOL They may be out of order, though!

Singing and Dancing

Grace sings and dances just about all the time. Sometimes, she acts almost like a cheerleader while she is singing! Not sure where that came from, because it wasn't me. :)

On June 15, she was in a silly mood, so I got these little clips. The first is her singing (cheering) the ABCs and the other is a mix of Twinkle Twinkle and the ABCs.

Summer Ballet

I took photos (imagine that) of Grace at her first day of the summer session of ballet. These were during the tumbling portion of class! They aren't the best - taken through a glass window in the door! This session, her pals Aubrey and Kate are in her class! Kate is on vacation, but I can't wait to get photos of the girls together next week!

Frogs, Hamsters and Worms

Is my daughter a tomboy or what? After the photos of her with that huge, fat toad came the photos of her with a rat, I mean hamster, on her head. Now you get to see her with a worm.

We were planting some new petunias (a couple died from heat!) and she kept finding worms. She was so excited to find this little tiny worm. (June 15)

Happy Father's Day

For Father's Day, Grace gave her daddy a paperweight! We found a rock while out walking with Maika - and Grace (who has a fascination with rocks) wanted to keep it. So, we found one for Maika and the next day, we turned ordinary rocks into extraordinary paperweights for their Daddies! We put their handprints on one side, names and date on the other. Grace then colored on hers with a paint pen. Maika colored a little, but was way more interested in watching Grace!

I love the look of concentration on Grace's face while painting. She loves craft time as much as I do. She really gets into whatever project we are doing.

On Sunday, we let Daddy sleep in, then woke him up by jumping on him and tickling him! She gave him his paperweight (which is already on his desk at work). We then spent the day working around the house (yes, I know, not much fun, but her party is this weekend!).

Summer Buddies

Summer time is always so much fun, and each year I look more and more forward to it. I am really enjoying getting to do all the fun things with Grace that I am able to experience - through the eyes of a 2 (soon to be 3) year old.

Grace is definitely getting to the stage that she wants to do things with other kids her age. She doesn't complain when there aren't other kids around, but I can tell that she is enjoying herself a little more when there are.

The play group friends have been the most constant group in her life. She talks about them incessantly and always asks to do things with them. Sometimes, she tells me that she did something with one of them and they weren't really there! She talks about them to her grandparents; she talks to them (when they are there and when they aren't); and she prays for them. I am so glad that she has such wonderful friends.

On June 2, Kate and Grace played together before Kate left for a vacation. We took them to Southpark Meadows to play in the water and at the park, then we napped at Kate's house. When they woke up, we went swimming. Grace had so much fun with her friend. (The photo of Kate helping with Grace's shoe is so cute! They both had sandals on and kept getting dirt and sticks in them. So, they continued to help each other getting the debris out of their shoes).

While Kate was on vacation, Grace, Tova and Noah got together a couple of times to play. We swam together, fed ducks and turtles and went to Sea World!









At Sea World, notice that we brought one double stroller and one single. Grace and Tova could ride together and Tova and Noah could ride together, BUT Noah and Grace could NOT ride together! They didn't just argue, they came to blows! Noah is touchy-feely and wanted to hold Grace's hand. Grace is cranky and tired and didn't want to be touched (or to share the arm rest). Grace hauled off and whacked Noah for daring to touch her. Then he elbowed her, which caused her to give him a flurry of slap-punches. And back-n-forth it went! We finally switched Tova and Noah and the rest of the day passed with no wars.