Happy Father's Day!
I am so grateful to have such a wonderful husband who is an incredible father. He is such an amazing dad. He inspires me to be more patient with Grace. I am so glad that I married him! For father's day this year, Gracie and I had our pictures taken to give to Jake. He has no pics of just the two of us. Grace and I had a great time having Aunt Faith do our little photo shoot. And Aunt Jack-Attack was kind enough to get us ready for them. I am surrounded by goodness! So, these are for you Jake--
Of course, a post wouldn't be complete without a Gracie story...
While standing in the bathroom getting ready for the day, Grace walks up behind me and puts her hands on the back of my shirt and starts shaking my back. This is how that ended--Grace "UUhh, how come you have a back like that and I don't? Me-"A back like what?" Grace- "How come your back is all boingy and mine is just flat? That is not fair." Me-"Gracie, this back took a lot of hard work. Do you have any idea of how much cake, cookies, milkshakes, and chocolate I had to eat to get my back like that?!"
Leave it to Grace to point out that I have a "boingy" back. Good thing it came across as a compliment:)
Last weekend Gracie and I drove up to Rexburg, Idaho with my parents. What a great trip! Grace was so excited to see her Aunt Hope:) She loves that girl. Grace played with her cute little cousins Stratton and Jesse the entire time. They played so well together. It was such an amazing weekend just for that reason alone. There was no crying, whining, hittting, biting, etc...They just played, and played, and then played some more. Amazing that three four year olds can play that well together. When we left Rexburg Grace bawled her little eyes out. She was so sad to be leaving her cousins:( Poor thing.
Okay, as I sit typing this Gracie is running around talking to herself and snatching tools out of Jake's shop to work on her dump truck. As she is 'working' on her dump truck she keeps repeating "This jalopy is falling apart!" And, "you break it, you buy it!" Thank you Uncle Chad for buying Jake the first season of "Small Wonder". Grace is now hooked:)
On Sunday Gracie was having a tough day. Up too early that morning, up way too late the night before...you get the idea. She was pooped. I was trying to get her to calm down and relax so she would fall asleep.
Here is a glimpse into our evening; Me, "Grace, you need to say your prayers." Grace; " Dear Heavenly Father, I am thankful for this beautiful day. And I am thankful for NOTHING. Amen." She was pretty cranky. Then it was, "No Gracie, we cannot read Olivia saves the circus. We already read our bedtime books. I will be glad to read that to you in the morning when you are not so tired." Grace, "I am not tired Mom!" Me "Okay Grace, you are not tired, but it is bed time. So close your eyes and I will tickle your back." I started tickling her back and thinking about our day. It felt like the whole day was filled with me saying "No Grace. We can't do that because... Or, No Grace, don't do that." As I was tickling her back I just started telling her little things. Me, "Grace, you are so good at so many things. I can't believe how fast you are on your bike. You are so good at sharing your toys. You were so reverent for at least five minutes in church today (not consecutive mind you!). You are so good at giving hugs." No response from Gracie. "Sniff, sniff. I have a bugger in my nose, can I go get a tissue?" She comes back into her room and lays back down. Two seconds later she is BAWLING. When I asked her what was wrong she said; "I, I, you, well, that was just so nice of you to say that I am good at ttthhinngs!! WahWah!" And the dam broke. It was bad enough to pull Dad out of the basement at top speed. He comes rushing into her bedroom thinking I was beating his princess. When Jake asked her what was wrong she said, "Nothing." That's it. She was not about to bother trying to explain this outburst to a man! Even if that man was her Daddy. Jake left the room very disappointed:( We tried the bedtime routine again. Tickle back, take a deep breath, and she was asleep.
Moving on. The other day Piglet asked me to take her training wheels off of the princess bike. I said no. I told her to ask Dad when he got home. Gracie asked Dad, he said no. (Last time we took her training wheels off, she wanted them back on in about an hour.) Jake and I were talking when Gracie disappeared downstairs. She walked up the stairs and straight out the back door. Jake asked me what I thought she was doing. I told him I was pretty sure she was trying to take her training wheels off herself. Why did I think this? Because if somebody had told me they wouldn't help me, then by dang...I'll do it myself. Sure 'nough. Jake said, do you think she really could have found the right wrench out of my huge drawer of wrenches. Yep. By the time we got out the door (maybe four minutes) she had already taken off one of her training wheels. Mom's determination, and Dad's mechanical ability. We are in for a long ride!
Yesterday~~"Mom, Dad and I are sick of hearing you chattin your head off on the phone. We are going for a bike ride. Dad's riding his motorcycle. I'm riding my princess bike. Bye, I love you."
And that, is a glimpse into the life of my 4 year old!
