we celebrated grace’s birthday with a dinner night out with family.
as i wrote in the previous post…we had a really long day out and ended up going from my sister’s family work party and visiting my brother’s place to dinner afterwards. we were hoping to head home, give ellie a nap, and change our clothes for this birthday celebration for grace, but none of that happened!
c’est la vie! we left dan and agata’s place to head to the restaurant and arrived a little bit early but everyone was already there! we ran into grace and family in the parking lot and saw dick, jane, and wendy at the bar.
we were seated right away and socialized with one another as the server did her job taking drink orders, apps, etc. i ordered a delicious but very strong rosé drink. olive and anabel got along so well. ellie just clung to me or hc and we chitchatted amongst each other until the food came. i ordered the scallops and risotto and it was very good! i was pleasantly surprised. i have never eaten at this chain restaurant, season’s 52, {i’m not a fan of chain restaurants} but it was surprisingly good!
we celebrated grace, sang happy birthday to her, showered her with gifts and love, and we all had a wonderful evening together. it was such a great time with everyone, we never really get to go out, sit down, and really spend time with one another. i mean, we all see different parts of this group separately but it was nice to have us all together…not just shuffling kids back and forth or going from point a to point b!
happy birthday beautiful grace! you are growing into a strong, sweet, smart women! we love you!
oh em gee. grace marie is thirteen! where did the time go? i remembered this wee one when she had just turned 6…now she’s a teenager. eep! when we met she was a quiet {almost mute}, shy, sheepish little girl. now she’s a tall, smart, beautiful {still shy} teen!
hc and i prepped all week to get things ready for the party. hc manicured the lawn, set up the tent, table, and chairs, i gathered the decor, ordered the cake {horse themed – natch}, prepped the menu, and pre-set anything i could. it was going to be a low key, simple event.
the day of the party, all we had to do was set up the food, decor, and drinks. easy! boy, was it hot. thank goodness it wasn’t as hot and humid as it was the day prior but nevertheless, hot! we were lucky with the weather. a l l week long, it was slated to rain right, smack dab in the middle of the party {of course we were having it outdoors} but the night before, i pulled up the weather app and… ahhhhhhhh! no rain! {insert emoji’s}
[crumbs cupcakes]
[her horse birthday cake!]
[her wood letter where guests wrote their birthday wishes for her]
[party tent!]
[gold number and the horse balloon]
[no she’s not 31! the photo booth]
[kettle corn and veggie app’s]
the first guest to arrive was the guest of honor! grace came with her mom, stepdad, and sister anabelle. right after that was gramma jane and papa. soon, everyone slowly trickled in. it was great! i had set up a photo booth and it was so much fun for everyone to goof around with the props. olive was a riot. the first round of pics…olive wasn’t sure what was going on. she saw all the girls grab a prop and pose for pics and she wanted in! she walked over to grace, leaned in, and posed for the pics! it was so sweet and hilarious. i love her! she’s such a doll!
we all hung out, enjoyed some refreshing libations, and socialized to our hearts content. after an hour or so, hc fired up the grill and we started cooking up the food. we had burgers and dogs, pasta salad, potato salad, corn, and fruit on the menu. simple, easy, and light for this hot summer day.
[one of my favorite photos. olive saw the gals get together for a pick and she wandered over, leaned into grace so she could get in the pic. pure sweetness]
[hc, aunt gloria, and jane]
[uncle ed, daniel, and papa]
[jay, pilar, missy, and wendy]
[anabelle so graciously pushing olive in this heat!]
[olive very interested in mila…she doesn’t hang with many kids her age, she was intrigued]
[holly and nolan]
[two mice and a fox]
[kevin, nolan, and holly]
[my other favorite. olive saw the kids getting ready for a photo, she grabbed a mustache stick and actually placed it correctly on her face! love her!]
after everyone had their fair share of comestibles and satisfied their bellies, i cleaned up and prepped the cake. it was such a cute cake! it had a white picket fence, a brown horse, and flowers. a perfect cake for miss grace! we brought it out, sang happy birthday, and she made her wish! parfait.
we cut the cake and served the delicious morsels with a generous side of vanilla bean ice cream. once everyone finished, it was piñata time! i had purchased a taco piñata…everyone was like, a taco?! hells yes. a nod to grace’s mexican heritage. hahahaha! after the piñata shenanigans, it was time to relax {at least for me!}. during parties, i run around and attempt at being a gracious host…once the ‘activities’ are checked off, i can then chill and enjoy myself. hey man, it’s a lot of work to host a party…no matter how big or small!
[happy birthday grace!]
[make a wish grace!]
[grace got the first swing at the piñata…she knocked it straight down aaaaand she even had a blindfold on!]
[every kid got to beat on the poor taco]
[candy!]
after hours and hours of hanging out, slowly everyone trickled out. grace was having the best time with her kiddie guests! they were wild and it was soooo sweet to watch. they were running around, screaming, and laughing. little miss olive just ran around with the big kids and completely enjoyed herself. the kids could have probably played all night long, but alas the parents broke it all up and everyone went on their merry way.
it was a great, great party. we had such a fabulous time hosting everyone! happy 13th birthday to grace marie…may the years ahead be full of laughter, love, and fun. we love you so much!
it was grace’s birthday! we trekked our way up to dick and jane’s house to celebrate grace’s day. when we got there, the kiddos were on the boat with gramma and grandpa, tubing. olive, hc, and i chilled at the house until they returned. once they got back, jane started to whip up some dinner.
while we were waiting, everyone was playing with miss olive. as soon as olive saw her sister grace, she was nothing but smiles. she loves her sister! grace is the only person who can make olive laugh and laugh.
[olive loves her sister!]
[hb gracie!]
[daddy with his girls]
jane made spaghetti, meatballs, and sausage. i decided on the pasta and meatballs with a pound of parmesan cheese, please! we sat down for dinner, while olive {miraculously} played on the floor by herself! we were pretty impressed, i love seeing her change and grow and how she is now so content with entertaining herself. so, she scooted around, grabbed at her toys, and gabbed out lout while we downed our dinner.
[marbled birthday cake]
[papa, daniel, olive, grace, and hc]
[spaghetti and meatballs]
gramma made marbled cake with chocolate frosting for grace! her cake was adorned with m&m’s and different colored sparkler candles. we lit them up and sparks started to fly from each one…a very fun, pretty sight for everyone. we sang happy birthday to her and then her dad tricked her into getting up from her seat…he gave her a birthday spanking! every year she falls for it!
[olive singing happy birthday to grace!]
[make a wish! grace couldn’t get all the candles blown out!]
[birthday spanking!]
[cake and ice-cream]
she opened up all her gifts and then we had to jet! i felt bad we had to leave right away but we were behind schedule. we were suppose to leave at seven, due to olive’s schedule, but we ended up leaving at eight. i was not a happy camper…i’m adamant on sticking to olive’s schedule. it takes an hour or more to get home and i knew she would fall asleep in the car. baby girl goes to bed at nine…that meant we would be home after nine, she would be sleeping that entire hour {when she should be awake!}, we still needed to give her a bath, and i needed to feed her. she ended up staying up later because she wasn’t tired {because of the nap} but all was well in the end.
[opening her gifts]
[she’s outgrowing me!]
happy birthday grace! it was fabulous to be able to celebrate it with you. happy twelve years little lady. here is to many more wonderful celebrations!
we celebrated grace’s birthday last weekend! oh my gosh, she turned 11!! my how time flies!
we started off the day with pedis! we all went to nail bar on southport and got our tootisies all purtied up! blue for grace and a pinky orange for moi! after our appointment, grace got to choose where we were going to go to eat. we went to frances, a plain burger for grace, a salad for me, and i can’t remember hc’s order…ha!
[getting her nails done! such a pro, chillin’ and reading her gossip mag]
[birthday lunch]
[our fun pedi’s]
[lunch time fun]
after lunch, we stopped by cycle smithy to check out bikes. hc lured grace to the shop by saying he needed some supplies but we were really shopping for her! it was her surprise birthday gift! she was super excited when we told her! after perusing the bike shop, we decided to go the village cycle. there we found her a trek bike! she really liked it, which worried us at first…ya know how kids can be…they never can decide!
we headed back home to drop me off {i had to go to my p’s house to prep for the party], and they took their bikes to the lake to go riding! it was great! they met up with us back at the cheesecake factory for grace’s birthday dinner with my family.
[grace’s new bike]
[kiddie cocktails]
[birthday time!]
[gifts from r + b]
[the confetti cake being sliced]
once we were done, we then headed back to my parent’s house for cake, ice cream, and presents. the kids had a great time playing together, while the adults hung out.
all in all, it was a wonderful time! we had a blast celebrating grace’s birthday and i’m sure she did as well!
