Gracie is 3!

Gracie loves trains. She has always wanted to ride one so we took her on Trax. She cried when we got off but was delighted when we told her we had to ride back on it. We went to the Gateway, picked out some birthday earrings at Claire's, and got some ice cream.
I made their matching purple flippy skirts.

Gracie made friends with another boy who was riding Trax for the first time. He taught her how to make silly faces. Ironically we also rode back with them too. Gracie loved sitting on top of the seats with her face glued against the windows.
Back in June, we started having what Gracie calls "Dance Parties." We turn the music up and have our best friends Gabe and Lilly come over and dance with us. We ALL love it! That is what made her choose to have a dance party for her birthday. She loves dance parties and tea parties. Here is a video of Gracie dancing outside on a board in June while the HOA guys painted our carports. She is pretty good.


SOooo we decided to invite the families in the neighborhood to a dance party in our parking lot.
Don't worry the 500 cupcakes was a joke. We did make 120 cupcakes though. All of them were eaten except about a dozen. Gracie helped frost and sprinkle all of them. She loves sprinkles. And she loved delivering the invitations and taping them on doors. At the party when she was done dancing, she loved handing out cups and pouring water for everyone, and then sneaking into her birthday presents early.
She is amazing at showing 3 fingers already. Gracie loves blowing out candles so I decided to give her a 3 in cupcakes with candles instead of just 3 candles. She had to blow them out a couple of times. The video shows her trying so hard.

We brainstormed music for about a week. Every year we make a new birthday dance mix for Gracie so this year it has songs like the "Chicken Dance", "Hokey Pokey", "Electric Slide", "Move it", "Cha Cha Slide", "Macarina", "All the Single Ladies", "Who Let the Dogs Out", and a new one that is so fun and easy "Jump on It." The sister missionaries came and helped me decorate outside. 2 friends, Elisa and Kristin, painted the kids faces during the party and I painted pink hair stripes, both of which were a hit! Kids came in their PJ's, we taught dance moves and had dancing prizes. Luke was even outdone when he showed how to do "the worm."Here you can watch Luke teaching all the kids the dance. Gracie is in the red shirt dancing in front of Luke. Our friend Kristin McNinch is in the yellow dancing so cute on the side and her girl Sofie is dancing with Grace. Lilly is dancing really good next to Grace too. The kids copied everything Luke did including wiping the sweat from his forehead. Also Luke had so much fun doing the music, that he is considering being a DJ on the side! Hee hee. This dance party was so EASY and such a hit. We might do it again around Halloween. I strongly suggest doing this if you want a lot of fun, not a lot of work, and a fun way to get everyone together. It was only about an hour and a fun back to school party too. Next time I am totally just doing popcorn and drinks, although the cupcakes were what Gracie wanted and fun to make together. She keeps talking about her dance party.
She was so tired but she still had to open her presents: hippo sleeping bag cause she loves to pretend to sleep everywhere, Cars 1, Toy Story 1, Cheetos, little mermaid barbie, paints, earrings, and headbands, and I made a new quilt for bed that I still have to bind.
The next day we hung out with Cousin Sofia and Roman who were in town for Grammy and Papa's anniversary.
And the next day (her actual birthday Aug. 20), we went to a Chandler Family Reunion in Pocatello, Id and met up with my Grandpa Wuthrich before heading for home. It was a fun weekend to remember! And we still can't believe our little Gracie is 3. We love you always Gracie and can't wait to see the little lady you become. LUB!