A Basketball, S'mores, Baseball Birthday

We celebrated Gracie's 11th birthday last night with lots of friends and family. It has become increasingly more evident over the past year or so that we have crossed into the land of "Preteendom" where parties should not be organized events with matching decor like this anymore: [Please pardon the pictures of pictures - my scanner is currently not working] Gracie arrived in true "Hall" style - riding in her Dad's Monte Carlo with Grandad and Grangran.

Gracie's 2nd birthday - Dora Theme! Can you tell who was more excited about it? Gracie was watching the kids play at the park instead of smiling at the camera. (side note - I'm 9 months preggers with Caroline here.)

We have entered the time when the only requirement for a birthday party is plenty of adult supervision with prepared food to grab at any random time [oh, and a fire to go sit around is nice if you're up to it] - don't try to get them to all eat together or anything like that...just let them go "hang out" with their friends. We had hot dogs, chips and dip, and birthday cake. Jon and his dad built a fire, and the kids roasted marshmallows for s'mores, and some of the other kids' parents led a baseball game with tennis balls ;) Everyone seemed to have a great time!

Gracie's "basketball" cupcake cake

I'm happy to say that the passing into this time of Gracie's life came at a really good time for Jon and me. The hefty requirements Anna Kate has placed on the two of us lately would make it nearly impossible to plan an organized event. It has also probably been helpful to distract me from the tears I might have been crying [if I had more energy] about Gracie getting so much bigger. It is bittersweet to see her getting so big, but it's nice to see her turning into such a beautiful young lady.

It is so hard to believe that 11 years have passed since her birth! Sometimes, it seems like yesterday, and at others it's like a different lifetime. I know her Daddy would be so proud of her if he were here today. She shares the same desire that he had to do the right things with her life. She proved it last year by being baptized.

Yesterday, Anna Kate wore Gracie's 1st birthday dress to church. Do you save clothes that your kids wore to special events? I have saved some of the most important ones. It's been so cool to be able to pass things down from one baby to the next! I meant to get a picture of Gracie holding Anna Kate in the outfit yesterday, but it just didn't happen :( Here's Gracie wearing the outfit on her first birthday [and her first Easter].

Gracie 1yr

As I told a few friends about Anna Kate wearing this outfit, I thought it would be nice if she could wear Caroline's first birthday dress on Caroline's birthday in a couple of weeks. The bad news is that I can't remember what Caroline wore. This must be a result of having two children within two years of each other.  The only picture I could find of Caroline in her 1st birthday dress was this one, and I can't tell what dress she's wearing...terrible picture.

Caroline turning in her 1st birthday penny at church with her Dad

I realize that the girls could care less about what dress they wore, but it's something special for me. It brings back memories of when they were my little babies :)

Happy birthday to Gracie Beth!