Party! Party!

We had Gracie's birthday party in Indianapolis a couple of weeks ago. We decided to go all out and have her party at a place called Great Times Fun Park. It was a great place for a party. The kids had a blast and I didn't have to decorate, cook, or clean up. It was money well spent! At first we thought about doing something small for her birthday, and taking a trip to Chicago. But that didn't work out, and then I thought about the fact that we may be in Mississippi next year and I wanted to do something special just in case. (By the way, Scottie goes for his interview in Dayton on Tuesday for their residency program. Prayers would be appreciated, because we really want to go there!!) I have posted A LOT of pictures, I hope you can make it through them all without getting tired.

Carol and Wyatt- my stepsisters youngest boy. He's so cute.

Grace and Gabby- We have a picture of them riding a rocking horse when they were two. They are in the exact same pose, but they are such big girls now.

Scottie and his brother Joe are having a shooting contest. Being addicted to this game must run in the family! ;)

The pizza was surprisingly good!

Grace blowing out the candles on her horse cake, which I did not bake. I decided to be lazy throughout the entire party and let her order a cake. After paying for the cake I have decided that I will always bake her cakes. It's a lot cheaper!

This is the only picture of her opening presents that turned out okay. The others are blurry.

After pizza, cakes, and presents the kids were given tokens for the arcade and a stamp for the indoor playland. They had so much fun. The play land had tunnels and slides, and several places to climb. I'm guessing that all the kiddos slept good that night!

Grace and Avery with their Mam-maw and Pap-paw.

I almost threw up when I saw this picture. I'm not sure who let her eat the pit balls, but that was not a good idea! Those things are covered in germs!!! I'm glad she has a good immune system.

Stuart coming down the slide into the ball pit. I wish they would have had something like this when I was little, it looks like fun!

All of the kids got a baggie of tokens to play in the arcade. They had a gift area where you could turn in your tickets for prizes.

Dylan hit the jackpot that day. Well, his mom Amanda hit the jackpot. You had to try and get your token into a dump truck, and if you did the truck would dump out all the tokens in it's bed. She got one that was full of tokens. Dylan was so excited because the tickets just kept coming! I don't know how long it took for them to come out, but we waited for a while. He was able to get a big prize, so he was happy!!

Mom and Steve playing old school Pac-Man. ;)

Grace got quite a bit of tokens as well, but nobody beat Dylan!

Grace with Steve and Nana.

All of the kids who came to the party, minus Stuart and Wyatt. They left before I could get everybody rounded up. It was a crazy day.

Avery and Daddy playing with Gracie's prize, a giant snake. Like we need one more stuffed animal in our house.

Grace and her cousin Chloe. Two peas in a pod!

Grace and Avery with Grandma and Grandpa.

Daddy and Grace riding the go-karts. Little did we know that Daddy's wallet would fall out during the ride. When did we discover this? When we went to pay the bill after going out with our friends Christian and Emily. I hate that we had to cut our visit short and leave with us freaking out!

We went to Uncle Joe's apartment so we could call Great Times and see if it had been found or turned in. Thankfully someone had turned it in, unfortunately that someone took all of the cash out. There wasn't much, but that's still pretty crappy to take someone's money. In the end we were just thankful that it was turned in and not thrown in the trash! It was stressful way to end the day, but I think this was one of Gracie's best birthdays. She had a lot of fun, and was so happy that everyone came to her party. This is a picture of the girls and their Uncle Joe. Grace is holding her new American Girl doll, Kit, that Joe bought her. He is always spoiling these girls! But he does it because he loves them. Grace got a lot of great presents, and we want to thank everyone for coming and showering her with gifts. I know she loves them all and appreciates everything!

Grace got bend-a-roos from Mam-maw and Pap-paw. She has been wanting them for a long time. She is posing her first two creations, and she made them all by herself. She is so creative. I was really impressed with the flower, she did it without any instructions. You can't see the picture frame very well, but she decorated it too. The painting was made by Grace as well. She did it when she went to Indiana to stay with dad and Carol for the weekend. My Grandma Pat gave her a painting lesson. It took them two days to do it, but I think she did an excellent job!! She has a real talent for art, and I'm so glad that my grandma was able to help her. She can't wait to visit again and make another picture.

** Well, if you read all of this, then you are dedicated. I had a hard time narrowing down the pictures because we had so much fun that day and took several pictures. I'm glad that we were able to have this party and hope it won't be the last one for a while. If we do end up in Mississippi then it will be a few years before we can have another family party. Let's all keep our fingers crossed for Dayton!!! Thank you to everyone who came, we really appreciated it!