happy birthday, grace!

This gorgeous girl turned 6 today. Which I just now realized means that I've known Grace for half her life. She was just a little, babbling 3 year old when I met Jared and his three kiddos. Now she is turning into quite the beautiful and sweet young lady.

There are so many wonderful things to say about Grace. She is witty and smart and quick. She has a great sense of humor. She is forever grateful... especially for a good meal! This girl LOVES to eat and would quite possibly eat ALL DAY LONG if we let her. She is constantly bouncing and hardly ever is still. She tells me she loves me every day.

She has been so sweet lately, that I've nearly forgotten last summer when she turned into a demon child and spent a vast majority of her time throwing fits and therefore in timeout. SO glad that phase is over! She still makes faces like this though when she doesn't get her way:

Grace is a hard child not to love. She loves to help us cook. She loves to dance in the yard with me. She loves playing with her brothers and sister. She is chock FULL of personality. She even eats ants and proclaims, "They taste like lemons!"

Grace is also quite the tornado. She can not stay clean. She attracts dirt and messes. Keeping her hair in some kind of order is a never ending quest. Her hair by the way "Is NOT blond, it's gold!"

I'm so happy to have this little girl in my life and to have the chance to watch her grow and learn. She is (most of the time) a joy to have around!