Dressed in White

About a week and a half ago Madi made Lacey's hair look curly and beautiful, and then she took her out for a photo shoot in her new baptism dress. Lacey withstood the cold (while barefoot and wearing short sleeves) and tolerated Madi's commands, and the results, to me, were worth the torture of winter weather and big-sister-bossiness.
Madi continues to amaze me with her talents. I am in love these pictures she took of Lacey - I can't even choose a favorite. Of course, I love them all.

We went shopping for Lacey's baptism dress when we were in Utah over the summer because I knew it would be difficult to find a white dress in the winter. We had such a fun day shopping with Lacey's Aunt Janae and cousin Ava, who was also looking for a baptism dress. Lacey tried on many beautiful white dresses, but this one was her absolute favorite, so this is the dress that we brought home. It has been sitting in my closet since July, just waiting for the day when Lacey would wear it for her baptism - and that day is tomorrow!

The Big E-i-g-h-t

Has it really been 8 years since that little curly, dark-haired newborn baby girl was placed in my arms. I couldn't believe she was mine. No - I mean I really couldn't believe it! Surely this chubby-cheeked, olive-skinned, furrowed-brow, short, chubby baby girl with more hair than I had ever seen on a newborn belonged to the hispanic family down the hall.


But there were enough eye-witnesses to attest that she was indeed mine, and oh how I loved this little baby girl. I remember feeling blessed to have 3 beautiful daughters. Life. felt. perfect.

I thought it would be hard to have a newborn at Christmastime, but truly, it was one of the most beloved and cherished times of my life. I remember laying on my bed for the first few days of her life, just holding her while she gently slept on my chest. We had some quiet mommy-baby time while daddy took Madi and Katie for a little trip to visit Grandma Judy and Granddaddy Ken right before Christmas. That Christmas, more than ever, I thought about the mother of another baby - and how she must have felt after giving birth to the Savior of the World. Amy Grant's song "Breath of Heaven" became my favorite Christmas song that year. For truly Heaven visited our earthly home that Christmas in 2001, and oh how I loved that baby girl.


And now - Heaven is replaced with mostly chaos, interspersed with an occasional quiet moment, but life is still as perfect as can be with this beautiful 8-year-old daughter.


Lacey at 8 is fiesty, smart, independent (when she chooses), the baby girl (when she chooses), a great speller, lover of math, interested in playing a musical instrument, Nintendo DS player, Sponge Bob addict, soccer playing, mother to her dolls. She is a watchful big sister to Ben and pesky little sister to Katie and Madi, and oh how I love this 8-year-old girl.

She finds the kitchen table to be an ideal napkin and she cleans her room by stuffing everything (& I mean everything) under her bed. Her fingernails are frequently dirty and she doesn't like braids or fancy little-girl dresses. She likes her shirts to be tight-fitting, and she loves when mom reads her a story. She begs dad to take her to 7-11 and buy her powdered donuts and a slurpee. She's rather bossy and extremely persistent. She's a debater, always ready to negotiate her point, and oh how love my 8-year-old girl.

Rather than do it herself, she prefers to have mom or dad make her toast, get her a drink, pour milk on her cereal, or dish up her dinner plate. She likes to be tucked in at night, although she is starting to resist hugs and "I love you's" - unless she initiates such behavior. She is loving and sweet, yet capable of being naughty. And occasionally, she gets really, really mad. But always, she is a bright and shining light in our home. She is our Lacey Grace and oh how we love her!

Lacey's 8th birthday ended up being a 3-day celebration. Here are a few highlights -

The Big E-I-G-H-T Part One

The day before her actual birthday, Grandma Judy and Granddaddy were in town and we had Sunday dinner with them, Mammy and Poppy, and Aunt Kimmy and Uncle Russ's family. Lacey opened presents from the family that evening. She also had a pretty, pink birthday cake. (For some reason I forgot to pull out the camera until cake time so I missed getting pictures of the family - bummer!)



The Big E-I-G-H-T Part Two

Lacey's birthday was on a Monday, so bright and early that morning, we headed to the school for Lacey's annual birthday circle. During her birthday circle we show pictures and share highlights from each year of her life. She carries a globe with her, and each time she walks around the circle, it represents the passage of another year of her life. It was a special treat to have grandma and granddad there.

Lacey shows photos to her classmates from the 5th & 6th year of her life

Everyone oohed & ahhed as Lacey showed her class the beautiful, warm and cozy handmade quilt that Grandma Judy made for her.

Lacey blowing out the traditional candle in the center of the birthday circle.

Grandma and granddad left to go home right after the birthday circle. That evening we celebrated as a family by going to see some amazing Christmas lights. Our first stop was the garden atrium at the Bellagio Hotel, where they decorate with fresh flowers and plants. This polar bear is made completely of flowers.

My favorite part of the display this year was this gingerbread house - again made from flowers.

Ben's favorite part of the display were the 2 trains that went around and around at the entrance. We could hardly tear him away.

Our next stop was the M Hotel where they had the world's largest living Christmas tree on display.

I had to take this up-close picture to show that the tree is definitely REAL.

You could see the tree from miles away!

Our final stop of the night was the Ethel M Cactus Garden where we met up with Uncle Jared and Aunt Katie and their kids. The gardens were as beautiful and bright as ever. This is one of my favorite stops every Christmas season.




The Big E-I-G-H-T Part Three

The final chapter of Lacey's 8th birthday was her big movie party that Friday afternoon. It was the Friday school got out for winter break, so there was double reason to celebrate! Mammy and Poppy were gracious enough to let Lacey invite a few friends and use their movie theater for her party.

Friends from school and church, along with cousin Kara all helped celebrate this grand occasion.

Getting ready to watch "The Grinch"

Presents and cupcakes in the shape of an "8" ended the night

Dear Aunt Katie

Dear Aunt Katie,

Hi. It's me Lacey. Do you like this picture of me? Madi took it. All summer she kept dressing me up and taking my picture. I like to be her modle. Anyway, I wanted to tell you sumthing. My mom said I shud do it on her blog so you wood quit bugging her about win she is going to do a blog post. becuz now she will have a blog post. sorry if i don't spell that good sometimes I forget how to spell some words becuz I am just strting 2nd grade. Oh - & my mom said to tell you that playing bejooled on facebook sumtimes is not keeping her from riting on her blog.

My mom says she is going to blog agin soon. She said she has sumthing called riters block. I dont know what that is, but I hope she gets better soon! I don't want to get it :( Did you know Madi started high school this week? I am glad becuz she is gone when I get up in the morning and she doesn't bug me any more. I started school this week to. It was ok, but I miss Sponge Bob. I drew a picture of Bikeenee Botum in class today. I wish I didn't have to git up so early - but still not as early as Madi! Hahahahahah Madi!

Did you know that Aunt Janae is having a baby boy? I can't believe it! That means he is going to have 5 big sisters! That's even worse than Benny boy who has 3 big sisters! What is he going to do with all those girls? Ben is glad to get a boy cuzin. I'm glad too. Now you need to have another boy too!

Anyway, Aunt Katie. I wanted to tell you sumthing. Do you remember that cool thing you helped us make at cuzin camp? It was a terr???? I don't remember what it's called . . . . but it's that plant in the soda bottles that uncle J had to cut up for all of us. Do you remember?

I really loved mine with the pritty pruple flower. But guess what Aunt Katie . . .

It doesn't work anymore and I didn't do one thing to it! yuck!

How to Create the Perfect Science Project

If you're a first grader and you have to create a science project for the school science fair during the last week of school, the first thing you do is enlist the help of your dad. He will go online to find just the perfect project for a 1st grade girl to do. Then you nag your dad for 2 weeks and ask him every time you see him when he is going to help you with your science project. Finally, you nag enough, and the deadline gets close enough that he decides to help you.

Everyone wants to know how to make a penny shiny again, don't they? Seems like a winner of a project. So, if you mix vinegar and salt and put the pennies in it - will the pennies be shinier if you rinse them or don't rinse them? Lacey & Brad set out to discover the answer.



But there was one big problem - the pennies looked the same regardless of whether or not they were rinsed. Now you have to enlist the help of your mom to find out why this happened. After a little bit of online research, your mom tells you & your dad that you have to do the project again - this time with copper pennies - the kind of pennies that were made before 1982. If they were made after 1982, they are only 5% copper and the project doesn't work.

So then you start over . . .

You use the pennies that your dad got from his friend at the office who has a rather abundant penny collection (to make sure you use pennies that were made before 1982) and you mix the pennies in the solution . . .


You rinse half of the pennies . . .


You put all the pennies out to dry . . .


You compare the pennies - your hypothesis was right!
The rinsed pennies are shinier . . .


And finally - you get your dad and mom to help you put all your findings on a display board to show everyone at the school science fair your amazing results . . .


If you're a fifth grader and you have to have a science project for the school science fair during the last week of school, the first thing you do is decide on a project in class, do some research in class, then get your mom to help you conduct the experiment. If you're a fifth grade girl, the perfect science project has to do with cookies and baking. You want to know if the type of cookie sheet you use when baking causes uneven baking.

So you gather different types of baking sheets then you make some cookie dough with your mom and start making cookies . . .


You make sure that each batch is baked at the same temperature and for the same amount of time. You wonder how the cookies that you make on your grandma's oldest, thinnest cookie sheet will turn out . . .


Not so good . . . Looks pretty uneven to me!


The cookies on the insulated cookie sheet your mom uses all the time seem to turn out pretty good. It would appear that the type of cookie sheet used definitely plays a part in even baking.


You taste a cookie from each batch - in the name of science, of course!

Then you start working on your science board with minimal help from your mom. You do an amazing job and take your work to share with everyone at the science fair . . .

May Day

We actually participated in a May Day Celebration at the school this year - on May Day and complete with a May Pole - this was a first! Lacey was asked to be one of the girls who danced around the May Pole as people entered the school. The ribbon on the May Pole was simply luxurious and beautiful, and Lacey was a bright and cheerful May Pole dancer - though she did get bored after a while and I got to take her place for a while :). One of Lacey's teachers, Ms. Amy, showed the girls how to wind back & forth, and over and under each other to create an impressive weaved pattern with the ribbon on the May Pole, but this proved to be rather complicated for the girls to accomplish. It worked for a while then rapidly turned into a crazy, jumbled criss-cross pattern instead.






The celebration included food, crafts, games, face-painting, music, and a silent auction for a few art items created by the children (with the help of our art teacher) as well as gift baskets and dates with the teachers. Even with all there was to do, I think the girls had the most fun just being with their friends.

Madi and her fellow 8th grade buddies
top picture - Cristien, Lindsey, Lexi, & Madi
bottom picture - Sebastian, Lindsey, Lauren, Lexi, Madi, Cristien

Katie & some of her friends - Skala, Lauren, Christina and Katie P.

Sisters with painted faces

Lacey with her friend Kyla