Goodness Gracious

I don't know what the heck was going on this morning.  Grace not only set an alarm and got up on her own at 6:30 AM, but she also brought the baby downstairs and got him his bottle of milk, set him up with a little Backyardigans, and then got breakfast for Alex and Jane, convinced Jane to get dressed for school in a timely manner, and then PACKED JANE'S LUNCH FOR HER.  What what say what??!!  I think she may have been a little bit excited about her Desktop Countries presentation this afternoon and her excitement just came spilling out in the form of helpfulness!  I'll take it!  Especially since I was SO tired this morning thanks to a middle-of-the-night wake-up call from Jane, who had a bad dream and couldn't go back to sleep on her own.  It was definitely a tender mercy to have some helping hands before school.  That Grace -- she's my ever-surprising surprise.

Kamryn, Sami, and Grace

Her Desktop Countries presentation was quite a hit this afternoon and I was glad I had a chance to go.  I happened to get there just as the 2nd graders were coming through and was able to see Jane with her friends and watch how enthralled they were with the country of Burma as presented by Grace and her colleagues in their group.  The groups were assigned randomly, but Grace still somehow managed to end up with two of her good friends.  I know she was super excited about that and they all did a great job researching their country and creating a display for their findings.

 Doing some face painting 

 {Isaac was super freaked out by Grace with her face paint.}

Other Grace happenings of the last week include her Drama Kids performance on Friday night and our Girls on the Run 5K on Saturday afternoon.  For the last several weeks, she's been participating in a Drama class that culminated in a {very short} play about pirates.  A couple of her friends were in the class as well, and even though I think it was the appeal of being with them that was the initial draw to the club, I was surprised to discover that by the end, she was really into the whole drama thing!  Hahaha.  To be honest, being in a play definitely seemed more like Sophie or Jane's kind of thing, but Grace really enjoyed it and is already talking about wanting to do another session in the fall.

 Ellie, Sami, and Grace

 Yo ho ho!

 Grace was an elderly pirate named "Rusty Bucket."

 The whole cast!

 Her participation medal.

Sisters, sisters.

And finally, Saturday marked the second year in a row that we've run together for the Girls on the Run 5K.  Running Club has been meeting twice a week after school for the last several weeks to prepare the girls for the race, and by Saturday, Grace was more than ready to get it done.  They held the race in the afternoon this year -- which made for a HOT run -- and even though Grace was still the first girl to finish from her school, her time was a lot slower than she wanted it to be.  Oh well!  There will always be more races.  And next year, Sophie will be able to join in the fun!  Today was the last day of Running Club, and they celebrated with pizza, cake, and exchanged their signed "shoes" to commemorate the year.  I love this tradition and Grace still has last year's shoe hanging on the bulletin board in her room.

 Before the race -- sporting our newly designed "#solesisters" shirts.

 Grace and Cam

 After the race -- SUPER hot and sweaty.

And that is that!  Grace has exactly 8 days left as an elementary schooler and Ethan has 8 days left as a junior higher.  Next year we will be reaching a whole new stage of life -- I'll have a high schooler AND a junior higher.  Not to mention the 3 who will still be at the Elementary School and the 1 who will be starting up at our little preschool that I love.  But all that is in the future -- we still have a whole summer to celebrate together!  Can't wait to see how that goes...  ;)

Grace

* hopeful * really fast * dedicated * smart * inspiring * intelligent * sweet * smart * hardworking * persistent * determined * lightning speed * fast * athletic * hilarious * fast * smart * loving * athletic * amazing * considerate * amusing * upbeat * leader * daring * courageous * speed *