Gracie Turns {FIVE!}
On June 14th, my first-born angel, Grace Taylor, turned FIVE years old.
Just like we have done the past two years, Gracie answered 20 questions about her most favorite things (today...because they change almost daily at this point).
I think it's clear from this short video that she's a super smart, sassy, total mini-teenager, bossy, fun-loving sweetheart, and we wouldn't have her any other way.
Aside from being her sister's BFF, Grace loves to hang out with her Sebastians besties and her friends from school: Vida, Kennedy, and Peyton.
She is currently 45.2 pounds and stands 43 inches tall. Grace is in size 5/6 clothing and size 11 shoes. She loves to pick out her own outfits and regularly shops online with Mommy via Instagram. She'd wear a dress or skirt every single day and loves anything and everything with sparkles. She asks me to braid her hair all the time and especially likes when I do two braids after bath time, "so my hair is super curly tomorrow. All my friends love it and tell me they wish their hair was long. I tell them they just have to grow it like I did."
Grace loves to jump on the trampoline, help Mommy and Daddy cook, play in her playroom, swim in the pool, get into Mom's make-up when no one is looking, do Charley's hair, and watch Strawberry Shortcake and My Little Pony on her iPad. She's is still super into movies and princesses with Jasmine just starting to eclipse Ariel and Elsa as the favorites. She still loves mermaids and the beach, thankfully, because her room is fully decked out in them. Her favorite thing, though, is to dance. Girl dances all over the place no matter where we are or what we're doing.
Grace's favorite foods are mac and cheese, hamburgers, tomatoes (on everything), Frosted Flakes, brown sugar pop tarts, yogurt, and almost every fruit out there. She's a sucker for sweet tea and pineapple, orange, banana juice.
Grace is still hilarious and keeps us laughing constantly. I've tried to keep up with her antics over the past year, but it's hard to get them all down before forgetting her best lines. Here are the ones I managed to save (remember that some of these were a year ago):
Watching the 2014 CMT Awards hosted by Kristen Bell:
Upon hearing Kristen Bell speak - "I just love Princess Anna." (I was amazed she knew who she was!)
The Band Perry - "She's so cute!"
Bobby Bones - "Hey! I know him!" (We listen to him on the radio every morning on our way to school.)
Hunter Hayes - "He's a pretty good singer, huh?"
Blake Shelton - "ehhhh..."
Carrie Underwood - "I like Perry Underwood. Do you like Perry Underwood? Because she is pretty and she sings good?"
Jake Owen - "I love this song! Wooooaaaahhhhhooooo, beachin'. Dude! His hair looks awesome!"
Mommy: "Grace, what is the teacher's name in the red room?"
Grace: "Her name is Anna. She recognized her first paper today. I mean, she reckanized it. And on Easter, she had one golden egg, and that's it! We want to be good of her, because she will be proud for us."
"Charley, you know what you can do? You can buy toys, pizza, bubble gum, Disneyland stuff - all that fun junk!"
Finding Toodles laying in the sink - "Come here you little rascal. You can't sleep in the sink!"
"Alls I know, it's better than a farm chicken. That's an exercise. We learned it in my new class at school. The wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round..."
Grace won't sit still while watching a movie:
Daddy: "Do you have ants in your butt?"
Grace: "No! I have a butt cheek in my butt. I can't stop. I'm crazy. I'm just a wild girl."
"Miss Stephinae said we have to learn how to do tricks."
"You are weird, mom. But you're pretty!"
Talking to Easton about his toys:
Grace to Easton: "Wanna play army with these knives? Hold on, let me ask my mom."
Grace to Mommy: "Mom, is it ok if I pretend to be a bad guy?"
Mommy: "How was school today, Grace?"
Grace: "I ate my lunch all gone, I slept well, and Kennedy and Shaina be'd nice to me all day!"
Teaching Grace about snakes - after a few minutes:
"But do they eat bunny's noses and arms and ears, too?"
Hearing the wind outside:
"Hey, Dad, when I just turned my head around, I sawed a noise."
Asking Grace to go get her shoes from upstairs:
Mommy: "Grace, you know your gold shoes. They aren't sandals, but..."
Grace: "Hey, you don't have to talk about them. I'll just go get them."
"Why do you keep calling 'Grace, go get this and go do that?' Ay yi yi!"
Grace keeps pushing Charley around:
Mommy: "Grace, I'm going to push you back!"
Grace: "Back off, homie!"
Grace: "Can we have more milk in our bowls?"
Mommy: "No. You don't need it. You're fine."
Grace: "Yes! We poured more cereal and now we don't have enough milk."
Mommy: "They you shouldn't have poured more cereal. We're getting ready to leave."
Grace: "You don't even have to get up, because I'm going to ask Daddy for more milk."
Mommy: "Grace, stop."
She keeps going.
Mommy (knowing that Daddy is sound asleep): "Fine! I'll get you milk."
Grace: "Thanks. We appreciate that." Seconds later: "This is a wonderful day, Char!"
Mommy: "Grace, get in bed, now!"
Grace: "I just can't stop touching my hair! I love it!"
On the way to school the morning after Zacarias' graduation from fire academy:
Grace: "Hey, remember Uncle Zac's wedding last night? Was that his wedding? I love that song that goes 'model up up up, model up up up, I'm on fiyahhhh!"
"Master of Disaster. That's what Papa called me when I was a little kid."
I was asking Shelly via text if Noah had learned the Pledge of Allegiance before starting Kindergarten. She said she'd ask him after school, and I was going to ask Grace if they had worked on it at all. As if reading my mind, Grace gets in the car and says: "to the United States of America, and under God, the show is about to begin!" Obviously, they had started working on it.
"Remember when I went to Grandma Espejo's, and I skimmed all day while you played tennis with Daddy? And then I went there the next day and swimmer with my floaties, and I even dived without my floaties, because I'm four, and that's how you do it? THAT'S.HOW.YOU.DO.IT.!"
"We have enough toys. I just want to save them for other kids!"
"Is this real life?" (This is a question she has started asking about things like people on TV, books, movies, etc. She always wants to know if the people are real life people or the stories really happened in "real life".)
"You know what trick or treat means? It means 'May I have some candy?' in Spanish!"
Isaac and I had been watching The Walking Dead. Grace has never seen it, but I would tell her, "stay upstairs in your bed. Mommy and Daddy are watching The Walking Dead, and you can't watch it."
Grace: "Miss Ebony says I shouldn't watch The Walking Dead."
Mommy: "How'd she know about that show?"
Grace: "I told her how they walk around and kill everyone."
Mommy: "What else did you tell her?" (Curious to see if she told her she hasn't watched it.)
Grace: "My Daddy goed to heaven, and that's it!"
"Mom, you've really outdone yourself! My bathroom is SO clean!"
Grace: "Tomorrow means school."
Mommy: "Do you like days when you don't have school?"
Grace: "Yes!
Mommy: "Why?"
Grace: "Cause I just like to hang out with you guys."
"Mom, Dad, you guys need to stop giving me sugar. I'm going to get sick!"
"Umm, can you just give me the whole sunflower seed bag?"
"All my friends will miss me. Is Gracie sick? Is she at home? Is she at the movie feeters watchin' movies? Is she at Disneyland? Is she not feeling well? They'll all miss me!"
Alarm goes off - "Ughhh! I hate that sound!"
Grace: "SNOWman."
Charley: "no-man."
Grace: "SSSnowman."
Charley: "nnno-man."
Grace: "SSSSSSSSSNOWman."
Charley: "nnnnnnnnno-man"
"Everyone at school always says I'm so cute. It's hard being the cutest mind in school, isn't it? Ughhh! It's just me and Charley, me and Charley, me and Charley."
"Kennedy likes lizards. Like, why does she like lizards? She likes snakes, too."
Mommy: "Isn't that funny?"
Grace: "Well, I'm not laughin'."
"I had a wonderful dream lat night. I was so fashion. I had these gloves, but they didn't cover all my finger. They were so cool, and I was SO much fashion."
Grace: "What is a nightmare?"
Mommy: "It's like a bad dream."
Grace: "Oh, it's a bad dream in Spanish?"
"Zip it, lock it, put it in your pocket!"
Grace singing while putting pajamas on: "I'm so cuuute! I am so-oh cu-ooohhhh-uuute!"
"I think I'm allergic to water now. I keep sneezing when you spray my hair."
"I'm the smartest one in my school, and I'm the best one in my dance class. Why should I? Because I'm a tough girl. I gotta practice my push ups when I get home!"
Mommy: "Charley looks just like Grandma Sunshine!"
Grace: "Well, she doesn't have an older face like her."
"Hey, that's mine! I breathed my breath on it!"
Grace eating a yogurt in bed:
Mommy: "Grace, did you ask if you can have that yogurt?"
Grace: "Yes. I said, 'I am going to get a yogurt from the fridge, and nobody told me no."
This kid...
I also asked her these questions after someone posted them on Facebook to see what her responses would be. Here is what I got:
1 - What is something mom always says to you? "Eat doughnuts."
2 - What makes mom happy? "Me and Charley listening."
3 - What makes mom sad? "Charley not listening at school."
4 - How does your mom make you laugh? "She tickles us!"
5 - What was your mom like as a child? "Umm, I don't know!"
6 - How old is your mom? "How old are you? 35?"
7 - How tall is your mom? "This big {arms stretched out vertically}."
8 - What is her favorite thing to do? "Stay with her children and don't let them get lost. Or go to Target."
9 - What does your mom do when you're not around? "I don't know."
10 - If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for? "Money!"
11 - What is your mom really good at? "Hiding when we play hide-and-seek."
12 - What is your mom not very good at? "Not doing the right thing. I mean, you're silly and don't follow the directions."
13 - What does your mom do for a job? "She feeds birds."
14 - What is your mom's favorite food? "Salad."
15 - What makes you proud of your mom? "She takes me to the Toys R Us store."
16 - If your mom were a character, who would she be? "Jasmine, because she's my favorite."
17 - What do you and your mom do together? "We go have fun and enjoy the park."
18 - How are you and your mom the same? "We have matching eyes."
19 - How are you and your mom different? "We have different shoes."
20 - How do you know your mom loves you? "She always tells me and gives me hugs and kisses."
21 - What does your nom like most about your dad? "He got her pretty earrings."
22 - Where is your mom's favorite place to go? "Target!"
23 - How old was your mom when you were born? "1."
Grace lights up our world with her strong personality and silly sense of humor. I am so blessed that she chose me to be her mom five years (plus nine months) ago. I love spending my days laughing with her and my nights snuggled up next to her, tickling her back, of course. She's the apple of my eye, the jam to my toast, and clearly holds the key to my heart (along with her Daddy and baby sister). I can't wait to see what this next year brings with her starting Kindergarten and changing even more right before my eyes.
I love you, baby girl! Happiest of Birthdays to you, my Grace Face <3
Aside from being her sister's BFF, Grace loves to hang out with her Sebastians besties and her friends from school: Vida, Kennedy, and Peyton.
She is currently 45.2 pounds and stands 43 inches tall. Grace is in size 5/6 clothing and size 11 shoes. She loves to pick out her own outfits and regularly shops online with Mommy via Instagram. She'd wear a dress or skirt every single day and loves anything and everything with sparkles. She asks me to braid her hair all the time and especially likes when I do two braids after bath time, "so my hair is super curly tomorrow. All my friends love it and tell me they wish their hair was long. I tell them they just have to grow it like I did."
Grace loves to jump on the trampoline, help Mommy and Daddy cook, play in her playroom, swim in the pool, get into Mom's make-up when no one is looking, do Charley's hair, and watch Strawberry Shortcake and My Little Pony on her iPad. She's is still super into movies and princesses with Jasmine just starting to eclipse Ariel and Elsa as the favorites. She still loves mermaids and the beach, thankfully, because her room is fully decked out in them. Her favorite thing, though, is to dance. Girl dances all over the place no matter where we are or what we're doing.
Grace's favorite foods are mac and cheese, hamburgers, tomatoes (on everything), Frosted Flakes, brown sugar pop tarts, yogurt, and almost every fruit out there. She's a sucker for sweet tea and pineapple, orange, banana juice.
Grace is still hilarious and keeps us laughing constantly. I've tried to keep up with her antics over the past year, but it's hard to get them all down before forgetting her best lines. Here are the ones I managed to save (remember that some of these were a year ago):
Watching the 2014 CMT Awards hosted by Kristen Bell:
Upon hearing Kristen Bell speak - "I just love Princess Anna." (I was amazed she knew who she was!)
The Band Perry - "She's so cute!"
Bobby Bones - "Hey! I know him!" (We listen to him on the radio every morning on our way to school.)
Hunter Hayes - "He's a pretty good singer, huh?"
Blake Shelton - "ehhhh..."
Carrie Underwood - "I like Perry Underwood. Do you like Perry Underwood? Because she is pretty and she sings good?"
Jake Owen - "I love this song! Wooooaaaahhhhhooooo, beachin'. Dude! His hair looks awesome!"
Mommy: "Grace, what is the teacher's name in the red room?"
Grace: "Her name is Anna. She recognized her first paper today. I mean, she reckanized it. And on Easter, she had one golden egg, and that's it! We want to be good of her, because she will be proud for us."
"Charley, you know what you can do? You can buy toys, pizza, bubble gum, Disneyland stuff - all that fun junk!"
Finding Toodles laying in the sink - "Come here you little rascal. You can't sleep in the sink!"
"Alls I know, it's better than a farm chicken. That's an exercise. We learned it in my new class at school. The wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round..."
Grace won't sit still while watching a movie:
Daddy: "Do you have ants in your butt?"
Grace: "No! I have a butt cheek in my butt. I can't stop. I'm crazy. I'm just a wild girl."
"Miss Stephinae said we have to learn how to do tricks."
"You are weird, mom. But you're pretty!"
Talking to Easton about his toys:
Grace to Easton: "Wanna play army with these knives? Hold on, let me ask my mom."
Grace to Mommy: "Mom, is it ok if I pretend to be a bad guy?"
Mommy: "How was school today, Grace?"
Grace: "I ate my lunch all gone, I slept well, and Kennedy and Shaina be'd nice to me all day!"
Teaching Grace about snakes - after a few minutes:
"But do they eat bunny's noses and arms and ears, too?"
Hearing the wind outside:
"Hey, Dad, when I just turned my head around, I sawed a noise."
Asking Grace to go get her shoes from upstairs:
Mommy: "Grace, you know your gold shoes. They aren't sandals, but..."
Grace: "Hey, you don't have to talk about them. I'll just go get them."
"Why do you keep calling 'Grace, go get this and go do that?' Ay yi yi!"
Grace keeps pushing Charley around:
Mommy: "Grace, I'm going to push you back!"
Grace: "Back off, homie!"
Grace: "Can we have more milk in our bowls?"
Mommy: "No. You don't need it. You're fine."
Grace: "Yes! We poured more cereal and now we don't have enough milk."
Mommy: "They you shouldn't have poured more cereal. We're getting ready to leave."
Grace: "You don't even have to get up, because I'm going to ask Daddy for more milk."
Mommy: "Grace, stop."
She keeps going.
Mommy (knowing that Daddy is sound asleep): "Fine! I'll get you milk."
Grace: "Thanks. We appreciate that." Seconds later: "This is a wonderful day, Char!"
Mommy: "Grace, get in bed, now!"
Grace: "I just can't stop touching my hair! I love it!"
On the way to school the morning after Zacarias' graduation from fire academy:
Grace: "Hey, remember Uncle Zac's wedding last night? Was that his wedding? I love that song that goes 'model up up up, model up up up, I'm on fiyahhhh!"
"Master of Disaster. That's what Papa called me when I was a little kid."
I was asking Shelly via text if Noah had learned the Pledge of Allegiance before starting Kindergarten. She said she'd ask him after school, and I was going to ask Grace if they had worked on it at all. As if reading my mind, Grace gets in the car and says: "to the United States of America, and under God, the show is about to begin!" Obviously, they had started working on it.
"Remember when I went to Grandma Espejo's, and I skimmed all day while you played tennis with Daddy? And then I went there the next day and swimmer with my floaties, and I even dived without my floaties, because I'm four, and that's how you do it? THAT'S.HOW.YOU.DO.IT.!"
"We have enough toys. I just want to save them for other kids!"
"Is this real life?" (This is a question she has started asking about things like people on TV, books, movies, etc. She always wants to know if the people are real life people or the stories really happened in "real life".)
"You know what trick or treat means? It means 'May I have some candy?' in Spanish!"
Isaac and I had been watching The Walking Dead. Grace has never seen it, but I would tell her, "stay upstairs in your bed. Mommy and Daddy are watching The Walking Dead, and you can't watch it."
Grace: "Miss Ebony says I shouldn't watch The Walking Dead."
Mommy: "How'd she know about that show?"
Grace: "I told her how they walk around and kill everyone."
Mommy: "What else did you tell her?" (Curious to see if she told her she hasn't watched it.)
Grace: "My Daddy goed to heaven, and that's it!"
"Mom, you've really outdone yourself! My bathroom is SO clean!"
Grace: "Tomorrow means school."
Mommy: "Do you like days when you don't have school?"
Grace: "Yes!
Mommy: "Why?"
Grace: "Cause I just like to hang out with you guys."
"Mom, Dad, you guys need to stop giving me sugar. I'm going to get sick!"
"Umm, can you just give me the whole sunflower seed bag?"
"All my friends will miss me. Is Gracie sick? Is she at home? Is she at the movie feeters watchin' movies? Is she at Disneyland? Is she not feeling well? They'll all miss me!"
Alarm goes off - "Ughhh! I hate that sound!"
Grace: "SNOWman."
Charley: "no-man."
Grace: "SSSnowman."
Charley: "nnno-man."
Grace: "SSSSSSSSSNOWman."
Charley: "nnnnnnnnno-man"
"Everyone at school always says I'm so cute. It's hard being the cutest mind in school, isn't it? Ughhh! It's just me and Charley, me and Charley, me and Charley."
"Kennedy likes lizards. Like, why does she like lizards? She likes snakes, too."
Mommy: "Isn't that funny?"
Grace: "Well, I'm not laughin'."
"I had a wonderful dream lat night. I was so fashion. I had these gloves, but they didn't cover all my finger. They were so cool, and I was SO much fashion."
Grace: "What is a nightmare?"
Mommy: "It's like a bad dream."
Grace: "Oh, it's a bad dream in Spanish?"
"Zip it, lock it, put it in your pocket!"
Grace singing while putting pajamas on: "I'm so cuuute! I am so-oh cu-ooohhhh-uuute!"
"I think I'm allergic to water now. I keep sneezing when you spray my hair."
"I'm the smartest one in my school, and I'm the best one in my dance class. Why should I? Because I'm a tough girl. I gotta practice my push ups when I get home!"
Mommy: "Charley looks just like Grandma Sunshine!"
Grace: "Well, she doesn't have an older face like her."
"Hey, that's mine! I breathed my breath on it!"
Grace eating a yogurt in bed:
Mommy: "Grace, did you ask if you can have that yogurt?"
Grace: "Yes. I said, 'I am going to get a yogurt from the fridge, and nobody told me no."
This kid...
I also asked her these questions after someone posted them on Facebook to see what her responses would be. Here is what I got:
1 - What is something mom always says to you? "Eat doughnuts."
2 - What makes mom happy? "Me and Charley listening."
3 - What makes mom sad? "Charley not listening at school."
4 - How does your mom make you laugh? "She tickles us!"
5 - What was your mom like as a child? "Umm, I don't know!"
6 - How old is your mom? "How old are you? 35?"
7 - How tall is your mom? "This big {arms stretched out vertically}."
8 - What is her favorite thing to do? "Stay with her children and don't let them get lost. Or go to Target."
9 - What does your mom do when you're not around? "I don't know."
10 - If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for? "Money!"
11 - What is your mom really good at? "Hiding when we play hide-and-seek."
12 - What is your mom not very good at? "Not doing the right thing. I mean, you're silly and don't follow the directions."
13 - What does your mom do for a job? "She feeds birds."
14 - What is your mom's favorite food? "Salad."
15 - What makes you proud of your mom? "She takes me to the Toys R Us store."
16 - If your mom were a character, who would she be? "Jasmine, because she's my favorite."
17 - What do you and your mom do together? "We go have fun and enjoy the park."
18 - How are you and your mom the same? "We have matching eyes."
19 - How are you and your mom different? "We have different shoes."
20 - How do you know your mom loves you? "She always tells me and gives me hugs and kisses."
21 - What does your nom like most about your dad? "He got her pretty earrings."
22 - Where is your mom's favorite place to go? "Target!"
23 - How old was your mom when you were born? "1."
I love you, baby girl! Happiest of Birthdays to you, my Grace Face <3
