Grace’s 5th Birthday

Happy Birthday sweet girl!  Five years ago today our lives changed forever.  How thankful we are for the gift of our precious daughter! 

 

This year we are spending the holidays with Todd’s mom in Tennessee, so we celebrated her birthday at our favorite place…Dollywood! 

But first, we had to open a few presents after breakfast.  A car for Malibu Barbie!

 

The Snow White DVD that she’s been wanting for weeks!

She also received an Ariel bathtime toy, a beautiful ballerina ornament, Sleeping Beauty pajamas, and several books.

After a quick lunch, we left for Dollywood’s Christmas Extravaganza.  It was awesomely beautiful with over 3.5 million lights all over the park.  It was fun to share this special day with Nan (Todd’s mom).

We saw fabulous shows, rode rides, watched a parade, and enjoyed the holiday decorations.  It was freezing, but Grace didn’t seem to mind.  The Smoky Mountains had a coating of snow at the high elevations, and Christmas was in the air.  As usual, the park was immaculately clean and the staff was entertaining and always in character!

Here is Todd and Grace on the ferris wheel.

After a fun and busy day, we ate dinner at our favorite Pigeon Forge restaurant, Calhoun’s Steakhouse.  Everyone, including Grace, was ravenous after walking around in Arctic temperatures for several hours, and we enjoyed a relaxing meal.  The wait staff sang “Happy Birthday” to Grace (much to her delight), and gave her a free hot fudge sundae. 

We watched Snow White in the car on the way home, and tucked a happy little girl into bed around 10:00!

Tomorrow we’re driving to Todd’s family farm in Bedford, Virginia.  There is already 18 inches of snow on the ground with more expected by Christmas, so Grace is looking forward to building a snowman for the first time!  There is little to no internet access at the farm, so it might be a week or so until my next post. 

I wish everyone a very merry Christmas as we celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ!