Three for Three

To round out the trifecta of birthday celebrations for Lilly we had a small family dinner on Saturday night. I cooked her favorite, beef stroganoff and broccoli. Then we sang, had cake and ice cream and then moved right along to opening presents. Lilly loves decorations, so while she was napping we surprised her by decorating her chair. Then, after rolling his eyes when I asked him to help with the chair Bryan got swept up in the excitement and decorated the rest of the dinning room with streamers and balloons. Lilly's princess castle cake. I worked so hard to make this cake for her, it took two days to make, from scratch, the strawberry cake, the butter cream filling, the strawberry meringue butter cream and the rice crispy treats to make the spires. Lilly's reaction when she saw it, "Um....why did you put my princesses on there?"

Lilly's cards and gifts.

Singing 'Happy Birthday'.

Digging in to the presents.

Taking a break. Aunt Tiki was kind enough to take pictures during the party so I could actually participate. She asked Lilly to smile so she could get a picture of her pretty birthday outfit. This is what she got. Please note: Lilly picked out her own outfit and then added pearls, a bracelet and a ring to it...and sparkly shoes, not pictured.

....and another mushroom stick carved by Papaw.

Bryan and I got Lilly a small play kitchen for her birthday and spread the word so she would receive a few accessories to go with it. She as a happy girl. She loves her kitchen. We have been cooking almost nonstop since Bryan carried it in the house. Well, we did take a little break to watch her new movie, 'Tangled'.

Thank you everyone. Lilly had a great birthday!

Lilly Turns Three

Last night I tucked a two year old into bed and then this morning a three year old came into my room and woke me up. The fact that she was able to get out of her room all by herself is another matter all together. Lilly got up kind of early, which was annoying, but it actually worked out great because Jack continued to sleep. So, Bryan and I had about an hour to spend with just Lilly this morning. We started by making cinnamon rolls and opening two of her birthday presents, crazy hair and all. Modeling her new umbrella and boots. We were hoping for rain today, but no luck. Maybe tomorrow.

Lilly was very excited when she got up from her nap (in which she didn't sleep at all) to find that Aunt Cammie, Uncle Ed, Matthew and Morgan had sent her a balloon bouquet.

Doing a little birthday painting.

Today just happened to be gymnastics day too!

Then, we went to Red Robin for dinner. Lilly was happy about the sundae, but buried her head in Papaw's arm when the servers started singing.

Opening another present.

....and modeling that present after her bath.

Happy Birthday Lilly! Mommy and Daddy love you! Hope you had a great day, there's still more to come.

It Began with a Butterfly Birthday

In my family we don't really do the whole Birthday thing. We do more of a birth weekend. You get your actual birthday and the weekend that is closest to it. Sometimes, depending on scheduling conflicts, you can drag your birthday celebration out to two weekends. And that, is exactly what Lilly is doing for her third birthday. This year we decided to split the party up a little. We started this past weekend by having a couple of Lilly's friends over on Saturday, and their parents too...we aren't that crazy yet. I made cupcakes, Bryan grilled hot dogs and the kids played. We did a spring theme with butterfly and flower cupcakes. Jack and I made it into a picture. Thanks Russ!

Here are the party goers. Russ, my photographer, tried to take a nice picture of all four kids smiling and standing still...This is what we got. The phrase "herding cats" came to mind during the photo shoot. From left: Lilly, Morgan, Avery and Georgie Blowing out her candle.

Avery opted for a cupcake with a flower sucker and peanut butter bug on top.

While Morgan chose a butterfly.

I didn't get a picture of Georgie with his cupcake, but I'm certain that he got one. A family photo. Very rare. Again, thanks Russ for using my camera and taking some pictures. Tania took lots of pictures too, but realized too late that her memory card was at home in the computer. Lilly opening her gift. For this party Bryan and I wanted to give Lilly something that she could play with outside and that all of her friends could enjoy with her. So, we got her a croquette set for kids. We thought this was a great idea, but after Lilly opened it we realized that all we had done was armed four sugared up three year olds with mallets.

We had a lot of fun on Saturday. The playset got a lot of use and Avery was kind enough to bring her bounce house. We also painted flower pots and planted bulbs in them. (By 'planted bulbs' I mean that we intended to plant bulbs, but the pots took longer to dry that I anticipated so I sent everyone home with their bulb in a bag. Hopefully, they are in their pots by now). We moved the party inside after dinner and watched the Butler game while the kids played. It was a great way to kickoff Lilly's birthday celebrations and I'm pretty sure she had a good time. She slept until almost 9:30am the next day.