LL's 3rd Birthday Party

Today we had lots of LL's friends and family here to celebrate her birthday. It was a fun afternoon packed with as much action and energy as you'd expect from a yard full of young kids. My favorite quotes of the day from the girls came this morning as they were helping me make the cupcakes. To describe how much fun the "funfetti" cake mix was, AG said, "Funfetti is like going around on the carousel!" LL asked at least a dozen times when she could have a "licker", also known as a beater from the electric mixer! (The girl knows her way around the kitchen :)

Here's the birthday girl just before blowing out her candles. The dessert stand had to settle for holding Sesame Street themed cupcakes today instead of the fine plastic food the girls prepared last night!


Cupcakes...certainly one of the highlights of LL's day!


Bouncing with a few friends...


The three-year-old club!


We were so glad to have all 4 grandparents and Uncle Matthew here! We enjoyed a bit of visiting in the midst of party prep and they all helped a ton, as usual! Here's a sweet shot of the girls with Nana and Grandpa at the end of the party.


LL gets some coaching from Uncle Matthew on "how many" she is now!


We are reminded on days such as this just how much we have to be thankful for!
One other birthday-related bit of info...Yesterday I took LL to the doctor for her well-check and found out she was now inthe 90th percentile on height. Wonder how long it'll take her to catch up with AG?

LL's Birthday Field Trip

Last Thursday two important events coincided: LL's 3rd birthday and her 1st preschool field trip! It was a fun outing for us 4 girls.

Cutest pumpkins in the patch!


Seems like just yesterday we were here with AG's class! Now she seems like such a big kid in comparison with LL's classmates...what a difference a year makes!


Loves jewelry, loves treats...the "cookie ring" is the perfect combination! By the way, snack time is apparently LL's favorite part of school, or at least it seems to make the biggest impression so far. Every day when she gets into the van after school, what she had for a snack is the first thing she reports!


AG sipping some "pumpkin juice"!

LL, the Birthday Belle!

Our sweet LL is turning 3 today! The last few days have been busy and fun-filled enough to more than make up for the icky way her birthday week started off. Yesterday, I took AG and SJ along to help out with skate day at LL's school. The best part was getting to see her all laced up and rolling on real, big girl skates! Of course, since they've only done this aobut 3 times, they still offer a little help in the form of carpet squares for them to practice on. What fun!




Today we went along on her class field trip to the pumpkin patch. Here is our cute little pumpkin with a cute little pumpkin.


I'll post a few more photos from our outing soon, but for now I'll just throw in this one to give you an idea of the birthday party prep going on around here. I got this cupcake stand yesterday to use for LL's party, and last night the girls just had to try it out!


LL, we are so thankful for you! Your laughter and sweetness never fail to make our days brighter! Your enthusiasm for life is so much fun. I pray you'll always have the joyful spirit and thankful heart we see in you now. Happy birthday!

Little Painters

AG and LL painted pumpkins a few days ago. They worked hard at it, and when all the paint was gone you could barely tell there were pumpkins under it! (especially since the only colors I had were Springish pastels. No, neighbors, those are not Easter eggs with stems beside our door :)




While they were painting, SJ hung out and played with the paint bottles, sticks, and leaves. Thankfully she is getting better about not putting things in her mouth all the time! She kept holding her leg up when I put her on the grass...I think she must not like how the drier grass feels on her skin. The other day she was trying to balance on her bottom and keep both legs up at the same time!

Reunited...

In the wee hours of Monday morning LL "had a throw up," and for her, the worst part of the whole experience was not getting to go back to bed with Ellie and Blankie. It took at least twice as long to convince her that she could sleep without them and to get that to happen as it did to bathe her and change her bedsheets! The whole next morning she waited on pins and needles until, at last...they came out of the dryer, fresh and clean after a much-needed bath of their own.

Bliss...


They don't call them lovies for nothing!

A Peek Into Our Weekend

We've had a few boxes around lately that were big enough for the girls to get into. They have had fun hiding inside, playing house, and packing up various items. Even SJ has goten into it, literally!


I had the pleasure of accompanying AG to the birthday party of a friend on Saturday. It was a "costume extravaganza," so we put her dance recital costume to good use again! She had a great time seeing her friend, whom she hadn't seen since she got out of school in May. She also got her face painted, had lots of good food, and played in a huge bouncer. I snapped a few pictures of her fun time...

Dinner, Music, & Fun

Last week AG officially turned 4.5! To celebrate, T took her out to Chili's Friday night. She was so excited and came home glowing, reporting that she had a "grilled cheese hamburger and corn without the cob." Here they are before setting out:


Also, last month T and AG began another new adventure together...weekly music lessons for kids which parents also attend and participate in! They are both enjoying it, and I can testify from hearing then practice, it is nice to have music (even from beginners:) being made inside our house. It is great time for them to spend together, too, and I am so glad T is up for being the parent on deck in this wonderful (but time-consuming!)commitment. T is really a natural when it comes to musical ability, though this is his first experience with any formal lessons. He's a great "partner"!


And finally, the big girls wanted to join SJ in the crib one day last week when we went to get her up from her nap. You can see that SJ was still waking up and a little unsure of what to think about the two overly-excited former occupants who'd jumped in with her!