What lucky girl gets TWO 3rd birthday parties? The one whose parents moved 1500 miles away from Grandma, that's who! Since our departure date from Maine was so close to Lucy's actual birthday anyway, we decided to stick around and let Grandma throw her a party.
Ahhh, a pile of presents. Just what every 3-year-old wants.
Side note: I chose this shot of the balloons because it shows off our awesome new (to us) van. We literally bought it two days before leaving to go to Maine and drove it across the country with temporary plates. Risky, yes. Worth it, totally. I was dreading the trip in our sedan, seriously contemplating not going (sorry mom) because I couldn't imagine the hours crammed in the car with two kids a dog and all our stuff. Having nightmares. Thankfully we were able to find what a friend dubbed our "sweet ride" and we loved it. The whole way there and the whole way back.
This is my best friend Crystal, holding Jamie, and me with her neighbor's baby, Maddox, about 3 weeks apart. Crystal and I did have babies together, but not this time.
Aunt Grace with the tiny kitty. She works in a pet store and someone dropped him off at two days old with no mother. Grace, the cat whisperer, has nursed Tiger back to health using a medicine dropper and techniques that should not be discussed in polite company. He's a scrapper and Uncle Ryan and Aunt Grace are going to have a hard time giving him up when the move to Minneapolis this week. All bets are on them keeping him, despite my brother's allergy.
All the kids at the party playing in the back yard with Mr. "Fun Dad" Rob. It looks like a trip wire across the yard .... essentially it was. Someone tied Shorty's run to the tree for the kids to jump across, which they mainly did. I think it only took one kid down, amazingly.
This is one of my favorite favorite pictures. Can you tell how much these two adore each other? Jacob did anything Lucy asked including run around and around the house with her in a piggy back. It was a beautiful night to share with family and friends.
So on to Lucy's second 3rd birthday party!
My spread. I just wish our friends had come more hungry than they did - we had a lot of food left over. Did I mention I don't think I ever thanked my mother for any birthday party she threw me? There were many. Have I thanked my mother for any of the birthday parties she threw for Lucy? (or at least did a large share of the work to throw?) After doing this one solo and for only a few people, I must remember to thank her, perhaps with a surprise anniversary party or something ...
This is Lucy's posse. Carson to the left, Gabe to the right. Three great smiles. If friend Silas had been here, he probably would have been making some sort of funny face.
The baby blanket, where naturally Lucy is monopolizing the baby toys. I think our neighbor baby Flankin (Franklin) had already retired for the afternoon at this point. He's a bit of a fussy napper, unlike my sleep-a-holic baby J. And yes, Jamie's hair does look that funny from the back in person as well. Then Jon playing Hungry Hungry Hippos with the kids. Apparently Carson came out of the house with the game asking "Do you want to play?" Jon jumped right in, though we believe Carson was asking Gabe or Lucy.
Then Ann with Hayden and a super sweet Mariel feeding Jamie. These two women are also saving my skin on day care as I start work, because preschool and Jamie's sitter don't start for a couple of weeks yet.
Waiting for cake.
Some homemade goodness here. Have I thanked my mother yet for all my birthday parties? And while I'm at it, can I mention Christmas and Thanksgiving dinner as well? Yellow cake with chocolate frosting, Tinkerbell candles, per Lucy's requests ... ahem ... demands.
Here's the grumpy princess. I should have known better than to give in to the elaborate Pinkalicious tiara that made it's way into our cart at the shopping store. "Mommy, my friends are going to be so surprised when they come to my party and I'm a PRINCESS!" Nope, couldn't resist that one. Abandoned, forgotten, and discarded was how the new tiara ended up, exchanged for the old one that we already had at home. Oh well.
Finally, Lucy opening presents by herself. Does it look traumatic? It should, just a little, post-call to Poison Control. I had an art project set up for the kids, bubble painting, which I learned about on an infomercial and thought looked pretty cool. It should have come with a disclaimer that it was for older kids. Lucy drank a big gulp of the dish soap/tempera paint mixture and proceeded to scream and vomit for half an hour before conking out with her mouth open and tongue out. It got hectic for a while, but Poison Control told me that there would be irritation and no lasting harm. Not that I at any point want to see Lucy suffer, but I would have felt even worse if either Gabe or Carson had drank the paint. After sleeping off most of the effects, Lucy woke up telling me that drinking bubble paint was "very very bad." Yes, yes it was.
And really, what's a kids party without sticking a hat on some unsuspecting baby and snapping a photo? I'm going to caption this one "You call this a party?"
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