And the Party Continues...

Its not just a birth-DAY anymore, is it? Its a birth-WEEK, or rather, a birth-MONTH! So, we continued to celebrate Kelly's birth-MONTH by heading up to Murrieta last weekend to Nana & Papa's. We were also celebrating Nana's birthday (June 6th) and Father's Day. So it was just one big Pahr-tay! Kelly got her very first bike. She was very excited and jumped right up on it, then waited for someone to push. Yeah, not into the peddling much yet. But we'll be working on that!

Kelly also got to enjoy her very own personal Thomas-the-tank-engine cake-ette. She did some pretty good damage to it all by herself too - yummy!

Here she is with her Dora doll that cousins Patty & Nathan sent her.

And here she is in one of her new birthday outfits (Cinderella) with daddy ready to head out to school.

I think she is definitely liking this birthday, I mean birth-MONTH, tradition!

Kelly Turns 3!!!

Wow. Kelly turned 3 on June 9th! As Nikki reminded me, it seems like yesterday that I was laying exhausted with this screaming little bundle of joy in my arms. There are certain sayings that you've heard all your life that, now that I am a parent, ring truer & truer than ever. The one that I say to myself a lot or outload to whoever is listening to me these days is, "they grow up soooo fast!" God that sounds so trivial to say when we hear it said by everyone so much, but I cannot tell you how that hits me to my core now. My friend Jen has another one that also is so true, and at the same time a good reminder to cherish the time you have. I think it goes, "the days are long, but the years are short..."

So, in the spirit of making the most of our time together and the celebration of life's little milestones, namely Kelly's 3rd b'day, we threw a huge party!!! Complete with a bunch of Kelly's friends, bubbles, chalk drawing, a big giant bounce house (a.k.a. "jumpy"), pizza, chips, juice boxes, and a Thomas the Tank Engine cake. I started telling her about her party a week or two before, and every day she would ask me more details about it. She was soooo excited! She had an absolute ball. She played and laughed and seemed to really enjoy every moment. We did too. She is still talking about it, asking when are her friends coming back? and where is the jumpy? can she have more Thomas cake? Are we having another party? I tell her....maybe for her next birthday...or maybe just whenever we feel like it again...or maybe...this weekend at Nana & Papa's! Oh yes, the celebration continues! Ok, maybe without the jumpy though! :-)

There were so many great photos from the party - here are just a few!

Not just a Thomas cake, but one with a real live moving Thomas on it! Cool!!

Making some big wishes for my sweet girl!

She couldn't wait to get her hands on it...

....or her MOUTH!

I went inside to get the plates and utensils and heard the crowd roar with laughter... I knew what had just happened! Yep...faceplant right into the corner of the cake. Hey, who needs utensils!

Kelly and Katie

Kelly holding her own with the "big boys" in the jumpy

Kelly holding court (and playing babies) in the jumpy

That's our grown-up girl!

Some random cute moments...

Kelly is into her blocks lately. She's busy at least once a day building a new "castle" for her Disney princesse figurines. Here is the one she built for Cinderella the other day:And here she is hosting a tea for all the princesses (wearing her Thomas the Tank Engine pajamas...)Daddy has also been teaching her the fine art of building forts. She loves pulling ALL of the pillows, sheets & blankets from mommy & daddy's bed to do this of course! This day I think she got tired half way thru the project and just decided to take a break: Mmmm. Happiness is eating a big juicy slice of watermelon at a summer BBQ!

Kelly and her Pool

Daddy decided to blow up the ol' pool a couple weeks ago when we had some really warm weather. We added a bunch of new toys to it including a plastic slide. Kelly went down that slide about 100 times and was pruney by the time we were able to drag her out! I know we live a few blocks from the beach, but heck, she's happy with this set up right in our own back yard! And no sand to deal with! Woo-hoo!