Annabel's 3rd Birthday Party!

We had a great time celebrating Annabel's 3rd birthday with a family party! Annabel requested a Minnie Mouse theme for her party and I had a lot of fun finding a few treasures to decorate our house for the party with! We had a pin-the-bow in Minnie's hand game, a cute Happy Birthday banner to coordinate, and of course matching plates and napkins all with this red-pink-white-yellow color scheme which I liked best and ran with. Annabel got to pick out a balloon at the party store (Minnie of course!), plus we had polka dot balloons and another Minnie Mouse balloon that matched all the decor I bought. I made my annual photo banner, using my color scheme and that turned out cute. Put up a few little Minnie pictures, some streamers, and called it a party!

Annabel's food requests were chocolate cupcakes with chocolate chips in it and pink frosting on top, pink fruit dip (a recipe from one of the picture cookbooks that she likes so much), chips with salsa, and then she helped me pick out lemon-sugar cookies on my latest Tastefully Simple order so we made those for the party, too. It was a simple afternoon snack & treat party- perfect when you turn three! Except that waiting until 2:00 for the party guests to arrive was excruciating! Of course Annabel and Daniel helped with the decorations and Annabel helped with the baking and that helped take up a little bit of the time, but mostly the kids were bouncing with excitement and couldn't wait for the party to start.

Anyway, we had a great time at our party! Annabel loved playing with the balloons with everybody, she and Bella colored some fun coloring pages I found (Daniel and Kaleb gave this quick shot, but then moved on), all the kids had fun with the little Minnie-bow game, then we did presents- Annabel was very excited about this part of course! (I don't have pictures of this part, Jason took a bunch and I'll try to share when I get them one of these days.) And then we pretty much wasted not another minute to dive into cupcakes! She looked so cute sitting there, being sung to, and then blowing each candle out one by one! And then she ate all the pink frosting on her cupcake and asked for another cupcake to eat more frosting off of!

Funniest moment of the party-
Annabel received a Dora present (cute little mini treehouse playset), BUT was quick to pout that it was "NOT Sleeping Dora!" which made everybody just laugh. (She got "Sleeping Dora" the next day from us, everybody pretty much knew she would- still it was funny!)

Sweetest moments of the party- Annabel's adorable reaction, that sweet super-satisfied grin she does, when she opened the jewelry box from Grandma Mary Kay. And her pure delight, her sparkly blue eyes, her sweet little flop down onto her knees with arms excitedly open, when she saw the big dollhouse box- "A PLAYhouse!!" Watching her reaction is maybe the best thing about giving her presents, I think- I always watch my kids' faces for the precious reactions!

Here are some pictures from our party prepping and our party-time fun!

Annabel's party invitation!

Photo Banner all together...

A closer look:

Getting ready for the party!

Annabel made this picture for me to put up as a decoration; she told me it says "Happy Birthday!" (in the zigzag writing).

Helping me make chocolate-chocolate chip cupcakes!

Annabel got to lick the whisk after we made the pink fruit dip!

My birthday girl standing next to her Minnie game poster in her self-proclaimed Minnie dress! 

(From the minute Annabel saw this dress, which I bought from Zulily waaaay back last Fall, she said it was her Minnie dress! Which is what I thought, too- and why I bought it- planning ahead for her third birthday! And actually, she really wanted to wear this in Uncle Brian and Amelia's wedding...thankfully we found a much cuter and even pinker flower girl dress for her to wear instead!)

I did NOT buy this crown- my mom gave it to me at a dinner I think when I turned 25 or 30 or something big like that, and I kept it, thinking my little girl would someday have fun with this- and she did, for about ten minutes!

Balloon bopping fun!

Time to color! And yes, she's usually a lefty, but sometimes she switches it up.

Cupcake time! (No pics of present opening, yet...hopefully soon!)

Annabel was very eager to help Daddy and Grandpa Gary build her new dollhouse, which we did when most of the guests had left. It sure went up very easily and she LOVES it! She plays with it every day- her favorite character: the baby! Thanks to Grandma Cheryl and Grandpa Gary for the wonderful dollhouse, which my mom staked pretty much the minute we found out we were having a girl!

Annabel also LOVES having her own pink bucket of pink and purple Legos. Daniel has fun with these, too.

Still helping...even Daniel got in on the action!

And now she can play!

I love watching and listening to Annabel play with her dollhouse! So cute!

We were very excited to get the movie, Frozen! It was after all, Annabel's first movie theater experience- so of course we had to have the movie for that reason alone! Thank you, Grandma Cheryl!

Still playing!

Annabel and me!

Annabel is also in love with her new jewelry box from Grandma Mary Kay- it plays music and a ballerina twirls...it's a box every little girl should have! Her expression every time she opens this box is just the sweetest.

Modeling Minnie ears from Grandma Mary Kay...which came complete with a matching Minnie skirt that is too cute...pictures someday.

Daniel being silly! (Annabel was trying to copy him...thus her silly eyes in pic above, too.)

Annabel is quite proud to finally be THREE years old!

Thank you to everyone who came to celebrate with us!

Annabel's 3-Year Well-Visit

Annabel had her 3 year well-visit at the doctor today. The appointment went well, although Annabel was her usual shy/self-conscious self, speaking/responding only when super excited...Dr: what did you get for your birthday? A: DORA! or Dr: Are you in preschool now? A: big nod, Dr. (to me): What are your Fall plans for preschool? Me, cueing Annabel: Where will you go to preschool next year? (we've discussed this countless times because a certain 3-year simply cannot wait!) A: DANIEL'S PRESCHOOL!!- like I said, super excited responses! Annabel otherwise would only look at me or talk to the doctor by talking to me- for as much as she talks and sings and dances, it's all in the comfort of her home and family and close friends, she's otherwise actually painfully shy, which I support her with and completely understand, she's still young, she doesn't have to talk to anybody in my book. But hopefully she adjusts all this for preschool...we will see.

Anyway, no shots needed this time, thank goodness, because I think that would have just about done her in, as nervous as she was already. She did fine for the remainder of the check-up, and was very happy to have it over with! And she was thrilled with the sticker she picked on our way out, and even got one for Daniel- sweet girl that she is, always thinking of him when he's not with us. (He was still at school- thank goodness he loves staying for & after lunch to play with his friends!)

Annabel's stats: She's 34.75 inches tall and weighs 24.8 lbs- up about three inches I think from last year and about 5 lbs, too- great growth! The doctor was very pleased and we do not need to see her for a check-up until she's 4- whew!

This cutie...

She sure is getting bigger and older...not sure when we allowed her to do this! We love her more and more every day! She is the snuggliest, happiest, huggiest, kissiest three year old ever!

Happy Easter!

We had a fun Easter this year! The kids were very eager to get to sleep Easter Eve so that the bunny could come and hide their eggs! Daniel really wanted the Easter Bunny to hide his eggs in harder places. He'd had an egg hunt at school last week during which they could each find two eggs and when I picked him up that day, he flat out said, "Too bad, Mom. That was TOO easy!" and then went on to emphatically state that OUR Easter Bunny needed to make his hunt harder. Annabel was just happy something fun was coming up and kept asking if the Easter Bunny came yet every time she slept for a few days before Easter...it was hard for her to wait!

The Easter Bunny had a good time hiding the eggs this year! And the kids got some super fun loot for Easter, too! Daniel woke up at 6 AM that morning. Ben managed to get him to lay back down till closer to 7 and then set up the tablet for him to watch until Annabel woke up...which never happened! Ben finally woke me up at 8:20 and said we had to wake Annabel up- Daniel couldn't wait any longer! Daniel really couldn't contain his excitement when we got Annabel up- he was right there next to me, excitedly telling Annabel it was time to do the egg hunt and "Look, the Easter Bunny left us cards, Annabel! I'll get yours!" at which point Annabel finally woke up and realized it was time for the fun to begin!

The kids ran downstairs and stared in amazement at their Easter basket full of (actually, overflowing with) goodies! And then the egg hunt began! The Easter Bunny left cards for the kids with a paw print filled with the colors of the eggs they had to find. They had a dozen eggs to find each. The kids took everything out of their Easter baskets and carried those around to collect their eggs, which was so cute. (Actually Annabel, and Daniel- but it was Annabel's idea, brought her basket from home with her to the grandmas' houses later on for hunting there, too.) Daniel's hunt really challenged him, but he found most of them on his own and a few with hints. Annabel did pretty well, too, needing only a few pointers. She was so cute as she found each egg- she would open it, and if it was wrapped candies, she'd run to the pantry to put them away and then come back and find the next egg, and repeat several times. The eggs with jelly beans I convinced her to keep intact for now. Daniel opened a couple, but mostly, he didn't open the eggs till he was all done. It was just interesting to see that the kids had different ideas regarding how to go about the process of finding eggs and discovering their surprises- it was so cute.

Ben made us our special occasion cinnamon roll-ups for breakfast and then he and Daniel set to work building Daniel's much-coveted Trash Chomper garbage truck (from the Lego movie) while Annabel had fun exploring her goodies next to them up at the table. Eventually we all got dressed and headed over to Grandma Cheryl and Grandpa Gary's house for an outdoor Easter egg hunt, lunch, family time, and more outdoor fun. Grandma Mary Kay and Grandpa Larry were our next stop later that afternoon and we had a good time finding eggs there, too- some were hard to find!- and then the boys were building more Legos that Daniel got, while Annabel enjoyed playing every sport she could find equipment for outside. We had dinner, gobbled up a yummy chocolate bunny cake, played some more and headed home for bed with exhausted kids! Thank you, Grandmas, for all the fun goodies!

Such a fun Easter with absolutely gorgeous weather (really, I wanted to be outside ALL day that's how super nice it was!) and my super adorable, fun kids! I simply could NOT get enough of Annabel's sweet dress and Daniel awesome spiffy shirt! Hope you all enjoyed your Easter, too!

The Easter Bunny built some Legos to hide one of Daniel's eggs in! Daniel thought this was pretty cool!

The Easter basket loot!

One egg was sleeping in the bed in Annabel's new dollhouse- she got a kick out of this!

 There were even eggs hiding in boxes made with Magna-Tiles, too!

Checking out Easter baskets!

 Let the egg hunt begin!

Annabel holds up her card from the Easter Bunny! She carried this with her the whole time she was looking for her eggs!

Daniel kept telling us that THIS was what he was going to do next- build with his new Legos!

Daniel shows us the egg house the Easter Bunny built with Legos! Like I said, he got a kick out of this!

Annabel takes off to the pantry to put some candy away...she did this for every egg filled with wrapped candy!

 Annabel was SO excited to get a Snoopy Easter card from us- "You know I like Charlie Brown!" she said! (For the record, every time she sees Snoopy, she says Charlie Brown.)

Still hunting!

Egg hunt over...time to build new Legos!

Garbage truck mostly done!

All dressed up and ready to go to Grandma's house!

I LOVED Annabel's dress and couldn't get enough of it all day!

Daniel looked great in his awesome shirt, too- great colors!

Bunny ears- where did he learn to do that?!

Hunting for eggs outside at Grandma Cheryl's house!

Grandma even had Peeps hidden all over and the kids loved eating those, too!

More Easter basket loot!

Daniel and Daddy take a break to read a new Lego movie book!

Hunting for eggs all over the place at Grandma Mary Kay's house- Annabel opened each and every egg here, too!

Love the action shot of Annabel running to find another egg- I think Daniel called her, having found one of hers!

Does he have them all yet?! Daniel counts and checks how many he has!

Outside fun- bubbles, baseball, soccer and more!