"Bounce & Play; Soak Up the Rays"

E turned 3 on Monday, April 4th, so naturally her party was on the Saturday before, April 2nd.

I got a catalogue with birthday "sets" in in. Basically ANYTHING and EVERYTHING you need, down to the goodie bags, for a child's birthday party. After looking through it (great prices! I priced everything out, saved me so much money), She wanted to have a Super Why

 themed party. 

We love pbskids in this house, so I said ok.

While thinking about where we would have the party, I immediately thought,  "Our House". We finally have a place of our own, and when I looked at this house, I dreamed of having birthday parties, in the perfect backyard. So once the location was decided I needed to decide what the children (we had 8 kids ages 2wks-9years old) would do. 

BOUNCE HOUSE!! So after pricing those (for rental) I found buying one was cheaper. I got ours. fully equipped with a WATER SLIDE, on eBay, brand new still in box, for cheap.

The bounce house & Slide...

Mal (4), E (3) & her cousin Luke (3.5), having a pow-wow by the slide.

They moved the chat into the bounce house.

Hugs for her cousin.

Best Friends.

We took one of the invitations to Publix to have her cake made, but due to copyright restrictions they could not do the super why boy. This is what we decided on:

Purple is our fav. color so it was beyond perfect!

To eat we had a variety of nuggets and chicken salad from Chick-Fil-A, snackie foods (chips, cheese, pretzals, salsa/chips, grapes) an water and soda. 

Mal enjoying some cake in the backyard.

While opening presents, apparently this one made us ALL "oooahhh"

After talking it over with some family members we thought it best to keep the BH & slide dry during the party. 

After most guests/kids left, TM (in lieu of TT as it didn't sound right, more on this later) hooked the hose up to the sprayers and BAM! Her BH & Slide instantly turned our backyard into a water park. The water was chilly, but E had a blast.  

E running to go on the slide, again. TM supervising. 

E all suited up with her BIG GIRL bike, from TM and I. 

The girls with the swirl pops from  the goodie boxes. 

They are too much.

The morning of E's birthday, I got up a tad early and made her a waffle and put candles in it accompanied by a juice box, which is a big deal, b/c normally she has milk at all meals, except MWF at school, she gets juice at lunch. 

Birthdays and holidays are a huge deal in this family. When her waffle was ready, I went and got E, who was in cupcake jammies, and after loving on her I sang "Happy Birthday" to her and b/c she is 3 she thought that blowing the candles out 3 times was necessary.

Birthday girl on Birthday morning, with waffles/candles, before school.

**All in all I can NOT believe that my BABY is 3! 

Where does the time go?

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Keep up in between posts, I Tweet , A lot.

xo

-Kandid Kelli

"So Blessed"

I can't believe this is the year that my BABY will turn THREE.

That blows my mind.

I can't believe how much and how quick she is growing up. She amazes me multiple times daily.

Sometimes I just stare at her in amazement and wonder how I got so lucky. She is the reason I get up in the morning.

This past weekend was perfect. It this past weekend was a snapshot of how this year is going to go I am okay with that.

I mean it started out a little rough, with me thinking I was going to loose one of my implants. (you can read the back story here and here)  But I called my surgeon and went to see him Friday afternoon, turns out I just have an infection. A $40 RX and I should be okay. I saw him again today and will again in 2 weeks. He is being cautious. 


But Friday before all that drama happened, I went back to weight watchers. I want to loose 8-13lbs. Loosing 8lbs will get me back to "goal" and will put me back at "lifetime aka free" status at Weight Watchers. 13lbs will get me where I really want to be. That night E and I just relaxed and watched a movie. 


I never thought I would say this but I am getting used to being alone, I just curled up on the couch and watched some DVR. 


When/If I start dating again I am going to be so picky, almost to the point of ridiculous. Another post to come soon.


Saturday I got somethings around the house done, mainly the garage, I cleaned it out and organized. I met my fav mom/daughter duo for a lunch date and Target trip.

Our girls are bestfriends. It is so stinking cute. My kiddo is 11 months younger and totally looks up to her bff. While at Target we had one of those semi carts that have the doubleseats on them.

Well that was great for all of 15 minutes before they were fighting and arguing. They fight and argue like sisters.

So I hunted down an abandoned cart and we separated them. Oh lord, E freaked out so much you would have thought we beating her.

Thats when I/Mal (her bff) told her about "the surprise" that was coming Sunday.

ANIMAL KINGDOM!!!

Despite no nap (up to that point), her behavior shaped up. We came home took a nap & I finished the garage and this mama got ready for the GB and guess what?...

GREEN BAY DOMINATED...!!

E and I were blessed enough to be able to go to AK with our favorite family (aside from my own). 

While we were there E really opened up and blossomed. 

I should have known that something was going to be different; when that AM when she wanted to pick-out her own clothes.

It was the perfect day. 

[B; did not go, just hoped in the pic as he was holding Mal]

We had "Magic Moments" parking, which was literally right in front of the entrance to AK, we didn't need to take a trolly or anything. Amazing.  

The weather was beautiful. The girls were wonderful & got along great.

King Louie & Balou

"The Jungle Book" is one of my Fav. Disney movies. 

I was far more excited to 'meet' them than E was. 

She was actually scared.

We moved onto the safari 'ride'

That was great. we saw so many different types of Animals, so close. 

It was amazing.

I kept thinking "I am so blessed" "I am so lucky".

After Safari we went to The Lion King show... and thats when IT happened. 

E & Mal got to be a part of  the show. They got to go up and dance. I didn't think she would go, but off she went. I almost cried, I was happy and terrified. She loved it, she loves music and dancing so that was no surprise.

After that we went to "character row" I was NOT looking forward to this, as when she 'met' any other characters before she was always scared of them and I had to go up with her. 

Mickey was our first stop, followed by Minnie, Goofy & Donald.

And LOOK:

The sense of pride I felt when I saw her go up to the characters; ALONE, Is indescribable. I was so proud of her. I almost cried tears of joy.


I am so lucky to have such great people in my life.


This is one of those families that I just know will always be a part of my life. I love them all dearly. 


I had Monday off, thank you MLK. It was lazy but busy.

I took the trash down to the street while E and I were playing outside but while I was cooking dinner had a few pieces that I wanted to recycle, so I ran out the front door to take them to the street. I return and I AM LOCKED OUT.

E is laughing.

I was cold and damp from it drizzling. She finally let me in, as my mom pulled up with a spare key. haha.

We are doing great on the potty (minus AK) I am very excited with our success. I feel that by her birthday we will be pull-up and nightime diaper free. That is so exciting.

Over all it was a much needed relaxing, fun, blessed 3-day weekend.

I hope that this is the start to me getting back to blogging, at least 3 posts a week.

I Miss you all like crazy!

Is anyone still reading?

...

Keep up in between posts, I Tweet , A lot.

xo

-Kandid Kelli