Nana's visit kind of got lost in all the birthday excitement. Cupcake was lucky to have both Gigi & Papa and Nana here for her special day. Grandma and Grandpa will come in a few weeks too. Nana got to come earlier and stay later than anyone else and it was a help on both ends! I still don't know how I would have decorated the cake without her here and on the back end I was able to get several loads of laundry through the wash and get a few thank you notes started.
On Sunday afternoon of her visit we decided to whip up some popsicles with my Zoku maker that I love (remember: read here)...and it was a gift from Nana. We used left over yogurt and orange juice from the party and WA-LA! Everyone seemed to enjoy them:
A week or so ago we came home from a morning out with friends. (We meaning the girls and I). For some strange reason (God. Thank you again.) I decided to jump out and take all of my things in the door before I began unbuckling and unloading the girls. Normally I will let them out as I gather the load that seems to follow us everywhere. As I approached the door I saw a snake coiled on the doorstep.
Readers, you should know before reading any further that I am terrified of snakes. Even a small garden snake can send me to a week of nightmares. I come by it honest as my Mother is the same.
Had the snake been a garden snake I would have been upset. Had the snake been a small snake I would have been upset. This snake was more. He was easily 20 inches long and thicker around than any snake I had EVER seen outside of a cage or an animal show. His coloring also indicated this was not a garden snake. He hissed his long tongue and I went screaming back to the car. I jumped in and locked the doors...as if snakes can unlock a door. I watched him closely as I called the hubs. No answer. I called the Y where he plays basketball...busy signal. I called a neighbor. No answer. Panic was setting in. Then suddenly my 80-something year old neighbor, Mr. Doolittle, came home. I carefully climbed over to the passenger side of the vehicle so the snake wouldn't see me get out and ran across the street....locking the girls in the car behind me. He grabbed a shovel and came back with me. By the time we got back, the snake was gone. Of course this means he is loose somewhere around our house. Mr. Doolittle helped get the girls in and we locked up and stayed in the house for the rest of the day.
Ever seen finding Nemo? Specifically this scene:
For the days that followed I would grab everything in my arms and hold Cupcake's hand while saying "we go out, we go in" "we go out, we go in" Side note - Pixar is just genius because two days of that and Cupcake was just like Nemo. Sigh.
Flash forward a few more days....Cupcake and the hubs are taking out the trash when cupcake spots the snake again. Does she run? Does she scream? Does she ask to be picked up? No. She just calmly says there's the snake. Guess she's not inheriting my terror. The hubs brought her in and told her to play inside. I went and got Mr. Doolittle and then had to leave...I was headed out anyway. Thankfully Mr. Doolittle and the hubs were able to kill him. The hubs took a picture and after having a chance to look a little closer he was in fact no garden snake...he was a Rattle Snake. A venomous snake. Whew. The fun never ends around here.
At least he's dead. Hopefully his blood trail leaves a little messages for the other rattlers in the hood....you aren't welcome here!
You are three. Three years of joy have filled our home. Three years of being a family. Your third birthday means Daddy and I have been married with kids for more years than we were married without kids. Three is a lot of things for us. But most people wouldn't think at age three you could make a difference. But you have. We spend a lot of time telling you about the kind of family we are. For example we are the kind of family that helps others. We are the kind of family that goes to church on Sunday. We are the kind of family that recycles. We are the kind of family that eats healthy. We are the kind of family that values meaningful friendships. I know at age three you must get sick of hearing me talk about the kind of family we are. Yet I know you are able to grasp it and I believe that even at age three you can live it.
When we sent out the invitations for your princess party we had asked your friends to bring a food donation for our church food pantry instead of presents. Even though we've spent time in the past talking about choosing thoughtful gifts to take to other birthday parties, we wouldn't have presents coming for yours. Sure, we could have asked people to bring both...or choose....but that isn't the point. We don't need more toys and we want to flex the muscle now that resists the temptation of worldly materialism.
So, you made a sacrifice. We didn't even compensate your sacrifice by running out and buying you tons of gifts. You got one small one from us. One day when you are older and reading back through this blog I want you to see what your sacrifice brought. This stack of food is a substantial donation. I'd venture to say it will be the biggest donation a 3 year old will make to our food pantry this month. It's not a competition. What it is though is proof that at 3 years old you can make a difference. You have. I'm proud of you. Daddy's proud of you. We love that you are willing to be different than others. You are a powerful three year old. I'm confident you can change the world. I'm confident you WILL change the world...even if it's one canned good at a time. Most importantly I am confident that each of these cans of food will go into a home that really NEEDS them. Whatever toys could have been in this picture instead would be long gone, forgotten, or broken by the time you are old enough to read this blog. So thank you for standing with us. We love that you are part of our family....the kind of family that wants to help others...even when it's a sacrifice on our part.
I know...the picture is super blurry. I couldn't resist. I just love this little Cutie Pie and when you put her in glasses, she thinks she is a star. She seriously giggles and laughs non-stop. She is a happy baby in general but something about sunglasses make her feel glamorous. I can't blame her...shoes do the same thing for me. If she's having a fussy morning, I just strap on the sunglasses. In the house. Even if it's cloudy outside. Then we wait about 1 minute and bring on the joy. Full on joy.
With the ability to find instant joy in such a small thing, I'd say her future is bright, wouldn't you?
Our little Cupcake is in the full on princess stage...the one where you act out, sing, dance, dress like, and pretend Princess all day. We eat on Princess plates, do princess crafts, sleep on princess sheets. Daddy is called Prince. Mommy is an "extra" and Cutie Pie is also a princess. So, clearly for her 3rd birthday, we had to do a princess theme. She has really enjoyed reading The Princess and the Pea and so I opted to use this less popular princess for our party. I scoured the web for ideas and threw in some of my own. Our little princess was more than thrilled when it was all said and done!
We asked everyone to come in their pajamas for a Princess Brunch and Birthday party. Here's our little princess in her princess jammies:
Princess Cupcake's little sister was in on the action too. She was VERY sleepy at first since it was her nap time BUT her bed was in use so Papa had to do some cuddling:
Here's the entry way with slippers for the Prince and Princesses:
The princess mantle:
The infamous Princess and the Pea bed:
Pin the crown on the princess:
Mattress stack up! Nana (The Hubs' Mom) was sooooo helpful with this game. She made all of these little mattresses for me by sewing the fabric around tissue packages. She also found the two little princesses and made some peas. Thank you so so much, Nana. The kids liked seeing how many mattresses they could stack but more than that the Dad's LOVED it.
A sweet little Prince! Princess friends Cupcake pinning her crown on the princess...err wall:
The crown cake...thanks again to Nana for helping with the kids so I could decorate this pink wonder: Nana in her pjs with the littlest princess:
A special guest! My cousin Jenny was in town for business and came by for the party. We were thrilled to have her. I remember when she was "my" baby. I always knew I wanted to be a Mommy when I used to hold and play with her and now she is holding my baby. Eep!
I'll post more deets later about the party, the weekend, and the birthday girl but here is a picture and video of her birthday lunch at Mesa Rosa. We asked her what she wanted for lunch and she said "chips and dip dip" which means Mexican food. She ate her chips and dip dip and then her quesadilla lunch so she got a special treat for dessert!
