happy 3rd birthday G!

Ah, what a weekend. That's right. This year, G didn't just have a birthday day, she had a birthday weekend! Luckily, at age 3, things don't go to your head yet - at least not much! It was a very good, very busy weekend with lots of family and friends helping to celebrate G's birthday and also helping S & I out with some projects (separate post on that later!).

Friday was G's actual birthday. Since her party wasn't going to be until Sunday, S and I still wanted to make her birthday special, so we all woke up a little early and opened a few presents with dadda before he went to work. Then came birthday breakfast - G's request? "Chocolate oatmeal!" (or CoCo Wheats) This was a favorite of my brothers and I when we were growing up and G loves it too. I try to save it for special occasions so that it stays special. =)


Auntie C and G's favorite cousins, K&G also came over to play in the morning. They were going to stay as long as the girls lasted, which ended up being all day! The girls had so much fun and played really well with each other. They also brought G her present to open up before the big party as so she might be able to use it...

...yep, it was a beautiful twirly skirt made by dear auntie C. G tells me, "I LOVE Auntie C!" C also made her button hair elastics to match and a church bag to put books and crayons and snacks and pennies and whatever else G wants to take to church on Sunday.


Aahma and Boppa R arrived in the afternoon, Dadda was off of work early, and Uncle J also came to join us after work, so we went with the whole gang (10 of us!) to G's favorite restaurant, noodles & company. Much fun and noodles were had by all!

Saturday we hung out with Aahma and Boppa R during the day and finished getting ready for the party to be held on Sunday after church. G was very excited to have Boppa and Aahma to play with and she was also very excited to dress "match-match!" just like Aahma (white shirt and jeans).


Saturday night good friends of ours, Mer & Av (I have to break from using initials here because there are just too many people after this to keep track of!) drove up from Brookings, SD to visit and help celebrate G's birthday. They are like parents to us, especially when we were living in Brookings, and we are so glad that we have been able to keep a close relationship with them. G calls them Auntie Av and Uncle Mer (to keep using initial here would get me really confused when I talk about Uncle M and Auntie A later =). (I was talking with someone last week and said that I had to clean because all 3 of my moms were coming - mine, S's and Av!) We had pizza for supper with them, and then they also let G open their gift early, a giant coloring book and crayons and a book called Gracie Noodle. Neither one of the kids wanted to sleep that night, but we had a good visit with Mer & Av none-the-less.

Sunday we all headed for church in the morning, and afterwards stopped by Byerly's to pick up 6 pounds of mac'n'cheese. When we were just having J&C&girls over, I was going to make G's favorite meal, mac'n'cheese and hotdogs. When we found out everyone (us 4, Uncle J & Auntie C, cousins K & G, Aahma and Boppa R, Uncle Mer & Auntie Av, Aahma and Pappa B, Auntie Mel & Uncle Col) were going to be able to join us, I thought we could keep the same menu only making brats for the adults instead. But I was NOT going to make mac'n'cheese to feed 16 people! So we ordered it from Byerly's instead. Add a fruit salad and you have got a girl's favorite meal.

We also invited our very nice neighbors from both sides of us to come and eat cake with us at 3. They are always so good and remember the kids' birthdays with little gifts so we thought we could have them join the celebration too (this added 4 more making the total in the house 20!). When they got here, we opened presents first. G actually got a little shy with 19 other people watching her.


But cousins K & G kept the ball rolling and she opened a lot of wonderful presents (games, books, play dough, new sheets for her bed, and stuffed puppy she named "snuggles") including some from people who live far away! Here she is opening a book from Uncle M and Auntie A - Sheep in a Jeep. She is a big fan of this one!


Then came time for cake. All G wanted and has been asking for for the past couple of weeks has been a chocolate birthday cake with white ice cream (she has some of my Gpa K in her - he had a passion for chocolate cake =). I was going to make one, but as the guest list grew bigger, we decided to get the giant chocolate cake that I just love from Costco. Oh, this is no ordinary sheet cake, ladies and gentlemen, it is full out 3 layers of chocolaty goodness drenched in gooey chocolate frosting and huge chocolate shavings. Oh yeah. And for the non-chocolate lovers (you may be asking, are there such people? if so, you have not met my husband's family), Aahma B made her famous apple crisp to go with too. G blew out her candles as you can see by the cousins' faces, everyone loved it.




The big party was a success, but just a bit too much for W and Pappa B to handle.


Ok, now more than one person asked me the week before - "are you nuts?!" when telling them about all the people coming (shoot, and we only had family come! And not all the family that could come did!), assuming they meant doing all of that with 2 wiggly kids and being pregnant, and I was a little overwhelmed by the end of the weekend, but it was worth it to get together with family and friends and be able to fellowship and laugh and eat together. I do have to put out a big thanks to everyone who pitched in and helped over the weekend with everything though! Especially my dear s.i.l and friend, C. Seriously love this woman - she pitched in with housework and kept me sane and laughing on Friday before everyone got here, and the house looked great largely due to her. =) Although S & I are of the same opinion that we would have done it anyway whether the house was a disaster or not since it is about relationships, not how everything looks, but I probably would have cried a lot!

Oh, and there was one final thing to do for G's birthday festivities - measure her on the wall! Growing up, my parents measured my brothers and I every year on our birthday and marked it on the big wide molding around their bedroom door. This piece of molding moved to the new house when it was built and the tradition continued until we all reached a plateau in height. I wanted to do that with our kids too, but the trim in our house is smaller and bumpier. So my dad brought his tools along and on Saturday he went out and bought a board, routered the edges, and mounted it upstairs by our bedrooms. He did G's first measuring.


G says, "Look momma! I am this tall!" (37.5 inches)


Happy birthday our sweet G! We love you so much! We thank God for you every day and you can't believe the joy you have brought us in these past 3 years!