Lailey Turns 3!

After much anticipation and dreaming and planning, the Ladybug Girl Birthday Party finally came. Lailey actually turned 3 on April 7th, but we started Easter weekend with a birthday party Friday morning, the 6th.  A couple months ago I gave Lailey the choice of what kind of birthday party she wanted, based on either of her favorite books. Given the choice between "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" and "Ladybug Girl," she chose the latter.  

The entire week prior to the party, the weather had been warm, sunny, and beautiful. Checking the weather daily, we knew that there was a chance of rain for Friday, but the percentage decreased as it got closer. Well, Friday came and there was only a sprinkle or two; but it was COLD! Colder than it had been all week. As the kids arrived, I began searching through Lailey's closet for every coat that she owned, thankful that we had plenty. 

I decorated with mostly homemade things, like the paper plate birthday banner and red lanterns turned "ladybug" with black construction paper dots. Fairly cheap and simple. Note to self:  find the hole punch next time so you don't put two holes in your THUMB outsourcing a hole puncher's job to the scissors. Yikes!

Our present to Lailey (besides the party) was ladybug rain boots which she got to wear for the party.  It completed the outfit.  We asked everyone on the invitation to wear either red or black to coordinate with the theme. 

I had originally asked a friend who is fantastic at cake-making to create ladybug cake pops for me. She then found out she'd be out of town when I needed them, but she'd gladly tell me how to do it. Big breath. Was I up to this? Well, it took several hours but after much patience the ladybugs were created. And they tasted good too! The beautiful thing about the plastic wrap was that it covered the unintentional lumpiness quite nicely.

The kids played on the swingset, rode on the tricycle and scooter, and just got to have some unorganized fun, perfect for 3-year-olds.  After the birthday song and cake pops we finally chose to move indoors for presents. We figured everyone had been cold long enough.

Landon

Our Lailey-Bug

Aunt Amy and Maddox

Lailey-Bug snacking on some "Pirate's Booty," her favorite cheese puffs

Strung up balloons (idea from Pinterest) -
the wind did a number on these

Maddox woke up from his nap to join the party

Christy and Sadie

Katie

Zadee

Cousin Titus

Aunt Julie and Cousin Adalyn

"I want a cake pop..."

Cake on a stick, what could be better?

Candles on heart-shaped pb & j

3 Years Old

Ansley enjoying her cake pop

Opening presents

"A lantern!"

Ladybug mask party favors

Landon in his spider mask with Sadie

Since turning 3, Lailey has asked me several times, "Mommy, when do I...get 2 again?" If only it worked that way, kiddo.

Patio Project

A few weeks ago, I came home from work with a husband who had a twinkle in his eye and the giddiness of a 3rd grader up to no good. "I've got an idea," he told me. Oh boy. I never know what to expect with this one. His idea - which turned out to be fantastic - was to transform our back patio area into something we'd actually use. We've never really spent much time out there. For one, it's ridiculously hot and buggy and muggy in the summer, and two, we didn't ever expect to be in this house for a super long time so we didn't want to do anything too elaborate. But now that Lailey is older and loves playing on her swing set, we really want a nice place to sit and relax while outside. 

Come to think of it, this probably all started last year. If you didn't know, my husband is very resourceful. He can be mistaken as "cheap" at times, but a lot of times he's brilliant. He wanted a gas grill. So what did he do? He found a FREE grill on Craigslist, drove over 2 HOURS, AT NIGHT, brought it home, and it now sits on our back patio. And it works! And it's not hideous! One of his prouder resourcefulness moments. Fast forward to a couple weeks ago.  He started collecting all the stuff around the house that he didn't want or he's collected from yard sales and listed it on Ebay. A few days and several sales later, he'd gotten enough to start the patio project. 

His first idea was a shade sail (pics to come). This is a cheap and easy way to make shade virtually anywhere.  We found pictures online and youtube videos.  That was what prompted the hammock idea. We purchased our hammock in Cancun on our honeymoon. We hung it a few times between two trees in our backyard but never did much with it past that. So now we can use it again.

Next, he found an amazing deal on 4 plastic chairs and a table on Craigslist. Of course, he had to drive an hour and a half, but he came home as proud as ever.  The set was 20 years old (!) but it was so well made back then and taken care of that it looks almost brand new. And it's comfortable too.  

A few trips to Lowe's for hardware, and he's up and running. Digging holes, pouring concrete, measuring and re-measuring. He loves a good "man project." 

All in all it didn't cost much, and he paid for it all by selling stuff. I'm super proud of him. It's been a fun couple of days being outside and seeing it come all together. Check out the before and after pictures!

First dinner outside

Relaxing

Fun in the hammock

BEFORE

AFTER!!!

Dinner with Friends

A week or so ago we got to hang out and have dinner with some friends, Dustin, Meredith, and their daughter Zadee. Lailey also made a few new acquaintances as well. Nothing like bonding over dumping water over each other's heads.  She was the perpetrator as well as the victim and got quite a kick out of it!

My sweet boys

Zadee, I think you will need a new pair of jammies after this!

Oh wait! Save the vegetables!

This was probably right before Lailey grabbed a handful...and ate some.  Good grief, I thought we were past all that!

Love it that our girls like to have fun and get dirty together!

Bubbles! Bubbles! Airplane!

I cannot watch this video without laughing! I dare you to try...



(P.S. The loud ratchet-type noise is the bubble wand going in the bubble tube. I was holding the camera and blowing bubbles simultaneously. Multi-tasking comes with a price.  Also, the quality of this looks terrible, but I can't figure out how to fix the video compression.)

My favorite part of the day...

We do something every evening when we eat dinner together: we ask each other "what was your favorite part of the day?" Lailey sometimes initiates this now on her own. Well, mine was this...

Bedtime stories...in the hammock

Bubbles,Sprinklers, and Yard Work

Spring has certainly sprung and with it has come a TON of outdoor time for us. The weather has been so nice lately, and I'm enjoying every day before it gets crazy hot. After being cooped up inside during the winter months, we've been making up for it now. 

See the heart?

I believe she had just informed me, "I think it's dead." This oh-so-serious face makes me laugh.

Thanks to Davey's resourcefulness, he's figured out ways to do a lot in our little yard for very cheap. A few weeks ago, he got two truckloads of wood chips for $5 each! The man said he'd use his machine to dump them in the truck (instead of Davey having to load them) for an extra $5. I think we can handle that. Now our dogs have a nice clean pen with wood chips instead of dirt.

"Helping" Daddy

 So once the dog pen got covered, it was time to clean the dog houses. Lailey got into some mischief with the hose during this project (this may or may not have been encouraged by Mommy)

If you can only imagine: Lailey giggling, Davey yelling "no!" and Mommy saying "Yeah! Get him!"

Then it was time for the sprinkler!

Ready...

Set...

Run!

All wet!

More spring pictures and fun to come!