Birthday pictures

The much awaited bday pics came last night...just a few cutie shots~

Yummy birthday kisses~

Gracie makes her own snowcone

Irresistible carousel cake. This photo doesn't capture the finger side of the cake. Gracie 'bout had her fill of icing before we even cut the cake. :o)

Yum...cotton candy. Is this blueberry? Raspberry? No wait, it's watermelon or maybe strawberry? Eight flavors were served up by SnoBiz...they set it up, serve it up & clean it up! That's my kind of cotton candy machine.

Caitlyn's enjoying the bubbles after searching for treasures in the hay stack.

Sweet Grace and Auntie Em. Uncle Randy's turning blue. Is that from a snowcone or cotton candy?

My friend, Kim, Shortycake Cookie maker/baker. Aren't these carousel horses sweet??

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Happy Happy Birthday Grace

It's been quite the birthday week! 

Blowout party on Sunday with 50 of our most favorite folks, all you can cotton candy in 8 flavors as well as limitless snow cones!  Whooo hoooo!  Party pics to come later...waiting for Uncle B. He shot most of them as I was entertaining all those lovely folks~

Keeping with tradition I had with my mom,  I took Gracie on our 1st mom & me strawberry picking expedition. See pics below.  They irrigated the crops that morning so to say it was muddy is quite an understatement. Gracie did lots of picking...out of my basket into hers. :o) She took it upon herself to warn each passerby that "It's pretty muddy out here." After we hosed ourselves off, we enjoyed strawberry pie and other sundry strawberry sweets in the onsite bakery.  On our way out the door, we picked up some lovely geraniums & herbs for home. THEN we headed 1/2 an hour north to the beach....what a time we had! Gracie has a healthy respect for the waves & water this year which is very nice. She's growing so fast~

Today, the actual BIRTHDAY was spent downtown Chicago. We took the train & played in Millenium Park & fountains for a huge chunk of the day. Enjoyed the kids festivities/activities at the Target/Chicaco Children's Museum Tent.  Do it yourself facepainting....thankfully it washed off both of us at the fountain. She's napping now after a well spent day. We will have pizza & cake tonight with Nate, Steph & Emily. 

Happy Birthday, meine Schatze~  Ich liebe dich so viel~

PS.  My keyboard took a bath yesterday...I have no idea if it will recover after a night of beeping.  There was no means to type last night...only point & click.  We'll see~~~~~

Princess Play & Party Prep

Here I sit in my jammies & lamby ears (evidence of a mom who plays) while Gracie dances around in her everyday princess/flapper attire. We've discovered more dress up fancies in a lovely tote tucked away from Christmas. Must try them all on at once.

Today is party preparation. Gracie's 3rd birthday is on Sunday. 50+ folks are coming to celebrate. What in the world was I thinking inviting all those people?? I love a party, though Gracie insists that just the two of us should come. "Remember all those people came to our house that one time? And we had a princess cake and I weared my princess dress?" Just the two of us.

We're at a park this year..that was the plan last year but it rained. So, we've booked the princess park with pavillion and potty privileges. This is a simply sweet party with a cotton candy & snow cone machine to send us into a sugar coma. I can't wait to get pictures of the cake...it's a carousel cake! My friend from Shorty Cake Cookies is making several carousel pony pops to adorn the top of the cake. We're making a maypole sort of carousel. Sure to be delightful!

Today's to do list:

• clean house for folks coming over pre-party
  
• clean up the cooler to tote all the ice for 100 snow cone, bottled water & punch
  
• pick up paper grocery bags for our stick ponies
  
• pick up the snow cone machine
  
• pick up keys to the park restroom - potty privileges
  
• buy misc food/drink stuff
  
• purchase misc decorations/partyware stuff...more candy for haystack hunt
  
• have fun with Grace at the water park - not sure why I promised a visit to the water park with everything going on, but......
  
• complete 2 work related items....

You know I'm procrastinating when I take a moment to blog with a to do list that long....or perhaps this is helping me put things in order to move forward. :o) Plus, I just wanted to capture that princess play picture.

A few pics from our recent visit to the Meadow Fair last weekend with Nate, Steph & baby Emily. So much fun...pony rides, petting zoo, jump & slides, hayride, crafts, face painting, exotic animal show (hence, the alligator & non pictured python!!!), possibles (Gracie's word for popsickle), duck pond game & so much more!!!!

Have a great weekend folks. More to come post party~

Allistair the Alligator

Pony up folks~

Melon Face

Gracie & Nate waiting for the pony ride

Ducky play with Em & Grace

Our latest Gracie repeat song: He's Got the Whole World In His Hands...

Of course, more animals make it into His hands than people do...go figure.

Water play & peonies

Time to play...it's a one piece swimsuit day for the girls :o) Thanks for weighing in on that one a couple of weeks ago...

We have a baby pool still in the shed. Grace is convinced it's ok to put your entire body in the water table...it worked for this day. A hot day but cold water. Burrrrr

These are my neighbors peonies. Unlike any other peonies that grace her garden, Doris said these have simply evolved over the years to such a charming blossom.

Here's to a great weekend~