Annette Turns 3

Last Friday my little baby girl Annette made me feel really old by turning three. As we have done every year, we celebrated with out little extended local family by having her birthday dinner at P.F. Chang's (even though the jerkholes moved their tax day discount this year). Our immediate family was joined by Uncle Will, Austin, Mimi, Aunt Jane, Buscha, Bryan, Stefanie and Adalyn. We ate lots of Mongolian Beef, while Annette and Adalyn shared some honey chicken, Austin slept, and Carolyn screamed. It was pretty nice. Here is the visual evidence.

That's right she's three.

Carolyn can't wait for the waiter to pass out drinks.

Now she's got it.

Adalyn's trying to use chopsticks

(Not very successfully judging by the table)

Annette will show her how it is done.

(After all, she's three now)

Yep, that's how you do it.

Once more, for the cheap seats.

While waiting for the check, the kiddos went straight to the laps.

Annette even got a little dessert with a candle to blow out.

Which she did.

Then we had to get the shot next to the big horsie.

She's knee high to a grasshopper giant stone horse.

Mommy and her three year old!

Then it was back to our house for playtime.

Carolyn is ready for Easter.

After that it was time for cake.

(Look at the cakelust in Adalyn's eyes)

And more candles.

Adalyn helped blow them out too.

And she helped open a couple of gifts.

Bryan helped by letting Carolyn see what was going on.

Stefanie did the same with Austin.

Cupcakes!!!!!

Uncle Will and Austin chilled out upstairs after cake.

Carolyn wanted to play with the cupcakes.

While Annette put her new hat on her dolly "Baby Jesus"

And Austin played with a Singamajig.

Tinkerbell Party!

Annette is now 3 years old (crazy, huh???) so we celebrated this year Tinkerbell style. She chose her theme this year and got to help pick out the decorations. I think her favorite part had to be her Tinkerbell balloon. She was very worried about whether or not I was going to get the balloon blown up...so much that she would ask EVERY EVENING at bed time. Needless to say we got Tinkerbell inflated.

We had her party the weekend before her actual birthday (April 15th) on account of the enormous about of birthdays we have during this time of the year. Everything went well at the party. The kids (minus the infants of course) thoroughly enjoyed the bounce house - including John, Tim, and Stephen. We had one small scare at the tail end when Annette, Addison, and Cody had a small collision on the way down the slide. Thank goodness no one landed at the wrong angle!!!

Here are some photos to recap the day. Enjoy!

Annette takes some pre-party photos.

Gramma gets to hang out with Austin.

Annette and Shelby enjoyed playing together.

Jordan sports her new fairy wings!

Annette gets ready for the real deal this time.

Annette enjoys riding her new Big Wheel in the backyard.

Zack enjoys his OWN set of fairy wings!

Carolyn sneaks a ride on Annette's new Big Wheel, too!

We thought it would be a cute idea to have all 3 kids slide simultaneously...

But maybe it wasn't the best idea!

Tim decided to join in the chaos too!

As you can tell, Annette had a fabulous 3rd Birthday Party!

Of Baby Chair and Sidewalk Chalk

The weather has been so awesome in the last couple of weeks that we decided to go out and enjoy. This decision was beneficial to us since it helped us discover that Carolyn is an outdoors addict. She's got it so bad than when she is not outside she goes through withdrawal. This means she does lots of crying and just can't make up her mind what she wants whether we are holding her or letting her crawl, but when she is outside she is as happy as a cute little clam. Especially if you give her a chair to play with. She will just climb in and out of it watch her sister play. Annette also loves being outside, whether it is swinging or drawing with her new sidewalk chalk she just loves being out there.

She loves this little chair.

She's got her bottle and her pacifier, she is pretty set.

Or maybe she wants you to have the paci.

Annette and I are ready to draw.

She's drawing a butterfly.

And she wanted me to write her name.

Uncle Will showed up and drew Annette a happy face.

She liked it a lot.

Carolyn and Mommy liked it too.

Showing off her drawings (and her abs)

Carolyn liked the drawing toos.

Annette had me trace her feet.

I didn't do that great of a job, but she liked it anyway.