Birthday weekend

We've had such a great weekend!! There are so many pictures that I don't even want to try and attach any to this post, just click on the Facebook link for Natalia turns 3 and you'll see it all there.

Friday Charlie took a half day at work. So after the girls nap we loaded up the girls in the bike trailer and road over to the new park across the street from our subdivision.  It was hot so we didn't get to stay long but Natalia loves any visit to the park.  I'm so excited for that park to be done and so close to our house.  Crossing Fairview kind of sucks, but can't have it all right?  ;)  We'll have to make sure we go in the mornings as it gets hotter so that my poor girls don't get so hot.

Saturday morning brought us Natalia's birthday.  I had this idea that I wanted to surprise her with a ton of balloons in her room when she woke up.  Problem there was that I wanted to be there when she woke up to see her reaction.  Charlie was trying to prep me for disappointment thinking she's not a morning person and wouldn't respond what so ever.  What happened?  Well we went in there each holding a big bunch of balloons at 7:30am (she usually wakes up around 8:00/8:30am) and the noise from it woke her.  Instead of a ton of balloons scattered all over her ceiling she saw mommy and daddy just holding them. She wasn't sure what to make of it.  What we should have done is put them in there at like 3am when she was really asleep and just watched her reaction on the monitor.  Oh well, live and learn.  Once she was over her grumpy/groggy phase she immediately asked for a green balloon of course.

We came downstairs and made chocolate chip Mickey Mouse pancakes.  Silly girl just picked out the chocolate chips.  Then we got to work finishing up the decorations and setting up tables and chairs (I had gotten most of it done the night before though so there was just mostly getting the balloons distributed.  A coworker at my old job used to decorate her house the night before her kids birthdays every year for every kid, she had five, so that when they woke up they would see their decorations.  I loved that idea and plan on doing that with our kids)  Meanwhile Charlie went with my mom's husband Colin to pick up Natalia's birthday present.  A trampoline!!  We've had in our heads that was what we wanted to get for a couple of months now.  I've been watching Craigslist with no luck what so ever.  Every trampoline posted is gone in less then an hour.  Not to mention that they are either in horrible condition or if they are in ok condition they are asking $200 for them.  We ended up deciding on going the new route.  We figured it's a family gift, we'll all get lots of use out of it, and we want it to last a long long time.  So we bought a really nice, good quality one.  While Natalia was napping Charlie built it.  I ran and picked up her birthday cake from Diary Queen as well.  (They spelled her name Natalie but I didn't notice until we got home, I manged to "fix" it with a knife though)  When Natalia woke up we brought her downstairs and at first she was too groggy to notice, but as soon as she saw the trampoline in the backyard her face lit up and she said "look, want to jump!" we took her out there but she didn't last long because of the grumpyness.  After she cheered up a bit though we got her dressed in her birthday outfit (BTW I made that skirt, bought the fabric months ago and just by coincidence it ended up matching her birthday decor)  Then her guests started to arrive, and the party was a hit!  We kept the guest list simple this year and it really worked out well.  We had pizza, salad, and strawberries to eat.  Then the cousins got to throw water balloons that we had blown up that morning.  They didn't really get the concept of a water fight, but thought it was a lot of fun to throw them into the ground and watch them explode.  They also got squirt guns in their goodie bags and had fun with those.  I color coordinated the bags so that there would be no confusion as to who's stuff was who's.  Natalia had all green items in hers, Adam was blue, Oliver had Orange, Dexter had Yellow.  The three 2011 girls all had pink, but they are so little it didn't really matter.  =)  Anyway, after singing happy birthday she refused to blow out her candle, so she got some help there.  I got a super cute picture of her with her cake though that totally reminds me of me as a little girl and pictures with my cakes. Once everyone enjoyed some cake she opened her presents.  Let me tell you this girl is spoiled.  Even with less guests she still got tons of gifts.  And everyone did such a good job with them too, they all know her so well.  She got lots of My Little Pony items, naturally... but she got some princess stuff (Cinderella her favorite) and story books as well.  Not to mention a couple of dresses and outfits and some adorable pink jelly sandals.  Then it was just more time playing and jumping.  Once guests left she was so content sitting at the table playing with her ponies.  I put the girls to bed pretty late, but they were both exhausted!

This morning was fun too.  Natalia woke up and saw all her balloons still floating downstairs and had more of a fun reaction.  Then she remembered all her new toys and went to town on making sure they were all opened and out for her to play with.  It was fun to watch her rediscover them all and be so content for a good two hours just playing on the floor with them all.  The house is still slightly messy but I'm so exhausted from our weekend that rather then finish clean up (which Charlie did a ton for me while we were gone to my Grandma's house this afternoon) that I'm going to just get it finished off tomorrow instead.

It was really a great birthday though. The last two birthday parties were really for me because she won't remember them.  She loves to look at her picture books of them though so I think that really helped to build up the day for her.  She was totally aware of what was going on this time and was loving it.  She's got the "I'm 3" thing down already and shows me three fingers.  I really think she enjoyed herself and that in itself made the whole party worth it.

Anyway, now it's time to focus on potty training.  She's totally aware of it and just is refusing right now.  I'm not sure what day we'll start it, but I'm going to just put her in panties and a t-shirt and see how it goes from there.  I'm not sure if it's this week or next but when this session of swim lessons starts she's in a class without her mama.  I'm sad to not get in with her but also so excited to see how she'll do and be able to sit back and watch.  I've been talking it up big time to her so hopefully she won't freak out.  Also, I'm hoping to start doing Stroller Strides again here soon.  I had a 10 punch pass the summer Natalia turned one and loved it.  They recently had a groupon for a two month membership for half the price so I bought one thinking it would be fun to do this summer.

Alrighty, don't forget to check out the pictures of our birthday fun!