It's PARTY Day!!!

It's finally here!! Animal Zoo Party Day and ALL Party Animals are WELCOME!!

We had yummy cupcakes for dessert and cute little goody boxes for all of our friends...

The snacks were all animal themed so we had a lion cheeseball...

Watermelon Porcupine, animal crackers

and Tiger Tails of course!

Brynn was so excited once her friends started to arrive. She gave everyone hugs but everytime I went to take a picture either someone walked in front of me or all I got was the back of her hair! It was very cute though...

Brooklyn was all into the hugs as well

All the kids really played together nicely. We had a couple informal games for them to play. Here Riley is "feeding" the animals beanbags (on right)

Finnegan is practicing his skills ringing the alligator!

They had a lot of fun with the masks!

Time for lunch!

We had pizza and salad - nice and easy!

Now presents!

Brynn LOVED opening presents this year! She couldn't wait to get the next one, and the next one! Check out Brooklyn in the background! She had the perfect seat - food and entertainment!

Cupcake time! We're minus 2 kids here but overall this is a great pic! I completely forgot to put Brooklyn's dress back on after lunch, sorry girl!

Cupcakes - YUM!

Happy Birthday Brynn!!! She had a great day (week actually!) and she is still telling everyone about her animal party. Even yesterday, she was telling the girl at the UPS store all about it!! Too cute.

"Happy Birthday to Me"

Happy Birthday Brynn!

Happy Birthday Brynn!!! She's been waiting for this day for a long time... she kept saying, "2 more weeks til my party!" - and she started months ago!

She was so happy that she even woke up at 3:40am that morning and wanted to stay up for the day! You remember when you were little and couldn't sleep the night before your birthday or Christmas?!?!? That was Brynn :)

This is how she wakes up - perfect hair! Yes, I'm jealous! :)

That day the girls and I went to an indoor playground and played with our neighbor and her kids. Brynn was all decked out in her tutu and birthday ribbon! She wasn't shy about letting everyone know it was her birthday.

 

While Brooklyn was napping, she couldn't wait to get her hands on some presents. She had spotted them in the garage and wanted to open them earlier in the week. The first present was a giant puzzle from Grammy! She loved it and had no problem putting it together. I think she takes after Grammy with her puzzle skills - this girl is good!

Next one...

Fruit to cut!!! This was a hit!

and cookies to bake!

Right away she went to the oven to bake the cookies - glad she remembered her hot pad! We have one small issue... Mommy has tried to cook the pan 3 times now - oops. Daddy's looking into a play oven for the girls so they can put their cookie sheets in there instead!

Later that day we skyped with Nana & Papa and Brynn opened their gifts. What's in this one?!?

A new quilt for her bed made by Nana! She took that so fast and took off for her room - haha!

Then we swam...

and watered the grass!

Time for roller coaster - whee!!

This is a girl you don't want to mess with!

She loves the roller coaster and prefers to go down with her hands in the air or blowing kisses to everyone while she's supposed to be holding on so we really have to watch her! Such a goof.

Time for cake! I had made Brynn a monkey cake so we made her close her eyes until we were ready!

Surprise!! She was so happy when she saw it!

Time to make a wish! We hope ALL your wishes come true... you've already done that for us. Happy 3rd Birthday Brynn, we love you lots!

Mommy's Monkey Cake! I was proud of myself for my very first attempt at making a "fancy" cake :)

A New Style?

It's already started... the girls are very adamant about what they wear these days. Brooklyn loves shoes - today was boots - and Miss Brynn loves her PJ's... oh, and they go great with the rain boots don't they?! I guess anything goes these days!

Love these girls!

Oh and what do you think of Brooke's new hairstyle?! Her hair seems to have grown a lot in the last week or so and because she's so messy, this style really helps to keep her hair away from her face and she hasn't tried to mess with it - YET!

Employees in Training

Let's just say this wasn't the most productive shopping trip, but it was sure fun. We had many other shoppers chuckling at the chaos and I'm surprised I didn't have bloody heels by the time we left by getting run over by 2 mini cart drivers!

Dress Up Days

The girls have really been in to dressing up these days - they love the hats, purses and high heeled shoes!

and Brooklyn loves to put on Brynn's clothes!

She tries to put the shirts on her legs and gets so frustrated when they won't stay on...

and she also loves her high heeled shoes. The girl can get around in them pretty well also!

My Dad, My Hero

This post is a difficult one for me and breaks my heart because it’s the first one since my Dad passed away. I always looked forward to hearing my Dad’s comments after seeing all of the goofy pictures of the girls. He loved them so much and really got a kick out of the blog and looked forward to seeing what we were up too. Honestly, I wasn't even sure if I was going to continue doing the blog or not because it feels like something is missing, but the more I thought about it I know that my Dad would still want me to continue doing this for everyone else and so I’m going to do that for my Dad. I know that even though he won’t be looking at the blog from the coffee table anymore, he’s the one who gets to be with us all the time now, keeping close tabs on us from above.  

For those of you who didn't know my Dad – let me fill you in. He was an amazing man who made a difference in the lives of everyone who met him. You couldn't resist his calm nature, warm smile, sparkly blue eyes and funny sense of humor. He was so creative and could make anything from nothing… especially if duct tape was involved! He enjoyed carving and painting duck decoys and other types of birds and made the most unique creations from old gourds. He’d use wine corks, pieces of leather purses, q-tips... anything imaginable to add the special details. His creations are amazing and will be treasured by all of us forever. 

He’s the best Dad and Pop Pop anyone could ever ask for and will be missed more than words could ever say. My life will never be the same but I know that we now have the very best angel taking care of us every day. Dad - I love you and miss you SO much! It's pictures like these that I will look at over and over and over again...