A Crazy Fun 3rd Birthday Party

This past Saturday we had a crazy fun party for Norah's 3rd birthday. There were games with fabulous prizes, water fun in the pool and on the slip 'n slide, a dramatic downpour of rain in the midst of our delicious picnic, the best Dora cake ever made (in my opinion), and more presents than Norah could ask for! What really made it fun were all the friends and family that came to celebrate with us. We love you all!!! 

Once again, this is all thanks to our family... On Friday, Grandma Renee & Nona insisted on coming over to scrub our house to a shimmering sparkle while I made the cake. I think they wanted us to be proud to show off our new house to everyone, but knew we were short on time :) If that wasn't enough, Grandma Renee potted some flowers for us and brought over every last table and chair she had. Colin's sister Tegan put together some really fun games that the kids absolutely LOVED! She had picked out the best prizes too: fairy wings, sequined purses, tool sets, Dora markers, and on and on and on. She even found a Dora pinata where you pull ribbons to break it open instead of swinging a bat (because a 3 year old + a bat = ouch!). Tegan - You rock! Oh, and let's not forget the food. my in-laws made almost all of the food. 

They all worked so very hard so that Norah could have the Dora party of her little dreams. I know what you're thinking - how can we make our family work so hard!? We actually tried to calm them down and tell them to relax, but they are stubborn and insisted on doing all of this for us. Aren't we lucky!? They allowed this working mom to be able to take a day off and spend the whole thing going overboard on her daughter's cake :)

To our wonderful family: Thank you from the bottom of our hearts ~ xoxo



My little man taking part in some water fun















A Dora Cake Walk! So much fun!!










The kids got to fish for some pretty cool prizes :)






The ribbon pinata - I didn't even know that kind of pinata existed!






The dads stealing all the candy!! 




Finally, the coolest Dora cake ever!!!  It only took me all day to make this cake :)

Love ~ Renee

My Baby Can't be Three!

This morning Norah ran into school proudly declaring "It's my birthday today! I am FOUR!!". The entire week I have been correcting her in that no, you are in fact only 3. This is the only context in which I would say the word "only" in front of the word "three". She had told so many people that she was turning 4 this week that I started to believe it myself!

Robin, the owner of our daycare, hit the nail on the head... she said "The first birthday is totally cool, and then when the second birthday rolls around you can maybe see how that happened, but the third birthday really gets you!" She is so right. One was exciting and we counted down the days till her birthday. Two was a little out of the blue, but it was understandable how that came as quick as it did. Three is more like whoa.... hold on a minute! You just turned two, you cannot be three already! Then I start to realize that she will be five in the blink of an eye, and then comes the pre-teen years! I better buckle myself in for the ride.

She started her day off by dressing herself in her most favorite outfit and eating a mini cupcake for breakfast :) She brought the rest of the cupcakes to school for a birthday treat where her teachers made her a birthday crown and all the kids sang happy birthday to her! I wish I could have been there to see it... she must have been in heaven.

We picked her up early, right after nap time, and asked her what she wanted to do. We told her "Norah, we can go anywhere and do anything you want to do right now... what's it going to be?" her immediate response was "The Library!". We laughed and asked her if she is sure that is what she wanted to do, and she changed her mind to the pool at the neighborhood park. So we went home to change and open the presents from Mom & Dad. Then we spent the rest of the afternoon in the pool and had a blast!

We picked up Clark from school after the pool and went to the Malt Shop for a dinner of Mac & Cheese, complete with a hot fudge birthday sundae. Clark was surprisingly happy the entire time, but this was only because of the baby girl sitting at the table next to us that he was flirting with! They were smiling, waving and giggling at each other the whole time. It was one of the cutest things we've ever seen. Watch out girls!!!

Love ~ Renee

Here comes trouble... and some of This & That

My sweet baby boy has turned to mischief much too early...

Wishing I would have had my other lens on so these wouldn't be so dark & grainy :(


I had 10 "set me down and I will stay put" months with Norah, but this little guy was only willing to put up with that for 8 short months.   





Just in the past few weeks he's begun crawling, pulling up on everything he shouldn't be, attempting to cruise, clapping, semi-waving and he even sprouted a tiny tooth!








In other happenings, his big sister Norah has got mom & dad busting a gut lately. The other night Nona had brought over a delicious Greek dinner of spanakopita (spinach pies) and a barley salad. Norah sat down and looked over her plate, searching for something she likes...


Norah (with a slanted brow and a look of disgust): "This is poop!"
Me: "It is spinach honey, it's not poop. It's delicious! Try it and you might like it."
Norah (waving her hand over the entire plate): "This is alllll poop." 
Colin: "Norah, do you really think we would serve you poop? We would never do that."
Norah: "Yes. Yes you would."


We couldn't help it, we both broke out into laughter as Norah continued to sit there seriously disappointed in her dinner and Clark stuffed his face with Mum-mums. 


This girl is growing up way too fast. We went on her very first field trip to the Zoo last week! It is so fun to hang out with her in her own setting. I usually only get to daydream about what she is like at preschool. Is she shy? Is she happy? Is she a trouble maker or a teacher's pet? Turns out she is a fun little cuddle-bug, with a touch of bossy :) Isaac was Norah's partner at the Zoo and at times he would have to fend off her forceful hand-holding, head-patting and belly nuzzles. As if she was talking to a puppy - head tilted with a tiny sweet voice - she would say "Come on Isaac. Hold my hand and come with my Mom now. Come on!"   

On the bus!

Picnic lunch with one of our favorite teachers Allie!

All the preschoolers running around and screaming like crazy!

Now on to planning her 3rd birthday party... THREE!! I cannot believe she is three. 

Love ~ Renee