Lainey is 3!

(Okay, so I wrote this post on Lainey's actual birthday buuuut I'm just getting around to posting it.  OOPS!)

I've heard it said about life with kids that the days are long but the years are short.  I couldn't agree more with that statement today as we celebrated Lainey's 3rd birthday.  That steamy weathered, long, long summer day I spent 3 years ago in a hospital room seems like just yesterday.  Never would I have imagined what life would look like being the mom of a 3 year old girl - a sensitive, bright, intuitive, early rising, princess loving, soft hearted girl.

We started out the birthday celebrating the weekend before with some family time.  My parents came down with my niece Claire.  Unfortunately, my nephew Will was sick so he and Emily had to stay back :(

Lainey's birthday dinner choice was Hickory Park.  No complaints here!

Birthday treat #1...

And #2.  I tried my hand for the first time at homemade buttercream.  Um, yes.  Never buying a can of frosting again!

 

Excitement abounds.  It was as delicious as it looked!

Lainey's 3rd birthday also marks the 1 year of anniversary of us living in our new house, which seems CRAAAZY to me because it still feels new.  Though, the scuff marks and hand prints on the flat painted walls remind me otherwise...  Since last year, we couldn't really offer her the celebration we would have liked, we hoped to make up for it a bit this year.  

Our little early bird was up with the sun.  How can you sleep when you know it's your birthday?!

We let her enjoy opening some birthday presents right away.

Princess helmets are pretty cool when you're 3.

You can see in her right hand is a roll of bubble gum.  She had been asking for months to try gum and we said we'd let her try when she turned 3.  Yeah, don't do that.  She swallowed it.  A few times.

7:00 AM scooter ride!  She scored this sweet scooter from her Ma and Papa over the weekend.  The helmet really completes this ensemble I'd say.  Safety first!

Jed took the day off and we decided we'd take a family day to the Iowa State Fair!  We headed to the Capitol complex to park and ride because when you're 3 and 1.5, the bus ride to the fair is almost as exciting as the fair itself.

(They look so big in this picture, I can't even handle it.)

We hit all of the great kid spots - Animal Learning Center, Little Hands on the Farm, etc.

 Then, Wyatt had had enough.  Passed out with cotton candy in hand.

 We took the birthday girl for an ice cream treat while Wy snoozed in the stroller.

But even the sugar rush couldn't keep her awake.

Then Wyatt woke up!

I'm proud to say we actually lasted over 6 hours at the fair.  My expectation was 3, maybe 4 so I was excited.  It was nice that the kids napped at different times so that we could do and see more and we gave each kiddo a special experience and treat (Wyatt got a fair square but I didn't get a pic :).  The pregnant lady got a treat too... mmm... cheese curds. :)

We rounded out the birthday with some bike practice.  The helmet gave her some crazy new confidence and she's a pro now!

Like I said, last year Lainey's birthday was overshadowed a bit with the move.  I don't remember exactly how the conversation flowed but Lainey pretty much decided on and planned a birthday party all on her own.  I don't even remember if I offered to throw her a birthday party to be honest, but she had the idea and we went with it!

Her requests were "just girls" and she wanted to "paint nails" ... easy enough!

So with a little help from pinterest, we kicked the boys out of the house and went with a spa theme!

A little craft to make some fancy flip flops!

The nail station complete with a foot bath!

Lainey has some of the cutest little gal pals!  The girls all had a really fun time and it was so cute to watch them play together - many of these little ladies have siblings and several of them have brothers so it was extra fun to have just mommies and girls I think!  I can't wait to try to recreate this picture in 5 or 10 years!

All in all, we had a fabulous time celebrating our sweet girl.  Birthdays are so fun to me.  It was especially fun that she had a greater awareness of the fact that it was HER day and we were celebrating her.  She was incredibly thankful for each gift she received and has been so excited to enjoy them too.  Blessed to be her mom and excited to see what the Lord has in store for her life this next year!

Cousin fun!

One of my most favorite things about having children and being a mom these past almost 2 years has been sharing that experience with my sister, Emily.  Emily has 2 little ones, a lovely little girl, Claire who is 10 months older than Lainey and a sweet new baby boy, Will, who is 3 months younger than Wyatt.  I think it's so funny how we both have an older girl and a younger boy - it is just too fun.  We both have great memories from growing up that involve spending time with our cousins and we hope our kids will have the same - that they'll enjoy playing together and growing up together and making fun memories together.

Emily sacrificially and bravely made a cross country trip ALONE with her babes so that I/we could all meet Will and enjoy a visit together.  Traveling with kids is no small task.  Jimminy, I sometimes struggle to travel to the library with my kids, but Emily had to take 2 flights each way and did it with relative ease.  I am SO SO SO thankful she did.  We had a great visit.  I was even able to go to Minnesota with the kids to my parents for a few days to spend some quality time with Em and the kids.

Baby Will is so so so cute.  He is just a peanut.  Wyatt could eat him.

Claire and Lainey picked up right off where they left off the last time we saw each other in August.  Claire and Will (as well as Em and Bud) are daily conversation topics in our house, so I knew they'd warm up easily.  First thing we did was walk to the park by my parents house!

The boys weren't impressed.

Lainey pretty much did everything Claire did, just a few steps behind.

Except for when it came to the iPad ... Lainey was showing Claire the ropes.

We enjoyed a trip to the Como Zoo one day too.  Not many of the animals were out but the girls still had a good time and did a TON of walking!

Crazy how much this crew grows and changes every few months!  Can you believe we got them all to sit still? :)

We spent 4 days in Minnesota, had one day back in Des Moines to ourselves and then my parents, Em and the kids came down to Iowa to visit our family here!  More time together!  Yeah!

This Papa is pretty proud to have 2 extra handsome grandsons!

We were able to spend some time Saturday in Pella, one of my favorite places on earth, to see the tulips!

Claire... she is just the cutest.

Claire running and Lainey trying to keep up :)  Not only is Claire fast, and 10 months older, but Lainey insisted on wearing her rain boots, per her usual, which definitely slow her down :)

Just the CUTEST...!  Lainey loves holding Wy like this, for about 15 seconds, and then he gets a good shove.

Here's Miss Claire showing off her flower from church on Sunday!

We had a fabulous visit with the Thomas clan and wish Bud could have joined us for the crazy fun.  We are already looking forward to July when we hope to make a trip out to North Carolina again!

Pumpkins galore!

Lainey has really been enjoying her first FALL season! We've gone on a few walks on the days that aren't too chilly and instead of falling asleep while in her car seat in the stroller, she's very wide eyed and loves looking at the trees. She also told me she LOVES when her Momma drinks Caramel Apple Spices from Starbucks, go figure!

Last weekend, we went to Cedar Rapids to visit Jed's sister, her husband, their daughter and Jed's parents who were in town. Lainey did a fabulous job (sleeping) on the 2 hour drive over and back and I LOVED having the uninterrupted chat time with my husband! Lainey is becoming very observant and is really loving watching and staring at things so she loved getting to watch her cousin running around. She was SO good - she didn't fuss or cry at all the whole 4 hours we were there and didn't mind who was holding her how how close her cousin got in her face!

Uncle Justin and Auntie Cate spending some time talking to her and getting some smiles!Snuggling with Grandma!
We realized both Lainey and Jaylen were going to be PUMPKINS for Halloween so we got them dressed up to take a few pictures! The two cutest little pumpkins ever!One minute Lainey was awake...And the next she was asleep!Uncle Jed teaching Jaylen to put silly things on her head.

On Halloween, we did a little dressing up and Momma went a little crazy with the pictures...
At first she wasn't really very interested...
But then she woke up!
Her expressions really make me laugh.

BOO!

I feel like she looks SO big in this last picture! I promise she's not really sitting up, I just propped her up and she stayed like that for about 5 seconds.

Thanks, once again, to my sister for the pumpkin costume and the funny ghost shirt. Lainey would be naked all of the time if it weren't for you, Em!