Kate Turns 3!

Kate eagerly anticipated her Tigger & Pooh birthday party for weeks. She talked about it everyday and continues to talk about it today. Her birthday kicks off the official season where we have a birthday party (and sometimes two) every week following. When we talk about her friends' birthdays, she always proudly announces, "I had a Tigger & Pooh party!"

Papa Paul came over a couple weeks before the party to help draw a few trees to transform the family room into the "Hundred Acre Woods." He spent hours drawing and painting three 8-ft trees with Keith while I created hunny pots. Keith also made several signs to complete the look.

Grandma Sandy and Aunt Jennifer came over the day before the party to help me get all the food ready and assist with putting up our decorations. It was terrific to have the extra hands this year. I actually had time to put on makeup, relax for a few minutes and greet our guests as they arrived.

After about an hour, "Eeyore" made an appearance and the kids were able to enjoy donkey rides. This was the highlight of Kate's day! At the end of the day, she said, "mommy, my favorite part was Eeyore.

The kids also pinned tails on a drawing of Eeyore and put on their Super Sleuth badges to help us solve our mystery and find Pooh (a pinata) and of course bounced away in the bouncehouse and played on the swingset.

Kate ripped through her presents in good time this year. Among her favorites are her pillow pet, Minnie dresses, a stuffed Pooh bear and Miss Bunny, Melissa and Doug grocery cart, stuffed Barney (the only thing she actually asked for) & cloth butterfly backpack (perfect size for Kate). She loves her new Olivia books and is having lots of fun in the bath tub with her swimming doll, bath baby and musical bath instruments. What a lucky girl. She was fascinated with her new Care Bears DVD for several days, but mommy and daddy weren't as big a fan as Kate, so we let her watch her first Disney movie...Pinnochio (one of her gifts). She is hooked and has been pretending to be Pinocchio all week.

At the end of the day, Kate (and mommy and daddy) all wanted to have a nice dinner at our favorite local restaurant...Giovanni's, of course! It was a perfect day for Kate.

Amazingly, Kate started complaining about her ears hurting around naptime the following day. When she awoke, she continued to cry and complain (something she's never done before). Keith and I were off to the doctor's office (yes, Sunday hours, thank goodness) to learn she had a double ear infection. Poor girl. Thank goodness it didn't start to bother her until after her special day.