Birthday Fun!

We celebrated Addy's 3rd birthday this weekend. We started with a small party on Friday, where Addy and two of her close friends visited a place called Girly Girlz. They got their nails painted, a little make-up, and their hair done. It was pretty cute, except for the fact that Addy was having an emotional breakdown throughout the entire process. I was looking forward to the event for weeks and was quite disappointed that it didn't go as planned. They took a group photo at the end, which was pretty much the best part..but Addy insisted upon sobbing on the edge of her seat and spoiled the picture. In addition, my camera had a smudge on the lens and the pictures I got are messed up.




I actually managed to get 1 picture where she looks happy. Too bad it's foggy from my dirty lens. :(

We took the girls to get ice cream afterward, and the birthday girl sure perked up there. I cleaned my lens (thanks Jess!) and got a few pictures of her chocolate princess face.





Things went better on Sunday at her official birthday party. It was a nice day and so many of our friends and family made it to the party. It was really great. Thank you to everyone who came and celebrated with us!









I made my first ever fondant cake, for the party. Though I made cupcakes for everyone to eat.. I'm sure they tasted better. :)






Ainsley made her rounds at the party. It's a good thing she got a nice long morning nap in.. The poor girl was still suffering from our ongoing cold symptoms but seemed to enjoy all the lovin' and slept quite well last night.







It was a really great day and we are so glad so many people were able to come and join us. Addy's REAL Birthday is on Wednesday and I plan to do something special with her..just not entirely sure what yet. We will have a girls day of sorts. I'll be sure to get some pictures and post about it. If Ellen Degeneres can celebrate her birthday all week....so can Addy! :)

Slacking..already!

I'm already falling behind on the blog posts. We've been busy, but I'm not sure a whole lot of it is noteworthy. Addy has been doing great at school and really loves it, so I think we will try to increase it to 3 times a week, unless we are busy with other activities. We are going to try dance class again, starting next week. She attended classes shortly after her second birthday and really enjoyed it for the first 2 or 3 classes. Then she clammed up and got really shy. She didn't want to participate and wanted to cling to me. Now that she has opened up so much more and is SO into girly things and dressing up, we are going to try again. She loves wearing her leotards and tutus..and very much looks forward to playing with her peers, so I am thinking it will go much better this time around. I do have a tendency to rush into things and she really wasn't ready before. We will see how it goes. I am looking forward to it..

I've also got intentions to start her in gymnastics classes, but I sure don't want to overwhelm her so we will take it one step at a time.. Maybe switch off between the two. She definitely enjoys the gymnastics gym by our house a whole lot. Their free play is awesome. She gets to try out everything and do whatever she wants during free play. Though, it's kind of hard now to participate with her while lugging Ainsley around, so I am hoping to get her enrolled in actual classes that I can watch and not actually be required to be involved in. She loves the trampolines, of course. She's really good at things like the balance beam.

Which reminds me... I need to make an OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT! :) :) :)

My daughter...Addison Rylee...is FINALLY...OFFICIALLY..POTTY TRAINED!!!!

WhooHooo!! I was so frustrated and thought she was going to pass up her 3rd birthday and still be fighting the issue. It's been one solid week of big girl panty wearing, potty using, goodness! I am so thrilled. She just gave in and decided she was ready, I guess. I am so proud of her and so relieved to have just ONE diaper wearing child now! I've even been playing around with the idea of cloth diapering Ainsley.. Hrmm... Lacking the willpower I think.. :/ If it weren't such an initial investment, I would be much more apt to trying. Ah well.. anyway. That is my BIG NEWS!!

So all the doors are open now, to my ALMOST 3 year old. We intend to research some local Montessori schools and decide where we would like Addy to start a more official preschool program. WOOT!!!! What a huge weight off my shoulders.

We are so looking forward to Addy's 3rd birthday party! It's really not going to be anything super fancy, since we have decided to do some other things for her birthday in addition to the casual party. We just want to opportunity to get together with all our friends and celebrate the big occasion. It seems like 3 is such a BIG milestone. I feel like she is officially transitioning into a little girl. I know I have a lot to do with Addy turning into such a girly-girl..but really she is very strong willed and either likes something or doesn't. She really cannot be convinced one way or another.. But I do know that she watches me and likely takes to things that make her feel more like Mommy. We are big supporters of her fascination with trains and things more gender neutral or "tom-boy-ish". We try to keep her well balanced. She is a bit of a dare-devil. She likes to do things like sledding and crazy carnival rides. I'm definitely going to have a lot of fun along side her with things like that. It's just really neat to see the little person she it turning into.

I think that pretty much sums up the events of the month so far. I'd post pictures, but they would just be repeats of Facebook posts, since I have been adding new photos so consistently. :)