Sunday, January 16, 2011

Party like your THREE!

{I must warn you before you proceed....this  is a LONG post with a TON of pictures}

I  cannot even believe that Landry has turned THREE!  It seems like time is flying by at warp speed and I can't keep up! She is way past the baby stage, and is on her way out the toddler door and headed straight into becoming a full fledged preschooler!

Her birthday kind of sneaked up on us me this year {like it does every year and probably will for the rest of her life} because I have to get through Christmas before I can really sink my teeth into planning her party and then before you know it---BAM, her birthday is here!  I usually have an idea of what her theme will be or what I want to do, but with the house being on the market and things being up in the air, I knew there was no way I could have a bunch of 2 and 3 year olds running around our house with all the stager's stuff.  Then I didn't know where to have it...it  all worked out in the end and the most important part of it all was that the Birthday Girl had a total blast and she loved getting to celebrate her birthday with her friends!

This year's party for LP  posed a bit of a dilemma when it came to whether or not I invited the "Big Kids" in our very close knit group. I knew the party would be totally geared toward 3 year olds and that the older kiddos would be incredibly bored...even Ashton wasn't thrilled with the idea of having to endure a My Gym party. She would have because it was for her sister.  I decided that Carly would be the Biggest Kid there and that we would do a "family" celebration with the Leonards and Scheers so she could celebrate with everyone.



She LOVES her My Gym class that she attends every week and she was SUPER excited about her party at My Gym...we also had her ABSOLUTELY adorable banner that Miss Cara made for her on display!

Miss Gina made the cupcakes and they were delish and the colors were PERFECT! The cute and colorful  goody bags were breaking at the bottom, so at the last minute I had to quickly stick them in the not-so-cute paper bags.

Once we got to My Gym, the kids had some time to free play while we waited for everyone to arrive. They even had some of Landry's favorite things out and set up for her and her friends to enjoy!

These  two cutie girls had no trouble at all scaling the rock wall






After all of her guests arrived, it was time for a special Birthday Version of Circle Time.

Time to JUMP...Landry's favorite part of Circle Time!

And then it was on to some "Hot Air Balloon Rides" ( which is really flying across the zip  line in a bucket)!
Reese and Carly
Allie and Trip
Parker
The
Birthday
Girl!



The Birthday Girl and her friends waited patiently for some of Landry's FAVE songs

This is a CLASSIC Landry face that she makes all the time...I LOVE the wrinkled nose!!

The "Wheels on the Bus"...

...go round and round.
The horn on the bus goes BEEP, BEEP, BEEP...

Then it was time for 3 Little Monkeys Hanging in the Tree..it was a fave for all the kids, but Trip and Allie were totally mesmerized by the monkeys hanging from the ceiling and the alligator puppet.




After the songs, Miss Tasha took the Birthday Girl into the "special" room....
{Landry has ALWAYS wanted to go in there since that is where they keep all the fun stuff--she thought she was kind of a big deal}


...and she came out riding this motorcycle wearing the boa and took her Birthday Ride around the circle waving to her friends! She LOVED it and it was precious!



We tried to get a group shot...
...but couldn't get one with everyone looking so we  went with what we could get!

When the kids were done taking pictures they went and sat down in there spots for cupcakes while Landry got to sit in the swing for the Birthday Song...this was one of my favorite parts of the whole party!




When the song was over, Miss Tasha brought Lan-Lan over so she could blow out her candles...




{We had a little mishap with the candles....as she was blowing them out, her mouth touched one of the candles right as the flame went out and the super hot wax actually burned her chin....somehow with this second child of ours I am not surprised one bit. If it is going to happen to someone--it would be her! I  do have to say that she wasn't really phased at all by it!}






After the cupcakes it was time for a little more free play and a game!





And then it was time for BUBBLES!!

Miss Lindsey and Miss Tasha did a fantastic job running Landry's party--they made her feel so special!

A quick pic on our way out with our Birthday Girl...she knows how to get 3 fingers up, but wasn't quite quick enough...I was just happy that she was looking at the camera!

And in case you were wondering where the really great, crisp and clear pics in this post came from, here she is: Miss Jodi our FABULOUS photographer and friend! I can't tell you how much we appreciate that she always has her camera! She was able to capture so many more moments than I was and I am so glad she shared with me!

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While we were partying with the two and three year olds, Mr. Bill  so graciously hung out with the Big Girls at our house.  He was going to take them bowling but the wait was super long....it  didn't bother the girls one bit, they were just happy to have the time to themselves with no littles around. They played a little Just Dance2 on the Wii, they chatted and dressed up, danced (of course), did each other's hair and I even think they did their American Girls Dolls' hair too.

When we got home, Miss Jodi snapped a few pix of them~



And the birthday girl was worn out from all that partying so once she got her jammies on she snuggled up with Mr. Bill for a bit.  She LOVES Mr. Bill.

Since Auntie Megan and Parker came up from Lorena, they stayed the night with us. We let the big  kids watch a movie while we put Landry and Parker to bed and then us grown ups had a little wine and hung out while we recovered from the busy day.

Landry had such a FANTASTIC time at her 3rd Birthday Party. It was a little different then what we were used to but it all worked out and it was a day full of memories. We  love this girl more than she will ever be able to comprehend!

3 comments:

The Leonard Four said...

happy HAPPY bday to our most favorite 3 year old little girl! so glad that she had fun at her party, and so glad that carly and i were there to join in the my gym fun!

and friend...you are too sweet with your photog shout-out! THANKS A BUNCH! and you know that i love to be behind the camera capturing memories...but i'm even happier to share them! :)

xxoo.

jarleonard said...

Seriously?? THREE?? I am just getting time to catch up on blogs...and I loved this post. The party is too cute and the pic of the three year old with Bill is darling!!

Susan said...

Great birthday post! Looks like Landry thoroughly enjoyed her party. Elyse had a blast helping her celebrate!