My baby is three. And hers was a slumber party.

Here's what you are thinking, or at least what you should be thinking, "For the love of Gawd, Kate, either figure out how to post pictures side-by-side or figure out how to narrow down your post to fewer than 31 pictures." My response, "I'll get there one day, I promise, and until then, just keep scrolling."

Likewise, I went a little overboard planning a little birthday party for my favorite girl in the world. I took a day off from work and was feeling pretty on top of the party planning.

I  picked up the cake, and although Lily's name was spelled wrong, it was otherwise perfect. It was made by a friend who is starting a cake biz, and I'll post the info as soon as their website is ready. The cake was really good, but the frosting was divine.

 

Got some decorations up. 

 

And that's when I found out that my nephew and niece, Tirin and Lia, were on their way to spend the weekend with us. Due to the unplanned nature of the event, I assume you can figure out that it wasn't good news that brought them to our house for the weekend, but suffice it to say that everything is fine now.

If you know me, and the four of you who might be reading this do, you know that I'm not really a go-with-the-flow kind of girl, no matter how much I want to think so. My biggest worry with this situation was how in the world would we get all these kids to sleep? Followed by what if they wake up in the middle of the night and want their mom and dad?  

Yeah, that wasn't a problem. They are rock star sleepers. They decided they wanted to sleep on the sofas, so we set them up, and bam, they were out. For the WHOLE night. TWO of them. And we can't even get our one kid to do that in her own house. (Sometimes she does, sometimes she doesn't. Either way, bedtime has never been so easy.) 

 

 

So the next day was the art-themed birthday party. A July birthday in Florida is tough. Outdoor options are completely out. Most indoor places get expensive, fast. So we settled on an art theme and came up with a few very simple crafty things for the kids to do. It was fun to watch how each kid worked differently while painting, stamping, and collage-making. 

Lily, for example, was fast and furious.

 

Lia was the exact opposite. She was very slow, thoughtful, and deliberate. Most kids had finished all three projects in the time it took her to create her painted masterpiece. 

 

 

 

Eventually all the artists were done.

 

 

And then it was time for cake.

 

When I botch exposure but I still want to use the picture, I apply some effect to make it look like I wanted to be artsy or something. But really, it's just underexposed. 

 

Lily has been waiting for her turn to blow out the candles for months. She was a happy girl.

 

And she got the piece with the pink frosting. That was really the only request I had for the cake. Make sure there is some pink on it. 

  

And eventually, the birthday party was over, and we still had three kids to entertain. Lia and Lily were easy enough, but I felt bad for Tirin. He was bored and not terribly interested in most of Lily's toys. So we pulled out the sprinkler and flooded the patio. 

 

Oh, and this isn't an artsy effect. That's just my camera's reaction to being outside. Lens fog. 

 

Eventually the camera adjusted. 

 

 

 

Bedtime rolled around again on night 2, and I worried again. I was convinced that the first night's luck had to be a fluke. Tirin announced he wanted to go to bed and off he went. Ok, Lia and Lily were going to keep me up all night, I was sure of it. But they were so flipping cute. Lily insisted we feed Kitty and Lia was off to help her. And then they were silly for the camera, Lily with stinky cat food in her hand, and Lia in her rain boots. 

 

She is my photo star. 

 

Bedtime popsicles in hand, they sat for a bedtime story. Apparently, it was riveting. And then Lia announced she wanted to sleep, and off she went. The look of confusion is still on my face.

 

By Monday evening, Tirin and Lia were back home, and Lily had a few Skype appointments to open some of her birthday presents. She is one lucky kiddo.

 

Still sporting her birthday crown from daycare, we celebrated the next night, her actual birthday, with a few presents and cupcakes, just the three of us. 

 

When she turned one, we got her a charm bracelet with the idea to add a new charm to it every year on her birthday. I cannot express how little she gave a crap about that bracelet this year. She had it on for less than a second and declared she wanted it off. Not every idea is a winner.

 

 Rapunzel (or Tangled, as she calls her) and Eugene were more her style.

 

And with a goofy smile, it was official. She's three.