Happy Birthday, dear N

N turned three yesterday!

We had a family party that turned out pretty big. Thirteen of us. The kicker of the week was that on Thursday, C was home for lunch and went up into the attic to take a look at our new solar fan. I was sitting on the sofa with N, getting her set up to play a computer game before I cleaned off the kitchen bar to get ready for two gatherings I was due to host on Friday when suddenly C's leg came through the ceiling right over the bar area.
No picture of the actual leg. I was busy calming N down. Once I saw that C was okay, I calmed N down and then quietly began to freak out over this:

That's my kitchen bar, where I tend to stack all kinds of crap, and that is N's toy box on the left, toy shelves, and art table on the right.

I was minutes away from cleaning off that bar.C came raging into the room, furious with himself for stepping through the roof. I was less worried about the hole and more worried about the fact that N's toys were now covered in insulation. I immediately carted N off to a babysitting place so that we could tackle this problem without a three year old under our feet. then we brought a ladder in, patched the hole with a plastic bag and tape, and while C changed back into his work clothes to go to a meeting, I sent an e-mail to change the location of the Moms Club meeting I was supposed to host the next morning and started cleaning up the mess.I got the big pieces of insulation off the toys and stuff that was on the counter and put them in plastic bins on the back porch. Only had to throw away one skein of yarn, some white cotton, although there is half a skein of Berocco Cuzco I am going to have to take a closer look at. My current shawl in progress was sitting in an open-top project bag about 2-3 feet out of the disaster zone. Thankfully it was spared.

N wasn't quite sure what to think when she came home to an empty toy box and empty shelves, but she had some toys that weren't hit, along with her kitchen. And I knew that the next day she was going to be busy with a whole new slew of toys.

N's cousin turned 8 on the 14th so we invited them over for a joint party on the 15th, N's birthday.I kept the food simple. Veggie tray and trips along with burgers and brats on the grill. Kept the cake simple, too. I have a Hershey's cookbook that has the best recipe for chocolate cake and I used canned frosting. Strawberries and cream "homestyle creamy". Add sprinkles and it is instant birthday.

I don't have any photos of N blowing out candles, but one of my brothers was taking video, so hopefully we got it on tape. I put three candles on one end of the cake for N and eight candles on the other end for A.
Somebody really likes cake and she was really happy once Daddy added some chocolate ice cream.

Then somebody got in touch with her inner princess. She got a dress-up trunk from her aunt and uncle and immediately donned the shoes and the purple "princess dress" for the remainder of the party. She wore the dress over her party dress until we made her take it off while running up and down the sidewalk with the neighbor kids after her party in her crocs.
It was like Christmas in July at our house.
I was super excited to give her the dollhouse. I set it up Tuesday night and then hid it in my yarn closet. It wasn't really wrapable, so we gave it to her at the end.
After running around with her friends across the street, she came in and donned another dress, working the flapper look.
Grandmom and Grandpa gave her a new high chair for her doll. One that fits her big doll.All in all , it was a very fun party. Lots of balloons, lots of presents, lots of family, lots of food, lots of fun. I wish I had more and better photos, but that is what happens when you are running the show.

My baby is three. Three! And have I mentioned that she is completely potty trained now! She still sleeps in pull-ups, but she wakes up dry nearly every morning. Three. Potty trained. It's all very hard to believe!