Addison's Birthday Weekend

Wow - I didn't realize that you actually had to start planning 2-3 months in advance for a 3-year old's bithday party.

We wanted to do something special for Addie's 3rd party. Her first consisted of a cupcake, a candle, and a traumatic experience with an Elmo party hat (see here). We went to Houston for her second birthday to celebrate with family (apparently, I never uploaded those photos... I'll have to fix that). We wanted to have a "kid" party for her third birthday, so I started calling around about a month before Addie's birthday (since I did NOT want to go through the hassle of having it at the house). She absolutely loves animals, so I thought petting zoo and pony rides would be right up her alley. It's amazing how fast birthday party places book up. By the time I finished calling around, her party was scheduled for May 2nd, almost a full month after her actual birthday (April 9th)... oh well.

Her favorite cousin, Taryn ("Tear-bear"), came to visit with aunt Niki, uncle Loren, Pop and Nene (we missed you Nana and Papaw!). The kids had a blast with each other all weekend, tearing around the house at top speed, taking (poop) baths with each other, often playing 'til the wee hours of the night. Addison is still asking for her "Tear-bear"... I hear the feeling is mutual.

Her party went off without a hitch. Well, except for the fact that we were almost late to our own party, I forgot the birthday candles, and I almost cut the cake without singing "Happy Birthday." Yeah, its a good thing we didn't have it at the house... I was completely unorganized that day.

I guess about 10 kids showed up. Everyone had fun riding the ponies, feeding the goats and chickens and petting the bunnies. I thought for sure that the ponies would be the biggest hit, but when polled, almost all of the kids said they liked the bunnies the best! So all I needed was a couple of bunnies? I'll remember that for next time.

We decided to take the kids to Zilker park on Sunday before our guests made their way back home. Pop and his girls (Nene, Niki and myself) played with the kids at the park and rode the train, while Kris and Loren ran the Towne Lake loop. We were about to leave, when Pop decided he wanted to take some more pictures down by the bridge, so the rest of us walked down to Barton Springs to dip our feet in the water. I thought the kids would dip their toes in and head for the shore, because lets face it, that water is cold! Apparently, I was wrong. Instead of just getting their feet wet, Addie and Taryn decided they wanted to strip down to their underpants and go for a swim. Good thing the guys needed a cool down after their run!