A Party Fit for a Princess!

Saturday was the Grand Finale to Kamdyn's birthday week! To say that Kamdyn had a blast would be a complete understatement. She jumped in the princess jumping castle from the time it was delivered at 12:00 until around 5:30. She survived the day without a nap and was actually quite pleasant the entire day. Here are some highlights from the party! Well, maybe not highlights. It's more of a play-by-play! I am so horrible at choosing pictures to post, but I did leave a lot of them out.....believe it or not! 40 out of 115 pictures, that's not too bad! =)

She chose a princess theme this year....

She even picked out her invitation. It's hard to see it because I scanned it.





Nanny and Kamdyn prior to the arrival of the kids. Kamdyn was having a hard time being patient! Nanny was trying to keep her occupied.


Mama Lucy and Kamdyn. I LOVE this picture!!


Uncle Matthew's turn to occupy her!


You see that she did NOT want to have her picture taken with me. She put her fingers in her ears to show that she wasn't listening to me!!


A view before everyone arrived! We had to shift some things around once the sun started moving.


The Arts and Crafts table with Princess Mirrors and Treasure Boxes.


Princess Mirrors for the girls to decorate.


Treasure boxes for the boys to decorate. (Sorry it's sideways!)


Kamdyn closing her eyes waiting on her BIG surprise from Richard and me. We decided to give her the gift from us prior to the party starting.


Does she look happy or what? We figured we would start her out small on the motorized cars so she could get the hang of it!!


Daddy putting Kamdyn's shoes on so she could ride her new motorized car from Mommy and Daddy!


Kamdyn's Prince arrived and was WAY too cute!! We love Jacob!


Kamdyn decorating her princess mirror while Georgia and Mama Lucy watched!


Maddie, Kamdyn, and Jacob jumping.


Catherine and Kamdyn blowing bubbles.


All of the older children were such a big help with the little ones! I was so glad that they were there!!


Catherine decorating her princess mirror.


Paden decorating her princess mirror.


Kristin (Georgia's daugther), Sonya (Jacob's Mom), and Georgia


Kamdyn was obsessed with decorating her princess mirror. Two of her favorite people were watching her! She LOVES anything related to arts and crafts: painting, drawing, coloring, etc.


Jacob riding the Dora hotwheels.


A view of the Princess jumping castle and the peeps!


Paden riding on the tricycle.


The fabulous cake made by Georgia! Yes, made by Georgia!! There's nothing that she can't do. She is awesome and we are so lucky to have her in our lives!!


Jacob resting and enjoying some snacks. Isn't he adorable??


The table prior to kids, cake, and ice cream


The children enjoying the beautiful day on the playset.


Mommy couldn't get the candles lit. I had to call Daddy for some HELP!!


Waiting on Daddy to light the candles.


Everyone waiting for Kamdyn to blow the candles out! The wind wasn't cooperating with the flames on the candles!!


After blowing out the candles on her personal cake.


Blowing the candles out on her BIG cake!


The "Royal" Table completely set with juice boxes, paper plates, and paper napkins!! Ha! Ha!


The Princess enjoying some cake and ice cream.


Me trying to help Kamdyn understand that she must first open the cards to see who gave her the gifts. Not such an easy concept for her to understand!


The crowd watching Kamdyn open her mound of gifts. She is so blessed to have so many who love her!


Ruthie relaxing in the castle while Kamdyn was opening presents.


Kamdyn was so funny when she opened clothes. I guess she is finally to the age where getting clothes doesn't really constitute a present. She would quickly shove the clothes to the side and look for another gift to open. She did get some adorable clothes for Spring and Summer!


Mama Lucy and Uncle Matthew enjoying the festivities and Kamdyn opening her presents.


Doesn't Ana Blake looked thrilled? She was such a big help to me the entire party. She and her friend, Chloe (Jo Jo from Seussical), kept the children entertained.


Kamdyn and I were taking a break watching everyone else try to break their necks!


Kamdyn and I jumping away!


Kamdyn loved having both of us in "her" castle! We were trying to figure out all day how we were going to break the news to her that it wasn't technically "hers!"


Ana Blake was showing Richard how to cut a flip and trying to convince him to do it, too! The youngins couldn't understand why we didn't want to attempt these daring tricks. If they only knew how it feels to get "old!" We wouldn't walk for a few days after trying such a stunt!


Richard jumping "high!" This was about as wild as he got!

Let's Fly a Kite....

The weather has been particularly great here lately for flying a kite. When Georgia dropped Kamdyn off on Friday we got out her new Dora kite that she had gotten for her birthday. Daddy put it together for us and off we went to the front yard. Daddy, of course, is much better in the kite flying department than me. This was fine with me because I would rather take pictures! Kamdyn LOVED flying her Dora kite and actually did quite well. I ended up being the kite chaser and launcher when the kite would nose dive into the ground. The wind started dying down after about 3o minutes. Kamdyn was upset and did not understand why her kite wouldn't fly. I let Daddy take care of that, too! :)

Party #2 at Dancing

I took cupcakes for Kamdyn's dance to enjoy on her actual birthday. I had to take mini cupcakes because they were eating their dessert prior to dinner! OOPS!!

Kamdyn chose the one with the chocolate frosting! Remember she is my junk food junkie!


She will ONLY eat the frosting!


Kamdyn with a few of her dance friends.


Afterwards, we took Kamdyn to a restaurant of her choice. Thankfully Georgia had taken Kamdyn to Chuck E. Cheese's earlier in the day so we weren't worried about her choosing that. All week she had been saying that she wanted to go to Chick fil A after dance. We loaded her into the car after dance and were turning out of the studio when she yelled, "I don't want to go to Chick fil A. I want Mexican!" Go figure! Leave it to a girl to change her mind. Then, she started saying, "I want cheese dip and a quesadilla." It was her birthday so we wheeled it into the Mexican restaurant. She ordered her meal and about 5 minutes into eating her cheese dip she announces to me, "Mommy, I need to go potty!" I say, "Kamdyn, are you serious? This bathroom is YUCKY!!" Then, she says, "Yes, Mom, I'm sewious. I need to go stinky!!" Daddy laughs and of course says, "Have fun! I'll be right here when you get back!" I wrapped the toilet seat and held her the entire time, all the while forbidding her to touch a thing! We survived and went back to enjoy our dinner where she insisted on eating EVERY bite of her food. Richard and I had been finished for quite some time and were ready to go home because we had to work the next day. She looked at her Daddy and said, "Daddy, be PATIENT!" How can you argue with that?

She also enjoyed a tall cup of sweet tea much to her Daddy's dismay! IT WAS HER BIRTHDAY!!!


Me and my sweet girl!

Happy 3 Day!

April 1, 2009

Dear Kamdyn,

My sweet baby girl, where have these three years gone? It seems like we were just bringing you home from the hospital and I was adjusting to being a new Mommy. While I was learning how to nurse you, waking up every few hours each night to feed you, checking to be sure that you were breathing, swaddling you in your tiny little blankets, changing an endless number of diapers, and wondering if I was doing everything right, I came to love something more than I ever thought imaginable. And despite the fact that my life was turned completely upside down with your arrival, being upside down was exactly where I wanted to be.

You are a constant source of joy to your Daddy and me. Even though we sometimes get frustrated with our busy schedules, there is never a day that we don't thank God for you! You make me smile more than anyone else in this world. Every time I look at you, I think, "Wow! How did I get so lucky to be the Mommy of this precious little girl?" As I've said before, you have made me a better person and I couldn't thank you enough for that.

As your Daddy and I ate dinner with you at the Mexican Restaurant tonight, we continuously smiled at each other across the table as we listened to you talk. You are amazing at the young age of three. We are constantly surprised with the things that you say. You are an old soul trapped inside of a little girl's body. You are so observant, intelligent, and don't let me forget - DRAMATIC! I just don't know where you come up with the things that you say. And, the facial expressions are just too much for words to express! All I can say is that there is never a quiet or dull moment when you are around. In fact, your voice has been scratchy for two days, not because you are sick, but most probably because you talk from the time your feet hit the floor in the morning until you go to sleep at night!

I hope that someday when you are scrolling through this running record that I have created of your life that you will truly be able to understand how much you mean to us. Then, again, I'm not sure that you will truly understand until you are a Mommy yourself! You are awesome and so incredibly important to your Daddy and me. You've taken over our lives and we couldn't be happier! Thanks for just being YOU!

I love you baby girl!

Love,
Mommy

Chuck E. Cheese's

Georgia took Kamdyn and Jacob to Chuck E. Cheese's on Kamdyn's actual birthday. Kamdyn had a blast! Her Daddy and I were glad that Georgia took on this chore so that we didn't have to!! Again, one of the many reasons that we LOVE Georgia!! =)

This was her last picture.


She moved before the camera took the picture.


She frowned!


One year ago....