Happy 3rd Birthday to Elise!

I still can't believe my baby is three years old! I'm sure I said this when she turned 1 and then 2 but where does the time go?! Elise is at such a fun age that I wish time could just stand still and she could stay 3 forever!

Here's our birthday girl blowing out her candle. Since Elise's actual birthday was on Thursday, she brought cupcakes to school and that night I made noodles (her favorite!) for dinner and we had a quiet little birthday celebration!


Then on Saturday, the real fun began. This year was Elise's first friend party. I really wanted to do one last year but we were in the midst of moving into our new home and it was just too much. I'm kinda glad we waited till she turned three because she was really able to enjoy herself!

Since we had a good mix of girls and boys coming to the party, I had to come up with a theme that they both could enjoy, so we did a "colors of the rainbow" theme and we did it at our neighborhood clubhouse.




The kids made their own coloring books and played some fun games like Pin the Rainbow Chip on the Cookie (similar to Pin the Tail on the Donkey)...


...And pass the present! This was a crowd favorite and I highly recommend it for kids this age.


Don't forget the pull-string pinata. Instead of hitting the pinata while being blindfolded, each child gets to pull a string. When the magic sting is pulled, the contents of the pinata come out. I couldn't get a good picture of the action but here's the birthday girl with my mom next to the pinata! :)


The last two years, I've made Elise's birthday cakes but since we were having an actual party this year, I splurged and had her cake professionally done.

Simple on the outside...


...any anything but on the inside!


The kids (and adults!) loved it and it tasted good, too!


Blowing out the candles!





We all had a great time celebrating Elise's Golden Birthday! Can't wait to start planning her next party! :)

Halloween!

We had a spooktacular Halloween with many festivities - a Fall Breakfast, a Fall Festival, a Halloween parade and costume contest, and of course, trick-or-treating!

Elise was SO excited for her classroom's Fall Breakfast!


The Friday evening before Halloween, we went to the Fall Festival at Elise's school. The kids dressed up in their costumes and all of the classrooms had fun games and cool prizes. They even turned the gym into a spooky haunted house!
Here's Elise with her friend, Matthew (sans costume!). Matthew's favorite part of the festival was the tattoo station - can you tell?!



Elise with her friend, Chloe.


Elise found another ladybug in one of the classrooms! :)


Right before the neighborhood parade - the sun was in our eyes.


My little ladybug and our carved pumpkins.


We went trick-or-treating with some of our friends in the neighborhood. We had a good combination of costumes - Snow White, a ladybug, a zebra, and a fireman! Getting all 4 of these kiddos to look at the camera and smile was tough!



Here they are, going to their first house!


And onto the next one...


Hard at work, collecting candy!

Pumpkin Patch & Pumpkin Carving

We found great pumpkins at the pumpkin patch this year and got some great pictures, too.



It was a windy day!


Greg found his pumpkin...he needed to get a good one for his pumpkin carving contest at work!


Elise kept trying to sit on the pumpkins.





These are the kinds of smiles we get from Elise when strangers take our picture.


Let the carving begin! Greg carved his company's logo on his pumpkin in the hopes that it would win him some brownie points for the pumpkin carving contest. There was a $100 gift card up for grabs...unfortunately, he didn't win!


Elise doesn't like to get dirty! "Mommy, what is this goop on my arm?!" :)


I didn't think to take a picture of the finished product. Oops!

Disney Princesses on Ice!

The weekend before we left for Disney, we took Elise to see the Disney Princesses on Ice. Elise's latest obsession is the Disney Princesses, particularly Belle and Cinderella, so we couldn't miss the opportunity to see them ice skating.


Elise can't wait for the show to start!!


Captivated by the ice skating and of course, the princesses!


It really was a good show! We all enjoyed it.


Special guest appearance by Mickey and Minnie!! ;)

Down on the Farm!

Elise was invited to a birthday party on a farm. The kiddos got to brush the animals, feed them hay, and best of all, hold a baby chick. Here are some of my favorite pictures from the day!

The Fair!

Last weekend we went to the Cumming Fair with some friends. Besides someone rear-ending us on the way there, we had a great time!

Elise and Hayden driving the boat!



Next stop, the dragon ride.



Both Elise and Hayden loved the giant slide - they would have gone down it all day but the line was way too long.



Elise's 1st Rollercoaster - it's hard to see her so I drew an arrow. :) She loved it!



Family Photo Opp!



We're hoping the rides were a good preview for Disney - next weekend will be Elise's first time there!!

Apple Picking!

Going to the apple orchards to pick apples has become an annual tradition ever since we moved back to Atlanta. Here are some pics of this year's orchard visit: