Reagan turns THREE!

Happy Birthday to my sweet little baby girl, our little "Lost Princess", as she sometimes refers to herself as (thank you Rapunzel "Tangled"!).  It is hard to believe that three years has passed since she entered the world!  We are so blessed to have her in our family, and it is such a tremendous joy to us getting to be there as she grows and changes and learns new things each day.  We love our Reagan, and were happy to devote the whole day to celebrating her Birthday!!
I don't have the time tonight to give a detailed post on her birthday, and I will be unavailable to do so for several days, but I at least wanted to get a few pictures up from her special day.



Reagan requested an Ariel Cake for her birthday, but being allergic to egg, I couldn't just walk into a bakery and order one, so I made this egg-free vanilla cake.  It was a true labor of love!  Really, it was pretty simple to make, but I had never worked with fondant, so I was a bit slow.  Matthew and I were the crafters of this cake, and we had lots of fun making it together!!



Reagan woke up on her birthday and asked when we were going to her birthday....um, we were just planning on doing a party at the house and maybe heading to the park, but the weather was crummy, so we ended up heading to Chuck E Cheeses.  We haven't been there in years, but the kids LOVED it!  They all had a great time, and we made the right decision going there over the alternative, which would have been a childrens museum.  We lasted there for 3 hours!

This is what Reagan's face looked like as she watched the animated Chuck E Cheese characters come "alive" on stage for the hourly show.  She eats this stuff up, and it is SOO cute to watch!

Matthew won a lot of tickets at Chuck E Cheese, and he chose to redeem them on something for Reagan, and then he came home and wrapped it.  My heart melted!  He wanted to give her his gift first, as you can see him doing here.

Reagan opening the gift from Matthew.

A Disney Princess Tea set from both the boys.

A gift Alyssa assembled during Reagan's nap.  She had me write a note to her on the outside of the bag (shown) telling Reagan that she loves her and hopes her Birthday is great and that she will be painting her nails for her very soon!

The Pinkalicious Bike and matching helmet that Reagan wanted.

Alyssa got Reagan the Bullseye and Jessie doll she wanted from the Disney store (partially shown here).

On this bike, Reagan calls herself "Pinkalicious."

See the Jessie doll in the doll carrier on the back of the bike? Bullseye has been stuffed into the pouch on the front.  "Pinkalicious is ready for take-off!!"

We didn't show Reagan her cake before her Birthday, so when she saw it after opening her presents, her eyes grew wide and she threw off her Pinkalicious helmet.  She liked her cake, and it made Matthew and I happy to see her excitement over it!

Blow out the candles!

I served the cake, and Reagan looked around and said to no one in particular, "I wish I had a Birthday hat."  No one responded to her, and a minute and bite of cake later, "I really wish I had a Birthday hat right now."
It dawned on me that I had told her that morning she could wear a birthday hat when she had her presents and cake, and we had picked one out from upstairs.  She was trying to hint to me in a round-about way.  It was funny!  She was all smiles once I clued in to what she was asking for. Like the hat? If it looks familiar, that is because  it is circa "Reagan's first Birthday".

Summer has arrived-Finally!

New Summer, New Pool! This one is one foot wider, and a few inches deeper. I like that it comes with a cover and a ladder, so I can pull the ladder and cover it up, and kids know the pool is officially closed. It also stays much cleaner.  Our other pool had some holes in the blow up ring I just couldn't get patched effectively.  We debated getting another pool, but the kids wanted one so badly, and it is a great thing that gives them something to do and look forward to on these days around the house, and it was quite affordable and already on sale for the "end of Summer" sale-lol.

Independence Day Fun 2011

We like tradition around here! We have traditions we adhere to for this holiday: going to our community July 4th celebration, making ice cream, bbq'ing, shooting off fireworks.  This year was great because we got to get together with not only my Dad and Candy, but also two other families for lots of fun! We stationed the grill out front and set up tables and chairs, which works perfectly, as our neighborhood is so lively on the 4th, and it seems everyone ends up out front!

Our weather was PERFECT: not too hot, but just hot enough!

Oh Happy Day!

Even though it wasn't as much fun as taking lessons, Alyssa decided she would wait in the hour long line to take this trip around the parking lot on a pony!

Oh Happy Day, How you can become even Happier!

Cotton Candy and Snow Cones! We celebrate big:-) "Go Big or Go Home" like Mike says!

Check out the scene in the background.  It was a great turn-out.

I was playing with this photo in Picassa, which is why it is so vibrant.

Reagan, right as she ate it on this slide.  She is just a head first kinda girl! She got off and was rubbing her head, but kept on going.

Matthew trying to hit a ball suspended on air in mid-air.   A bit tricky!

After Reagan took a spill on the first slide, I wouldn't let her go on this one (even though she wanted to!).  When we first descended down the hill to where all the bounce houses were, she saw this one and started screaming, *screaming* loudly with such excitement, I couldn't help but laugh! We are talking ear piercing screams like she had just been awarded a lifetime supply of candy.  She cracks me up!

We found the Smith family here, and Makayla joined the girls in line for the caterpillar blow up structure.  They went in the mouth, traveled through, and were "pooped" out at the end.  They thought that was funny!

This was Reagan's favorite! It was an undersea blow up structure, and when it was time for the next group of kids to get in, and our group to get out, guess who was the only child to decide she didn't want to get out?  Little Rea, just running and ignoring the man saying, "little girl, excuse me little girl-time to get out."  Nope, it took several tries. 

Night time action. 

Kenna and some of her crew!

Matthew and some neighborhood boys.

Two great friends! 

Reagan and Lucas.

My brother, Eric (far right in photo), two of his friends, and Candy.

See Eric, I told you this photos would make it on the blog! His friend was messing with him to get him to smile.

"Tut tut, it looks like Rain."