Candyland Birthday Party! Happy 3rd Birthday, Alice!

Welcome to Alice's Candyland!  We put lots of thought and effort into preparing for Alice's fun 3rd birthday party and we were so excited about how it came out.  Here are some shots of the party preparation before all the guests arrived.

Here is the view into the backyard from the street:

"Beware!  Don't Get Caught in the Licorice Lagoon!" (aka Our unyieldingly discharging sump pump!):

More shots of the party decor:

The game board was made of chalk and led to Alice's Candy Castle:

Thanks to Daddy's hard work, the backyard was looking AWESOME and there were lots of seating areas:

Alice's Candy Land cake:

The Fruit Kabobs were a big hit:

The peanut butter cracker pops were also a big hit.  We also had big swirly lollipops and bowls of loose candy everywhere, both for enjoying and as decor.  We even had "Cupcake" wine to match our theme:

A colorful veggie display contributed to the array of food for the party.  It was important to have lots of fun color, but to have much of that be healthful options.

When people started to arrive, it was time for the birthday girl to get ready.  Here is Daddy, painting Alice's toenails:

The Candy Castle was a great hangout for Alice's friends during the party:

Everyone loved the fruit kabobs, veggies and cracker pops before dinner was ready:

Daddy did a great job as Grill Master:

Alice had lots of fun visiting with all the guests.  Here she is laughing with Grammie:

The chalk board game was lots of fun for the kids and while they were not running through the game, Alice and her friends were playing ball in the driveway:

We were thrilled to have friends, family and neighbors join us for the big party.  Here is a great shot of our next-door neighbors, Deb and Ed:

Everyone had a great time:

Grammie even had fun inside the Candy Castle with Alice's friends!:

Once the party was over, Alice opened her presents.  Here she is, receiving her new piano from Grammie and Grampie!:

Happy Birthday to you!  Happy Birthday to you!  Happy Birthday, Dear Alice!  Happy Birthday to you!

Here are the rest of the photos from Alice's awesome Candy Land Themed 3rd Birthday Party!

Birthday Fun at the Willows! Happy 3rd Birthday, Alice!

If you have been following Alice's adventures in Salem for any amount of time, you know that one of her favorite places around is a great old amusement park called The Willows.  We decided to kick off her third birthday party with a visit to the Willows.  We met up there, bought a giant roll of ride tickets, all the kids rode all the rides, before heading back to our place for the rest of the evening.

Here is Alice with Mommy, starting off the afternoon with her favorite ride at the park, the Carousel!:

Our friend, Leah rode her bike all the way up from Medford to join in on the fun, and join in she did!  Here she is enjoying the Carousel with Alice and Grampie:

As Alice's friends started to arrive, they joined her on the rides.  Here she is riding the cars with Henry and Max:

All the kids got in on the fun with the boat ride.  Here are our neighbors, Riley and Nolan, Alice and her friend Nick, and Max with Nick's sister, Anna:

Baby Mae made it to the Willows, but was not aware of that fact:

All of Alice's friends had fun at the Willows.  Here is Henry, smiling away, with his Daddy, Steve.

Here are the rest of the photos from our fun adventures at the Willows!  Happy Birthday, Alice!  Now off to our house for the rest of her birthday party!

Look Who's 3!

It's hard to believe it, but it's true!  Our little Alice woke up a 3 year old today!  Here she is, proudly showing off her new number:

Here's Daddy, putting together her big birthday surprise a couple of days before her birthday:

Here's our big girl, helping to prepare dinner the night before her birthday!

On the evening of her big day, she arrived home from school in this birthday "crown" made for her by her teacher, Miss Amy.  She says she wore it all day long.  She was excited to continue to wear it to open her presents from Mommy and Daddy and from her far away loved ones:

3?  or 23?:

She still loves receiving cards... this has been true of her since she was born!:

What is inside this box from Mommy and Daddy?

A green dinosaur, just like she asked for!:

But wait, there's more?  Let's go check it out in the backyard!:

What could be under that lumpy bed sheet?

What is it? What is it?

A new big girl bike!  Woo hoo!

Alice took to the sidewalks immediately:

Unfortunately, it started raining just after Alice opened her bike.  Since it was her birthday, that meant she could bring it inside and ride it around in the house (birthday privileges!):

Here she is, blowing out some birthday candles:

Yum!:

Here are the rest of the photos from the day of Alice's actual birthday, and preparations from this weekend's big birthday party!

Happy Mother's Day, Mommy!

Before Alice's birthday celebrations could happen, it was Mother's Day!  Daddy and Alice surprised Mommy with a yummy backyard cookout!

Sitting outside, enjoying our meal, our yard and our family, we were reminded that we truly are living our dream life.  We are very blessed.

Alice was so excited to surprise Mommy with all of the fun Mother's Day gifts she had been making at school over the past couple of weeks.  Here she is showing off a photo taken of her at school to which she had attached a magnet so it could hang on the fridge:

Happy Mother's Day to our Mommy and all the Mommies in our lives!  Here are the rest of our Mother's Day photos.

Our Big Fish

Alice once again is enrolled in swimming lessons this summer, at the Salem YMCA just like last year.  Since she is nearly 3 years old, she got bumped into the class in which she is in the pool alone with the teacher and other students (no Mommy or Daddy along this time!).  We scheduled it for early evenings on Wednesdays, so that Mommy and Daddy could watch from the bench and cheer her along.

Here she is waiting for the lesson to start with her new friend, Charlie:

Here she is, waiting in line to jump into the pool.  Her new friend, Sam, is just about to dive in:

Here is Alice, getting ready to dive in.  Some of her other new friends are waiting for her, across the pool.

She has been quite the little fish during this round of swimming lessons.  She even was brave enough to jump off the wall at the far end of the pool!  Here are some more shots from her swimming adventures.

Home from Vacation and Home Improvement

When we returned from vacation in Minnesota, Daddy had to travel for work.  Grammie and Grampie came up to Salem to visit for a day, and Grampie helped us out by working together with Alice to update some of the electrical outlets in our front room:

So many muscles on these two!:

We were annoyed but not surprised that our garage door finally broke a couple of days later.  We knew we were going to have to replace it soon as it had been on its last legs since we bought our home last year.  Here it is in all its glory!:

We knew Alice's birthday party was coming soon and we were planning to hold it in our backyard, so we knew we had some work to do.  We ordered a new garage door, and a GIANT pile of mulch, and got to work.

Here are the rest of the photos of our preparations ahead of Alice's upcoming birthday.