Third birthday activities

Tuesday was a fun filled, busy day for Maddy's birthday!We had a bear theme for the day and began the day with bear shaped pancakes and eggs.

Maddy opened a card from my mom and dad and put on the crown that was in the card. My mom wants to take her to American Girl when she is out in a few weeks to pick up something for her there but she still sent the card along so she would have something to open from them.

Excited to open her first gift...

Abi wanted her to open the gift she had made for her the night before so she gave it to her right away.. it was a little book.

I let Abi stay home from school so that she could be involved in the all day festivities. She was more than a little excited...

First up we stopped at a few stores down in Illinois near Doug's work that I don't get to often because of distance and the girls had a little picnic lunch in the van while watching My Little Pony. Then we picked Doug up from work and went to the Long Grove Confectionery Company's Chocolate Factory Tour. 

After that we went to Gurnee Mills Mall and visited Build a Bear for the first time.

It wasn't an "official" build a bear party. We just took both girls and let them each pick out an animal and an outfit. 

They were so excited. Maddy picked a bunny.

She was having a hard time keeping her foot on the pedal the entire time the stuffing was going in.

putting the heart in her bunny...

giving her a bath...

Abi picked a snowflake teddy bear.

Maddy pushed her bunny "Abi" around the store while Abi worked on her bear...

Abi really got a kick out of the whole heart thing...

The bear's turn in the tub...

They loved that the bears came in a box house! They also each got a free build a bear cookbook with cookie cutters and we got some free meal coupons for Rainforest Cafe.

Maddy wanted me to dress her bunny right away. That is one happy girl!

Abi wanted to do hers by herself of course.

Her dressed bear and the free cookbook.

They love their new friends...

After we got home we opened the rest of her presents... but first I caught her giving her bunny a little love.

Playing with the stick dolls I made for her...

I also bought a download for Olliblocks. It came with two different sizes to make blocks of faces and bodies that can be mixed up. I used the bigger size to make blocks but rather than just not use the smaller size, I put them onto Popsicle sticks and cut them in half for little puzzles...

She loved them.

Here are the blocks.

And the last gift from us was a Leapfrog numbers train.

She also opened up two puzzles and an Olivia matching game from Doug's parents.

A very fun birthday!

I made her a bear cake. It had to be orange because I used some Halloween cupcake mix and frosting that I forgot about at Halloween. Abi did the bow by the ear all by herself.

blowing out the candles...

For the birthday finale, we went to McDonalds for dinner.

We were all exhausted by the end of the day but it was a very fun one!

Operation Christmas Child

This year we started a new tradition- putting together shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child.

 You put together a shoe box full of fun little things that they deliver somewhere in the world to little children.

We chose to do two boxes- one for a little girl Abi's age and one for a little girl Maddy's age. 

We have been gathering little things for weeks now but Monday the girls and I went to the dollar store to pick up the last items and then that night for Family Home Evening the girls packed the boxes full. 

They were excited and took a real interest in it which made it very fun.

Maddy's box....

Abi's box... she also added a lalaloopsy to the top at the end.

Then we filled out the printable worksheets to send along with the boxes.

You can add a picture of yourself so we put on one of Abi's school pictures.

We wrapped up the boxes, put on the sticker so they know what age group/ gender it is for and then Maddy and I delivered them to the local drop off on Wednesday.

This is definitely something we want to do every year!

Three years old!

Tuesday our little Madeline Monet turned three. 

It is hard to believe. The time has been going so fast. 

She ate it up. She loved being the birthday girl and kept referring to herself that way all day. She even came up to me once and said (rubbing her arms), "I'm a cold birthday girl."

At three Maddy is:

a handful

a joy

happy

loud

playful

imaginative

curious

active

mischievous

loving

smart

sweet

funny

adorable

charming

She makes us laugh every day. She keeps me on my toes all day long every day. She charms everyone she meets... unless they don't like kids because she has no boundaries. It is not unusual for her to run up to someone she doesn't know and hug them, introduce herself, or hold their hand. That is hard for her anti social mom but I love seeing her joy infect others. She is such a wonderful, sweet, little thing. 

She loves My Little Ponies, Mickey and friends, Wonder pets, and most of all playing with babies. She also likes games, puzzles, books, and stuffed animals. 

The Gypsy Moth

Last Thursday Abi's class had a special program. They all had an insect assigned to them that they got to tell us about, they did a song, and then they did a dance.

Abi was a gypsy moth...

Maddy loved being able to go to the school and get up and dance with Abi.

This is probably my favorite picture of the girls ever... look at the way Maddy is looking at Abi!

Abi's teacher Mrs. Jensen is in the back in red. The woman next to Abi is their student teacher (her last day was Friday).

Maddy's favorite part of the day was getting to eat lunch at Abi's desk with her.

Little Maddy

Thursday Maddy was being a very silly little girl. She made up a game jumping from pillow to pillow in the front room. I had to get out the camera and capture a few of the moments.

Then she was being really quiet for a minute and when I went to check on her she had pulled her chair over to the counter and was eating her lunch... it was 9am.