It was a Lovely Little Tea Party

...until the stuffy host punched the guest in the nose for her atrocious table manners.

*sigh*

One Year Older and Wiser too...

Lexi turned 3 yesterday. Crazy, I know.

We had this grand idea of having a Toy Story birthday party, but then life just got in the way and frankly, I didn't get around to getting everything together in time. But being only 3, I figured she'd forgive me. It also gave us more flexibility since Ed's schedule fluctuates frequently.

Lexi gets her little fetishes, and one of those is Toy Story. She knows every little detail about them, is emotionally attached to each character, and will request them as either "Toy Story Blue" (the original) or "Toy Story Red" (the awesome sequel). So from the moment we saw the release date of Toy Story 3, we were stoked to take her for her birthday. But when you turn 3, things that were free, suddenly... aren't. And Ed had Monday off. So we moved all our "family birthday celebrating" to Monday (before Lexi was officially 3) and spent the day letting Lexi have fun at the mall. We went to the movie, which Lexi was COMPLETELY GLUED TO (and you remember the emotional attachment? Yeah, she screamed a few times when the toys were in peril, and got teary eyed at the end... as we all did...).

We let her decide where we wanted to eat for lunch. Panda Express. That a girl!

The mall was also featuring this dinosaur exhibit, with animatronic dinosaurs all around the place, and a little train that we let her ride. She likes dinosaurs, among a lot of other things, so this was another perfect little treat for her.

For her cake, I let her pick out which flavor she wanted, and then I decorated it with a Toy Story character of her choosing. She chose Jessie, which I was more than happy to accommodate. It is kinda tricky trying to find a 2D picture of her, but I finally found the perfect one.

So all week, Lexi was waiting anxiously for her "chocolate Jessie cake". I asked her what she wanted for breakfast on her birthday, and she just wanted her "chocolate Jessie cake".

This cake took me HOURS to do... by the time it came down to writing on it, I was very tired and so it got the short end of the stick. But Lexi loved it, and Ed says that's all that matters. He's right.

On her actual birthday, I made French Toast and let Lexi watch a movie of her choosing ("Green Tinkerbell"). Then she saw her presents and cake and was all attention... on that. Here's us trying to wait patiently for Dad, who was on his way home:

We got Grandma and Grandpa Leavitt on the web cam to help us sing to her, and then she got her cake and ice cream and presents, all at 9 a.m.! It's kinda nice having a lazy day on her birthday instead of stressing about a party that evening. She just played, at home, with all her new toys. She even fell asleep, before her birthday dinner, on the couch. So she ate it this morning. Oh well! :-)

Here's her with her "Potata Head" (like Bo Peep says)

Princess Tiara from Grandma

Spelling puzzle

Train set

Kitchen Playset

Oh and it's not over yet! We are going on a Glass Bottom Boat tour tomorrow to see fish and other ocean life up on a North Shore reef. I'll try to post some pics if they turn out!

We love you, Lexi! Hope you had a great week!

And thus begins year 4.... which so far, has been surprisingly good. It's almost like a small switch in her head has been flipped this past week and she has been a little sweeter, little more obedient, and is finally eating 3 meals a day again... kinda trippy!

All a bit of Randomness, really

Do you ever look through you photos and think "That's really cute, but I can't think of any way to incorporate it into a blog that not just an 'Update with Photos' " ? I have a few of those. So for my sake, I'm just going to do a random picture blog... the pictures are not related to one another, but they're cute enough to share.

This picture defines Carissa. All her dolls, teddy bears, you name it, she loves to snuggle and hold. She could be upset and crying hysterically, and then you give her her teddy bear, and a huge grin will come across her face and just get squeezed real tight! She's my snuggle bug!

This is our dessert from Memorial Day... Sometimes, I just gotta have me some fruit pizza and I succumbed to its beggings... And it tastes better than it looks. That's right!

I hadn't cleaned out my wallet for some time, and I guess it must have been annoying Carissa because she decided to do it for me while I was cooking dinner one night. So considerate of her, I know!

Lexi decided that her green playdough just wasn't cutting it and insisted on my making her some red playdough. It's wasn't really too much to ask, so I did. This is her "radio" she made after it was ready.

First thing in the morning, and we're all just so tired still. Snuggle time with Daddy!

We like Flip Flops

Can you tell?

That Explains it...

I remember hearing stories of my brothers and how the younger one didn't walk as soon as the other one. Mainly because my oldest brother was an "enabler" - He did everything for him, thus not necessitating him to walk.

So when Carissa took a while to crawl and I knew would probably walk a little later too, I figured it was for the same reasons.

No, I think it's more out of fear. Of her older sister.

Well, she's finally gotten up the courage and started walking. Still very shaky and wary of falling (you would too if the ground was hard like ours!). Most of her walking is done on the area rug in the living room, for that very reason. We're trying to encourage her as much as we can, but some people don't know how to do that properly. cough*LEXI*cough

Today, she was being exceptionally brave and I thought, "Hey, maybe I can catch her in the act!"

*Remember this cartoon? This sums up my experience....

So I didn't catch her walking (Sorry), but I did catch something.... many times in fact...

PROOF FOR CARISSA'S LACK OF MOTIVATION

Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

Exhibit C:

Exhibit D:

(Looking at this one, it's kinda funny now... She was sincerely just trying to get her going)

Lexi usually is trying to help (except I don't know what she was thinking in "C"... she's a pill sometimes) and tends to make things worse...obviously. So I can tell you: Yes, Carissa is FINALLY walking.

I just can't prove it.

But now you can see why it's been taking so long :-)