Birthday Girls!

 July is a month of many birthdays in our families.  Perhaps we'll even be adding another if Cate decides she doesn't want to wait much longer.  We celebrated Daddy's birthday last weekend.  He doesn't like the fanfare.  Just make him some good food and a pecan pie and he's a happy birthday boy.  We celebrated two other birthday girls with a little more flare though.  We had a beach party for Emma and Jen last Saturday.  Emma's been saying that when she turns 3 she's going to go to the beach.  Knowing that wasn't actually going to happen, I decided to bring the beach to her.  Jen's birthday was Sunday so we thought it would be perfect to have a party for both of them! Then we headed to Moraine State Park for a picnic, scoping out sailboats for Dad and Andrew, and swimming in the lake.

The Birthday Girls

Aunt Jen found this adorable grass skirt.  Has anyone ever looked cuter in a grass skirt?  I think not.

Emma said she wanted a sand castle cake ... so I made one. Along with some cupcakes adorned with Swedish Fish.

We tried opening presents in the yard since the party guests were having so much fun on our beach (the sandbox) and our ocan (the baby pool).  We soon realizzed it was really hot and everyone had made their way onto the deck leaving us alone in the yard.  We relocated to the porch.  I will say though, having your 3 year old open presents in front of all their guests is both really boring and really stressful at the same time!

Emma's cake with her 3 candles



Jen's cake ... which I did not make (it was AMAZING, by the way!) ... with a few less candles than her actual age

Dad and Jen enjoying the picnic of party leftovers that Mom packed.

My happy girl

Emma got a new 'Pottette Plus' for going potty on the go.  It's a little seat that has collapsible legs.  A bag with an absorbent pad in the bottom attaches to the seat so that you can catch the 'waste' tie it up and throw it away.  Much better than a Porta John when dealing with a newly potty-trained toddler.

Emma got to go to the beach for her birthday afterall!

Wading in Lake Arthur.  She said she was 'feeding the sand to the fishies'.

Cuddling with Uncle Andrew

It was very hot so Emma enjoyed her very first Push Up Pop.  What a childhood memory for me! Nothing better than a Push Up Pop!

Mommy decided to leave her pull up on with her bathing suit instead of putting on a swim diaper.  What I didn't think about was how much water those things really suck up.  I don't think you can fully appreciate how big her little bum looks in this picture.  She looked and walked like a duck!  Oops!

Said pull up after being removed.  I'm pretty sure it weighed a good 5 pounds.  Thank goodness she didn't sink in the lake!

The funniest thing about it was that the pull up had started to explode in her suit.  I reached in and got a hand full of the absorbent core of her pull up made of beads that turn into gel when wet.  It looked like a snow cone exploded in her bathing suit.  We may have left a bit in the grass.  Oops!

A great weekend of birthday celebrations!  I could hardly walk at the end, but it was worth it!  Hard to believe my little Emma Bean will officially be 3 in two days! Mom's birthday is on the 30th and maybe our little Cate will make an appearance this month, too!