Kaylee's 3rd Birthday

To be honest, I was in complete denial that Kaylee was turning 3 this year.  Back in February I started thinking of party ideas but it was so far off that reality hadn't set in yet.  Then I forgot about it until about 2 weeks before Kaylee's actual birthday and realized that I should probably start planning a party!  Which meant deciding on a theme immediately (rainbows!), running out that day to get paper for invitations, and getting them in the mail by the next morning.  Mission accomplished but I was surprised to find ZERO traditional rainbow paper.  I settled with a girly version of the rainbow and was quite pleased with the results.

Thanks to Pinterest I had a lot of ideas to pull from.  Here are my Pinterest boards if you're interested:
Original idea board http://pinterest.com/kayteedidsshop/3rd-birthday-ideas/
Rainbow board http://pinterest.com/kayteedidsshop/rainbows/

And here is the party!

Taste the Rainbow: Rainbow Goldfish, gumballs, candies, Skittles, and Apricots off my Dad's tree

The spread - a Rainbow of Fruit tray and a Rainbow of Veggies tray with Today I Ate a Rainbow passports for the kids!  

Rainbow Over the Ranch Dip

Marshmallow Clouds Dip (cream cheese and marshmallow creme...mmmm!) and Pots of Gold

We set up the easel that Mandy and I used as kids.  It was quite windy out but the kids didn't seem to mind. Kaylee loves to paint!

Is anyone else impressed that people ate more of the veggies than the fruit?  My friend Annika baked the cupcakes and helped me decorate them (well, I just sprinkled the rainbow candies she did the rest).  I didn't get a picture of the entire table set up uneaten though!  :(

Kaylee blew out her #3 candle like a pro!  

Then proceeded to walk from person to person offering her cupcake until she decide that Aunt Joy was the perfect person to give it to.  

And then our crazy child chose to eat purple cauliflower instead of a cupcake...

She had a blast opening presents!  Her family and friends know her well!

Thanks to Grandpa for hosting the party!  And to Michele for helping me prep all the food and decorations!

And most of all, thank you to John.  Thank you for helping me throw Kaylee such a fun party but even more so helping me raise her to be the awesome 3 year old that she is.  :)  We love you!

Catching up

Okay, okay! I'm blogging!!  ;)  Here's a recap from the last 2 months, in no particular order because I don't have the time or energy to be chronologically correct and you hopefully don't mind.  ;)

 I met Shalom just a few hours after she was born and then spent 5 days with them Crum-sitting, cleaning, and letting Mandy and Seth take naps!  You can see more of Shalom over on their blog. 

 Ready to party! Headed off to a cousin's 6th birthday.

 We made fruit popsicles.

Kaylee loves to paint!

 She likes to mow the lawn so why not have a bubble making mower!

We planted a garden - corn, zucchini, cucumbers, strawberries, carrots, lettuce, and sunflowers.  The last 3 didn't make it thanks to our pet squirrel who ate all the tasty sprouts.  I eventually netted off the rest of the garden and it is growing nicely!

She also loves to water the flowers.  This is her wildflower garden in it's early stages.

And then some of the blooms.

 4th of July, hanging out with Mommy at home. 

Our friend Michelle came down from San Jose to babysit Kaylee for an entire day with the only instructions that John and I were not allowed to talk about Kaylee more than 50% of the time, and we couldn't come back home for any long period of time.  It was a fun date day!!

Sierra Brewery for lunch - I had Pomegranate Ale, it was delicious!

Dai Bai Dang for dinner!

Yogurtland for dessert! Then we saw Avengers in 3D on the iMax screen!  

 Incase you didn't know, we love Yogurtland! 

We've swam a few times so far this summer. 

 

Aunt Mandy, Uncle Seth & Shalom sent Kaylee a new pool for her birthday!  It has a sprinkler built in and Kaylee loves it!

John is having fun with his 1969 VW Bug.  

He joined the Deutschlanders VW club in Fresno.  We went to the Madera Drive-in theaters last week in a caravan of VWs.  We saw Brave and had a great time!  John's Bug is the black one, 5 from either side in this picture.

This last week we went to Cambria with my Aunt and Uncle.   

 And we've had playdates with cousins. 

I think that catches you up.  It's been in the high 90's to 110 degrees for the last 2 months so we stay inside mostly. I'll blog about Kaylee's birthday party next, I promise it won't take 2 more months.  :)

Tree Planting

Yesterday we went up to my Uncle Laure' and Aunt Jenifer's property near Kings Canyon National Park.  The goal was to plant little Christmas trees and have a lot of family fun...both goals were achieved and here's the proof!

 Hollowed out logs make good forts!

Look Out Point - 

  This is where I viewed from

 This is where the guys viewed from

Planting Christmas Trees!  In a few years we get to go back up and harvest them for Christmas! I think the plan is to go back up every year and add more so that they continue to grow and can be harvested for years to come.  

 Putting the sawdust around the trees for insulation.

 Kaylee loves Kylie and Kylie was the perfect babysitter even though she was sound asleep!

 John, hard at work

 Some of the gang

The highlight of the trip was when cousin Philip took the little girls on tractor rides.  Kaylee was in Heaven.  She loves tractors, and Philip too!

 Driving home

Less than 5 minutes into the ride home....