And one more third birthday party!

Yesterday was Libby's actual birthday. My brother Keith and his wife Diane, Libby's God-parents, joined us, as well as Marc and Teri and their daughter Maddy, whom we are God-parents to, and our dear neighbors Tom and Gail. I love grilling turkey, and was happy to find a fresh one at the grocery store when I was there. Libby's other favorites, pasta, watermelon and chips, were also part of the feast. On a tip from my friend Rena, I got the ice cream cake from Trader Joe's. Everyone agreed they liked it even better than the one from DQ. We had lots of wine, laughter and a very lovely evening. Libby grinned from ear to ear. Oops, no she did not have any wine :) Uncle Keith is one of her favorite people and they get just silly when they are together. It is hard to believe she is already 3. The time has flown by.



Unfortunately, we did not have a good night's sleep. Eric sat with her, but when he came to bed, she followed shortly, so I brought her back to her bed and sat with her. Everytime I tried to leave, crawling across the floor, she would wake up and call for me. Finally, we both fell asleep. When we awoke, Eric was long gone and it turned out to be after 9:00! Eric and I are both at a loss as to what to do about her lack of sleeping. It makes it really hard to get up and go the next day. I know this because she is still naked and snuggled with Molly, and I have yet to take a shower.


We were planning on going to the State Fair tomorrow, but Eric's company has a parking lot right by the fair that they staff for it. Lucky Eric is in charge of coordinating this. As it is their first time doing it, it has led to a lot of snafus. He will be working late there tonight and will probably have to work part of the day tomorrow. We hate not seeing him on the weekend, but the big Mac Groveland garage sale is going on, so I think Miss Lib and I will hit that during the morning.

I just have to end with saying how amazed we are by our little girl. She is funny, sunny, witty, loves good jokes, bossy, tempermental and just an absolute joy. We love our little sunshine more than words could ever come close to describing. Happy birthday, dear little Lib Lib.

Libby's Third Birthday Party

We had Libby's third birthday party this past Saturday at a place called the Java Train. It is a neighborhood coffee shop that caters to Mom's and their children. We rented the downstairs party room for the morning. I can say this without prejudice, we had seven of the cutest girls EVER, all in one place. Last year, Libby was very bemused by her birthday, and never got that it was about her. Trust me, she got it this year! :) She loved every single minute of it. We did a princess pinata for the kids to smack at. It's a lot harder than it looks. I loved having it because I think it is great to show kids they can have fun, wait their turn, and cheer their friends on-all of which happened. Even our littlest ones, Amelia and Chloe, took a couple of very nice whacks at it (with a little help from moms). Turns out the best thing about the pinata was playing "tether ball" with it after it had been busted open. The "sticker the tail on the donkey" game went much the same way, but I had to laugh that when I told Libby to put the tail just where Merlie's is, she chose to put it on the nose! But the hit of the party? Running from one side of the room to the other and hiding behind a curtain there and then running back across again, screaming at the top of their lungs. It was high entertainment that must have gone on for almost 1/2 hour. Libby does not quite know how to "whoo" when blowing out candles, so luckily, her friend Lexa was there to help her blow out the candles. All of the presents were so lovely and thoughtful. It was so nice to have everyone gathered together and to see the smiles on all the girls faces, but mostly that of my almost three year old, Libby. Happy third birthday, our little love and light of our lives!

Been too long!

Why I try to post once or twice a week! I use my blog as more of a diary than anything else, and everyone is welcome to read it, or skip to the pictures. I hate when I have so much to catch up on. Summer has blown by. Heck, the years have blown by. Eric and I celebrated our 7 year anniversary on the 17th. We have Libby's third birthday on the 27th, but are celebrating on the 22nd. Then, BAM, summer is over. Thank goodness for the State Fair!

Libby had her three year check up. She is 38 inches tall and 30 pounds, putting her at 70% and 50 % respectively. She is doing just great. What a trooper when she had her three shots, I was so proud of her. She has 20/30 vision in both eyes, which is where they want you at three, so that is great.

We have had such a busy summer between play dates, vacations, and a few classes. We had Libby's final little program for her toddler tumbling class. I recommend it highly to anyone in St. Paul. Miss Amy is a wonderful teacher and somehow controls a class of 3 and 4 year old's with no mishap. Libby was the youngest in the class and it was clear she did not always know what was going on, but she always did it with a smile. Found out that Miss Libby can do perfect sommersaults, which we had never seen. Libby was supposed to attempt cartwheels at one point. Miss Amy had this to say, "Why those are the most hopping cartwheels I have ever seen!". Will just say we have to work on the cartwheels...We went to Rena's after wards, and there are pics of our bathing beauties also attached.

Tenzing's birthday was Sunday. Libby and the T-Man had not seen each other in over 8 days, so they could barely contain themselves. We had a lovely afternoon. One of the items in the gift bag was a balloon pump and balloons. Let's just politely say that Eric took over the launching of balloons so that the children would not get hurt-yeah, right.

We had a rough night last night. Libby was up several times and Merlie was completely tweaked out by the storm. I am very tired today, but almost happy it is raining, as I am a slug and do not want to leave the house.

Getting very excited for Libby's birthday party on Saturday. How the time has just flown by. I still cannot get over listening to her and her little friends talking to each other. Annie was over the other day, and I heard such incredible dialog. "Annie want me to push you in swing?". "No, I swing by myself". "OK, want to play in the sand box?". It's so cool.

Tornado warning in effect, so off to the basement.

That's So Naughy

Yep, "that's so naughty" has become Libby's catch phrase for anything and everything, whether it fits or not. When it does not, I completely crack up into giggles, and then she says it over and over again.

We had a lovely dinner at Colleen and Doug's on Saturday night. Molly, our guide from China looks exactly the same. We were happy to hear that she married (by civil ceremony) and will be having a traditional wedding this fall in her husband's village. It was also nice to meet David Pan, the man who makes your arrangements for travel and hotels when you are in China. A pleasant addition was Vivian, who is a guide in another province. We had many laughs. Molly was so sweet and brought both Jai and Libby a kite. Libby and Jai played together the best they ever have and it was wonderful to see. They only had a few skirmishes, where as before, that was pretty much all they had. We have noticed Libby's interaction with other kids has changed so drastically this past month. Most of her friends are within two months of each other, and they all seem to make the big leaps around the same time. I love listening to her when she is talking with Jai, Tenzing and Lexa.

We went to MOA yesterday to see Kai Lan as part of the Toddler Tuesday series. Lexa and Rena met us there. Neither girl would get near the poor person in the Kai Lan suit, but both enthusiastically did the dragon dance. Libby and Lexa are terrors together. They seem to bring it out in each other. There were two very tired mamas who finally left the mall :)

Libby seems to be the one amongst her friends who is really shooting up. Her shoe size went from a 6-1/2 at the beginning of summer to an 8! She has grown probably an inch taller, yet her weight still hovers at 30 pounds. I do have to brag about how silly and funny she is. She makes me laugh just about every day. Her smile is so big and open, I just love to see it on her face.

We are looking at doing an addition to the house to increase the size of Libby's bedroom, get a pantry and also a very coveted closet. Our first contractor came over with plans yesterday. I am shocked to say, Eric actually liked them! We are waiting to get bids from several others and will then make the big decision; add on, or move.

A gorgeous day here, and we are off to enjoy it with other moms and kids.