{Katelyn's 3rd Birthday} Swing Set

 We were really cranking our brains to come up with a good birthday present for Katelyn - I mean the girl does.not.need.anything. Then Jack mentioned a swing set. Well you see, I'd been wanting to get her one when we were in GA but always got the idea nixed by the other half, so when he suggested that I was ALL for it. The closest park is not so close, not like in GA. And I was able to find a decent priced one that we could always Craigslist when moving if we can't get it to fit and should be able to recoup quite a bit of our money. The set isn't huge and hopefully something that we can take apart in a few sections to move......we'll see.....in hopefully no sooner than 2-3 years!

Assembly

 My parents and brother came for the weekend, so little did they know that they would get to put together a swing set! Jack and Matt worked on it on Thursday night til it got dark and then my Dad and Matt worked some more on it Friday. We just told Katelyn that they were building something. She kept saying that's a slide, but left it at that. I did my best to keep her away on Friday when it started to look like a swing set. So she was pretty surprised when she came down the stairs.....

She loves it! Now if we could just teach her how to swing. She isn't so fond of us trying to show her, so I guess she'll learn in her own time. But for now, shes going to just have to settle for not going too high!

{Katelyn} 3 years old

Katelyn is 3!!! Where did the last 3 years go? Didn't we just bring her home from the hospital?! I must say, this is probably my favorite age so far. She has changed so much in the last year. I was just looking at her 2nd birthday party post and she looks like such a baby there compared to now!

She has become quite independent over the past year:

• She is fully potty trained during the day and goes all by herself now.
• Sleeps in a big girl bed and there  were no problems transitioning to it from the crib. Unfortunately or fortunately, she gave up her nap when we moved in December. It makes bed time so much easier than it had been but harder for me to get things done during the day.
• In the last 2 months she has figured out that eating is GREAT! She is willing to try food that I make and will even say...."I'll try it Momma! I'll try it!" A lot of the eating has to do with what we call the food. She tried steak and liked it, so now most beef products are ____ steak. i.e. We had meatloaf the other night and we called it "Meatloaf steak" and she gobbled it right up. Next up to try to slide past her is a hamburger. Maybe if we call it "hamburger steak" she'll eat it.
• She became a BIG Sister!

 

She is quite the talker and there is NEVER a quiet moment in the car unless she has fallen asleep. She is talking in full sentences and uses words that make Jack and I look at each other in amazement all the time. She is quite the repeater! And this girl has a memory that is amazing! You can't tell her something at night unless you plan on holding up your end of the bargain the next day because she won't let you forget and if we go somewhere that she went with someone she wont' let you forget that either! I hope this memory stays with her. It should be quite helpful come time to go to school.

She is still attending the CDC on post and we still call it school. She made the transition from the CDC in Georgia to here with little problem. She was a little sad the first day she went here because it was a completely different routine but after the first day she was good to go and continues to ask to go all the time. She just moved over to the 3-5 year old room where there is tons of stuff that she'll love! It's more of a free for all and not as much structured art time, etc which can be good or bad, but for Katelyn means that she can paint or color whenever she wants and doesn't have to wait for the teacher. I got her registered this morning for Preschool for the fall. She will be over the top with excitement so I'm going to hold off on telling her about it until about August, because I don't want to answer and explain daily that we still have 3 more months to go. She'll be going with 2 more of her friends which will make it all the more exciting!

Katelyn is very much a tomboy and enjoys doing things with Daddy. One of her favorite things to do with him is drive through the truck stop that is near our subdivision. She is infatuated with tractor trailers and can tell you what kind of a trailer the truck is pulling. Hmmmm, wonder how she knows all that?! Let me just say, it wasn't my doing! One of Jack's dreams came true the other day......while driving on the interstate (which we do daily to get anywhere from our house), he rolled down her window and she stuck her arm out and made the motion for the trucker to honk his horn.....and he did!

 

Some of her favorite things.....playing with cars and trucks, singing in the truck while driving with Daddy, riding her bike, playing softball ( a new fav!!), doing puzzles, and coloring, painting and stamping.  She loves doing art things! She is really a diverse little girl. One day she's into her baby's and dolls and then the next minute she's playing with cars. I love it!

 

Here's a little Q&A with Katelyn:

1. What is your favorite color? pink

2. What is your favorite toy? Lightning McQueen and Mater

3. What is your favorite fruit? Juicy apples

4. What is your favorite tv show? Doc McStuffins

5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? spaghetti?? (we never have this for lunch unless it's a leftover which is rare! Who knows!)

6. What is your favorite outfit? anything pink

7. What is your favorite game? Elephant game

8. What is your favorite snack? Fruit snacks

9. What is your favorite animal? doggies

10. What is your favorite song? Mean – Taylor Swift

11. What is your favorite book? Berenstain bears

12. Who is your best friend? Lily and Liam and daddy’s my best buddy

13. What is your favorite cereal? Capn crunch

14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Ride my bike

 

15. What is your favorite drink? Juice box

16. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas

17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Baby and dollie and polka dot blankie

18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Patty cakes (pancakes) and cereal

19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? Buffalo Wild Wings

20. What do you want to be when you grow up? make cupcakes ?? (She was being silly, but I'm going to go with it because that's what she told me!)

This was quite comical to me because most of these answers change daily! I plan on doing this every year on her birthday and see how much it changes. 

Stats:

Wt: 27.8 lbs

Ht: 35.5 in

Clothing: 2T pants, 3T shirts

Shoes: 7/8

Through the years:

 

Birth - a few days old

1st Birthday!

2nd Birthday!

 

3rd Birthday!

{Katelyn's 3rd Birthday} Cowgirl Party

Warning: Picture overload!

Katelyn turned 3 on Sunday, May 6 and we celebrated with friends and family on May 5. I've been working on her party for about a month off and on. I would only get to do a bit and then someone would need my attention.....I'm sure you can guess who. But, I think it turned out wonderful and she loved it! Near the end of her party she came up to me and said "Thank you for the best party ever Mommy!" There were definitely tears in my eyes and made all the hard work worth it! She's such a sweetie.....most of the time hehe :) 

Decorations!

"Giddy Up!"

Our beautiful Cowgirl!

Dessert table

Cupcakes!

 

I'm not sure where she gets these poses from......they were all unprompted! What does she think, that she's turning 16?!

The spread......Smoked pork and chicken, baked beans, potato salad, pasta salad, Texas Caviar, chocolate dipped strawberries, watermelon in the shape of cowgirl hats and boots and grapes. Enough to feed an Army!

All the kiddos chowing down!

Happy Birthday time! She made some of the funniest faces while we were singing to her, as if she wasn't so sure about the singing and she blew out the candle before we finished the song. Such a goof ball!

Pinata time! This pinata was made of steal! After all the kids took multiple swings at it and weren't making a dent in it, an adult intervened. I think we'd still be there swinging at that thing if not for the adult help. After another round with no luck from the kids, Katelyn got some help to finish it off!

Playing on Katelyn's new swing set!

Present time! The kids were so great when it came time to open her presents. They would hand her a present and then sit down in a circle around her watching her open it. Not one of them tried to open them for her. I was SO impressed for 3 year olds!

 

Picture time with her guests before they left. I got a picture of all the kids except for her cousin Sadie because they'd left earlier. All total we had 20 adults and 14 kids there - that included 6 babies. We had a house-full!!

Party favors! Each family got a jar of Cowgirl Cookies and the kids each got a hat with bandana. 

Phew! I'm glad we made it through her party! She had so much fun with all her friends and family that came to help her celebrate. She was one tired girl and I think she is still trying to catch up on her sleep! 

For her birthday on Sunday, we asked her where she wanted to eat and she picked BWW (She actually said B dub dub). So Buffalo Wild Wings was where we went. The waitress asked her if she was having a good day and she said yes and that it was her birthday. So they brought out a cup of ice cream and the waitress yelled throughout the restaurant that it was Katelyn's 3rd birthday. Katelyn didn't really know what to do and kept looking out at all the people and then back at the waitress. It was really hilarious and priceless! She slept good that night and was excited to go to her new class at "school" on Monday morning!

Happy 3rd Birthday sweet girl!! We love you to pieces!

Katelyn's 3 year pictures

 Last weekend when Jack was at the race, I took some pictures of Katelyn in hopes that we could use them for her 3 year pictures and we also needed a picture for her birthday party invite. I haven't had a chance to edit any of these pictures yet, but I think they actually came out pretty well and feel like I can find a few to enlarge for framing! So here they are.........