Amelia's 3rd Birthday Party!

Our little girl turned 3! I say it every year... "where does the time go?!" I remember as a child that time seemed to go by so slow, who turns up the dial on the speed controls as you get older?

It was a wonderful party. As I have said many times, Amelia is really into worms and caterpillars. So that is what we went with for a theme. This was my first time actually following a 'theme' of sorts, and it was fun! It helped that Amelia loved and appreciated every detail. Andy drew bugs with chalk on the driveway/entrance, there were little caterpillar cut-outs all over the place, her cake was a dump truck dirt cake, and we gave out bug rings, finger puppet bugs, and of course gummy worms!
Daddy's handy work.
Our Little Girls Dirt Cake in a dump truck...Oh the difference a year makes...Last year a princess cake, this year a dump truck...

When Amelia goes looking for her worms and caterpillars she puts them in Harry's truck or her shopping cart. Seeing that it would be quite difficult to put the dirt cake in a shopping cart, we settled for a dump truck. She loved it...and the kids got a kick out of eating "dirt"
Mema made butterfly cupcakes too! They were yummy, and oh so cute! Nina was so happy to have a girl to play with. Nice to see you Kate!

Thanks Uncle Jeffie & Aunt Annie!

Getting a good smell of her gummy worms. This was her first seeing them...she now talks about them everyday.

Using the new critter finder (thank Harrelsons!) That came in handy just the other day. It kept a caterpillar nice and cozy until daddy came home to see it. (Well...nice and cozy as far as I was concerned!) :)
Jack, Matthew & Nina Looking for worms.

Nina nearly pushed Great Grandma Zander over for a hug goodbye.

Cutting the food that Uncle Jeffie & Aunt Annie got her...With her new bug bracelet on, I made it for her...that too was a big hit. It has caterpillars and a lady bug on it.

Mema & Papa got this for her...such a basic thing, but one of her favorites. She fell asleep holding the ball.

From Grandpa & Grandma Lewis...her favorite gift...bait and tackle worms. When I asked her what her favorite gift was she said the big one...She received a trunk with dress-up clothes in it (thanks Oderkirks), she said "no I liked that, but the BIG one!" I asked her what it was and she said her worms. The next morning she was making letters out of them. This was her making a letter 'T'. "Look mama, a T!" Proud as can be...

Harrys new smile...
So for her birthday we got her a big wheel. The night before at 11:30 Andy was putting together and wouldn't you know...there were two pieces missing, the ones that hold the wheel on. Ugh!!

So, Sunday we ran down to South Bend, where we had tracked a big wheel down and had them holding it for us. It was worth it. Even though it was raining and cold, we still let her give a whirl.

Harry said to me..."Look Mama, look at my tricks!" Below he was pedaling backwards...O-boy.

Thank you everyone for an incredible birthday for our special little girl. She still talks about it, and all of the generous gifts! There were too many to mention all of them, but thank you so very much!