Fire Engine Birthday Party

Anna Claire's 3rd birthday party was a huge success!! I was very proud of the outcome, she was TRILLED, and her Daddy was very impressed with my thinking and abilities. LOL!! When Anna Claire first chose a Fire Engine birthday party I panicked!! She's a little girl!! How would I ever make this work? {the lady at Kroger did ask me how old my son was going to be as she blew up the balloons} I asked Anna Claire almost every day for a week what type of birthday party she wanted and the answer was always Fire Engine. I wanted to make sure she did not change her mind and she didn't. Once I accepted the Fire Engine party challenge, I told her Daddy my thoughts and ideas. He looked at me like I had lost my mind and at one point I believe he said, "are you serious?" Well, YES!!! Why would I bring it up if I was not serious. I waited another week for him to make it happen and he didn't. I think he still thought I was nuts and didn't want to embarrass himself by asking the Fire Chief for my outlandish requests. : ) I then get a call from Uncle Josh asking me exactly what I wanted for her party. I told him and after he puffed at me, he said, "well, let me see what I can do." Uncle Josh made it happen, even though he still puffed at me up until it was over. : )

So here goes...........................

You remember the invitation, right?

I have Party City to thank for these polka dot table clothes to which I stressed over until they arrived because I knew they looked like polka dots, but they were in the Barnyard Bash collection, so I had to hope that they were really not cow spots. Thankfully, the picture was correct.

We had to have pink fire hats and the boys got red fire hats just like them. : )
I had NO CLUE what I was going to have Anna Claire wear to the party. I searched and searched for a girly fire engine shirt. Finally, I saw a shirt that I liked, so I asked the lady if she could make a specific shirt for me. I told her what I wanted and viola!! It was perfect!!
(http://www.etsy.com/ is similar to eBay, but these items are all made by the seller)
Big Daddy came through with his traditional bounce house. He even ordered it early enough to make sure we got the fire dog bounce house. Thank you Big Daddy and MeMe!!
Here is where Daddy thought I was getting out of control, until the party was over and then he told me what an awesome Mom I am!! LOL!! There is Uncle Josh driving the Fire Engine, but who is that wearing the Sparky costume?

The kids got to climb in the fire truck. Anna Claire would not get out of the driver's seat. I guess she is going to be controlling like her Momma, sorry.

Anna Claire's special treat for being the Birthday Girl was that she got to use the fire hose. {FYI.....this was not my idea. It was the puffers idea. LOL} Thank you Uncle Josh for the fire engine and Sparky visit!!

The cake and cupcakes were AWESOME!!!! Check out the fire dog made out of fondant!! I felt like I was on "Ace of Cakes" when I picked up the cake and cupcakes!! Thank you Grammie and Granddaddy for paying for the cake and cupcakes.

I have not uploaded the pictures from my camera yet. I have a few more pictures to take before I'm ready to do the birthday upload. All of these pictures came from a family members camera. I will post more from the party when I get my pictures uploaded. I cannot wait to show you how happy she was when the fire engine was pulling in the driveway and how much she LOVED Sparky!!

I have to thank God for giving me such a wonderful family!! Anna Claire's day was perfect thanks to everyone's help!! She is a very special little girl and it makes me proud to know that everyone loves her as much as I do.

Birthday Girl...........

Happy 3rd Birthday

Anna Claire!!!

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

It's hard to believe that Monday, April 26th at 7:53am my sweet baby girl will be 3 years old. Where does the time go? How did my precious little girl go from this......

to this.......................
to this, in such a short amount of time?
One thing about it though, the saying is true........The more things change, the more they stay the same. She's growing up, but she still has the same love for the same things she always has. It's amazing to look back and see the things that have not changed. We always notice the changes, but sometimes over look the sweet things that never change.

She still has the same love for Baby Pups today, as she did the first day she got him.

This NEVER gets old!!!

She can steal Uncle Josh's heart today just as easy as she could when she was born.

I still can't trust her. : p

Harley is still her best friend, as he has always been.

She still loves her Big Daddy like no other.

If you have facebook, then you read that she climbed the stairs and got a present down the other day. This has not changed either. This is when she found her 1st Birthday presents.

She will still sit for hours waiting in the ice cream man and gets mad when I tell her that he doesn't come in the Winter time.

She still loves a good tea party.

She can still throw a fit like no other.

I love Anna Claire more today than I did yesterday and it's amazing how a child can truly show you how much you can love. I never imagined loving some one as much as I love her. Now, just pray that I can make it through the terrible three's. LOL!! The two's were nothing like I was told, but the three's are already not looking so good. Some days I wonder where my child went because I know that is not her screaming and crying until she gags.

As I was looking through pictures I found this picture of Anna Claire, Maci, and Peatie. Maci is so focused on what Anna Claire is doing. She was like that with Anna Claire the first day we brought her home. Her and I both miss Maci something terrible. She was the best dog ever.

Birthday Invitation!!

If I said I wasn't proud of it, I would not be telling the truth. : ) I was not 100% satisfied with the way it printed out, but I have dealt with that. I struggled to find a girly fire anything invitation for Anna Claire's birthday party, so I made this one myself. I started with a plain white screen. The dalmatian is clip art, but that polka dot background you see is not a template. I had to color the page yellow and make all the polka dots myself. It was a challenge and I considered quitting more than once, but I'm glad I finished it because I really wanted a more girly invitation and no one carries or makes them for the theme Anna Claire chose.

Easter

Anna Claire LOVED coloring Easter eggs this year and she was very proud of them once they dried. I have tons of pictures of her holding her eggs. Anna Claire has tons of pictures of her MeMe holding her eggs in her camera because she wanted to take a picture of MeMe, but she had to hold an egg. She makes me laugh!!

Here's an egg hold.

The Easter Bunny came to our house, but I will say that is was beginning to look like he may not show up because someone didn't want to go to sleep and the Easter Bunny was very tired after all that egg coloring.

I'm sure the neighbors are still thanking the Easter Bunny for this. She loves to take it outside with her. : )

Here she is before Church. {notice the eggs}

The Easter Bunny made it to MeMe's too. I'm sure he didn't have to wait at her house.

Then we did some egg hunting. Anna Claire got tired of carrying the basket around and decided to just gather up as many eggs as she could hold and then carry them to the basket.

I don't know where she gets her attitude from...........It has to be from her Daddy. ;o