Happy Birthday, Kate!

Kathryn Grace is three!  It's hard to believe where the past three years have gone, but we all feel incredibly blessed to have this little girl in our lives.  I don't know who has it best ... Anna got a super sweet little sister; I got a super cuddly daughter; and Matt got a partner in crime :)  Maybe we're all equally blessed.

Anyway, the birthday fun was busy, but memorable.  Kate woke up to gifts, hidden 3's, and muffins.

She and Anna spent the morning playing with new toys before we headed to preschool for the last day family picnic.  After that, we went across town to go to music class and then came back home for some down time.  Adam gave Kate The Lion King movie for her birthday so we piled in front of the TV in the basement to watch that afternoon.  (Side note, the girls were already in love with the Lion King story because of a couple of books we had either received from friends or checked out from the library.  Since they saw the movie, they daily play with their chosen stuffed animals renamed Simba, Mufasa, Nala, Sarabi, etc. and also sing the songs almost nonstop.)

We finished the birthday with a special dinner and rhubarb pie for dessert.  Yum!

Sunday we had some friends over for a little party for Kate.  The evening was lots of fun and filled with lots of memories.  We didn't decorate too much, but the girls were playing in another part of the house when we did.  As soon as Kate came in the dining room, her expression was priceless.  Her face lit up and she made some comment about how colorful everything was :)

Kate really enjoyed the few games we did, especially "Pin the cherry on the cupcake", and the pinata.

(Matt had to help the kids with the pinata, although some of the 5 year old girls have a pretty good swing ...

When it came time to have cake and sing "Happy Birthday", I don't think she quite realized it was all for her until about halfway through the song.  Then her face lit up again and she got the biggest grin.  Such a sweet, sweet girl she is.

The evening ended with the girls and some guests climbing onto the roof of the playhouse and goofing off :)

In the midst of all of this, we've had an abnormally busy few weeks with activities at church, other friends' birthdays, and another meeting with the landscapers.Plus, Anna's school is out now, so we've had the freedom to do some different things during the day and have all just gotten more tired out than normal this past week.  One of the fun things we did this week was take a field trip out to some church member's small farm this afternoon after Bible Study.  They're raising a handful of meat chickens and a few hogs this season and since we signed up for half a hog and a couple of birds, I thought it'd be good for Kate and Anna to see the animals first.  We had a good time :)