More fun at the Discovery Center

The rest of Charlotte's birthday party went by in a blur.  There was a fire engine to climb on:

A play house to pretend in:

Rocking giraffes to ride on:

A tree balcony to climb up:

And of course, a tantrum to throw when it was time to leave.  Too bad we took this photo outside her party room on our way out the door.  We really did have a great time, as evidenced by Charlotte's disappointment upon exit.

Happy birthday, my sweet girl!

Peter makes a new friend

For some reason, there was a person dressed up as the mouse from the book If You Give a Mouse a Cookie at the Discovery Center during Charlotte's party.  Despite feeling so cruddy from his ear infections, Peter took one look at the mouse and decided he was in LOVE.  He has recently developed an affinity for stuffed animals, and he apparently thought this must be another buddy for him to cuddle.

Petey toddled right up to the mouse and grabbed an arm to snuggle.

"Can you come home with me?  Please?!?!?"

"Mommy, I think this mouse wants to come home with us.  We can just strap him to the top of the Big Red Van.  He can sleep in my crib with me!"

We had to bribe Peter with his beloved monkey blanket to peel him off of the mouse.  Most kids are afraid of people dressed up in animal costumes, but apparently not Peter.  I guess this means a trip to Chuck E. Cheese may be a little dangerous, since Peter might storm the stage and try to cuddle the animatronic band!

Charlotte's 3rd Birthday Extravaganza!

We figured out the perfect birthday party for our little animal lover.  The Discovery Center in Murfreesboro had a party that seemed specifically designed for Charlotte -- an opportunity to pick out five animals to come to her party (in a controlled classroom setting) and then free play in the Discovery Center itself.

We started in the party room with an amazing cake made by the fantastic Alicia.  She and Charlotte developed the concept over many discussions the past few weeks.  Charlotte was very certain about the elephants, but the colors were only nailed down in the 11th hour because every time you asked Charlotte, her answer would change.

Watching through the window at her guests arriving.

Shlurping on her favorite treat -- lemonade!

Charlotte has a distinct affinity for Baby Gabe.  Sometimes, we have to hold her back from loving him a little too much.

I bet she wished for some animals to meet.

But first, we opened some great presents, like this cute elephant skirt from Faith Carol.

A play cooking set!

Next, we got to sit down on rainbow mats and have the animals brought out to us.  Charlotte had gone in before the party and viewed all the possible animals.  She asked each one she chose, "would you like to come to my bihfday pahtee?"  The young gal from the Discovery Center then listened in and told Charlotte that yes, indeed they would like to come to her party.  Charlotte chose a bunny, a gecko, a chinchilla, a snake, and a tortoise.

The bunny was a big hit!  Too bad Peter was knocked flat by a double ear infection that subdued him into a dazed stupor during the party, or else he would have had a blast seeing the animals as well.

Hi little gecko!  (Madison petted him too.)

NanaB and I were NOT excited about the snake, but she was very pretty colored.

Odie and Luke were braver than me.

The chinchilla took a hilarious dust bath in a little bowl to get all the oil from our hands off his fur.

Charlie P. wasn't too keen on the animals until the tortoise came out.  Everyone really liked her.

More fun from the party to come.  This post is too long as it is!

NanaB

Oh man -- I thought we didn't get a lot of photos of Grandma JoJo last weekend, but somehow we got even less of NanaB!  I totally fell down on the photography job this weekend.  NanaB is such a great buddy to Charlotte and Peter.  Her years as a nursery school teacher and children's services librarian have attuned her to kids in a special way and it shows!  Too bad these are all the photos we got of NanaB this weekend:

She was with us at Blue Coast Burrito (one of our favorite restaurants!).

She pushed Peter on the swing at the park.  He is a fool for the swings!  In fact, it's kind of a problem since he pitches crazy fits when you try to take him out.  

Here, NanaB modeled one of Charlotte's birthday presents -- a headpiece for a cowgirl dress-up outfit!

NanaB was also part of the crew making the animal cookies.  We had a good time trying to decipher what animal each cookie cutter was supposed to be.

I thought this shot was pretty funny.  This was one well-documented birthday party for one very lucky little three-year-old!

Thank you so much for coming all the way from Michigan to help us celebrate!  We're ready for lots of fun adventures in East Tennessee in May!!

GrandDad Larry

GrandDad and NanaB arrived for Charlie Jo's birthday weekend on Saturday morning.  He hit the ground running and won the game of Zingo that everyone was playing.

After lunch at Blue Coast Burrito, we headed out to our new favorite park.

But then he almost dropped Charlie on her head.  (Apparently, he did the same thing to Uncle Dave when Dave was a baby!)

GrandDad and his Mini Me took Connie for a nice long walk.  The boys wore matching hats (well, for as long as Peter would actually keep the hat on . . .).

When Petey's ear infections hit hard right before the birthday party, GrandDad held a sleeping Peter and then volunteered to stay with Peter out in the van while Peter slept through the first 45 minutes of the party.  We made sure GrandDad got some cake though!

GrandDad checked out the gecko at the birthday party.  He asked him for a car insurance quote, but got no response.

The corn snake even got some love from GrandDad!

The kids have so much fun with their sweet, goofy GrandDad.  Can't wait to hang out with you in the mountains next month!

Grandma JoJo

Grandma JoJo arrived Friday afternoon for Charlotte's third birthday weekend.  Not the third weekend celebrating the birthday, but the weekend of celebrating the third birthday, that is.  Unfortunately, my seriously awesome mom was nearly always the photographer and there is little photographic evidence that she was even here this weekend.  Whoops.

We do have proof that she read Charlotte a book:

Cuddled with Petey Pie (who sadly developed raging double ear infections this weekend) on the couch:

Helped Petey ride the rocking horse:

And baked sugar cookies with Charlotte and NanaB.

I promise that next time we hang out with Grandma JoJo, I will take on more of the picture-taking job and get some gorgeous shots of JoJo with the grandkids.  We can't wait to visit her in the new house in Texas this summer!

Grandpa Spike

It's not every little kid who has a grandpa named "Spike".  Yes, even my father's business cards say "Spike".  There's a vague story about how his name evolved from "Charles" to "Spike" in kindergarten because several other boys shared the same name, but suffice it to say he won't answer to anything else after close to six decades of the appellation.

Anyway, Grandpa Spike was in town most of last week for business before the rest of the grandparents joined him to celebrate Charlotte's birthday.  He has a special talent for amusing young folks, so the kids had a blast enjoying some alone time with him.  We did all sorts of fun things.

Grandpa Spike created a points system for keeping track of whether he or Peter "won" at feeding Petey breakfast.  For the record, I entered the contest late and may have actually won if I had kept track of the bites better.

We went swimming in the pool at Grandpa Spike's hotel and Grandpa taught Peter to walk right off the edge of the pool (because he can't jump) into his arms.  Unfortunately, we had to be on guard at all times because Peter liked to do it whether we were ready or not.  That kid has no fear!

It looks like my dad is wrestling Peter into submission here, but really Peter was attacking a snoozing Grandpa.

Charlotte taught Grandpa her favorite board game.

We went out to lunch.

Charlie Jo enlisted Grandpa's help in assembling her cool elephant card that my sister's in-laws sent.

Grandpa Spike and Peter developed an acrobatics act.

And Grandpa Spike even got Charlotte to go down a 2-story high twisty tube slide at her birthday party. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes!

Come back soon, Grandpa Spike!  We miss you!!  (More posts to come featuring the other grandparents!)

Keecher

Charlotte's new love is her toy puppy (a birthday gift from Greatest Aunt Janet and Great Uncle Bart), which she has named "Keecher".  I have no idea where she got that name from, but she was very sure about it.  Keecher makes all sorts of cute noises and rolls across the floor.  Best of all, Keecher came in a little pink purse.  The evil geniuses who created this must be gazillionaires.  Here is Charlotte, telling you all about her new "little buddy".

Now if only I could get her to stop screeching like she's being murdered every time Peter goes near Keecher...

Birthday cacophony

Happy birthday to my sweet three-year-old girl, Charlotte!  To celebrate, Charlotte and her buddies decided to play a special song on the piano.  The results were, well, interesting.  

[By the way, we're thinking Peter's new middle name should be "Me too!"  He has had more fun toddling after his sister and her friends.  This is such a classic scene.]

All of Charlotte's grandparents will be in town this weekend to see their special girl.  I suppose Peter will get doted upon too.  It's sure to be fun!