Birthday Party!

Last weekend we celebrated my daughter's 3rd birthday! Yes, it is crazy to believe that she is 3 and to see her exhibiting new "big-girl" behaviors every day. I was so excited that my husband was here for her birthday this year, since he missed it last year and will be missing both our sons birthdays this year. So I had planned a fun backyard BBQ with a bounce house, and invited all our friends. Apparently, we have way too many friends! Because a week before the party we suddenly discovered that our guest list was over 60 people (including kids) and we had no idea how to feed them all. So... we had to start from scratch, "cancel" the party invites, and call just a few close friends to come over and celebrate. We ended up with 7 other families, which was a perfect size. Sophia was grinning all day long. She loved her 'bouncy castle,' her friends, the cupcakes, the presents, the balloons, all of it! It was wonderful to see her so happy, and I actually had a wonderful relaxing time! Most other parties I have gone to without my husband, so it was great to have his help serving food and keeping an eye on the kids.
It's also good that he keeps me in check sometimes. I think as moms we are flooded with birthday party ideas in magazines, conversations, parenting websites, etc. As we were faced with our gigantic guest list, hubby commented, "This is a 3-year-old's party. What you're talking about is what my parents did for my sister's graduation from high school!" And he was right. It is easy to get carried away inviting people, planning a "theme" and buying decorations. But at this age it is the little things that make the kids happy. She was thrilled to pick out "Tangled" plates and napkins, and her favorite colors of balloons, and that's really all it took. I went over the guest list with the birthday girl to whittle it down, and was surprised to hear her say of a few playmates, "I don't really like him/her. Danny (her brother) likes them." So she got to pick the guests, in the end. We had a wonderful day, and I was thrilled to be able to enjoy it as a family. Do you have any memorable birthday stories or tips to share?

Family Visits

This weekend we are treated to a visit from my sister-in-law and her 2 kids. Sophia and Danny LOVE when their cousins get to visit! Sophia has been counting down for 2 weeks now, and telling me all the fun things she will do with them. But the cousins are a little older, ages 6 and 10, they they can handle more activities than my little ones. Mine still need naps, so in the morning we played here and went for a short walk while Danny was napping. Then for the few hours everyone was awake we went to the park and out to lunch. It was warm and a little breezy, and everyone was exhausted after running around on the playground for a while! Now we are back home and everyone is enjoying some quiet down time. I think this evening we will have a backyard BBQ, since the weather is amazingly nice for February!

Luckily, the kids are pretty easy to entertain at this age. We just take them to a playground and everyone is happy for an hour. If they visit during the summer we usually go to the beach. We haven't done any trips down to Wilmington because that is a little too far. But I am always looking for interesting short trips to take around the Jacksonville area, whether in summer or winter. Anyone have any kid-friendly ideas besides Chuck E. Cheese and Jump N Jax?