Happy 3rd Birthday, Elaina Joy!

Elaina Joy's 3rd birthday was January 6th! We had a very exciting day planned with her. Jeff had worked on sub plans the afternoon and evening before for a couple of hours to prepare to take the day of her birthday (Tuesday) off of work. Those of you who are teachers now how long leaving detailed sub plans can take. We were so excited for her big day! Tuesday morning, the morning of her birthday, the phone rang at 6 a.m., the interim superintendent called a 2 hour delay due to the weather. Jeff's mind began to race, thinking of how the sub plans that he worked so hard on were now not going to work as planned. We turned on the television and realized that the roads further north were not looking good, so our day changed completely. Jeff ended up going into work and we rescheduled all of our plans for the day. He would have been wondering all day what kind of condition his classroom were in if he had stayed home. We were super bummed, but it was the best thing to do. So, the girls and I spent the day at home. We went out for dinner when Jeff got home from work, and the waiter brought Elaina a birthday sundae. She was so excited.


We rescheduled everything that we planned to do for Thursday, and it worked out great!
Jeff took Thursday off of work, and we left town right after breakfast to head up to a doctor's appointment for Mommy on the northside. After we were done there, we headed back down to Greenwood, and we had lunch and played games at Chuck-E-Cheese. This was our first visit to Chuck-E-Cheese. I must admit that I was a bit apprehensive since we had not been before with the girls, but it really was great. It seemed to be very clean, it wasn't crowded at all since it was a Thursday during the school week, and the girls had so much fun . . . and Daddy, too!


After our lunch at Chuck-E-Cheese, we headed to Build-A-Bear. This was our first visit there as well. Elaina built her first bear, and she had so much fun. It was so sweet. She was the perfect age for her first visit. She had a ball, and at times, we would catch her standing in the middle of the store, loving on her new bear and talking to it. The bear she built shows her personality. We had a song added to the bear that sings a birthday song to her. It is really cute. Emily is having a hard time now that we are at home with the bear. She gets very jealous of it, but Elaina does do a good job of sharing it with her. Emily will just have to wait until her 3rd birthday for her first visit to Build-A-Bear. Oh, the lessons to be learned in life. :)


We had Elaina's birthday party with a few friends a family on Saturday. She has been talking for literally months now about having a "blue Little Bear party." She loves the show, Little Bear, and her favorite color is blue, so she combined the two together for her party. We don't get to see Uncle Paul very often, and he was able to make it down for her party. We were so excited. He spent a lot of time playing with the kids, and Elaina already talks about missing him.

Happy 3rd Birthday, Elaina Joy! We love you so much, and are so thankful that God entrusted you to us.

Picking out a heart for her bear.

Stuffing her bear after kissing the heart and placing it inside of the bear.

Grooming the bear after it had it's first bath.

Elaina in her birthday cupcake shirt, pushing her new bear through the store in a stroller.

Dressing her new bear. Introducing, "Belle - The Birthday Ballerina Bear." (Daddy helped with the extended name.) It was so fun to watch Elaina shop for the outfit that she wanted her bear to have.

Enjoying lunch at Chuck-E-Cheese.

Emily enjoying her lunch!

Hold on!

Elaina and Chuck-E!

Redeeming their tickets.

Cupcakes featuring the "Little Bear Gang." (No Feet, Emily, Duck, Owl, Hen, at, Mama Bear, Papa Bear, and Little Bear.)

The much anticipated blue Little Bear cake. I was up until 12:45 a.m. the morning before her party decorating this cake and her cupcakes. Oh, what a Mommy will do for her precious babies!

The girls with their Uncle Paul. They loved being silly with him!

Lacing cards!

Uncle Paul was the official card reader.

Cinderella!

Some of our wonderful friends and family! Thank you everyone for being such a special part of Elaina's life!