SWIPER, NO SWIPING!

Friday was Lily's 3rd birthday. I know she was more excited than me, for the last month she's woken up saying, "My birthday's in August!" and we had to make a paper chain so that she wouldn't drive me crazy. But I was also super excited. She understood last year a bit about birthdays, but this year she really got it, and it was so much fun. She wanted a Dora party, so Dora we did. Here she is playing Swiper with the mask I made the day before her birthday.

Friday morning we had snowman and heart shaped pancakes. I think I need more cookie cutters. Lance loved eating at the table with Lily!

Lance didn't so much love the Kiddie Park. It's this park near downtown San Antonio with rides, and Friday they were only 50 cents! I tried having Lance go on one; they had to stop the ride to let him get off! This was about the happiest he got. I will say, to his credit, it was very hot and humid!

Lily loved it though. The rides all went around and around, but it was perfect for her.

Afterwards we went downtown and had a picnic with Daddy in his office. Which we were glad we did, because he didn't make it home for her party! He felt awful about it. But to Lily, she will remember going to Daddy's office, not that he missed her party.

The cake turned out! I bought the cake topping at cakesforcures.com, for $7! It was so much better and easier than decorating a cake, which I am TERRIBLE at (see Lance's birthday entry for proof). When Lily saw it she gasped and said, "Mommy, I love it!" It was so worth it for that!

We had yummy Mexican food-cheese quesadillas, toquitoes from Costco, chips, etc. And a mango juice with sprite in it. The kids all actually ate. It's so much easier just feeding 2 and 3 year olds than it is adults! The simpler the better!

We played Pin the Tail on Swiper.

The kids danced and then had to freeze when the music stopped, and whoever froze the fastest got a sticker. They LOVED this game and would have played it all night I think. It was highly entertaining to watch them all dance. We had 5 kids over, and then my two.

The highlight of the evening, a Dora treasure hunt, complete with Map. Robby made a great map. Lily was Dora. She's wearing a dress my neighbor got her. Never mind it's black velvet and 100 degrees outside. The had just gone down the slide and now needed to go to the bedroom. The highlight for Lily was "walking up the mountain" (my treadmill).

The kids did the Chicken Dance while I played the piano, which was hilarious, and then found their goodie bags in the piano bench. Two parents were there by then, which was perfect, because I needed a Swiper! So here's Swiper trying to get their treats on the way in to cake and ice cream. The kids had just got done yelling, "Swiper, No swiping!" For Lily this was the highlight. She's watched it over and over on video since then.

Blowing out the candles on the cupcake-we saved the cake for when Robby got home.

After everyone left we did our family presents. Her two big presents were a Dora backpack and a leapfrog laptop. She did not want to go to bed that night, but she had to, because her mommy was one tired lady! My hat goes out to all you single mom's out there-I don't think I would have done it if I'd known Robby wasn't going to be there! But it was great fun, and when she turns five I'll think about doing it again!