Caedyn's Birthday Celebrations

Caedyn turned 3 on December 12th! I can't believe we now have a 3 year old! Where does time go? We had Caedyn's birthday party at the gym where she takes gymnastics. It was a bit small for our big crowd, but all seemed to have a blast. We ended up with 17 kids ages 6 months to 10 years and 27 adults. We did our best with making Caedyn a "green" birthday party. Caedyn asked me months ago if she could have a green birthday party. Then recently as we were talking about her party, she asked if she could have cupcakes and juice boxes. She couldn't be easier to please!

So, how did we do the GREEN theme? Well, I thought it would be cute to use the "Go Green" twist, but I couldn't find reusable green plates and the juice boxes aren't very environmentally green, but I did buy green plates, napkins, and juice boxes. The favor bags were green "Go Green" shopping bags and had a reusable green sports bottle or sippy cup thingy in it along with other green things. I even found packages of all green M&M's! That was my most exciting find! I had no idea they made those. Caedyn was with me when we found them, and she was thrilled too! We do ornaments for Caedyn's birthday every year, so this year my mom found green cookie cutters shaped like teddy bears, mittens, and trees and made them into ornaments for all to take home. Finally, we asked for people to wear green to the party. You can see by the pictures that a lot of people did. We had fun and Caedyn enjoyed her "green 'nastics party."

Caedyn's birthday cake wasn't green; it was a pull-apart flower with Tinkerbell on top. She picked out her cake from some pictures that my friend Elizabeth send us. I thought it was perfect! Elizabeth is SO talented! All she needs is a picture, and she can go to town on a cake!

When Eli was done with his cupcake, he went back into the gym to play. He had a blast being a big kid!

After Caedyn's birthday party, we went back to our house with the grandparents, great-grandparents, and my sister's family. We had pizza and potato soup (weird combo - I know!), and then Caedyn opened her presents. For a birthday party without gifts, she sure had a lot of presents to open. She had fun making a mess of her presents. This was the first year I didn't have to open her presents with her. She knew just what to do!

Caedyn shared her birthday crown with Taylor!

Kendall seemed to find a nice comfy seat! Our little house accommodated everyone somehow!

This is the gift from us. I had several things wrapped up and happened to find this big Ariel bag, so I dropped all the gifts from us into this bag. Well, that Ariel bag was a hit. She thought she had something special just with the bag. In fact, I doubt she remembers anything that was in the bag.

Gary's parents gave Caedyn and Eli outfits to have pictures made in when Dara and Cassidy come into town next week. Eli held up his outfit and said, "Cute!" over and over again. It truly was cute!

This year at Caedyn's birthday party we asked family and friends to bring a toy for Toys for Tots rather than a gift for Caedyn. I was unsure how the response would be, but I was so excited that we collected 21 large gifts and 7 stocking stuffer small gifts. We put the gifts under her silver tree at the birthday party. Caedyn loved packing all the toys up for the "other kids." My dad works with a former marine who works with Toys for Tots every year, so we were able to have lunch with him this past Friday and deliver the toys to him. He told Caedyn that he was taking the toys to PR Children's Hospital, and she seemed to understand that. After lunch when he saw how big the box of toys was, I think he was surprised. It really felt good to be able to deliver such a significant gift in honor of Caedyn's 3rd birthday. I hope we can make this a tradition. Thank you to all the family and friends who donated a toy at the party or at other drop-off locations!