Birthday Hangover

We're all moving a bit slow today in this house.  Maybe it was the carbo-loading at Mellow Mushroom last night, where we watched our youngest eat an entire piece of pizza and 3 pieces of cheese bread.  Maybe it was the insulin spike of birthday cake at 8 p.m.  Maybe it was the buzz kill of waking up and not having presents two days in a row.

Or maybe this is just life with a 3 year old??  I know...keep dreaming, mama.

So forgive me if I just share pictures with you today.  I am in dire need of a snooze...and I found 99 cent strawberries at Aldi today that need chopped and frozen for smoothies.  Oh, and I need to do the laundry and clean the house...and throw a chicken in the Crockpot...and I promised Elizabeth that we'd watch Sleeping Beauty (a present from Grandma) after naps.  So I need to get crackin'...enjoy the pictures!

Daddy surprised us with balloons at lunch time.  He even brought an Elmo balloon home for Rachel!  Everyone was extremely excited, except for the dogs, who growled and barked at them continuously...sketchy colorful, floaty things that they are...

Just to give you a glimpse of what I cook around...I am always stepping on these cookie cutters that they like to scatter and yelping in pain.  A smart person would put them some other place, but I continually put them back in the same drawer...I swear, children suck your brain right out of your head.

Enjoying the princess cake!  I think this was her only bite...then it was on to presents.  The appeal of wrapping paper was just too much for our curious little girl!

Rachel decided to nibble on a princess rather than her cake.  And no, the princesses weren't edible...

New books from Aunt Allison!

Our friends Julie and Mark joined us for the birthday celebration...Scott and I figured this was the last birthday we could really get away with inviting OUR friends.

A new baby doll from Grammy and Grampy.  Can you see Rachel's excitement too?  She really did so well with Elizabeth getting all the gifts.

Ah...the Juno Baby shirt from the Williams'.  Elizabeth actually opened this up and said, "Oh my goodness!"

Of course, someone else now wants a Juno shirt...I'll add that to my to-do list today. 

But the big winner of the evening?  The electric piano that Julie and Mark brought. 

With a microphone...and I thought we were friends!!  It plays different instruments, drum beats, and pre-set tunes.  Today, I fixed lunch to some mambo they had left on repeat.

Today?  We're back to our routine and life is getting somewhat close to normal and out of birthday mode.  Here is Rachel, scavenging for any leftover pieces of cheese sandwich that may have gone overboard during lunch.  Why yes, those ARE strawberries that also obviously made a run for it.

However, we still have some remnants of yesterday...the beautiful roses my husband brought me, the ever-popular balloons and the party hats that my daughter refused to wear because the elastic band freaked her out...happy birthday!