Celebrating Lily's 3rd Birthday!

Saturday, June 7, 2008

Building a castle with daddy before her guests arrive. I found this Carter's dress on clearance at Kohl's for about $5! I love a bargain. :) She was so cute for her party.

Lily and Friends! (l to r) Lily, Benjamin, Jenna, Nathan, Brianna and Andrew


5 kids in a tent! When one would scream they would all scream. It was craziness!


A family photo outside on a GORGEOUS Saturday evening! Mommy is 8 months pregnant!!!

Make a wish, Lily!

Opening her presents. This is a Dora ball and bat from Nathan.

We tried to get them all on the couch for a group picture. Lily wasn't very happy about it and Andrew didn't stay put for long. :)

Sunday, June 8, 2008

Lily and 3 men who adore her! Uncle Mark, Daddy and Grandpa Ed

(l to r) Lily, Grandpa Sam, Grandma Vicki, Grandma Kathy and Great Grandma Irene

The Birthday Girl!

She ate a ton of marshmallows at both parties. We served chocolate fondue, but Lily was just interested in plain 'ole marshmallows. :)

Daddy and Lily

Lily and Mommy

The Becker Family

Bedtime Bear from Uncle Mark!!!

Feeding her baby from Grandma and Grandpa Becker

Sarah Lynn and her Camping Adventure from Grandma and Grandpa Crabtree

Enjoying chocolate "pupcakes" with Grandpa

3 of my favorite people on the planet!

Lily and her grandparents

4 Generations

Lily Becker, Andy Becker, Irene Becker and Ed Becker :)

One worn-out birthday girl

It was a delightful weekend of celebrating Lily's 3rd birthday. Her birthday isn't until the 14th but we're going to be in Illinois for my cousin Erin's wedding so we decided to have her parties the weekend before. She and I made Care Bears cupcakes on Friday night. She LOVES to help in the kitchen and doesn't let me forget to let her lick the beaters after mixing the cake batter. :) I made several trips to the grocery store. My pregnant brain didn't allow me to remember everything in one trip. Andy helped me clean the house and set up the table and extra chairs. Saturday morning Lily and I ran some errands (including picking up Care Bears balloons) and then had lunch with Andy at the store because he had to work. When we got home she took a nap (despite being SO excited for everyone to come!!!) while I cut fruit, made sure the camera battery and video cam were charged up, took care of a few last minute details and took a shower. Her friends started arriving right around 4 o'clock and it was so much fun. We borrowed an idea from our friends Dean and Lana and picked up Little Caesars pizzas for supper. It was the best thing ever! No meal to prepare and very little clean up!!! I highly recommend that. I decided that if there was ever a year when I had an excuse this was it! Also, I had picked up a very large container of Cheese Balls at Sam's Club and they were a HUGE hit with the kids! :) Rain had been forecasted all week but it turned out to be a beautiful day so we all spent some time outside which was wonderful. We came back inside for Lily's Care Bears cupcakes and ice cream and then she opened gifts and passed out goodie bags. I'd say it was a success!

Sunday afternoon we celebrated with our families. My parents, Andy's parents, his brother Mark and his grandma Irene were here. My grandma Elaine was in Colorado visiting my Aunt Shari so she had to miss the party. And of course Mandi and Bryan were at home in Stevens Point. We missed them and wish they could have been here!!! We pretty much served identical food for the sake of convenience and once again the marshmallows were a hit with Lily. It was a really special evening to be with family. I feel so fortunate that Lily has both sets of grandparents and two great-grandmas nearby and that they're such a special part of her life. We are blessed! She got to open MORE presents and loved it all. She's played with every single thing since the party and is really enjoying having some new toys around. She got a book from my parents called Big Thought for Little Thinkers: The Gospel and has asked me to read it to her *many* times. It's way over her head but she loves it! It's literally a gospel presentation that talks about the fact that she's a sinner and needs to trust Jesus for salvation and that Jesus took her punishment on the cross and that she can spend eternity in Heaven with Him. It's so over her head but she's been carrying it around and absolutely loves it. The character in the book is a little girl named Gracie and so she calls it her "Gracie book". It's so funny how you never know what she will latch onto. She got all this STUFF for her birthday and a little book about the Gospel is probably her favorite thing! :)

Well, this is one very long post. So I should bring it to a close. I'll just say that it's so hard to believe that my baby Lily is turning 3. Where have these three years gone? She is such a gift and I can't imagine my life without her. I pray hard to be a good mommy to her and that she will turn out despite all my flaws and failures. I do pray that she'll one day soon recognize her need for a Savior and that she will love Jesus and become a godly woman. And in the more immediate future I pray that she will be a good big sister and that she will bond with her baby brother and love him. I'm so grateful for the privilege of being her mother. Lily is a blessing!!!