Happy Birthday!

Yes, we know it's not her birthday yet, but it's the only time that would work for a party. She was so very excited that finally it is time for her "happy birthday." And she got to blow out the candles and she got to open the presents.

It was pretty hot yesterday, so we got out the pool. In retrospect, we probably should've filled it more than 2 hours before the party, but the icy well water didn't deter the kids too much.

The only reason I was able to get these pictures of Katie by herself was that she was the last kid in, and trying to entice the others to come back. She wanted to play with them, but she really didn't want to get out of the pool.

Here's a small taste of what it looked like about 10 minutes earlier. 8 kids in & out of the pool. (#9 is still too small for pool playing.) Splashing and having a great time.

We did eventually make them get out and eat some food, and then they were off again, though they'd warmed up enough that they (except Katie, of course) didn't want to get back in the pool again.

After supper, it was time for cake. Our friend Mel made the cake, and she did a fantastic job. Katie was thrilled.

Not quite as thrilled that she had to wait to blow out her candles, but she seemed to get a kick out of everyone singing to her. According to cousin D. Katie has 8 boyfriends because of how many tries it took to get the candles out. Katie is claiming that she's 3 and she hasn't blown out candles before.

Then it was time for presents. 9 kids in the room, including 2 other 3 (or nearly 3) year olds. She did get a couple open before the situation dissolved into utter chaos.

I didn't manage to get a video of her reactions, though they were great. There was too much other noise going on.
Trey figured that his present was the only one she needed to open.

All in all, it was a great day. We all had a great time, the kids played hard and I'm sure slept as soundly as mine did. It was a beautiful warm day, but got just a touch overcast about half an hour before everyone showed up, so it cooled off a little and wasn't so bright in our eyes. And the mosquitoes were in hiding, which was a fantastic contrast to last year, when we all got eaten alive.