Larkin's 3rd Birthday Party at Deanna Rose Farm

Yes, this is Larkin's third 3rd birthday party! We did a family one and a friends one in NYC, but now that we're home, we knew that Larkin would want to celebrate with her school friends. So we celebrated with a day at Deanna Rose Farm. It's one of our favorite kid places - it never gets old. The weather was perfect (albeit a little windy) and we couldn't have asked for a more fun morning for Larkin and her friends.

We did the party in the Rabbit Hutch birthday corral. Theme: Tinker Bell.

Here are a few pics from the present opening. She ripped that paper apart! She loved all of her gifts, especially the two Tangled dolls she got. The last pic in this set is of Larkin giving her friend Ella a thank-you hug.

This is the only pic I got with ALL of the kiddos. They were always running this way and that way.

After the cake part of the party, we took off to enjoy the farm. We all rode on the horse-drawn hay ride. I enjoy it as much as the kids. We sang songs while we rode.

Then, it was time for horse-back riding. Larkin wanted to ride the white spotted horse and the birthday girl got her wish!

Last stop was the dairy barn. It was Dairy Day at the Farm so they had all sorts of fun activities set up for kids. They also had free ice cream for the kids (more sugar, please!), cheese sticks, etc. This was where we said good-bye to most of our friends.

After the party, Ella and her family joined us for lunch at one of our favorite lunch spots, Barley's. Larkin's food order is always the same: mac n' cheese with a fruit cup (she picks that over fries - yay!) Larkin also knows where they keep the kid masks and she always sifts through them to find the one she doesn't have yet. Today the girls chose owl masks.

It was a great birthday party! Then we all went home for a nice nap. Ahhh. Perfect.

Fun Day with Padilla Family

Our dear friends, the Padilla family - Colleen (ClassyMommy!), Mike, MacKenzie, and Kyle - made the trip to NYC from Philly, so we were lucky that they were able to spend the weekend visiting with us.

We declared it a day of "Kid's Choice"... we'd do whatever the kiddos wanted to do.

First stop...the playground from yesterday. With Grandpa Bud's guidance, Larkin has finally overcome her fears of the big curlicue slides! She loves it now and did it over and over.

Next stop...a subway ride (Kenzie and Kyles' first ride!) to Times Square. The life and lights there is always a sight to see.

Next stop...the M&M store! The big draw for the kids was the enormous M&M wall of candy. We gave each kid an empty bag and let them pick some of their favorite M&M colors. They loved it and were so proud of their bags.

The M&M store had this funny contraption where you could stand in a booth of sorts and it would tell you what kind of M&M candy you are. It evaluated me for what seemed like forever and then it gave me this as my M&M flavor! Too funny (and kind of accurate)!

Next stop...the American Girl doll store. Kenzie was in heaven and Larkin enjoyed picking tons of the cards describing the doll accessories. She's not as in to dolls as some little girls, but she had fun.

Last stop...lunch at Ditch Plains. We got a huge booth and Larkin decided that she wanted to sit with her friends. She just loved hanging out with her role model Kenzie!

It was a great day and it was sad when we finally had to say good-bye. Miss you, Padillas! XO

NYC Party with Friends

We were so excited to spend an afternoon and evening celebrating with our friends in NYC. We used Larkin's and my birthdays as an excuse to have a party, but really we didn't need any reason other than wanting to see friends. We had Colleen, Mike, Kenzie, Kyle (all from Philly!), Janice (pregnant with Jolie), Jack, Jameson, Dan, Dorit, Caius, Justin, Sarah, Grandpa Bud, and us!

We celebrated at my sister's place and after everyone arrived, we went to play in the playground in Central Park. The kids had a blast as you can tell, which gave us adults some time to catch up (while Dan bought us all yummy soft pretzels).

Then, we went back to my sister's place to play and have a homemade lasagna dinner. The kids ran around playing with toys, painting, etc.

Here's Larkin showing us her muscles and her guns!

Last but not least was the birthday celebration with tons of cupcakes from Crumbs bakery! My favorite is the Tiramisu, Brian likes the Milkshake, and Larkin likes either pink or white with sprinkles.

Thank you to all of our dear friends for taking the day to hang out with us! We miss you and had such a wonderful time seeing all of you!!

Larkin's 3rd Birthday Party with Family

Since we were in NYC, we got to celebrate Larkin's 3rd birthday party with family. What a day I won't ever forget. The short version of the story is that we had brought a bunch of Tinker Bell presents to give to Larkin for her birthday. We decided to take a cab from my Dad's to my sister's house. Brian was carrying a few things, I was in charge of Larkin, and my Dad had Larkin's backpack (of essentials we just like to have for her) and her presents. Well, I'm not pointing fingers here (okay, I am!), but my Dad handed the backpack and presents to the door man who pu them in the cab's trunk. We got to my sister's and as we entered the elevator, I noticed that my Dad's hands were empty. Yep. Good 'ole Grandpa Bud had forgotten them in the cab's trunk! Agghhhh. All of her essentials and all of her presents -- gone forever. Total bummer! I was most upset when I thought that my camera and video camera were in Larkin's backpack, but thank goodness I had taken them out of there - phew! So, in the pics above, you will see that Larkin is hugging her 1 (yes, one) present that she got that day... from her Auntie Dana... a Tinker Bell doll. It was well loved and she didn't know it should be any different. So in the end, all was well and it was a fun birthday.

Central Park Sprinkler

Central Park has sprinklers in many of their playgrounds and it is a perfect respite on a hot summer day. We took Larkin to one and oooohhhh the water was freezing cold! But the kids loved it and Larkin enjoyed bringing buckets full of cold water over to dump on my feet. Then all of the other kids thought that was a fun game and soon I went numb. All in the name of fun.