Birthday Bonanza

Keira turned 3 on June 15th and we had not one, but FOUR celebrations to commemorate this milestone!  So, her birthDAY actually was more like a birthMONTH of celebrating! What can we say, we're crazy about our little girl!

The first celebration was a continuation of the tradition we started last year:  IKEA!

Although it was a bit of a madhouse in the small cafe area, it was still fun (and free!).  The party included face painting, a magic show, dinner & cake, and a gift from the IKEA store. So fun!

Too cool in her Minnie Mouse shades

Briana was brave and jumped right in for some face painting

Keira warmed up with some painting on her arm first

Then she got brave and had some face painting too!

She pretty much had the scowl on her face the whole time she was getting painted

Next, it was Ella's turn!

Watching the magic show!

Such a serious audience!

 Keira loved having Oliver at the party this year!

Cheers with french fries!

Photo-op with Petals the Clown

Weird, I know.  :)

Friends!

Look at the camera and smile!!

Or not!

Keira's 2nd birthday celebration was her music extravaganza party with all her friends!

Hanging out at the park before everyone arrived!

She was excited!!

Noah & Godfrey had both of Noah's cameras on rapid fire.

It was seriously like having the paparazzi on hand. Whoa.

Ready, aim, fire!

 Just hanging out before the big show!

 Playtime with Oliver and family!

Briana dressed in her birthday best!

So fun to have all our friends at the park!

Play ball!

Ladies and gentleman, our celebrity entertainment has entered the premises!

The highlight of the party was having Mr. Steve from the kid-folk band Hullabaloo put on a concert for Keira and her friends!

Getting ready for the show.

Daddy, no more pictures please!

Bring on the music

Run, bunny, run!

I think she was having a good time...what do you think?!

The three amigos

Bow-oooooooooo!

Howling like a dog during The Dog Song!

Little birds flapping their scarf wings

She'll be comin' around the mountain when she comes

Yee-haw!

The crowd

When the musical instruments come out, it gets serious!

Katie is not so sure...

Amy, hamming it up

Elle getting her groove on

Boogie down!

After the show: stickers!

When Steve finished the show, Keira came over to me and said, "He didn't sing the rain song" (her favorite song off his new album). I said, "Well, maybe next time we see him he'll sing it." Steve heard us talking and said, "Oh, I can do it right now!"  So, after cleaning up the scarves & instruments, Steve got his guitar back out and sang the rain song (the official title is "Out Standing") to Keira's sheer delight!

Thanks, Mr. Steve, for making Keira's party so special!

After the music, it was time to eat!

A party wouldn't be complete with out cake!

Keira's favorite color is blue (in case you couldn't tell)

Yum!

Birthday cake is so good!

Happy birthday to our sweet girl!

After cake, it was time for more play!

Jasmine wore the right shirt!

After a PERFECT party at our neighborhood park, we cleaned up & headed back home, took a deep breath and then plunged into the GIANT pile of presents her friends brought over. WOW!

The after-math--whoa!

The next birthday celebration was with Keira's playgroup friends!

This time she got to share the birthday spotlight with Caitlin, who also turned 3 in June!

The birthday girls: Caitlin and Keira

Swinging with Fiona

(Fiona actually gave Keira those cool star shades for her birthday!)

Caitlin's mom brought a beautiful birthday cake to share!

Blowing out the candles together!

Cake + friends = FUN!

Then it was time to run off some of that sugar!

The final birthday celebration was on Keira's actual birthday!

Once Keira woke up, Noah & I walked into her room with balloons while we sang "happy birthday."

Three years old!!

Nana came into town the day before, so she was there to ring in Keira's birthday too!!

So special!

A couple weeks earlier, we told Keira we would take her out to breakfast on her birthday and asked where she wanted to go. "Mimi's Cafe!" was her reply! The waitress was so nice and brought out a piece of carrot raisin bread with a candle in it & we got to sing happy birthday again.

More candles!

After breakfast, we went to a fun place called Art Soup with our playgroup friends. Technically, this wasn't a birthday outing, but the date got scheduled on Keira's birthday and I thought she would enjoy it. It was a complete madhouse because the place was packed, but it was still a good experience.

Lots of things to paint!

A big fire truck made out of chalkboard?!

WOW!

This real VW bug was covered in painted about 5 inches thick.

Keira was really disturbed by it! She said, "Where is the car?" And I said, "It's under the paint" and she said, "Is someone going to clean it off?" I handed her a paint brush, but she wanted nothing to do with it!

Craft time with her buddy, Cameron

After Art Soup, we came home and took a deep breath and got ready for our family invasion!!

Our extended family came into town to join in on our celebratory weekend: Keira's birthday & Noah's graduation from UCSD. That night, we hosted everyone for dinner at our house and ice cream sundaes!

After dinner, Keira got to open presents from her family!

She is growing up!

A super sparkly twirly skirt from Nana--WOW!

A fun croquet set from Nana!

A super sparkly princess dress from Grammy--WOW!

A speical Elmo blanket, handmade by Grandpa Sandy's friend

Getting her twirl on

The dress by itself wasn't enough!

Once she added the skirt on top, it was perfect!

The birthday sundae is ready!

She is great with blowing out candles by now!

Just watch out for the hair!

Ross and Ashley were getting re-decorated with all the bows!

She decided to sit still for 3 minutes and eat her ice cream

(It was a tough call because she had to take off the sparkly dress & skirt in order to eat the ice cream)

Wow, congrats to you if you made it through this entire post!

We had quite an extravaganza for Keira's 3rd birthday this year!

Happy birthday to our sweet little girl!

We love you so much!!!