Ari's 3rd birthday party

We had Ari's birthday party yesterday evening. Kind of an odd time for a birthday party, but since Saturday was the 4th of July, and we had church on Sunday morning, there wasn't much else we could do. It was a crazy-long day, but fun.

I'm a bit bummed that most of my pictures came out crappy. Of course, I was scurrying around being a good hostess, so I had to force myself to remember to take pics, which may explain why they're blurry. But still.

I remembered to get a few shots before the party started. Here's Ari, posing with the partially-decorated table. We did a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse theme (what else?) using her toy as a centerpiece for the table.



A shot of the cake, which tasted just as awesome as it looked...



Tony, hanging up the birthday banner...



One of the goody bags we gave out. We've never done them before, and I wasn't going to do them this year, but Tony insisted, and who can argue with a Daddy when it comes to his little girl?



We got a few family shots before the party, and I'm glad we did, because I never would have gotten around to it during the party.



The best of the family shots... and Ivan decided to crash it. *sigh*



I love how she's looking over at Tony in this one...



This one cracks me up... I have no idea what this face was about but I promise, we were not squishing her head that badly...



The weather was absolutely gorgeous, and considering the un-summer-like weather we've had lately, that was no small miracle. By the time the party started, we had a good layer of shade in our "backyard" and almost everyone hung out outside.

And now, random party shots. Ari and her cousin Micah...



Ari and her posse hanging out at her picnic table...



After eating-time, it was present-opening-time... I promise, she was much more excited about it than she looks in this picture.



I believe this one was from Dave, Jess, and Micah...



I asked Ari to pose for me with this gift, and this is what she did. We were amused (as Tony is demonstrating)...



Yay for clothes! She got tons of clothes, and it's a good thing, since she's grown out of a lot of stuff lately. (Also, Nick cracks me up in this picture... I'm pretty sure he'd just gotten scolded for hovering too close to Ari, so it looks like he's walking sadly away.)



2 adorably awesome dresses...



And then it was cake time. And because I'm an idiot, I missed getting a shot of her actually blowing the candle out. But she did. All by herself, if I recall correctly.



I love hoops and yoyo--this card was from our friend Wayne. I asked her to show it to me, and this is what she did. I'm not sure what her deal is with peeking through things when I ask her to pose... maybe she's being artistic?



After we passed out pieces of cake to everyone, I went over to talk to Ari, who was sitting just like this, head on the table, looking all melancholy. I asked her if she was eating her cake, and she sadly said no. Then, just as sadly, she said, "I want to go and play." It seemed like she thought she had to stay put and eat her cake, like it was dinnertime or something. Yes, what a rough life she has, being forced to eat cake. (And yes, I gave her "permission" to go play, the silly thing.)



Tony had set up this inflatable giant basketball hoop thing outside, and I'm not sure anyone ever used it properly. Every time I looked, the kids were tackling it, like this.



Ari and Molly got into Ari's dress-up shoes, and were strutting around in them. I asked Ari to show me her shoes, and for some reason, she plopped onto the ground and gave me this oh-so-ladylike pose...



And then it was time to go swimming. Our apartment complex has an indoor pool, so that's where we all headed. I got a picture of Ari and Nick in the locker room--Kristin told Nick to put his arm around Ari.



And this is the shot you saw in yesterday's entry... my favorite one of the day. Mostly because it's the only one that came out clear.



Almost everyone swam for a little while, and then the party fizzled out as bedtimes drew near. All in all, though, it really went well--it seemed like everyone had fun, there were no major meltdowns or injuries, and there was plenty of food without being way too much.

And in other awesome news--Ari has been in big-girl underwear all day long for the past few days. We made a big deal out of buying her some on her birthday, and she's done so well. We're still putting her in a Pull-Up for bedtime/naptime, but she is doing fantastic during the day. She even wore her big-girl underwear to church yesterday and kept them dry. So all we need to do is get her to learn how to hold it when she's sleeping, and we are golden. I cannot wait.