Happy Birthday To Me!

It's my birthday today.  I'm 33 and counting my many blessings!  The girls made me cards, picked out flowers and cupcakes with Daddy, and showered me with birthday kisses.  While the day was rather uneventful, it was still quite lovely.  All three crazies girls had school today, and this was my first free morning since school started.  Since it was my birthday, I decided to forget about the piles of laundry stacked up on my bed, and the mess of toys scattered around my house, and instead, I treated myself to a Pumpkin Spice Latte (regular, none of that non-fat, no whip stuff!  It was my birthday after-all!)  It was a typical beautiful fall day in Virginia, so I took a leisurely walk around the pond at the University of Richmond, pumpkin spice in hand, favorite Southern Rock radio station playing in my headphones.  I may or may not have been belting out a few Creedence Clearwater and Marshall Tucker Band lyrics too!  After a peaceful walk in my Happy Place, I came home and...wait for it...took a shower without an audience of tiny people watching me!!!  When you're a stay at home Mommy to 3 young girls, you learn that you will never, ever, have a moment to yourself.  Not even in the shower...or on the toilet...you get the idea.  So this was a big treat for me!  Then, the little girls and I took an afternoon nap, before picking up Hailey from school.  Finally, the girls and I spent the rest of the evening playing dressup, ordering pizza and reading Halloween books in bed.  (Doug had to travel all this week, so he missed out on the birthday fun, and I know it's killing him.  Sweet man.  He made up for it with a sweet birthday card, a massage appointment, cupcakes, flowers and lots and lots of phone calls!)  And the celebration will continue this weekend because we're taking the girls to the Great Wolf Lodge for 3 fun-filled days!    

When we weren't celebrating ME! we were enjoying everything that Fall has to offer.

The girls have been rockin' their glow in the dark skeleton jammies every night:

 We've been playing outside every afternoon, collecting acorns, leaves and other fun fall finds.  Lainey picked apples at school and got to make applesauce with her class.  She told me that she "had to sit down because she was soooo tired from cutting all of those apples!"  Hailey's been exploring the outside classroom at school and told me that they have been growing gourds, mums and daisies!  

Our Halloween Tree!

Hailey, showing her St. Catherine's pride on Spirit Day!  "You can't have a daisy without gold and white!"

The girls had fun helping Daddy cheer on Auburn over the weekend:

...but it wasn't long before Daddy got booted to the other room so the girls could watch a Barbie movie...

We're still all obsessed with Frozen on Ice and love to pretend we are iceskating Ice Queens every night!

The girls even got our neighbor Kaitlyn to join in on the fun!

We took a family trip to Maymont for a picnic and to visit the petting zoo and explore the waterfalls.

We made a trip to visit Gigi, Babu and Poogie and to play with Layla.

Avery loves Uncle Poogies doggy, Wrigley.  

Lulu loved helping Uncle Poogie do yardwork on his tractor. 

We also kept busy with all of our fun afterschool activities.  

Wiped out after a morning of music class. 

Hailey has had a long time fascination with frogs.  Quite possibly from the years she's spent searching, catching and observing them at Gigi and Babu's house.  So, Mommy decided to get the girls some new pets.  African Dwarf frogs.  Hailey named her frog "Sally-Ally" and Lainey named her frog "Mommy-Daddy."  Now, instead of bringing home Ariel pictures, or Elsa pictures from school, Hailey spends her day coloring frog pictures, checking out frog books from the library and pretending that she is a frog.  When this little girls gets into something, she gives it her all!  

It wasn't until Hailey and I were reading one of her many books on frogs, that I realized that Sally-Ally was a girl, and Mommy-Daddy was a boy.  Apparently, there isn't much to do in a tiny tank of water besides eat, sleep and, well, ah-hem, you know.  So, every few days, Hailey comes to get me and tell me that her frogs are "wrestling."  It sure keeps Hailey entertained!  But grosses me out!!!

Observing her frogs.  

One of Haileys many frog masterpieces.  

Hailey and her frog stuffies.

Avery's 13 months old now and she's still the cutest baby in the history of babies!  She babbles all the time, dances to the Frozen soundtrack and loves her sisters!

Avery's own secret hideout.  Her playpen.  

Who says playpens are just for babies?!

Now that we're settling into a groove with our new school schedules, the girls actually miss each other during the day!  They are, for the most part, two peas in a pod now!

Thirty two was a fabulous year, but something tells me thirty three is going to be even better!  Happy birthday to me.  I've got it pretty good.  

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