Birthdays!!!

Well...Mady's birthday celebration is officially over. We began the celebration last week on her real birthday. And, concluded this weekend at my parents' house with a pool party for Mady and our nephew, Nicholas who turned 3! Both parties were special and fun in their own way. And, both parties involved cupcakes...YUMMY! Mady prefers to eat the icing and toppings off the top of her cupcake and leave the cake part. I have no problem with this, as I usually have the pleasure of eating the slimy, leftover cupcake part. :-) Our family celebration last week included a dinner of Mady's favorite things: Kraft Macaroni and Cheese and fruit. Then, we had our first round of cupcakes. We opened presents before dinner, since Mady had already waited most of the day. She woke up from her nap that day and with a huge smile on her face, told me, "I need my birthday. I ready for PRESENTS!" Throughout the week, she's received cards and presents. And, yesterday we drove to Kaki and Grandads for the pool party. The kids had so much fun swimming and so did the adults. The best part for me was watching Trip start of scared and timid as usual, but by the end, he was swimming across the pool, with his head and face underwater. It was unbelievable! Our second round of cupcakes involved letting the kids decorate their own. It happened just as I expected it too, rather than eat their cupcakes, they all preferred eating the toppings-sprinkles, jelly beans and m&ms. I think they each had a few bites of their cupcakes since they got so full on the other things. This weekend, Mady got a new baby doll and stroller. The baby doll makes these "adorable" (or annoying, depending on who you ask) sounds. Mady named her Pink. Tonight after we put the kids to bed, I came out of Trip's room and heard the baby "talking" downstairs. It is supposed to be turned on by motion and no one was downstairs...Spooky! It seems to be our family tradition to string birthdays out for as long as possible and Mady is no exception to that rule! Happy 2nd Birthday!