The Birthday Girl

It's hard to believe our sweet little Peyton will be 3 tomorrow! Where did the time go?? I often find myself just sitting and staring at her trying to figure out when she made the transformation from a pudgy-cheeked little (yes, I know she was never very "little") baby to our tall, beautiful little girl. Okay, enough of the mushy reminiscing, but all you parents out there know exactly what I mean!



On Saturday we had a birthday party for Peyton and I figured some of you would like to see pictures. Of course the theme was ELMO, since Peyton's obsessed with him right now. : ) The party was a bit overwhelming for Peyton, mostly because she was so confused about the combination of people who were all at her house at the SAME time...both sets of grandparents, great-grandma Peterson, our daycare provider and her little girl, Ari, and all of Peyton's friends from church...it was pretty nuts - about 25 people total. Of all the people there, Peyton was most excited that her best buddy from daycare, Ari, was there. As she started opening gifts, Peyton started to cry, so Chad asked her what was wrong. Peyton reached for Ari, who was sitting across the room, and then patted the floor next to her - she wanted Ari to help her open her gifts. It was pretty cute to see Peyton's face light up as Ari made her way through the crowd of hyper 3 year olds to sit with Peyton and help open the presents. Probably the biggest "hit" of all the gifts was the Tickle Me Elmo (TMX) that Peyton got. At first Peyton didn't know what to do with it, but after she watched it for a few minutes she thought it was pretty funny. And of course Carson thought it was great to have a new "wrestling buddy" - every time the stupid TMX falls backwards laughing Carson tries to belly flop on top of it. Peyton also got a sweet new ride - her very first "big girl bike". Too bad it's been raining non-stop since Friday...but we're hoping to get her outside on her new bike soon!