I reject your reality and substitute my own

I gave Lo free reign for he birthday this year, pretty certain I could pull off whatever was in her almost 3 year old brain. I was a little scared when she said she wanted animals at her party. She's not really a doll kinda girl, she prefers to carry around her bunny or sheep and feed them lettuce and grain. I guess I should have figured that she'd pick a farm birthday.

Since I don't know anyone with anything close to a farm, I decided to post an ad on craigslist in the farm section and just see what happened. I had 20 replies in just 3 days from people all over the state that were more than willing to have us over for Lorelai's birthday party. I was so amazed at all the generosity. After weeding through all the emails, I found one that sounded perfect for us. She offered us the ability to pet and feed the sheep, goats and chickens. Also a hay loft that we could have some food and cake in that had a slide going down to the hay and Todd (the owner), even built a hay fort for the kids.

Here is the hay slide. The kids loved it! Lo had more fun with the hay than anything. She sat in this big pile and bathed in it. Her bath was filled with little bits of hay that night.

Here's my little country girl! We were worried there would be mud, so she wore her rain boots.

Here is Soloman... still unsure whether he's a goat or sheep... hahaha... either way, he was cute and completely tame and wandered around baa'ing at us and pooping all over while we ate and partied.

We got to feed the chickens, there were tons of them! I think this was probably the crowd favorite activity for the day.

Then we got to collect the eggs... if anyone knows Lo, they know she LOVES eggs. If I let her eat eggs all day, she would. So I think she enjoyed this the most. It was a tricky piece of maneuvering I had to do to get the eggs away from her without causing tears. She really wanted to keep them.

They had big sheep and goats too!

I forgot what her name was, but she had the craziest eyes and scared me just a tad. She also had boundary issues and would push you to move you if she didn't like where you were standing.

Here's the kids with the cows. The smell was something I could live without, but the kids didn't complain at all. They loved watching the cows be... cows!

My dainty little girl with the pinata... nothing was going to happen with her behind the stick!

But then Jeffrey stepped up to the plate and it took a VERY long time, but finally that puppy got whacked open!

Lo and Jeffrey collecting candy.

Cake time... and the only pic of me... which is a good thing.

Make a wish!

She is SUCH her Nana's girl. Completely ignores the cake and devoures the frosting. She had a great day and a great party! Thanks to everyone for coming and sharing in he big day. Compared to the last 2 parties before #3, this was the easiest. I'm thinking nothing but destination parties from now on.

Our summer has FINALLY arrived... I really hope I am not jinxing myself saying that, but it's been warm and sunny for about a week now.  Ty had oral surgery on Friday, so we took a break from basement renovations and decided to do something FUN!  We decided to go to the beach... it was so nice.  It was pretty cold on the coast, but that made no matter because we had a blast!

We decided to explore a new beach, which was a good choice.  Ocean Shores is usually so packed with people, it's hard to find your own space.  It was kind of a hike to the beach, but it gave us such a view walking up to it, we didn't mind.

It was pretty windy, Lo thought she might be able to fly!

Not a very flattering rear shot, but whatever.  You can see how much space we had to roam.  We were even able to let Tully off leash and she went NUTS!  Ran right into the water, tried to catch up to the surfers way out in the ocean... Lo went crazy too, running as fast as she could every which way.  No boundries or any trouble to get into.  Just lots of space and fun sand to walk around barefoot in.

Wind blown, family portrait.

This is about how she was running around the whole time.  A GIANT smile and leaping and skipping.  It was freezing water, but you would never know.  I'm pretty sure this is her favorite place to be... ever.

She got buryed in sand.  Tully kept trying to dig her out, which was making her SO mad.  We finally convinced Tully to just sit down.
Daddy and Lo having fun...
Letting the waves chase them.
This weekend will bring more basement work, but we also have Lo's bithday party on Saturday!!  Gotta LOVE the summer!!

I can't believe it's already time for her to start preschool.  She has been ready for something more structured for a long time.  She really has no attachment issues and she loves being around other kids, so really it wasn't a hard choice to make.  I toured a bunch and asked around and Sycamore Tree was the one that kept coming up.  Seems like everyone has heard of it and everything has heard great things.  While they are owned by the Lutheran church next door, they are non-denominational.  They teach of God's love in a non-dogmatic way.  This was a perfect fit for us.  Where as we haven't found our particular church home, we absolutely want her to have some sort of faith base for us to build upon when we do find our perfect place of worship.  I really feel like the head teacher and I clicked and the teachers aide is the mom of someone I know.  

Anyway, all that being said, I decided to enroll her in the summer program as well as the fall program.  I figured the summer program is a little shorter and would be a good introduction.  Also give me some much needed "errand" time.  I am at the bank multiple times a week and even though she is a celebrity over there, sure would be easier to go alone.  

We've been discussing school for a while and preparing her.  Last night she was a little anxious and moody, but we talked about what to do when she has to go pee and talked about sharing.  I think I was more anxious about her behavior.  It's really the first time my parenting would be out there in the world to see.  

Here she is getting ready... yes, she got toothpaste spit all over her shirt.  I got most of it off.  I was proud of myself that I didn't change her outfit completely.  I knew she'd be outside playing and painting so she'd come home dirty anyway.

Gotta have the "off to school" mandatory pics.

Then she just started posing.  I stopped her before she started throwing out "jazz hands".

Here we are at school!  This is the back entrance.  It's really just a small house they converted into a preschool.  There is only one class at a time and the entire house of rooms is all different stations.  A life skills station, textile table, art room, library... then unless there is in climate weather they have an awesome courtyard of fun toys.

We were slightly early, so she got to play outside for a little.

First thing's first, hang up your backpack and then wash your hands!  The sinks are at the perfect height for 3 and 4 year olds and have automatic turn on.  The toilet is also super low to the ground so they can potty on their own.

Anywhere we go, she finds the creatures.  She loves fish!

Then found an art station.  She already had a cubby full of drawings when I picked her up. 

It was right about this time that she told me I could leave.  No hesitation, just "bye mom!"  I watched for a minute and then just left.  Of course I sobbed in the car for a while.  I did some work for the stand, came home and folded some laundry... then I was bored.  Talked to my mom for a long while and I still had 45 minutes.  So yes, like a stalker, I sat in the parking lot and waited.  I'm sure it'll get better and I will have more things to do in my free time.  

When I finally walked down to pick her up, they were outside playing.  She saw me, but didn't pay any attention... just went on playing.  She actually seemed a little nervous and I could tell it was going to be a fight to get her home.  I went in and got her cubby papers and her backpack, talked to the teacher, who said she did great and then I went and found her again.  I was right, it was a fight to get her home.   I finally told her that I wanted to take her on a special lunch date... that did the trick.   We went to Arby's, she insisted on eating in and talked about preschool.  From what I gather, she painted, they read a book about bears, she went potty all by herself and she made lots of friends but forgot to ask their names.  Either way, she loved it and I can't wait to hear all about her preschool adventures!!