Uncle John Comes to Town

We were pretty happy to have Uncle John come in to town to help us celebrate Ellie's birthday.  Here is a great shot of them reading together the first night he got here.

Post Birthday Trip to the Zoo

Ellie and I took a Friday off and went to the zoo the day after her birthday.  The polar bear Nikita used to be our favorite attraction, and she gave us a good show that day.  But she was shaken from her first place status by the new "Sky Tram" - a ski lift type ride that goes across the Africa portion of the zoo. 

She loves the sea otters

This was her face on the sky tram.  It was pretty big time!

She wanted to sit on the peacock on the merry go round.  Lame because its the one that doesn't move and is a bench, but it is her day I guess.

 

Nikita!

Polar Bear madness

Ellie's 3rd Birthday Present

We gave Ellie her 3rd birthday present after she got home from school.  She asked repeatedly for a "yellow balance bicycle with no pedals".  No if you are asking yourself "What is such a thing?", so did we.  I talked to her teachers at school, and it turns out there is such a thing.  A friend of hers at school has a father who owns a bicycle shop, and they make small bicycles without pedals that toddlers can scoot on, teaching them how to balance.  Its all a little weird to me, but she asked for one incessantly, so low and behold, she came home and found one on the night of her birthday.

First - the "ruse" to get her outside...let's pull Tom on his lion.  And yes folks, Mikey has rigged up a way to pull Tommy on his lion down the street.

She saw the bike at the front of our house from the sidewalk and went running

Ready to take off immediately

Here she goes!

Riding around together - Tom is also holding a balloon.  Ellie got to go to the grocery store and pick out a birthday balloon that day.  Tommy really wanted one as well, plus it was his 9 month birthday.

Celebrating Ellie's birthday is a blast!

Heading Out the Door as a 3 Year Old

Here is a picture of Ellie headed out the door for school on her 3rd birthday.  Its still hard for me to get over how big she is getting.  I told Mikey the other day - she is a full on kid.  No toddler in her anymore, and this picture proves my point I think.

Oh What a Party!

We hosted several of Ellie's friends at Little Monkey Business last weekend for her 3rd birthday party.  It was quite a good time.  She and her friends got to run them around like the owned the place, and played until they dropped.  Then it was back to the party room for cupcakes and present opening.  The best part?  10 kids 3 and under...no tantrums!

Tom trying to get in on the action

Lots of climbing around

Lillian and Kate palling around

Yelling "No" at having her picture taken.

Bring on the cake!

Singing "Happy Birthday"

Attempt at a Burgess Family portrait + 1 Harper Pendleton

Digging in to cupcakes

Yahoo!

Bring on the best part!

Presents are so much fun!

Lots of friends helping her through

Mom had fun helping her also.

Her favorite person made some special appearances at the party!

Splash Day at School

One of Ellie's teachers sent me this picture of her at "Splash Day" at school.  Great shot of our little diva.

Ellie's First Day in Big Kid Class

Ellie had her first official day in the Pre-Primary Class at school today.  She moved up with the 3 to 6 year olds.  Mikey and I like to joke that some of the bigger kids in her class come complete with arm pit hair.  We will definitely miss Ellie's old teachers, who were fantastic, but are excited to see her get started learning to write her letters and numbers, and play along side some bigger children.

I asked her how her first day was when I picked her up today, and here is the answer I got.  "I liked it a little bit Mom, but not a lot".  She did proceed to jabber on about all the cool things she got to do, so I think there is hope for big kid class yet.

Here is a picture I took of her before we left today.  She is getting so big!

A Visit to the Fire Station

Our friend Steve painted our house this summer, and Ellie had a crush on Steve from the start.  We would come home from school, and he would still be working on the house.  She would say to me "Hey Mom, I am just going to go outside and talk with Steve".  Oh, ok.

Steve also happens to be a firefighter and invited Ellie to come and visit him at the fire station.  We had a grand old time there.  We got to climb in the fire truck, he turned the lights on for us, and we got to see all the fire hoses.  It was a good old time!

A Cleaner Upper

There is this broom of Ellie's that makes Tommy all kinds of happy.  Judging by the chaos in the background of this picture, we could use his help!