The Birthday Celebration

Our birthday celebration weekend started on Saturday. We planned a Family Fun Day- dance class, Children's Museum, and then I made a family favorite dinner (tilapia- go figure).

Dance class was special because Teagan got to wear the Birthday Tutu! She's been looking forward to that for a couple of weeks now. What we don't have pictures of (thankfully) is when Miss Katie invited the parents in to dance the Irish Jig with the girls! Jeff had taken Zach to the car for a nap so there aren't any witnesses, either.

Next we headed to the Children's Museum- first stop, a ride on the Carousel!

Then we enjoyed some lunch (Teagan hardly stopped eating- cottage cheese, grapes, smilie potatoes, some hot dog, mac n cheese). Spent most of the afternoon in Playscape- a play area designed for kids under age 5. it has a really cool water table, sand table, train area, play house, and so on.

Sunday morning Teagan woke up to her brand new Big Girl bike. As soon as there was some sunlight, she and I headed outside to break it in. There was a learning curve to figure out the pedaling but she is already doing awesome on it!

Of course, Zach wanted a turn sitting on the bike, too.

Teagan and I headed to church (she took great joy in telling everyone that it was her very last day of being 3) and then to the store to pick out her cake. She had a choice- we could go home and make a cake together or she could pick one out at the store. She picked a cupcake cake that had a mix of chocolate and white cupcakes and was decorated with balloons.

She picked McDonald's for lunch. We took food home, ate. And then spent the entire afternoon outside. My mom and brother (Daniel) came in from Ohio, Christy came over, Brian came over. We ended up having a little outdoor party!

The big birthday dinner was at Teagan's favorite restaurant- Texas Roadhouse. Attending were me, Jeff, Zach, Teagan, Grandma, Uncle Daniel, Mimi and Pop-pop, Aunt Lindsey, Uncle Travis, cousins Corbin and Jillian, Christy and Brian. Teagan loves Texas Roadhouse because they make a big deal about birthdays- she chose it as her birthday restaurant last year, too. The staff gathers at your table, tips the table lamps toward you, announce your birthday and ask everyone to give a big "YEEHAW" as you sit, center stage, on a saddle.

For Teagan's actual birthDAY, she had her party at Lisa's house and got to pick dinner and go out for ice cream. Home for some bike riding. I also told her little pieces of her birth story- that when I woke up that day, I knew that Teagan was coming; that when she was first born, her little hand shot up in the air and held tight to my finger and then the nurses and doctors cleaned her up (NICU team, meconium in my water) and then handed her to Daddy and Daddy brought her to me and I held her and nursed her and sang to her. She loved hearing that stuff!

Last year, the big deal with turning 3 was that Teagan stopped using a sippy cup at Miss Lisa's house. This year, the big deal change with turning 4 is a new bedtime routine. Both kids used to go to bed at pretty much the same time. Now, Zach gets put to bed and Teagan gets 20-30 minutes of time to either play alone in her room, play with Mommy or Daddy, or some other quiet activity. Staying up later than baby brother- priceless!

P.S. Don't forget that $10 Target gift card giveaway in the entry below this one! Enter as many times as you'd like!