3rd Birthday - A Photo Retrospective

Sunday, March 1st
Celebrating Draya & Papa's birthdays with the family.

Tuesday, March 4th

Waking up to discover her new easel & coming home after Daycare to open more gifts.

Sunday, March 9th

The Really Big Party

3rd Birthday Part 2

Today we threw a BIG birthday party for Draya. 8 Children aged 1 - 5, 2 little babies and numerous adults. It was hectic and lots of fun! Draya and the other children played in the living room while the parents visited in the kitchen. Everything was supposed to start at 2pm but we pushed the kids arrival back to 3pm because, thanks to the time change, the birthday girl didn't go down for her nap until 1:30. We had hot dogs and a huge Cars cake with Lightening McQueen on top. Draya made some new friends (C & S) and received lots of beautiful gifts and cards. Highlights include 2 different play-dough sets, a stuffed mama monkey & baby, lots of stickers, Max & Ruby magnets, princess books & a Fancy Nancy book, a fairy barbie and toy electrical kitchen appliances. She now owns a food processor, even though her mother doesn't. I. G, J & Draya even went outside to play for a little while to blow off some steam. It was a very nice day out.
Uncle D loaned mommy his wonderful SLR digital camera for the afternoon so I have lots of wonderful photos to upload soon. I took 120, I just need to figure out how to weed that down to 20 or less!

Happy 3rd Birthday Draya!!!
OXOXOXOXOXOXOXOOXOXOXOXO
Love Mommy & Daddy

3rd Birthday Part 1

The first of Draya's birthday parties is over. Tonight was a joint party to also celebrate Papa's 64th. Nana & Papa & G'ma & G'pa & Aunties K, K & K and Uncles R & C and cousin G came over. We had a lovely potluck dinner. Draya was totally spoiled of course. She received 2 barbies and a barbie car, a Cars blanket & puzzle, a doll tub, a v-tech globe, books and beautiful kimono.
We all had a lovely time.
Tomorrow night she and I are going to make cupcakes to take to daycare on her actual birthday on Tuesday.

Draya's Birthday Wish List

-Veggie Tales DVDs (not Lord of the Beans, Minnisota Cuke or Sumo of the Opera)
- Toy cleaning set
- a toy tub for her baby dolls
- Ikea tunnel (blue)
- board games (age 3+) - Candyland would be awesome!
- Barbies (simple - not to many small pieces)
- a Barbie car
- size 3 shirts/size 2 pants (she doesn't need clothes but they are never unwelcome)
- Toy Story on DVD
- Monster's Inc on DVD
- Peter Pan
- The Sound of Music on DVD

Recent Events Caught on Camera

Sharing cake with Daddy and a toy with her cousin at Uncle R's BD party on April 20th.



Draya got her first lolly-pop in the treat bag from B's birthday party. She loved it!



Eating desert with Gg'pa & Gg'ma on April 22nd.


Some great shots of Draya at O's BD party on April 28th.





Last week we walked into the living room and found Draya watching T.V. like this...

Easter Weekend Update

As the Easter weekend draws to a close our whole family is ready to go back to work and daycare. Daddy is starting a new temp job and Mommy and Draya will be back in Spruce Grove after an almost 2 week hiatus. Some relaxed moments have been enjoyed, some partying has been done and a few productive things have been accomplished. Maybe not everything we had planned to do... but some.
On Friday night Draya & Mommy visited Nana. Nana gave Draya a wonderful velcro vegetable set(like this - without the fruit) that she has been playing with/scattering all over the house all weekend. It's great!
Saturday we celebrated J's 2nd BD and visited with H & T and our other friends who were party guests. Much fun was had by all - especially the children who had loads of cool toys to play with!
Easter Sunday dawned and Draya enjoyed a few chocolate eggs and some of her favourite Pocky. The Easter bunny also brought a wonderful (rather messy) bubble wand/toy, Shrek & Shrek 2. Since it was a special day we watched both movies, the first in the morning and the second that night. Draya absolutely loves the Shrek 3 trailer on line and she actually sat and watched each movie most of the way through. She only lost interest for a while during the second one when Shrek turned into a man... she's an ogre fan.
During the afternoon on Sunday we went to Grandma & Grandpa's for a nice Easter lunch and visit. Draya received a belated birthday gift from her Uncle Dave - a Duplo Thomas the Train - Percy at the Water Tower that is really neat and some Easter stickers, markers and paints from Grandma that were also a big hit.
Today we all went shopping. Draya was mostly well behaved but Mommy & Daddy were still exhausted after the excursion. One of the things we purchased was the main Thomas the Train set to go with her Percy. It is so cute and we're going to have fun playing with it too :)
I'll have photos to post as soon as I download the camera. Happy (belated) Easter everyone!

Draya Turns Two

Draya had a very fun filled, friend filled, gift filled day yesterday. It was officially her 2nd birthday and it was celebrated in style with presents, a party, cake, and lots of people who love her. Needless to say... we took pictures...

At about 8am Draya woke up to find a table filled with gifts from Mommy & Daddy, her Great Auntie C and her GG'ma & GG'pa. But, before she could open any of them though she went into the living room and discovered the BIG gift from Mommy & Daddy & G'ma & G'pa... her new kitchen set!!
She was excited and had to make a phone call...
and do a little cooking.
She also had to test out her new doll cradle (purchased with money sent by Great Auntie C) with her bear...
and Ernie.

Then it was time to do some unwrapping...
A computer game for ages 2 and up.
Some books.
Toy food that will go well with her kitchen.
Wooden puzzles, a colouring book, washable paint and paint brushes.
A Mr. Potato Head Spud Trooper.
A beautiful jacket and outdoor pants from GG'ma & GG'pa that she just HAD to try on and wear around the house for a while.

After the wrapping and gift bags were put away and pancakes were consumed, Draya played happily, Mommy got ready to go to work and Daddy got ready to host the party.
At 2 pm (after Miss Draya had a nap) the guests started arriving.
Draya had lots of other kids to play with, including her good friends I, G, B, & J. Both sets of Grandparents stopped by and we were so glad that our friends D & C and their girls A & D came as we hadn't seen them in ages! Numerous other Aunts & Uncles By Choice dropped in to wish the birthday girl the best and bestow hugs, kisses and the occasional present upon her. She received many awesome books, art & colouring supplies, a little people ark, veggies for her kitchen, and an environmentally friendly donation. There was cake (after Mommy got home from work at 4pm) and pizza and lots of other tasty treats. R & M brought yummy cupcakes and we all watched Auntie L on 'This Is Emily Young' and 'Old School Sesame Street' (thank-you Auntie KJ). Draya played, socialized and watched TV and when the party ended at 8:30 we cleaned up a little and went to bed early. The birthday girl was pretty pooped, and so were Mommy & Daddy!!
Here are just a few more pictures of her in action throughout the day...





Happy Birthday Draya, you are a very lucky, VERY loved little girl. Thank-you everyone for making her day, and ours, so special!