A-DORA-ble Eloise Turns Three!

I can't believe Eloise is three!! It seems like just yesterday we were in the hospital with that "new parent glow!" We have been so blessed to have Eloise in our lives. God knew what he was doing when he gave me Eloise; she is exactly what I needed in a first child! Thank heaven for my beautiful, kind, sensitive, and opinionated Eloise!

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On Saturday, Eloise officially turned 3! We had quite a day planned. As soon as she woke up she was treated to a chocolate chip muffin! We put a candle in it and sang to her! Unfortunately the photos of that somehow got deleted! After the Birthday Girl finished her breakfast, Patrick and I gave her our gift, a new dollhouse! OH MY GOSH... I think it might be her most favorite gift EVER! As soon as she wakes up in the morning, she asks to play with her dollhouse... and it provides hours of entertainment for her! We have to pry her away from it at bedtime.

Eloise enjoying her new gift. A lot of the parts actually work (i.e. the phone rings, the piano plays, the refrigerator light comes on when you open the door, etc....) It is the COOLEST!

This is how she found it that morning. It is folded up. The whole house opens like a book to reveal the inside!

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That afternoon it was off to the YMCA for a "Dora the Explorer" birthday party (per Eloise's request!) We had half of the gym set up for the party. It included "a build your own trail mix" station with Chex cereal, raisins, marshmallows, pretzels and M&M's. We also played games, had coloring pages, and a bounce house. Of course, the festivities included CAKE! The party turned out to be SO fun, and I couldn't have been happier with the celebration!

As the kids arrived we had Dora the Explorer coloring pages, stickers and snack mix to enjoy.

Eloise and her friends playing and dancing!

Is this not the CUTEST bounce house you have ever seen? I thought I might be able to call it Swiper (I know... Sttrreching my imagination!) Anyway, it was adorable!

Some of Eloise's friends on the way out of the bounce house.

Bounce house fun!

Here Eloise is playing a game of "Dora, Dora, Swiper" (Duck, Duck, Goose- only we changed the words.)
The hysterical part was when someone was tagged "Swiper" the WHOLE group got up and ran instead of just the one child! We were rolling on the floor laughing!

Our party had it's very own "Swiper" (more commonly known as Lucie) Anytime someone left their snacks unattended, Lucie was there scavenging. Here I caught her in action.

We brought out some of the gymnastics mats as a last minute addition and it turned out to be a popular activity!

After all of that bouncing and playing, it was time to fuel up on some cupcakes!

Eloise was very serious about blowing out her Dora candle!

Enjoying cupcakes with her friends

"Backpack, backpack... Backpack, backpack..." Each child took home a "backpack" filled with party treats including bubbles, Dora stickers and temporary tattoos and "estrella" (star) treats!

Unfortunately the party had to come to an end! Here we are saying our goodbyes!

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The night of Eloise's birthday it snowed! So when we woke up on Sunday the ground was COVERED! I am pretty sure Eloise thought that it was her birthday all over again! This snow was very powdery and not very sticky, so it wasn't perfect for snow man building, but we tried anyways! Coco and Grandpa were still in town and got excited to play in the snow (since they RARELY see any in Houston.)


Lucie has become quite the ham... she now says "cheeeeeeese!" every time she sees the camera.


Eloise and Coco with their mini snowman!