Leda's birthday festivities...

It began the day before her birthday when we made "magic princess wands" for her to share with her friends at preschool. They were a hit!







Then yesterday on her birthday, we went to Disneyland for the afternoon and ended up staying until it closed! It was great fun. The park wasn't that crowded, and towards the end of the day we even walked on a few rides and got to ride twice in a row on some-cool! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for always being up for an adventure. We had the best time celebrating the day with you guys there.



Spencer's first time on Splash Mountain. They practiced beforehand making funny faces on the drop. Looks like all Spencer could do was smile his cute smile...silly boys!


Leda is 40" tall and this opens the door to a few more fun rides! The first one we went to was in California Aventure: Soarin' over California. Here's Spencer and Leda chillin' in line. She LOVED this ride and got to go twice.


Another first for Spencer, the grizzly bear rapids. Spencer got soaked, but somehow Aaron escaped pretty dry.


This is the first time the five of us have been at Disneyland together since Chase was born. It was so much fun to spend time with Daddy there. He's loads of fun at the Happiest place on earth!


The carousel was a hit! We got to ride twice in a row since there was no line and man, did Leda ever have the princess wave down. She had a ball and wouldn't stop waving as she turned. She used to be afraid of carousels, but apparently her turning three has made her into one brave woman!



While the boys were on Splash Mountain; Chase, Leda and I rode Winnie the Pooh. At the end of the ride they have a little birthday party for Pooh, and Leda thought the party was for her! So I told the attendants that, and they let her ride again without waiting in line, and when we exited they gave her a birthday button and signed card from Winnie the Pooh. It was the perfect ending to our day-she couldn't stop smiling.




And finally tonight we had a little family princess birthday party so we could eat cake and do presents. I didn't do a friend party this year, but still wanted to make the evening fun of course, so today I made a Belle princess cake with the help of my friend Aimee via lots of phone calls. Thanks Aimee! I think it turned out cute---though I had one tiny snag...I had to chop off Belle's legs so that she could fit in the cake ;) I tried to cut corners in the baking process and ended up with not enough cake to support Belle super long and lean body. Ah well, what can you do? It looks like I'll have to buy Leda a new Belle doll with legs before she notices this one is missing.

Leda's friend Maddie surprised Leda tonight and stopped by with a little gift--now they have matching necklaces. Maddie turned three five days ago-how cute are these little gals?!? Thanks again Aimee for stopping by and for answering all my cake questions!


A close up of the cake. Belle is her current favorite princess, though it changes almost daily...And, uh Sorry Aunt Kiki for having to ruin the Belle doll you got her for Christmas 1.5 years ago...oops ;)




I see four pretty princesses here...


I found this horse carousel for $20 including shipping on amazon. Gotta love a good b-day deal!

How good of "all boy" big brother Spencer to play dolls with his little sis? Uh, it didn't take much to tell the truth, he was digging the carousel ;)



We always get a family shot in this spot every year.


Grandma and Grandpa with their only grand-princess ;)


I think we are sufficiently all princessed-out! But it was loads of fun. Leda may be the only daughter I ever have, so I'm eating up this fun princess stage while I can! :)