Pink-a-lympics Party

When I started asking Kennedy what she wanted to do for her birthday party, she very specifically requested a pink gymnastics party. We talked about this for months and when I realized she was actually locked into this idea, I found a place that would allow me to host a party for a 3 year old. 

So we had the Pink-a-lympics at The Palaestra in Dallas. The facility was huge and we had pretty much free reign of the equipment. The best part of this place: parents were encouraged to jump, tumble and participate as much as they wanted. Honestly, I know the kids had a blast, but the adults really got in on the fun. Everyone was showing off their best trampoline tricks and flips into the foam pit. It looked so fun!! I had to watch from the sidelines, on account of the baby belly. 

The foam pit was the main attraction. Its HUGE. The foam is about 4 feet deep with a trampoline floor. So you can flip, jump, dive, etc. into the soft blocks. Watching the adults attempt to climb out of it was about as much fun as watching them jump in. 

After everyone was sufficiently worn out from showcasing their gymnastics skills, we headed to the party room for snacks, drinks and cupcakes. At Kennedy's request, all the cupcakes had pink frosting and were a mix of chocolate and white cake. I think it turned out to be an awesome birthday party, I know Kennedy sure had a blast!

Fantastic Gymnastics!

Grown Up Fun. 

Aunt Jill, Gymnastics Enthusiast, even gave the arial silks a try.  

Happy 3rd Birthday Kennedy!! Grammyflash and Big Poppa came in from Midland to celebrate with us. Kennedy is on about cupcake #6 in this picture. 

Birthday girl in her birthday outfit. 

Adorable gymnast invitations by Stamped Paper Co. 

Celebrating 3

Since we were traveling on Kennedy's birthday, Greg and I wanted to do something at home to give her a special day with just the three of us. We started the day with pink pancakes (her favorite), gave her a bicycle (with training wheels) and had a fun day together as a family.

Once we got to Albuquerque, it felt like we celebrated her birthday every single day we were there. Lots of surprises, sweets, friends and family were never in short supply. One gift she got from Lainey and Gramps that nearly sent her over the edge was a Cinderella wedding dress. She really likes to dress up and play wedding at home, and generally uses blankets and scarves as her dress and veil. So you can imagine her excitement when she saw a white, poufy, glittery real wedding dress, veil and bouquet. She wore it most of the week. My favorite thing is watching her personality completely change when she puts it on. She goes into full on princess mode: soft, sweet voice, graceful and gentle moves.

In the weeks leading up to Kennedy's birthday party, all she could talk about was having a Cinderella princess party. This was perfect, since we had already booked the pink-a-lympics gymnastics party she had been talking about since January. So, we decided to do both. A Cinderella party in Albuquerque and a pink gymnastics party in Dallas.

On the morning of her birthday, we invited a few little friends over to the Enchanted Garden to have snacks and play outside. Kennedy wore her Cinderella dress, naturally. There were manicures, bubbles and plenty of toys to play with/argue over. It was fun to celebrate her birthday with our Albuquerque friends and we enjoyed playing with some of her new gifts in the afternoon.

After the Cinderella festivities wrapped up and we all enjoyed a long rest, we all finished out the day at a park near my parents house. The next morning it was time for the three of us to fly home and get ready for the Pink-a-lympics party in Dallas.

Pink pancake party. 

Wedding Kennedy and posing with mommy and Lainey. 

Little Birthday Princess

 Snack table fit for a princess. 

 Some birthday pals. Sam and I are pregnant at the same time again (10 wks apart). Kennedy and her daughter Kaylie are only 4 days apart!  

Marlowe giving Kennedy a manicure and Kennedy & Kaylie enjoying some snacks. 

 Park time with Gramps, Lainey, Mommy, Daddy and Alex. 

Three Year Interview

We interviewed Kennedy a couple of weeks ago asking her some of her favorites. Some of her answers caught me by surprise and others were just as expected.

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What's your name? Kennedy
How old are you? holds up three fingers
When is your birthday? July fifth
What is your favorite color? Pink (no surprise here)
What's your favorite animal? Cow (I have no idea...)
What's your favorite book? Twinkle Little Star (a night time book)
What's your favorite show? Mickey (always has been!)
What's your favorite movie? Madagascar (although she does like this, I would have to say her current favorite is Cinderella)
What's your favorite song? Rapunzel (from the movie Tangled)
What's your favorite food? Chicken nuggets (I would have to override here and say macaroni and cheese). 
What's your favorite drink? Water
Who is your best friend? Emily (what's really sweet is Emily said 'Kennedy' in her interview)
What's your favorite toy? Minnie Mouse
What's your favorite thing to do? gibberish mumbles...she was being silly here
What do you want to be when you grow up? Cinderella
What did you do for your birthday party? wedding dress (That's rue, she did wear a wedding dress. But she also had a couple fun parties, too.)
What's your favorite thing to do outside? Chalk
What's your favorite thing to do at home? Food (I assume she means playing in her kitchen)
What's your favorite restaurant? A Disneyworld one (I would actually say its Chic-Fil-A)

Fwree Years Old

Sometimes it is hard to believe three years have gone by so fast, but its time to accept it, Kennedy is three. Or "fwree" if you ask her.

She generally has a sweet personality, though she can be a little spicy at times. Just don't tell her she is being spicy, she really doesn't like that.

She is really creative and very imaginative. One of her favorite things to do is "craft projects." She asks me constantly, knows where I keep all the supplies, and actually loves to go to Jo-Ann or Hobby Lobby (since I usually let her pick out a craft of some kind.) I can pretty much trust her with real markers and crayons now, and love that she enjoys spending a little independent time coloring and drawing.

We often times live in a completely pretend world. She will assign you a role and let you know hers at the same time: I'm a very tiny baby. We're in an airplane right now, ask me for juice and pretzels.  You be Kennedy, and I will be Amanda. You be the pwince and I will be Thumbelina. I'm the teacher, this is school. Etc. She really commits to the role at hand and expects you to do the same. Its really entertaining to watch, but sometimes we play the same scenario over and over and, well, Mommy gets a little tired of the game.

She is speaking really well and will tell you long made-up stories. I love listening to her tell you about her day - which often times includes snippits from favorite books, days past and occasionally, something that happened almost 9 months ago in Disneyworld.

Kennedy is a little mommy and we are constantly looking after all the babies in the orphanage playroom. She takes great joy in feeding, changing, and reading to them. I hope this is a sign of things to come for Baby Boo's arrival.

She pronounces "r" and "l" with a "w" and "th" with an "s" I love how it sounds. She still has some funny words and I don't want her to outgrow them.
 - Mac-a-moni
 - Mock-a-moley (guacamole)
 - Mama, nook (Mama, look. The only "l" word she pronounces with an "n")

We had a great three year check-up (no shots!). She is weighing in at 29.6lbs (39%) and is 37.2in (56%).

Photo Credit: AKA Photography

4th of July

The main reason we traveled to New Mexico was to celebrate the 4th of July birthdays. I was born on not only the 4th of July, but also on my Papa's birthday. The night of the 4th, my parents always have a big BBQ, with plenty of cake and ice cream to celebrate with. Greg and I try to take off on little adventures during the day. Last year, we went on a Breaking Bad tour and visited a bunch of filming locations of the show.

This year, we played Tourist and went for a ride on the Sandia Peak Tram. Its a 2.7 mile long cable stretching from the base of the mountain to the summit, and takes about 15 minutes to ascend the mountain. The views are amazing and you can see almost all of Albuquerque while suspended high above the city. When you reach the top, you are at an elevation of over 10,000 feet. During the summer its cool and breezy and a nice change from the hotter temperatures at the base, and as you can imagine, its cold and snowy during the winter. Since the fire danger is too high this summer, the backside of the mountain, ski area chair lifts and hiking trails were all closed.

Once we were done on the Tram (and stopped for frozen yogurt) we headed back to my parent's house to get ready for the BBQ. All of our family and a few friends stopped by for dinner and cake. The weather was perfect and only started to rain at the very end of the night. Kennedy stayed up the latest she has even stayed up, and I found her devouring chocolate cake at nearly 10:00pm.

I had such a fun (and exhausting) birthday and ended the day looking forward to celebrating Kennedy's birthday in the morning.

Top of the Tram. 

High above the Sandia Mountains. 

Firecracker Princess

Kennedy loves to play dress up, and most recently, wedding. 

 Happy birthday to us. 

23 and 32

The Hunters have returned from our annual 4th of July Birthday Trip to New Mexico and are enjoying a quiet afternoon at home (where we are fresh out of cake and cupcakes...kind of a relief!) We had a wonderful time and got to see lots of family and friends. This week, the numbers 2 and 3 happened to have a lot of significance for us. Kennedy turned 3. I turned 32. And this week marked 23 weeks in my pregnancy with Boo.

Pregnancy wise, I'm still feeling really good. The altitude bothered me just a tad - found my self a little winded and huffing and puffing at times while we were there. But generally still feeling pretty good. Boo is roughly the size of a large mango now, and weighs just over a pound. We have a chocolate lover on our hands. Boo literally bounces around like crazy after I have a few bites of a chocolaty sweet treat. There was no shortage of opportunities to test this out on our vacation, and I kind of can't wait to get back to the gym this week!

Greg and I took a ride on the Sandia Peak Tram on Thursday (more on that later) and snapped a pic of this quickly growing baby bump.