happy birthday babies!

As Lila would say, we had a "great day" today celebrating their 3rd birthday. We started off with a cinnamon roll breakfast- their "fav-rit", and let them open the gifts that Elise had gotten for them. {David took her to TJMaxx a few days ago to pick out an under $10 gift for each}.
Bennett loves his remote control red truck, and Lila loves her dress up accessories.



Then they opened their gifts from Aunt Mo and Uncle Phillip...Lila loves her skirt, and Bennett is pumped about his case for his trains!



Then we got dressed for a day of swimming..first, lessons with Coach Bill, then an afternoon spent at the neighborhood pool...



Can you tell someone likes to be photographed??



Lessons were better than yesterday. Rather than hysterical screaming the whole time (Lila and Bennett) there was just a lot more whimpering today. Elise continued to improve, and had lots of fun diving to the bottom of the pool to get toys- a new thing for her!

After lunch, we headed to our neighborhood pool....I thought for just a little while.... to reinforce what they had worked on today, and frankly, because they don't fight when we are at the pool, so it makes for a more enjoyable day for everyone.

I was quite surprised after about 30 minutes of being there when Bennett announced he did not need his float anymore and started swimming to me over and over!! He is definitely capable of this, but so far had not enthusiastically done it! It was like a switch flipped.

To be honest this is both good and bad. I have to be even more extremely vigilant now because the fear factor (for both Bennett and Elise) seems to have disappeared. They were both jumping off the side and more than happy to spend a lot of time underwater today. Lila did some swimming as well, but remains the most cautious (in this area) of the three.

The kids were having so much fun we ended up staying at the pool from around 1:30 until 5!!

After our day of swimming, time for dinner. We told them they could choose where they would like to go for their birthday. Not all that surprisingly, they chose "old McDonald's"- unanimously.

So, David met us there after work and we chowed down on some Mickey D's.

Lila wanted to wear her birthday skirt.

Then it was home for some happy birthday singing (once for Lila and once for Bennett) and a few more small gifts...

Guess how old we are??

It was such a nice day spent together...too bad David couldn't stay home and play with us all day. We missed him! I hope that the kids had as much fun as I did on their birthday.

Today and everyday I am overwhelmed with gratefulness for all of the joy they have given us!

Happy Birthday Dynamic Duo!

We love you!!