Raylee's Birthday

I know, I'm slow. But I thought I had better post these before the holiday and I have more pictures to post.

Raylee's birthday was so much fun. Her main gift from us was the top bunk. We had her sleep with us the night before her birthday so that we could set it up and surprise her the next morning. Well, she couldn't sleep because of all the excitement so she wandered out of our room and found her surprise. I wished afterward though that I had videoed the event - she was just so precious checking it all out. She climbed up those steps grinning from ear to ear. She had a new comforter and a new puppy - Big Dog George has become his name. Raylee has really been into stuffed dogs and cats lately. So we put all the dogs we already had on her bed and then also purchased a huge dog (from my parents) to add to the collection. She LOVES George. She hauls him around everywhere. She told me the other day at breakfast that George can't talk, but he does talk to her in her ear. I asked what he said and she whispered with a huge smile "He loves me!" She is just so cute.

So after all that excitement, it was hard to get her to sleep, but she did finally. Sunday morning we had her open a couple of presents - the dress from Leland's parents and a purse with some contents from us. She told everyone at church that she was finally 3. Her choice for lunch was pancakes, so we went to Cracker Barrel. During lunch she said "This is the best birthday ever." She hadn't even had cake yet. :)

At 4:30 we had a few friends over for cake and presents. We had our neighbors Kathy, Nathan and Madison, our adopted Grandparents at church Ken and Mary, our dear friend Donna, and then us and Leland's sister Lesa (she had flown in on Friday). All of the people that are dear to Raylee here in Mansfield. She was just so happy. She loved all of her presents - even exclaiming "I can't believe it" on a few.

Raylee had a great birthday. I love the 3rd birthday - a kid finally gets it when they turn 3 and they are just so excited. She is such a fun, precious, cute little girl. I'm glad Raylee had such a great birthday.

Happy Birthday Raylee!

Today my little girls turns 3. 3 is such a fun birthday. A kid finally gets it when they turn 3. She has watched everyone else in our family have their birthday this year, and it is finally her turn. She is higher than a kite. I'll tell more about her gifts and her excitement at the end of the day. But I will share one picture of her this morning in the dress her Pappy and Grammy sent her - she is just adorable. Happy Birthday Raylee.

mallettmayhem

New Halloween Tradition

We had a lot of fun last night. We may have started a new tradition. Since our big costume event is on the Sunday before Halloween, we don't have much to do on the actual night. So we dressed the kids in their pirate costumes and went to Donna's house to show off. Of course she had goody bags for each of them (better than trick-or-treating at several houses). We then changed into regular clothes and went to Medieval Times. It was a blast. We sat on the front row, had flags to wave for our knight, and ate such great food. Our knight also threw a flower to Raylee. Afterward, Ryland got the autographs of every knight in our program. He loved it. It was a great evening for everyone. I would post pictures of the event, but I had left my camera at home so I purchased a disposable camera. I'll post pictures after we finish the roll and get them developed.

I hope everyone else had a great Halloween also. Enjoy the extra hour tonight.