Look what I brought home from the zoo...

A sweet giraffe! We are approaching the end of zoo school and today they all got to get "paint-faced" (as Meredith likes to call it!)

Let's Play Ball!

Today was an exciting day for Meredith - her first ever t-ball game!  She has been asking to play for awhile and we finally found a team (bonus - it has several of the girls from her Ladybugs Soccer team!) so we signed up this Spring and she has been counting down the days! She has been doing lots of practicing with Daddy just to be sure she was ready!  Her team is the Purple Sox, which she thinks is a super silly name and Jillian is a huge fan because it is her favorite color!

The Purple Sox were out in the field first.  I think she started in right center. Seriously, Neal should be writing this post.

After fielding (for maybe a little longer than anyone would have liked.  Let me just say, it is a good thing their innings have run rules!  Luckily, the girls got better and better each inning!) it was time to get ready for some batting!  Here are the girls all lined up for their turns.  Meredith is 29 because this is the number Daddy sometimes wears in softball.

Up next - Meredith!

Going over a few last minute pointers from Coach Brian.  She had a great hit but the first basemen got her out.  We were still really excited for her!

After a turn in right field (again, I think), Meredith played the third inning as pitcher.  Look how excited she looks love it!

She did an awesome job of fielding all the balls that came her way!

Jillian was excited to be out there, too!  She made sure to tell me when we got there "When I get bigger, I play that!" So she practiced really hard while the game went on.

Meredith was ready to bat again, but a little nervous since she didn't get on base the first time.  After a little pep talk, she was ready to go

And this time she got to first!  She was so proud!

Then the other Purple Sox did a great job and she got to run all the bases (which she told me over and over again was her favorite part of the game!)

Meredith Ann scores a run!  

The Purple Sox had a great come-back after the first ending, but still fell a little short, but I could tell how much fun the girls had.  I listened in on the end-of-game huddle and loved Coach Brian's insight for the girls - he reminded them that he was proud of them for catching the balls, making good hits, running hard (in the right direction, no less!), and also that no one sat down on the field or even threw their gloves in the air, but most of all he was so proud that they all had fun!

Go Purple Sox!

There's still more?

After the party and lunch with our friends, the Spitzenbergers, we headed home.  As we were getting ready to take a nap, I told Jillian "We need to get a good rest so we can go celebrate your birthday at Gigi's!" And she looked at me with total happiness and surprise and said "There's still more??" Yep, Jillian - in this family we do birthdays to their fullest!  So, after a good nap, we picked up pizza and headed over for dinner with Gigi, Papa, Bubbie, Grandad, Grandma, Uncle Neil, Aunt Katie, and Landon.  

 After dinner, we opened presents, including a few from her friends.  This one is from her best friend, Caleb - like I mentioned in a previous blog, he refers to her as "JIllian Bean Hank Wife" and asked that his mom write just that on the card.  She loved it! 

 After Papa and Meredith made her grasshopper, Grassy, a few weeks ago, they started working on a hippo for Jillian and Papa wrapped it up for her to open - she loves him!  Papa is so talented!

 Jillian didn't have any big requests for birthday presents this year - hippos, of course, but then she was insistent every time she saw these chips and some Chex Mix that she wanted those for her birthday!  I promise we feed her.  And we do feed her junk food, too.  So, anyway, I had to go to a couple of stores to finally find this Doritos Munchies mix, and finally got them at RaceTrac, but they made her day!

Since we had already had cupcakes that day, we decided to all go out for our family favorite dessert - Frozen Yogurt!  She was so excited that she got to go with Landon, too!

 I brought a 3 candle to put in her yogurt  (forgot the lighter) so we got to even sing to her and she thought it was so funny to pretend to blow out the candle!

At bedtime we got all of her hippos (from her birthday and from before) and put them up on her bed and she loved laying in the middle of them (especially since she was in her new hippo PJs from Caleb!

Hip Hippo-ray it's Jillian's birthday!

After our donut celebration, it was time for the party to begin!  Jillian invited all of her friends to a cheerleading gym to bounce on the trampolines, play in the bounce houses and enjoy lots of hippo fun!

The Hippo Cupcakes!

 I found a store on Etsy that made this cute banner for Jillian along with the cupcake pics - they were perfect!

 I filled these cute hippo snack cups with animal shaped candies

 Jillian possibly has a future in party planning because she was insistent on a few details: 1) Hippo cupcakes 2) Purple balloons ("no red, no blue, no yellow. Just purple balloons.") 3) Purple flowers.  Every time we saw purple flowers in gardens or at a store the past month or so, she has said "I ask for those at my birthday party" So, I found these pretty purple tulips and added a hippo!

 Uncle Neil helped get Jillian into the trampolines

 Meredith and her friend Raegan (whose sister, Schaeffer is one of the kids Jillian calls "my best friend") loved running up and down the trampoline - looks like Jillian and Landon were having a blast, too!

 Just running!

 Meredith and Katie captivated the owner's attention to try to learn cartwheels while they were there!

 So much fun bouncing

 Time for a rest

 Look how much fun the kids are having

 Ok, so maybe the adults had even more fun!

 Jillian and some of her favorite boys

 Beans and I had fun bouncing together

 After working on a cartwheel, Meredith officially perfected a somersault, which she was really happy about

 Walking the balance beam

 Happy birthday to you!

Welcome to 3 Miss Jillian Mae

In preparation for Jillian's big birthday, the girls and I started off with our annual birthday eve girls sleepover!

 First up - manicures! Green nails for Meredith and Purple for Jillian

 They were a bit distracted by the showing of Little Mermaid that was on for our slumber party for a picture, but I still wanted at least one!  We had so much fun - there were even a couple of times when we all got up to dance to the songs!

Reminding us that she is 2, but I guess that other hand over there with the one, shows us what is to come!

The next morning we headed out for birthday donuts - yumm!

There is the official "I am 3!" sign!