Anne's last day as a three-year-old

Today was Anne's last day as a three-year-old. I think she had a pretty good day! We did a little "photo shoot" with her posing and showing me how old she was today - Whitney joined in on the pics (despite the heat she cooperated... maybe she knew it was almost Anne's birthday). We ran some errands and then Anne wanted to go to Toys R Us to use her $3 coupon they sent in the mail to her with her Toys R Us birthday card. The girl at customer service gave Anne a balloon, a cardboard "crown" and announced her birthday on the loud speaker throughout the store - Anne LOVED it! She also had about 5 people while we were at the store wish her a happy birthday (they had heard the announcement). Anne picked out a cute Strawberry Shortcake lunch box with her coupon (+ a little extra from me). While we were there I looked into getting a water table for Whitney's birthday (she will never know that we gave it to her about 6 weeks before her birthday and I figure Anne and Whitney will get more enjoyment if we have it now). They were completely out but the girl at customer service said they had ONE that had been on hold and the people were supposed to pick it up by July 5th and they had never shown up. They were just "releasing" it today to be sold and hadn't even put it back out on the floor. It is the "Anchors Away" Pirate water table. The girl told me this has been the most "popular" one and they have not been able to even keep it in stock and this is the last one because they probably will not be getting any more in at this point in the season. When I found out it was an $80 water table (even though it is for Whitney's birthday) I thought "there is no way I am getting an $80 water table - they are normally about $40!!!" but then I couldn't help myself after I thought about it for a minute and realized how much Whitney enjoyed the water table yesterday and how good it would be for her to stand there and build the strength in her legs (without her realizing that is what she is doing). The girl asked me if i had the most recent Toys R Us coupon that had been mailed out - I said I thought I had it out in the car... I went out to my car and had a 20% off one baby item from Babies R Us coupon. It specifically stated that it could not be used for toys (and certain other exclusions) but she talked to her manager who was standing close by and they gave it to me! yeah!!!! Altogether it was a pretty lucky shopping trip - and Whitney's bday gift is taken care of!!! here are some pics from the "photo shoot":

so many things to write about...

ok - for most of the month of July I was having major problems with our computer and the end of July and most of August I was, for the most part, completely without a computer, so I have MAJORLY fallen behind on anything computer related!!! Of course this had to happen during the month of Anne's birthday (JULY) and also the month of Whitney's birthday (AUGUST)... I will have to do some "catch up" posting! I did want to share a video of the first time Anne met Whitney on her birthday last August, 25, 2008. This is the first time we were able to take Anne into the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) to meet her sister:



(isnt' that the sweetest video?!?! this is definitely one of my favorites!)

We also just returned from an AWESOME family vacation in Florida with our friends the Friedmans... more to come on that later :)

Hope everyone had a great weekend!!! It is nice to be home, but I really still wish we were in Florida!!! Vacation goes by much too quickly!