And now we are THREE!

Clara's and Elena's birthday dawned sunny and full of options for anything fun we wanted to do. We started the day with presents - so many family members and friends sent such lovely gifts, and we didn't get pictures of everything...look in mailboxes for thank you notes soon!

Then we moved on to birthday "cupcakes" - we made carrot-raisin muffins from carrots in our garden, with whole wheat and cornmeal, so they were actually (gasp!) relatively healthy - but we put candles in and it was definitely a good kick-off for a special birthday.

We spent most of the morning playing with the new presents (thank goodness the girls loved the dollhouse - Christina bought it when the girls were only six months old, and Grammie Ellen and Christina spent the night before putting it together - we were happy they liked it!) and then headed off to the park for a picnic and playtime outside before naps.

After nap we had another round of cupcake/muffins (okay, five more rounds - same cupcakes, but we just kept re-lighting and re-singing as long as the girls requested it!) and we baked a plum upside-down cake for dinner.

There was also a very special delivery -each girl got a long-stemmed rose and teddy bear (each in her favorite color) from birthmom Ashley, and her son (Gabe) and mom (Grandma Leann).

Grammie Ellen took the girls to pick out their own helium balloons (which we guarded oh-so-carefully) - Clara picked Pablo from the Backyardigans and Elena picked a big fire truck.

Then we went to a neighborhood dinner - our block gets together 1-2 times a year for a neighborhood dinner, and it's so fun. It was held in one neighbors' backyard, and they had fruit trees everywhere.

We had crackers and hummus and olives put on fingers....perfect kid appetizers.

Dad and his big girls - gosh, they just look so big!

But even bigger here!! Sweet sisters toasting to their joint birthday and their very precious relationship (or so we imagined).

To accompany our plum cake and a berry tart, we made whipped cream together. Everyone got in on it - here our friend Blake shows the girls how to work the hand-cranked beater.

And Mike takes a turn while the girls add in just a bit more sugar.

Yum, yum, yum.

A few gifts from our friend Linda (paper flowers, star candles on a cake for each girl, and these tattoos) and we were wiped out - such a fun, fun, day, and a perfectly sweet ending for it.

And now we are parents to three year olds!! We can't believe it, and just have never yet gotten over how lucky, blessed, special, and grateful we feel to be together. Here's to another wonderful year!