it was the best of days, it was the worst of days

today is madelyn's third birthday. all in all, i think that it was a pretty nice day. we started the day with breakfast out and madelyn got pancakes with sprinkles on them. and all kids' meals come with a cookie but we managed to put that off until after lunch.

both kids were really excited about the crayons at breakfast and mason actually took one and used it to 'color' on the paper. it was the first time i have attempted to let him color and i was very impressed. we will try that again soon.

after breakfast, madelyn got her second gumball but had to wait until we arrived at our next destination because there is no eating, or chewing, while in the car seats. we took daddy home so that he could get his car and head to work and we went off to run a few errands. first stop was target where madelyn got an ariel doll and several classic chapter books (they were in the dollar section for anyone who might want to check them out).

next we headed to the grocery store to get what we needed for cupcakes since that was what madelyn wanted for birthday. she remembered seeing winnie the pooh cupcake papers a few weeks ago and wanted them for her birthday.

for lunch i took the kids up to mcdonalds so that madelyn could play at the 'playplace'. she asks all the time to go and we never have before. the weather wasn't forecasted to be nice today so i hadn't really planned anything for us to do and was trying to make it a fun day and not just run all the errands i need to do before their birthday party this weekend. madelyn had a really great time and i was happy that we went up there. at one point another mom came over to where we were sitting and asked if anyone was named michelle. of course i panicked, but madelyn had just gone to the bathroom by herself and was ready to be wiped off! i couldn't believe that she just went by herself considering she had asked me to go with her not 10 minutes before.

madelyn started melting down while mason was napping. i think that it had a little to do with the amount of sugar she had eaten today. but man, oh man, was it brutal! she threw some of the worst fits ever. and i mean ever. i had to physically carry her kicking and screaming upstairs from the basement because she wouldn't go to her room willingly - a first. i think she had three serious fits today but always emerged happy and pleasant until the next one. i was utterly exhausted by the time matt got home from work.

in one of her happy moments she got a package from big pop and grandma filled with presents. she was so happy that she even shared with mason and let him help open gifts. the funniest part to me was that she was most concerned about getting all the paper picked up each time. before she even looked at what she had received she asked me to help her pick up all the paper and put it in the box. you can see her cleaning up in the video.

on the plus side, the macaroni and cheese i made for madelyn's birthday dinner was the best i have ever made. matt ever said that it was the best he has ever had. we also dined on madelyn's favorite fruit - cantaloupe. madelyn chose not to have her cupcake after all so we didn't do candles or singing tonight, but we were fine with that. she did not need any more sugar.

as an act of mercy, matt took both kids to the park for a long time so that i could clean up in peace. once they got home it was already bed time but we went ahead and gave madelyn her presents from matt and i. most of her presents from us where returning toys that 'were not taken care of' but she did get a few new things too. here are just a few pictures from all her gifts today.

one of the 'big gifts' from matt and i was what madelyn calls her 'computer'. it is a letter writing toy from leap frog. i just thought she was hysterical sitting on the couch using it with her ariel dress up shoes and her legs crossed. she calls that 'sitting like mommy'.

mason's gift to madelyn was walking to her on request. she would smile and say "come here mason, come here!" in super sweet way and he would toddle over to her and then lunge forward for her to catch him. while they both shed a few tears over bonked heads, the overall sound was laughter. they were both having so much fun with mason going back and forth from me to madelyn and she rewarded him with praises, hugs, and kisses. unfortunately, they followed me when i ran to get the camera in hopes of a video.

again - it was a nice day overall. however, we will not have another sugar filled day any time in the near future! love.