debf, part one.

oops!  i realized i forgot to mention where we stayed while on vacation, so for those of you who were wondering, we stayed at the dreams resort and spa.  highly recommended.  remember, todo incluido, baby!

ok, so that bit of info has nothing to do with the present post at hand.  just tying up a loose end first.  🙂

this post has to do with child number three, who went and turned three in the midst of moving, finishing fellowship, and celebrating a decade-old marriage.  so yes, her birthday was actually spent at her grandparents’ house while her parents were off gallivanting in another country.  hey, we make no claims on being parents of the year.  for this year, anyway.  but!  her grandparents had a cake and little party for her on her birthday.  so maybe they’ve got a better shot at being grandparents of the year.  they’ve got it in my book. 

and her big sister also had her birthday at her grandparents’ house this year, too.

man.

*guilt.*

so uh, maybe big birthday bashes are in order for next year…

aaanyway, we had lauren’s Day of Epic Birthday Fun (DEBF) just a tad late this year.  by a couple weeks.  but who’s counting, right?

so we went to pretend city to kick off the DEBF!  and if the birthday girl wants to wear a ratty barbie princess dress for three days straight and out in public on her DEBF, why shouldn’t she?

cruising the streets (read: mommy pushing her around) in this little red coupe was one of her three favorite things at pretend city.

one (ok, there are many, but this is just one) good thing about having a bunch of kids is that they manage to have fun together no matter where they are.  give ’em some random sticks and boxes and they can play for hours by rules only they understand.  so while this place was a bit young for the older two, they all still had a great time playing together. 

whatcha lookin’ at, chick?

this was lauren’s second of three favorite things at pretend city- the dentist’s chair.  but maybe not phil’s favorite.  maybe it had something to do with this crazed-looking-barbie-princess-dress-wearing-three-year-old coming at him with oversized dentist tools.  😉

little back story– thanks to the recommendation of a great dentist by my friend k, our kids LOVE going to the dentist.  so much so that they actually play dentist at home and use the same words he uses, like “mr. whistler” and “sugar buggies”.  and the part they love most about going to dr. steve is the big, wooden treasure chest they get to visit at the end.  being one who never liked going to the dentist, it amazes me that our kids love theirs so much that they actually pretend to BE him at home.  and that’s the most glowing recommendation as i can give.  so thanks, dr. steve!

lauren promptly kicked daddy out of the chair to become the patient herself.  mikey, who unfortunately has soft teeth like his dad, has spent quite a bit of time in the dentist chair and is something of an expert with all these tools.

hmm, that dentist smock seems kinda… snug.

time to floss!  (lauren gets quite a bit of practice being the patient at home).

mommy’s rule was to pretend and not actually put the tools in the patient’s mouth.  this seems awfully close to breaking that rule.

and this most definitely is a breach of that rule.

“say ‘eee’, daddy!”

checkup’s all done and my, what a gleaming set of chompers you’ve got there!  and an appropriately sized toothbrush to match!

mr. tooth says see you in six months!

me and my boys.

me and 75% of my kids.

and me with the whole crew.  and this is pretty much why we don’t attempt many pictures of all of ’em.

and this was lauren’s third of three favorite things at pretend city!

her favorite thing no matter where we are?  making faces whenever the camera is pointed her way.

be back later with part two of lauren’s DEBF!  😉