Horrible Mother Strikes Again...

... well, the horrible mother could not find any Elmo balloons, so there were none. We had to frantic clean before everyone arrived which always adds just the right amount of stress to any situation. The car wouldn't start for Bryant to get home from school. Daddy had to borrow someone else's car to go pick up Elle from the babysitters. Mommy's car was out of gas, so she had to go fuel up (that always makes me grumpy and its only getting worse).

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There are no digital photos or videos of the birthday song or Elle blowing out her candles, so I cannot post any here. We did manage to snap a few photos, but certainly not nearly enough when I think about the enormous magnitude of this special day in our little girl's life.... I can probably only post three here that turned out at all. Karen (as usual) did a terrific job with the cake. Elle was excited to find her name written on it, along with her favorite red guy, Elmo. It was a big letter E which was even better.

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Granny did a neat prayer before we ate. Daddy made her favorite food - mashed potatoes. There were also dinner rolls with butter and grape jelly which she loves. She ate her potatoes, Dayton's potatoes, and was begging for Conlee's too when he left his chair. She also had cantelope (or orange meatloaf as Conlee calls it) which she likes. The meal was a smashing success - thanks to Daddy. She loved the cake and ice cream as you can see. She wanted to keep eating, but Conlee was anxious to have her get on with opening gifts.

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Two of the three gifts from Mommy/Daddy required batteries and guess what, we could find no functioning AAA batteries in the house. That pretty much wasted that, so neither the puzzle with animal pieces that make sounds or the Elmo telephone worked. We also got her an Elmo baby which she liked. She had worked him over in the store enough that we figured he would be safe. Of course, it took me twenty minutes to get the bottle wrestled out of his hand so that you can make him go to sleep, so long before that time, she was on to something else.

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Elle got lots of neat cards, some cash, two stuffed animals, a Hannah Montana t-shirt (guess which brother thought she needed that), the Bee Movie, a John Deere Angel t-shirt (guess which brother that was from), a pretty bracelet, and some other neat things.

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Elle's favorite gift was from her two cousins, Conlee and Dayton (oh and their parents too of course). They did great and bought her a pink camera of her own. Elle figured out how it worked pretty quickly. She took mostly headless photos, had several shots of the floor, and lots of pix of people's behinds. She took about fifty pictures. I think I got about ten, seven of which didn't turn out.... so, she did better than I did tonight.

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She knows she is three and will show you that any chance she gets. She's having a tough time going to sleep now after all the excitement, but hopefully she will have sweet dreams. Anyway, enjoy the pix that I managed to post.... maybe when she turns four, Mommy will do a better job......