Sweet Anna Rose

This past weekend the McCarty family made the trip down to Alabama to celebrate a very special day for a very special girl. Anna Rose's 3rd Birthday!

On past trips Ruth Ann has been an angel...mostly because she slept for 80% of the drive and when you're traveling for 5 hours this is priceless. This time I would say Ruth Ann was AWAKE 80% of the time. You may be wondering how Ruth Ann spent her awake time in the car...



She read a few books and...



Drank a little juice.

We finally reached our destination and once Anna got home from school I let her open our gifts to her. I realize it was still almost 24 hours before her birthday party, but I knew she would have a ton of gifts at her party and I wanted ours to be a little special. If we had waited until her party, then our gifts would have blended in with the others.







Ruth Ann watched...I hope she was taking notes on proper gift opening techniques for her birthday in a few weeks!



And then she played a little with some of Anna's goodies...



I got Anna a cute little tea set that I have given as a gift to our friend Betsy Brown. It has been a big hit at the Brown's & I always loved my tea set, so I thought it would be perfect for Anna.



After she opened it we had an impromptu tea party...



A little later while Andrea and I were with Ruth Ann in the living room, Anna brought Ruth Ann a full pot of water...want to guess where she got the water??? I'll give you a hint, there are only a few place in the house that a 3 foot tall child would have easy access to...yep, it was from the potty!

Later that night we watched a little TV and Scott kept the girlies contained...



And they enjoyed a little night time drink...



Then it was Saturday...the day of the party! Here are the girls all dressed up and ready to party!







The party was FANTASTIC!!











And why might you ask is this cup blocking the picture...because it's not blocking the view, it's exactly what I was looking to photograph. The Barbecue House is one of my favorite eating establishments in Auburn. Their chipped pork bbq is my fave, Andrea prefers the chicken bbq. Either way, it's delicious and if you're ever in Auburn you should stop by...the sweet tea is great and make sure you get the potato salad...yummy!

Ruth Ann also made some new friends...



This is Andrea's Aunt Terri. She looks just like Andrea because she and all of Andrea's aunts and mom are beautiful blonds and all look very similar!

Then Ruth Ann did a little bouncing in the moon walk...



Someone else joined her in the moon walk...





Not the most lady like position, but still a cute picture of daughter & daddy!

We were lucky enough to have some other friends come and join in the fun at the party...







It's our friend Kate! Her mom & my good friend, Erin, came up to Auburn for the party. In just 4 short weeks Kate is going to be a big sister. The next time we see this sweet girl we'll also get to see her sweet baby sister, Evan...I can hardly wait!



The first thing I think when I see this picture is "WOW, look at the bows on those girls!". I think Erin and I are raising these girls right! Kate is so addicted to a bow that she wants to sleep in hers. I must learn Erin's secret to getting your daughter to fulling accept a bow...Ruth Ann is still yanking hers from her head in defiance!

Then it was time for cake and ice cream...



We didn't let Ruth Ann have any cake, but we can't deny her ice cream...it's her favorite!





Then it was present time...see why I wanted Anna to open her gifts from us the night before...







Here's my favorite gift...it's from some of Andrea's friends at work...





And here's the Webster family in the moon walk...





All this fun wore out my baby girl...



Later that night we took a golf cart ride around the golf course in Andrea's neighborhood.



It was the first time Ruth Ann got to wear her winter jacket...she looked so cute in it!



Sweet Anna Rose, we had so much fun this weekend celebrating your 3rd birthday. I can't believe you're already 3 years old. It feels like I just got to meet you, then I blinked and you're a big girl! I love your sweet smile, your sassy personality and how kind you are to Ruth Ann. You'll always be very special to Aunt Tara and I look forward to spending many more birthdays with you!