Natalie's Party

Last Saturday we had a party for Natalie's 3rd birthday. We've never had a party for her before so we thought it was time to do a big one!

She so loves animals, and we aren't often able to go to places like the zoo for her to see them. So we decided to have a petting zoo come to the house! As the kids were getting dressed for the party, we heard the pig squealing and knew the ANIMALS HAD ARRIVED!!

Jacob jumped right over the fencing to check the animals out!

We were fortunate enough to have almost all of our immediate family on both sides here. Just my sister Christina (and her husband Dirk and son Thomas!) were missing.

Here are her two grandpas - hanging out, and getting chewed on by the goats.

It was very cute when we sang Happy Birthday to her. Since she's never had a party before, she's never heard so many people singing for her, or being the center of attention to 30+ people! She seemed happily shocked by it all!

Sydney having some juice with Grammie.

While Jacob eats his cake with Oma!

My brother Eric with the miniature pot-bellied pig, Mr. Dreysdale. Everyone loved the pig!

Auntie Christine (my brother Marc's wife) with one of the goats.

Natalie & Kai running after the ducks!

Natalie's cousin Ryla (my sister Katie's little girl) thinks the animals are a little stinky...

One of the cutest things I've ever seen was my little niece Megan (Chris' sister Renee's little girl) reacting to her parents' arrival. She had been at her grandparents' house for the week and hadn't seen them, so when they got to the party she was thrilled. Pure joy!
Megan's brother Kevin was intrigued by the "pig pen" sign we'd put up next to a blow-up kids' pool. It was a great place for the babies to hang out!

Megan saying "HI!" to Ryla...

One of our neighbors made the kids some balloon animals. Ryla shares hers with Uncle Marc (my brother).

We were fortunate to have the petting zoo for several hours...we only had reserved an hour but the company had some transportation difficulties that day and so we lucked out with some extra time! Even after all the kids at the party left and it was just family left, we had the petting zoo in front of the house. Natalie loved it! But all good things come to an end. She sat on Chris' shoulders and sadly watched as the animals were packed up...

The best part for the kids was the squealing pig. When they took him out he squealed REALLY loudly and they all thought it was pretty amazing! I had to get some video, and Jacob & Natalie keep wanting to watch it over and over! So here you go: