My little girl is three years old!  Well, technically, Bree will be three on Friday…but her party was today.  It is very hard to explain to an almost three year old the 5 day span between your birthday party day and your actual birthday.  So Bree is THREE!

It really has gotten to the point where I can’t remember much of life without this little spitfire in it.  And yes, that’s a good thing!

Bree’s obsession with animals, Diego, Dora and all things hide and seek led me to come up with the “Safari” theme for this little shindig today.

So we gathered up a few of our favorite little and big people!

Martin, Sean and Bauer worked hard to get everything ready for the party!

Bree got to invite a few of her favorite friends from school including her friend Geneveive.

We started the party off by preparing our safari maps with some coloring and animal stickering.

I enlisted the help of two of my favorites…Allison and Audrey…to put on this fabulous safari rescue mission.

After coloring our maps, Sean explained the rules.  Each kid got to hunt for a pair of binoculars & safari hat.

Then they would proceed to the Animal Rescue station (Kangaroo Climber) where they would be given a picture of a missing animal that they would need to find in the backyard.

The whole plan was for them to rescue all the animals and place them in the Rescued Box.

So simple, yet still challenging and overall just a lot of fun in our new backyard.

The kids got really into it.  Some of the parents were a little perplexed.

The safari hats were a big hit!

With over 30 animals to rescue, the mission kept us very busy!

Once we rescued all the animals (I think), it was PINATA TIME.

It took all kinds of hits to break open this “3″:

Little hits…

Medium hits…

And a some BIG hits and a kick or two by Uncle David!

Then there was candy chaos!!!

After all good candy explosions come CAKE!

Bree has been practicing blowing out candles with Play-doh cakes for about 6 months now!

PRESENTS!!!  Bree got such a fun variety:

Dress-up clothes…

Crafty stuff…

A Black and Decker Tool Set…BIG HIT!

A cutie purse…

And her very own “I don’t have to share with my brother” Magnadoodle…

Of course after opening presents, there was playing with presents!

Princess Bree

All the girls and Cameron checking out the tools…

There was more “safari” time when Granddad arrived…hilarious!

And don’t forget Championship Sunday…lots of football to watch!

And nothing can finish off a birthday party day quite like some cuddle time and milk with Grammy!

Happy birthday Bree-Bree!  We are so blessed to have you grow up before our eyes!  There may or may not be more presents for you on Friday…your actual birthday!!!!  I know you won’t argue with more presents!