You say it's your birthday!

Happy Birthday, Alyssa! The big 3!

Three years ago, Alyssa came home on the outside of Mommy for the first time. When our two became three. When our DINK became a DIOnK. I gotta trademark that! Dibs! No wait. I thought the acronym was going to spell d-o-i-n-k. Idiot. So much has changed since that day; I can't write them all down, but I'll at least try to ...

The Hoy House relocated (back) to Houston ... Cypress specifically. I took a job with my old group at Hewlett-Packard. I became (at times overly) involved with the Knights of Columbus. Katie is giving back to the RCIA program at church ... not to mention Sustainable Living Houston and our MUD and HOA. Padme joined our family. Oh, and somewhere in there, Jackson joined our family; it's the youngest Hoy who redirected Aly's birthday.

As often happens to every parent, the best laid plans change in an instant because of anything and everything. The plan for Alyssa's birthday was to celebrate with Granddad and Granny Kendall and Grandpa and Grandma Denk with dinner of breakfast casserole and Mickey Mouse waffles (one of Alyssa's favorite meals is breakfast for dinner). Late last night, Jackson came down with the latest of a long line of colds. This one with a fever and runny nose combined with swelling around his left eye; this put the kibosh on the subdued birthday plans for Alyssa.

Grandparents Denk to the rescue! Grandma kidnapped Alyssa after a brief cake celebration at home. Grandpa and Grandma took Alyssa to a neighborhood Frosty Fest in Katy followed by a holiday open house. Our little three-year-old had a great time and shows no signs of her brother's illness. Yay!

Katie and I had a relaxed afternoon and evening with Jackson, Christmas cookies, and football. Jackson's fever broke in the early afternoon and he started to look and act more like himself ... even more so than normal since big sister wasn't around. Lots of Chex mix, Oreo truffles, chocolate bark, buckeyes ... made, not eaten (yet). It's not very often that we're around on a Sunday afternoon to catch a bit of the NFL, but got to see the Texans beat the Flaming Thumbtacks from Tennesse this afternoon.

So while it didn't go as planned, Alyssa's third birthday was a rousing success. Here's hoping that Jackson's second birthday follows the itinerary a bit better.