Third Birthday Partying

Dear Em,
On December 30th you turned three. I haven't bogged about it yet, because up until yesterday, we've been so busy celebrating. Similar to Christmas, we kind of celebrated your birthday all month long. It all started when Aunt Andrea & Lowell were in town. We spent one special night celebrating your birthday with the whole McGovern family.

I had high hopes of making you cupcakes from scratch. You were very specific about your cake needs. You wanted PINK strawberry cupcakes. I found this recipe online & was so excited to make you what you wanted. I'm not sure what happened. Maybe I put too much pureed strawberry juice? The cupcakes didn't rise. In fact, they flopped. The homemade icing looked like curdled milk, which was funny because there was no dairy in the recipe (ok, it actually wasn't that funny). They looked awful, but everyone played along & said they were yummy. Maybe I should stick with a box next time?

We had your favorite for dinner: breakfast. You were thrilled to have all of your favorite foods. You filled up on fruit, yogurt, granola, pancakes, & of course bacon. Best of all, we got to spend the night with all of the McGoverns.

Next, you celebrated your birthday at school. I played it safe & amazing & ordered a donut cake from Allie's Donuts. You loved your princess donut cake, & you were so excited to share it with your friends & teachers at school.

I let you pick out your look for that day. Pink shirt, purple tu-tu, crimped pigtails.

On the day of your birthday, we were visiting my family in North Carolina. Nonnie planned a super fun day for you. The day before your birthday, you woke up with a high fever & just wanted to snuggle on the couch all day. I was so bummed you might spend your birthday feeling sick. As I put you to bed for the last time as a two year old, I said a little prayer you would be feeling better the next day. Luckily, your fever broke sometime during the night, & you woke up so excited to be a "big-girl three year old." You ran around telling everyone, "I'm this many now" as you tried to make a three with your little fingers.

Nonnie & Papi made you a special three year old breakfast (thanks so much to Haley from Life is Sweet for the fun idea).

While you enjoyed every last bite of your special breakfast, we all laughed & sang "Ruldoph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" (one of your very favorites) & then "Emma the Red-Nosed Reindeer" (as you held a raspberry on your nose). We went for a long walk after breakfast (your Nonnie got lost) before heading to the mall for some more birthday fun.

You enjoyed flying high with the trampoline bungee jump.

Then you took a ride on the Polar Express with Nonnie & Papi.

We took you home for a nap while your daddy & I searched for the perfect birthday cake. Then we headed to Jungle Rapids Kids Jungle for climbing, bouncing, sliding, ball pit fun (seriously, your Nonnie knows all the cool places to go).

It was tons of fun for you & even more fun for Uncle Nick & I. Who says grown-ups can't have fun in the Kids Jungle too?

After the last  disaster, we thought it would be smarter to get a bakery bought cake. You're a huge Strawberry Shortcake fan, & when I found a beautiful strawberry shortcake in the bakery we knew it would be perfect for you. We got Strawberry Shortcake to top it & wrote "have a berry happy birthday!"

It was such a fun, fun day even thought later we found out you were suffering through an awful ear infection.

We flew home super early the next day (New Years Eve) & you spent the rest of the year with Grandma & Papa while Daddy & I went out to welcome in the New Year. We were all a little too pooped to celebrate your birthday just the three of us. So, we waited until this past Saturday. We had a simple & fun day, just the three of us. Plus, we unveiled your birthday gift.

I videoed you as you came downstairs to find your car with a big pink bow on top. "Mommy & Daddy, you bought me a car?! A brand new car?!" It was so cute & hilarious. I'm so glad that I'll be able to watch it & smile even when you're 16...especially because we're a little concerned about your driving abilities. Seriously, I can already feel our insurance rates going up.

We ended the night by playing The Lady Bug Game, a game that I'll likely be talking more about soon because it's already our family's favorite. We loved watching your excitement over moving your lady bug piece forward & back & counting each piece you won. It was a precious way to end our sweet family day.

I love you so much, our little three year old & I've loved celebrating you & the best three years of our lives more than you can ever know.

I love you so,

Mommy

Here are posts about last year's birthday here & here, your 1.5 birthday, & your 2.5 birthday celebrations.