Our Little Princess is Three?!
The day has come. I no longer have a baby or even a toddler. She's three!!!! How did that happen? Well, I know how it happened, but really. Like we've heard from those 'seasoned' mothers, it does happen so quickly. It's breaks my heart, and makes it soar with freedom all at the same time. And she loves being a 'big girl.' She is so proud to be celebrating this birthday. Can you tell!?! She woke up (before the crack of dawn) to a specially decorated "Princess Elsa" dining room. She was just giddy! I'm mean the little squeals that were bubbling out of her were down-right precious. One of my favorite things. Here she is in all her birthday glory - - -
The table was decorated with a little white tree I snagged at Home Depot's after Christmas clearance sale. I picked it up for $2 bucks, with lights! Can't beat that, huh?! I stole some snowflake ornaments from our tree (yes, we keep our Christmas decorations up until after her birthday), wrapped the base of it with some blue sparkly tule, which was left over from wrapping her gift, added a white 'snow' table runner that I pulled out of my 'give to Goodwill box,' throw in an adorable little reindeer named Sven, and call it good! It was a hit!
I'm not sure who was more excited about it, her or her brothers. Well, she was probably a bit more excited, but it was so cute to see how her brothers responded to her excitement. Her littlest big brother had to run and get her new Elsa doll, that she got for Christmas, to be part of the mix <3 Good call little buddy ;)
We let her open one gift after breakfast. And if you know anything about this little girl, I thought it was practically genius. {Excuse me while I pat myself on the back}. Just in case you don't know, this little princess changes her clothes more times in a day than a doctor washes his hands. I kid you not. She doesn't play with toys. She's not into games. She dresses, and re-dresses herself all day. At first it was cute, when it started with the shoes, but now... well, I could probably do a whole post on the parenting tactics I've tried. But not today. Today we're celebrating!!! So, the hope is that she will now dress these little girls. And dress them as many times as she feels necessary. ;)
It's her day, and in the spirit of "princess Elsa," we had to watch a little "Let it Go." Daddy had just left, (that's always sad on their special day, but at least the rest of us are all together). It was so great this year that we ALL got to celebrate her together, all day, in the special little ways that would otherwise have been forgotten). The sun wasn't even up yet, and here we all sat in the dim light of the twinkle lights listening to her sing her some of her favorite song. I'm sorry, but those songs never get old to me when she's singing them. And while we're on the subject of over-done, I completely agree that this Frozen thing has gotten out of hand. I mean, I am the last person to do something everyone else is doing, but she loves it. Her birthday is in the dead of winter. Her name is Elsa. And there's a snow storm today for goodness sake!! It was meant to be one of these times ;)
I also decorated the adjacent family room with snowflake twinkle lights and balloons. It's not a party without balloons. (I learned that the hard way - Biggest Mommy failure of 2012. Again, another blog post).
The boys still had their schooling to do, while Elsa and I were on to bigger and better things. Painting our nails!!! It really is the little things. I don't know where she got it, because I never painted my nails before she showed an interest, but it's real. Nails were not too high on my priority list. But, she's into it. And I'm coming along for the ride.
So, like I said, there was a snowstorm today, which put a small damper on our plans. We stayed in most of the day spending our morning reading, cuddling, playing games and dancing to Disney music ;) And you might want to pay attention to her wardrobe changes. I let her off the hook for today. :P
After we returned home from her birthday dinner at her favorite restaurant, Noodles Inc., we opened her last gift. This one was picked out especially for her by her brothers. Probably my most favorite moment of the day.
These boots. Now, she received these exact boots for her birthday last year, and wore them proudly all year long: rain, shine, puddles, snow, with pants, skirts, and everything in-between. And suddenly... they were too small. And I gave them away. And there were tears. Lots of them. Ugh, tough mommy problems. So when we were browsing Target one day, we came upon these at an encap, and the boys thought it would be a great idea to replace them. They ended up being dead on. Bravo boys! And bonus for smuggling them past her so she had no idea.
I mean, doesn't the joy just speak for itself on each of their faces?! This is why I take photos. To capture moments like these. It helps remind myself, that even though they fight, and bicker, and I could go... they love each other deeply. And I'm encouraged. It is affirmation that they are learning and growing. Sometimes we need that, right?!
We ended the evening by enjoying some Gluten free cookies we decorated this afternoon. They have snowflakes, and sprinkles, and pearls, oh-my! And they are delicious. Seriously. When we went gluten free, I was heart-broken thinking my children would never again be able to enjoy a cookie or birthday cake. Not true. Now it was a process, and a huge learning curve, but we have arrived. And it's all (well mostly) thanks to this cookbook. Really. I feel like she wrote it for me. My absolute fav! I mean kids still have to enjoy a few cookies here and there, and birthday cake on their birthday, right?! For that matter, we adults do too! And believe me, this stuff is good gluten free. I went through a lot of tasteless, dry, mushy, all-around yucky cake recipes all in the name of gluten free / dairy free. But this book, full of great recipes takes the cake [ha, yeah, pun intended]. Plus, it's egg free, nut free, soy free, and dairy free so I can make them and take them anywhere and they're safe. Win - win. Anyway, we enjoy our birthday treats still and for that we are all grateful ;)
Happy Birthday to you, sweet Elsa! I am so thankful for another year with you.