Little Miss Lily Turns 3!

So I guess it's feast or famine when it comes to new posts on the blog. :-) It was September 28th yesterday which means it was Lily's birthday!! Yeah!

She has been waiting and SO excited for her birthday ever since it was Ella's birthday. Every time she went down for her nap or to bed, or even when saying good-bye to people she would say, "See you at my birthday!" For an entire month or more, she said that. It was so cute! We made a paper chain so she could take one off for each day as it got closer to her birthday. And she decided right after Ella's birthday that she was having a Dora party. And she told EVERYONE. She would "call" all her friends on her play phones and ask them if they were coming to her party and then say, "See you then!".

I was a little worried that she had built up her birthday so much and that she might end up overwhelmed but she did pretty well all day. We started the day off by letting her open her gift from us: a dollhouse! She was pretty excited when she opened it. Especially because it came with two little babies. She LOVES babies. After that, we headed out to the Pancake House for breakfast. Then, back home again to get ready for the party, and for Lily to take a nap. Once the afternoon hit, we were ready for our Dora extravaganza!


(That's great-aunt Gail at the Pancake House with the kids.)

All the kids in attendance went on a Dora birthday adventure to save Lily's birthday party! Swiper swiped the candles, balloons and cake toppers. The kids were in three teams and each group had Map and a Backpack with supplies they would need to rescue the birthday party. They had to dig in our sandbox for the cake topper and other treasures, rescue Boots and a candle from Lookout Point (aka the neighbor's swing set), and then gather a balloon from the grassy meadow. I think they all enjoyed themselves! We ate a meal and then opened presents.



When it came time to sing "Happy Birthday" and the cake, Lily was ready at first, but started crying when we started singing. I actually wasn't surprised. I was worried she would do that. She didn't even want to blow out the candles. But she had plenty of friends standing by to help her out. Once she actually got to eat the cake, she was all happy again. :-) She finished her day out by opening all her new toys and playing with them. We opened a few after the party and this morning as well, just to spread them out a bit.




Lily trying out her new scooter. Apparently, it doubles
as a seat when you need to take a break. :-)

We really enjoyed visiting with our friends and family. I think Lily really had a lot of fun too. I can't believe our baby girl is three years old already. Time goes by too quickly. I want her to just stay little and want to cuddle and be my girl that misses me when she is at school. But it's also been nice having her get a little more self sufficient (yay for potty training!). She is so sweet most of the time. She gives us hugs and kisses. She is so smart and vocal. Her vocabulary amazes me and I usually love listening to her stories. She is always chattering (sometimes too much...."Why, Mommy, why?" "What is that there?" Why is the garbage can there?" you get the picture.) She's just our sweet baby girl and will always be! Happy Birthday Lily pie!

Here's a few of my favorite photos: