Birthday Girl!

Posted by: Sherry

Our girl turned 3 today. This is the first birthday we've celebrated since moving away from our hometown, and it definitely felt a little different. Had we still been in Pennsylvania, we'd probably be throwing an awesome little party tomorrow and celebrating with our family and friends. They all did a great job, though, of making Lizze feel loved from so far away. After bugging me for cake for breakfast (the girl loves her sweets!), she got to sit down and open the presents her Grandmom & Pop-Pop and Mom-Mom, Pop-Pop Paul & Aunt Amber had sent. She tore into them with squeals and giggles and finished just in time for Mom-Mom to call first thing in the morning to offer up some birthday love. Watching her on the phone with my mom was the most precious and entertaining thing. She already has the girlish hand gestures down pat and I can only picture her ten years from now chatting away with her girlfriends about world affairs clothing and boy bands. She spent most of the day riding up and down the sidewalk on her new bike and dragging her beloved stuffed animal Monkey along for the ride. That poor Monkey has been through everything with her! She could not wait for her daddy and brothers to get home so she could have her cake. I tried convincing her that maybe we should put a candle in an apple instead, but she was having none of it. Our family tradition is that the birthday boy or girl gets to pick the dinner for the day, so we had one of Lizze's favorites: "sketti." She's like her mama, could eat pasta all day. Hopefully she burns her carbs better than me, though :) After dinner, it was finally time to light the candles! I made her a butter cake with chocolate icing and it was delicious! I tried my hand at a homemade pennant banner that spelled out her name for the cake decoration. I saw it on Pinterest and thought it was adorable, and it turned out to be super simple too. Just as we were finishing up with the cake, Grandmom and Pop-Pop called and sang "Happy Birthday" to her on the speaker phone. I wish I could have taken a picture of her face while they were singing, her smile stretched from ear to ear and her eyes were filled with amazement. Later she asked me why she couldn't see Grandmom & Pop-Pop. It's hard to explain to a 3 year old the concept of distance but one day she'll understand. I hope her day was as special as she'd hoped it to be and I can not wait to see what milestones she reaches in the coming year and how her personality continues to develop. Tomorrow we are all going to a carnival in Salem to continue celebrating since today was a school/workday and we couldn't do anything really special. The kids are looking forward to the rides, I'm looking forward to the fried dough :)