she's 3!

Happy Birthday Anna!

Going to bed as a 2 year old

Waking up as a 3 year old!

Anna turned 3 on May 3rd-- her golden birthday! Anna knew for weeks that her birthday was "coming up," and was very excited about it. Cake was #1 on her birthday priority list. Out of all the pictures I showed her, she narrowed it down to a jeep cake and a castle cake, and the pink castle-- "like Grandma Becky's castle"-- won. When we asked Anna what she wanted to eat on her birthday, she said, "Cake!" When we asked her what she wanted to eat for dinner, she said, "Cake!" When we explained that we would eat the cake after dinner, she said, "I just want cake." Finally, after showing her pictures of food we could make for dinner, she chose silly face pizzas on english muffins-- and cake. Finally, we asked her if she wanted any friends to come over on her birthday and she asked for her two friends from Joy School (her preschool) to come.



On her birthday we woke her up with balloons, which is Stay family tradition. Then she opened a present, a strawberry outfit from Grandma Ruth, which she wanted to wear immediately. She had Trix for breakfast and couldn't get enough of the tissue paper balls we hung from the ceiling.

Anna was excited that her Trix matched the tissue balls. She's blowing a noise maker that has a cardboard butterfly on it. These are the "butterflies" she's referring to in the video earlier in the post.

For the rest of the morning, we opened and played with presents. We went on a walk to the playground. It was a beautiful, warm sunny day and we all enjoyed playing in the sand and in the swings. After lunch we mixed up Anna's birthday cakes and then the kids napped while I finished baking.

Thank you Grandma Ruth!

Anna's one toy present (aside from a book). We've all been getting check-ups lately :)

Thank you Grandma Becky!

Singing a song after licking the cake beaters

Once Sam got home, I finished up the cake (which was much harder than it looked) while he cut up some veggies and fruit for dinner. Then our friends arrived and the party began! Anna had a blast eating and playing with her friends. She got to eat as many Cheetos as she wanted and couldn't have been happier. Then we sang and blew out candles and cut into the now dangerously sagging castle. I'll have to remember that you can either have a yummy cake, or a sturdy cake. We all enjoyed the yummy cake and Anna was super excited about her castle, so I'll call it a success.

silly face pizzas

The sagging castle :)

This is the face Anna made when I asked her to smile. What a goof!

Once the kids were all sufficiently hyped on sugar (in addition to their cake and ice cream they each ate one of the sugar cone spires which is like sugar spread with sugar dipped in sugar....yuck) we sent everyone home and put the kids in the bath. Anna didn't fall asleep for a very long time, so I think she had a very happy birthday :)

And now, because this post isn't long enough yet...here are some things about Anna being 3.

• She has switched from saying, "Yep" to everything to saying, "Nope." Even as she's doing what I'm asking her to, she's saying "No" to it. I guess this is what being 3 is all about.
• She loves to make up nonsense words, make silly rhymes, and sing silly words to songs.
• Anna loves to "read" books by making up words while looking at the pictures. Sometimes the words go along with the pictures, other times the words are mash-ups of stories we've read recently, lyrics to songs, words from the scriptures or Articles of Faith. I LOVE listening to her do this and I can't wait until it translates into her making up real stories.
• She's potty trained*
• She's way more active than she used to be. She can't get enough of jumping, running, and climbing. She can climb most playground equipment now.
• She talks non-stop and likes to explain things to us. She will tell us, "It's my turn" and then proceed to tell us everything she's thinking about (usually a book she read, toy she played with, or little movie she saw that day).
• She's learning the art of the tantrum and can throw herself on the ground with all the passion of a Gothic romance novel
• She loves her brother and we often find books and toys and blankets in Levi's crib in the mornings that Anna deposited there for his entertainment the previous evening, often after he's already fallen asleep.
• She sometimes has imaginary friends. The name "June" comes up often when she's playing by herself, and sometimes, "Jackdilly and June"
• She likes having friends. Almost every time we go to the playground now I will overhear Anna going up to someone and saying, "Hi! My name's Anna. What's your name?" and it makes me smile every time.
• She still loves and needs her mommy and while it drives me crazy sometimes, most of the time I'm happy to have any bit of little girl I can get because she's growing into a big girl SO quickly!

Happy Birthday Anna! We love yooooou...... THIS MUCH!



*Experienced moms: watch for a post later this week with me begging for how to make her more potty independent!