Thank you notes from a Three Year Old

Even with our power out for part of the morning, today was a fun day. 

Ellie Kate and I wrote thank you cards for her birthday presents. I wrote the notes in ink pen. And then she would color them with her crayons. But she didn't only scribble on them. She would color over the words as if she was trying to write the words herself. And she found the "E" several times and would say "Ellie Kate!" where I had signed her name. I would say who the card was written to, and she would say their names again. 

At first, she told me to draw toothpaste, a toothbrush and floss. It was sweet, but unless you've seen us in the past two days, you'd have no idea why I'm drawing toothpaste on your thank you note... But you see, I went to the dentist yesterday. And they send you home with the standard mouth cleaning kit of toothpaste, a toothbrush and floss. And Ellie Kate's been carrying them around like treasures ever since. 

She also had me draw pictures on the cards sharing what's important to her and what's on her little mind. I drew a granola bar, and she colored it, saying, "I love gra-ola bars!" 

She wanted me to draw "Lightening McQueen's music." That's what she calls the soundtrack to Cars, and she wants to listen to it all. the. time.  

She handed me the bright red crayon and called it "Elmo's red" wanting me to draw "Elmo's piano." It took me a second since her little pink piano has Hello Kitty on it. But then I remembered that at the end of every "Elmo's world" episode, Elmo plays his piano. Then, she wanted "Ellie Kate's piano." So maybe his piano made her think of hers also. 

Oh, and I almost forgot, she had me draw candles and a cake and write "Happy birthday to you!" on one of the cards. She then sang the entire happy birthday song to herself. (This girl loves to sing!)

I loved seeing her mind work as she picked her crayons and said the colors. 

Maybe it's because I expected her to just color a few scribbles on the pages... Or maybe it's because I wasn't even sure if I would be able to keep her interested long enough to color on each of the thank you notes... But seeing her little mind open up was so special and precious. seeing the creativity and understanding the project we were doing. She's far more open and willing to share than most adults, myself included. She shares her hugs and kisses. She shares her joy. And she shares what's on her little mind, like loving granola bars!

I wanted to share the story because each card recipient gets a little piece of it to keep. And all together, they represent this amazing little girl who just turned three!

Baby Girl turns ONE!

Above: Our one-year-old!

Above: Daddy made us pancakes and bacon for breakfast.

Today was such a good day. It was one of those perfect, we're gonna remember this for a long time after, kinda days.

Hubs took the day off work to celebrate Baby Girl's big day, and we went to the zoo. This was Baby Girl's first experience at the zoo, and we all loved being together outside with the perfect weather.

Even the drive to the zoo was fun.  We took our new to us family vehicle out for the first time. Plus Baby Girl moved up to a big girl car seat for the first time. I think she thought she was hot stuff. (I think we all thought we were hot stuff. :)

Above: Big Girl loving her new seat!

The zoo was so much fun that we all crashed and took a nap when we got home. It felt good to just enjoy our day together and not stress over how to accomplish the day or what to prepare for the next thing.

In the evening, the grandparents came over to celebrate. They all love Baby Girl a great deal and have been extremely supportive of us this past year. We are so blessed and thankful.

Above: First cupcake.  No problem. 

Above: Baby Girl knew how to get her present...

Above: ...and that there's something good inside.

Above: She even stopped to smile for the camera on her own.  I may have taken just a few pictures of this girl in her lifetime and told her to smile for me. 

As today approached, it has really made us think back to last year at this time. Hard to believe that it has been a whole year since the first time we held her in our arms. A year and a day ago, we were checking into the hospital to be induced.

And I have wanted to take Baby Girl to the zoo since even before that day. Since we knew we were having her, the zoo has been in my dreams to share as an experience with her. And today, it happened! And we had FUN!!

Time to Bust Out those Shades!

We put Baby Girl's shades on her for the first time this week.  She's just so darn cute.  

Here's a little video of her jamming to the music of her Elmo toy.  If you listen closely, you can hear her singing. I think she's also trying to figure out what to do with those things wiggling as she bounces her head.

Happy Valentine's Day!

This was our Valentine picture last year. I was between seven and eight months pregnant.

And this is our Valentine's Day pic this year as a family of three!

As you can see, we were "Crazy 4" a certain someone before she was even born.

And because I love my baby girl so much... And because V-Day is TOPS in my book... 

Baby Girl hosted a party for her first Valentine's Day! 

We both had V-Day jammies for the morning 

and a special V-day outfit for the day. 

I loved sharing this day with her. She melts my heart, and I so wanted the day to be special. It almost felt like her first birthday I was so excited!

And we were excited to have our special guests for the day too.  

We had fun activities for the kiddos including decorating cupcakes, 

Charlie Brown's Valentine's Day cartoon, coloring and giving everyone V-Day cards. 

However, Baby Girl wasn't so sure about giving the V-Day cards away. We'd put one in her hand to give to someone, and she was shocked when they took it out of her hand. 

But I think Baby Girl enjoyed playing with her present from her grandma the best.  

It was a super cool rain stick that made a kind of soothing, fun noise.

And Ri LOVED her presents from Grandma too!

Baby Girl also seemed to be super curious about the V-Day cards we made ahead of time for the grandparents. They had her feet prints making a heart.  

Earlier that week, I inked her feet and pressed them on the paper. You could see the wheels turning in her mind when her feet got all stamped up. And afterwards, we washed her feet in the sink. She pretty much loved the whole experience. That helped make the cards easy to create since I didn't stress over the feet placement being perfect. 

We had a fabulous time with our guests, and we're so glad they could come. We missed Jo and Con since he was under the weather. And I wish I would have thought ahead of time to see if Hubs could have taken a little time off to stay home for the morning. But over all, it was glorious. And we had so many treats to share that everyone got a goodie bag to take home too!

Family Fun!

All in all, it was a great day. But by that evening, I, er, I mean, Baby Girl was pretty tired.

She may have worn V-Day jammies for the evening too.