Three

Charlotte turned three years old, officially, about two and a half hours ago. I think I'm still in denial that she is three and that I'm buying her clothes in a size of 4T. I remember looking at 4T clothes when she was one thinking that she surely would never be that big...she is.



We had her Mickey Mouse "birfday" party on Sunday afternoon. The birthday gods smiled on us and provided us with a 60+ degree day - sun was shining, breeze was blowing. The weather couldn't have been more perfect.

On Friday we saw that the weather looked like it would be warm enough to be outside, so Judd and I cleaned out the garage most of the afternoon. (Judd did most of the work as I had a 3 month old to look after.) On Sunday Judd's mom and I decorated the garage with streamers and a little track running through it that kids could race around. I also had some Mickey Mouse bubbles for everyone. The kids had a lot of fun just running around, blowing bubbles, riding tricycles, scooter, etc. Granddaddy even gave some wagon rides.



I heard some grumblings about cake and when we would have it, so I thought we should move the party inside. Everyone was pretty excited to find a Mickey Mouse cookie to decorate on their plate.





They all were very good - there was hardly any sampling of the frosting or candies.

(busted!)


After cookies, the kids munched on Mickey Mouse shaped chicken nuggets (whoo hoo for Costco!) and the adults had some pulled pork courtesy of the Big Green Egg.

Then, finally it was cake time. We had a Mickey Mouse cake from Publix. I had grand plans of making my own cake, but Judd talked me into outsourcing. Looking back, I'm very grateful for that decision.

Presents were then opened. Just as everyone was hitting their sugar high, parents packed up the kids and headed home. It was a great party. I'm so thankful for Judd's parents and their help - I'm not sure we would have been able to pull it off without them.

Today we celebrated many times over. There were cinnamon rolls for breakfast, a big trip to the Children's Museum, a trip to McDonald's for a "fruit shake" (smoothie), and she got to choose whatever she wanted for dinner - a hot dog and couscous. (Luckily couscous was on sale at Publix this past week and I had stocked up!) If you can't tell - the way to this girl's heart is food.

I have more to say about this little three year old, but I need some time to put it into words. Right now it is all just swimming around in my head and my heart not wanting to come out in sentences.

Today marked another important milestone - one year ago today was the first day of my new role as a stay at home mom. Looking back, I know now that I made a great decision and I have loved it. Sure, there are days that I'm pulling up my resume in Word dusting it off, looking to apply for jobs to get me the heck out of this house - but all in all, I feel very lucky to be living out this dream.