Birthday Party

When I began to think about Erika's birthday party a couple months back, I asked her what kind of party she wanted. "A girl party," she said. Well, I wasn't sure exactly what that meant, so we had a princess party! I think she was pretty pleased with it. This was the first birthday where she actually was excited about things......she loved watching me decorate the cake, she loved the balloons and decorations we had, and she really loved opening her presents. In fact, last night at dinner we asked her what her favorite part of the party was. "Opening my presents," she said. What a silly girl! Here are a TON of pictures from yesterday's festivities.

Grandma Parnell came to visit the weekend before her birthday and Erika opened presents from her on Sunday. A couple of weeks ago, Sarah asked Erika what she wanted for her birthday. "A blue princess rock," she said without hesitation. What? What is that and where do I find one? Sarah was going to just paint a rock blue for her, but upon further inquiry, I discovered that a blue princess rock is a gem like the dwarfs mine in Snow White. So Grandma bought her her very own blue princess rocks!

A future geologist?

Quite possibly her favorite presents.

We needed an outfit change to finish opening gifts.

And one more outfit change for good measure.

On her birthday, Erika had two of her friends come over for her party. They did a lot of jumping on her bed.

And ate lunch.

Daddy made wooden princess wands and swords for the party guests. They really had fun decorating them!

Laurel loves putting stickers on anything, including her wand.

Fighting princesses.

Erika and her cake. You can't totally tell, but Sleeping Beauty and Prince Philip are on the front of her cake, per her request.

It was really yummy!

Opening presents. Doesn't she look a little doe-eyed?

Her "big" present from Mom and Dad...a little Barbie scooter.

Complete with a miniature scooter for her Barbie.

She doesn't quite get the whole scooting yourself action, but loved for Daddy to push her!

Happy Birthday Erika!

Three

Erika turns 3 years old today. Last night, I went into her room and watched her sleep for a while. She has the exact same facial expression when she sleeps as she did the first night I watched her sleep. Matt and I are so blessed and fortunate to be able to watch her grow and get to know her as an amazing little girl! She is so smart and funny and kind and tenderhearted and she is the love of our lives. Erika is great with Laurel and helps me take care of her. Often, Laurel doesn't appreciate Erika making sure she doesn't get into trouble, but I do! Every day is more fun than the next day with Erika. She has such an awesome imagination and comes up with all sorts of games for us to play. We have really fun conversations with her.....her vocabulary is very big. She is stubborn and definitely lets us know what she wants to do and when she wants to do it. Luckily, her mom is stubborn as well and can usually win any strongholds we may have. But, the majority of the time, Erika is very sweet natured and fun and a really wonderful little girl to be around. Happy birthday to my sweet, beautiful little girl!