The Davis Family: Happy 3rd Birthday Emma!

I can't believe that this post is 1 month late! Even more so, I can't believe that my little girl is already 3 years old!!! Where did the time go?

Emma had the never-ending 3rd birthday celebration. We decided to have her big party a few weeks early in Texas before we moved so that she could celebrate with all of her friends. We held her party at a local gymnastics club and she had 8 of her neighborhood friends come and celebrate with her. They did all sorts of fun things including climb a rock wall, jump on a trampoline, swing on the uneven bars, traverse the beams, play "freeze" when the music stopped, and the fan favorite, jump into a big pile of foam blocks. The kids managed to burn off tons of energy and then sat and ate Emma's favorite Chik-Fil-A followed by a Disney Princess cake. Emma was in absolute heaven all day long screaming that it was her birthday and extremely excited to dig into her hand picked cake.

In Michigan she then celebrated with Nana and Papa and was again spoiled with tons of gifts. She also celebrated with Uncle Ryan, Aunt Becky, Darian and Kennedy. (It was nice for her to celebrate in person with lots of her relatives as she doesn't usually get to do so.) Once we moved to Virginia, Grandma and Grandpa Big John were here to celebrate with her and spoil her with her very own John Deere. (She loves riding on Grandpa Big John's lap while he is on his John Deere so of course he had to buy her her very own!) All this celebrating and it still wasn't her actual big day! On the day of her birthday we celebrated with our family of four and took her to another favorite high class restaurant - McDonalds. We followed it up with some ice cream and came home to open even more presents. What a spoiled, loved child! When all said and done I can't even remember all of her gifts but here is a short list of goodies: All of the Disney Princess dolls, Ariel purse and necklace, clothes, new bubbles and sidewalk chalk, Dora DVD, puzzles, furniture for doll house, Watson the stuffed animal that reads her a story, Toys R Us gift card, backpack with her embroidered initials, Bambi DVD, and the list really goes on and on.

At 3 years old Emma continues to be a very confident, independent child. She really wants to do everything herself with as little help as possible. She loves to dress herself and is especially proud that she can buckle her own car seat now. She is extremely talkative and is always asking "why?" She is very inquisitive about life in general which can be annoying after she asks "why" for the thousandth time in one day, but more often than not it is refreshing and adorable to see the wonder in her eyes. She LOVES to "read" books and does it all the time. She also loves playing with all of her princess dolls and has started to ask about the Castle that Cinderella lives in. She also says all the time "I want to go to the Castle." Dad is in big trouble - I think a trip to Disney is going to be in the near future. I really love this age because everything is so magical to her. Just a simple carousel ride puts a huge smile on her face. The Disney trip has to happen while this magic is still alive in her and she believes in all of the princesses and characters.

Emma also loves to be outside. She would be happy if I let her play outside all day long. She loves to ride her bike, play with bubbles, play with sidewalk chalk, ride her new John Deere, ride her scooter, run through the sprinklers, play with Play-Doh, or just simply help mom water the flowers. Any excuse for her to be outside and she takes it!!

Emma has also started taking swim lessons. Thank goodness! Our fearless child has already jumped into the deep end 2 times this year on purpose although she can't swim. I will be much more at ease around the water when she can swim a little bit. She is doing a great job. The teacher is working on her kicking with her face under water at the same time. She has already come a long way with just 3 lessons.

We are so thankful everyday that Emma is in our lives. We love her so much and she brings so much happiness, love, and especially laughter into our world. Happy birthday to our 3 year old!!!

The birthday girl