Anna's 3rd Birthday

 

I can't believe that Anna is officially three years old!  Her birthday was last Tuesday and since Jay had to be out of town for work we celebrated it on Sunday.  This was the day before kindergarten started for Emma (more on that to come) and needless to say mom was a bit frazzled!  I had a hard time getting in the celebratory mood when I knew my big girl was starting elementary the next day (which I was super sad about)!  Grandma was in town for the festivities and we had a party with just the family.  Our original plan was to go to a local water park, but rain dampened our plans yet again.  (I think Anna has had rain on all three of her birthdays always requiring a back up plan!)  Luckily, she was super excited about plan B, which was going to see the movie Planes.

 

We started the day with some pancakes and our birthday tradition - to wake up with balloons covering the birthday girls bedroom floor.  Anna and Emma immediately started playing with them and before long they were ALL over the house.  We then went to see Planes, which both girls loved, ate popcorn at the theatre for lunch and came home to play for a few hours.  Anna chose chicken nuggets for dinner, along with Ariel decorations (because she wants to be just like her big sister in every way possible and Emma also had an Ariel party.)  We had cake, opened presents, had a bath and an early bedtime for Emma to start school the next day.  It was a relaxing, low stress kind of birthday but yet very exciting for the birthday girl.  She had a great day!

 

Balloons that escaped Anna's bedroom floor

 

 

Her cheesy smile that I get ALL. THE.  TIME.  It ruins millions of pictures but I secretly love it every time.  She is so silly.

 

 

 

 

Anna got her very own Bitty Baby and pajamas to match Emma. Girls loved all matching!  "Wook mom, we're twins!"

 

On Anna's actual birthday we celebrated by taking her out to lunch at her favorite restaurant Jason's Deli. We also went to the library because she loves to pick out books and DVD's.  We also saved one last present for her - a Tinkerbell dress with light up wings and wand.  She loved it!

Loving her new Barbie and Unicorn

Anna and Grandma

Mommy and her three year old!

Jay and I are so very proud of Anna and how smart she is despite all of life's obstacles facing her at three years old!  Her speech has really taken off over the past couple months and she can really communicate and interact well.  She has also gotten better at not having major, massive, uncontrollable meltdowns when she gets angry.  The more she talks, the more she uses her communication instead of throwing tantrums (Hip hip hooray for that one!)

At three years old Anna really just wants to be like her big sister!  Everything I hear is "Wook mom, I have ......... just wike Emma!"  This can be anything from a purple cup at dinner to a new Barbie to a birthday card that Nannie and Papa gave her that was like Emma's.  She loves her big sister and has really been missing her since she has started school. 

She loves to play with Barbies, dress up like a princess, pretend to do homework in Emma's workbook ("just wike Emma":), play outside, and absolutely loves swimming.  She gets so excited when we ask her if she wants to swim.  "YAY swim in pool, swim in pool!!" she will scream as she runs around the house.  Despite having many bathing suits she wants to wear her princess one every single time. 

Here are a few of her favorite things:
Color: pink
Food: chicken nuggets, mac and cheese
Drink: milk or juice when we let her
Princess: Cinderella
Cartoon:  Mickey Mouse clubhouse, Dora, Scooby Doo
Movie:  This changes weekly but right now loves Madagascar and is always singing and dancing "She wikes to move it, move it!"
Hairdo:  Asks every single day for a "front braid" where I french braid the front part.  I have to argue with her on any day that I don't want to do it!  Forget a normal ponytail, this girl likes to be fancy!

She continues to be in the 90th percentile for weight and is in the 67th percentile for height for her age.  Like Emma, she has really grown in height between the ages of two and three and slimmed down and I predict this will happen even more in the next year.  She grew three inches in the past year!  I have many more posts to catch up on in the next week or two so stay tuned!!