Happy 3rd Birthday, Brooke!!!!

Today my baby...at least for the next few days or weeks...is 3! When I think about the fact that when she was born we were living in Washington State and running a meal prep kitchen on the side of Brad's AF career it feels like a decade ago. On the other hand, as I anticipate the arrival of a baby any day it's hard to believe Brooke will be the big sister!

Here is a picture of Brooke opening up some birthday cards that arrived in the mail from her grandparents.
This morning she was up at 6:55am...the norm on weekdays is me having to drag her out of bed at 8:15a.m....somehow her body seems to know when it is Saturday! I threw her in my bed to cuddle with Daddy while I took a shower. I didn't remind her it was her birthday because I was afraid she wouldn't stay calm during the 7am-8am hour...but I did take her picture.

I always try to get a picture of the girls in their room on their birthday morning...since Brooke was up early and came into my room I made her go climb back in bed to stage a picture wearing the official family birthday hat. She insisted that Baileigh join her.

We had cinnamon rolls for breakfast on the special plate...at her request.

The girls...Baileigh 7.5, Mckenna 5.5, Brooke...now TREE! Aka...three.

We invited three girls from Brooke's preschool class and one of our friends for a Max and Ruby birthday party. While I appreciate the fact that this was a new theme to one of my kid's parties...there is nothing Max and Ruby out on the market for parties. Thankfully Easter provided me with a few ideas.

On the left is Lilly, Grace, Brooke (who decided to get overwhelmed as we took the group shot and started crying and hugging Baileigh), Baileigh, Samantha, Anne and Mckenna.

Brooke was very good about opening all her presents relatively slowly and then hugging and thanking her friends. It was very sweet. I kept praying she didn't open anything we already had because I had forgotten to practice with her the appropriate response. Thankfully there were no duplicate gifts or toys we already owned!
I love Anne's bunny ears in this photo...Brooke gave each girl a headband as part of their favors. They looked so cute...but in the back of my mind I was constantly reminded of the Playboy bunny ears...nice visual as I dress up a bunch of three year old little girls!
Opening a few more presents.
Our present to Brooke was a Dora vanity...she asked for a "booty-paror" back at Christmas and was sad that Santa didn't produce. I saw this beauty parlor for half off and the fact that it was Dora was a bonus since she is also a Dora fan at this stage and age.

We played "pin the tale on Max". Most of the girl's participated...we blacked out sunglasses thinking that the girls would be less scared to wear them then be blindfolded. Brad did a great job drawing Max for the game.
For lunch they ate bunny shaped sandwiches, Cheetos (Brooke probably would have been happy w/out a party and just Cheetos!), and fruit.
So happy with her Cheetos cheese covered face. Usually she only gets to experience them at Subway or Quiznos where we use them as bribery to get her to eat all of her sandwich. They were one of her first requests when we talked about a party.

Brad hanging out with the mommies...I think he forgot that Mckenna had given him her bunny headband to wear.

We had two cakes for dessert. Inspired by the Rosemary Wells book Bunny Cakes...and the author on whom the show Max and Ruby was created from...we made a Worm Cake like Max makes and an angel raspberry-fluff cake like Ruby made in the book. I never got a great shot of the two cakes...you can see the worm cake in the photo above on the island. The girls didn't seem too grossed out about it and liked the chocolate cake filled with chocolate pudding and covered with chocolate frosting, chocolate graham cracker crumbs and gummy worms. I read the story to the girls so they could hear about the two cakes...afterwards the majority of the kids wanted to try both cakes.

Our baby on her 3rd birthday with her angel raspberry fluff cake. She seems three going on nine! Maybe having a baby in the house will help her want to do younger things again instead of trying to keep up with her big sisters...or it will make her seem even older!

You are such a big girl...you are sweet and often say things like "I love you , too Mommy" and "you are a sweetheart" without any prompting. You are very strong willed and stubborn yet willing to be led by your sisters and get along well with your friends. You like to pretend your shy on occasion but if you're in any type of environment you're familiar with you run off to enjoy yourself without even saying good-bye.

You like to drink milk, not juice. You love fruit chewies. You change your mind daily on whether or not you like bananas, oatmeal, and cheese. You can be a big flirt with Daddy, or a huge heart breaker...depending on your mood. You still suck your thumb and love your taggie...although we're working on the thumb thing. You think flossing and vitamins are highlights of your day. And just this week you decided you don't need any type of kids potty seat to assist you on the toilet and you now sit on the regular seat by yourself!

After the "official" party events I found the girls downstairs like this....they all said they were tired and resting while watching cartoons. Would 7 boys ever do this at a party?

The rest of her birthday will be spent recovering. She is currently napping after a busy morning, so is Daddy. It's at least 70 degrees out today so maybe we'll head to a playground to enjoy the weather. I have a bad cold/sinus thing starting and am so stuffy and miserable. I'm medicated as much as possible at this point but it doesn't seem to be doing anything. So hopefully we'll all enjoy the evening relaxing and playing with new toys.