three!

As most of you know, our baby girl turned THREE on Sunday. I get emotional whenever I think about how fast she's growing! And of course, Grant had to remind me that she's now 1/6 of the way done with being at home (but she actually turns 18 at the beginning of her senior year, so we should have her until she's closer to 19!).
I already posted about her super fun twinkle twinkle little star birthday party, but because her actual birthday was on sunday, we had a whole weekend of celebrations!

On Sunday, we woke her up with breakfast in bed and 3 balloons. Breakfast in bed is a birthday tradition in our family and now that Emily's in a toddler bed, she's able to participate! She didn't know it was coming and was so excited! It was adorable! We got her a play kitchen that a friend of ours was selling and surprised her with that in the morning. She LOVED it! After church, we had my family over to do family gifts and cake! She had an amazing day! On Monday morning when she woke up, the first thing she said was, "my birthday party is over?" She's been a good sport about it... I have caught her singing happy birthday to herself a few times, though, and then she'll tell me, "I'm just pretending!" Sweet girl :)

blurry... but you can see her excitement!

we've been living in princess dresses this week!

And while we're on the topic of Emily turning 3, here are some updates on this awesome girl:

-favorites: dancing and singing, anything pink or sparkly, her pink sock monkey (she carries it around with her all day!), playing outside, dress-up, breakfast foods, her sister, watching movies, the word "why"

-accomplishments this year: became a big sister, learned all the letters and their sounds (is starting to write some letters), was potty trained, moved to a big girl bed, started preschool

-dislikes: having dirty or sticky hands, trying new foods, taking naps, timeouts

-cute practices: calls us mommio and daddio; pretends there are "scary parts" in movies so she can cuddle with us; when telling when something happened she either says it was "last night today," or "this morning today"; sometimes uses various goofy voices when talking or singing; has started saying "I'm just kidding" when she wants to get out of trouble

I can already tell that Emily's starting to leave the "terrible two" phase. It was never horrible, but I have noticed that the tantrums have decreased in quantity and severity. She's starting to understand more about why she doesn't always get her way and she can express herself better. Sometimes when I ask her to listen to me, she'll say "I want to say my words first," so I let her have a turn first and that helps. 

However, I do see her entering the "threenager" phase :) She can be a bit of a drama queen sometimes and she's definitely got some sass and attitude! 

But overall, she really is so sweet and awesome! She tells me often how much she loves me and gives the best hugs and kisses. I'm so grateful for her and everything I'm able to learn from her each day. I can't imagine my life without her! She made me a mommy and that is the best job in the world!