Happy 3rd Birthday Aida Joy!

As usual, I am running a bit behind on this blog, but I promised myself that I would still post about her birthday (even if it is almost a month late), so here it is! I cannot believe that our baby is three years old already; where has time gone?!

We had a busier week leading up to her birthday with Grandma Deb, Papa Bob and Aunt Katie in town moving Kate into TCU! So, we kicked off the birthday celebrating on Thursday by going out for "Pizza & Salad" at Mellow Mushroom with the whole family. This was Aida's favorite restaurant when we lived in Georgia, so it just seemed fitting to go there for her birthday. I had not made her birthday cake yet, so I picked up some cupcakes to help celebrate and Grandma & Papa brought gifts too!

 Who needs the cake part?!

After Grandma & Papa left for home on Friday, we continued the celebrating into the weekend. When I ask Aida what type of cake she wanted for her birthday (thinking flavor) the only thing she would tell me was that it should have Rapunzel on it. So, on Friday night after a few ideas from Pinterest, this is what I came up with.

Made in a frying pan!

 We let her see the cake when she got up on Saturday morning, and of course she wanted to eat it right away. Very last minute, we decided to have a few friends over Saturday evening to sing "Happy Birthday" and eat cake with us. Since she was not excited about waiting, we let her start opening some of her presents that people had sent her over the last week.

After playing for a little while with the new things we let her open, she was back to the cake, so we turned to making some Play-Doh cakes for fun!

We found a few more things to entertain her through out the day, went out for a little birthday dinner and than it was time to have a few guests over. Thank you to everyone who came so last minute and helped make our little girl's birthday so special.

 Singing "Happy Birthday"

Aida & Rylan doing "Cheers" with their milk before bed!

After a good nights sleep, it was Birthday Day and boy was the day full! After opening presents from mommy & daddy, it was off to church, than heading down to TCU to have a birthday lunch with Aunt Katie and last a wonderful afternoon at the circus! We had amazing seats for the circus it was even better than what I remember as a kid...Aida loved all of it!

 Clapping for the circus!

 Posing with her pony from the circus!

No smiles by the end of the day, but still beautiful!

I had seen this idea on Pinterest and loved it! They gave you 20 questions to ask your child each year on their birthday to see how their answers change each year. I changed up the questions a bit and left one out that didn't really fit, but here is what she came up with:

1. What is your favorite color? Purple
2. What is your favorite toy? Wedding Barbie doll and wedding prince
3. What is your favorite fruit? oranges (generally madarine oranges)
4. What is your favorite tv show? "Odette" Swan Princess (she is very into movies, instead of shows and this is the newest one she has gotten)
5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? turkey sandwich
6. What is your favorite outfit? wedding dress (dress-up clothes)
7. What is your favorite game? Legos
8. What is your favorite snack? Cheez-its & marshmallows
9. What is your favorite animal? Elephant
10. What is your favorite song? ABC's (singing it all the time)
11. What is your favorite book? Princess stories
12. Who is your best friend? my new sister (she was not sure what a best friend was, so I tried to explain that it is someone you like to play and spend time with. After thinking for a minute, she said her new sister...so sweet and I truly hope it stays that way!)
13. What is your favorite cereal? pancakes (generally made with sprinkles) (doesn't eat cereal too often)
14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? play baseball (inside would definitely still be playing with her castle and princesses)
15. What is your favorite drink? cocoa (milk w/ small amount of chocolate pediasure)
16. What is your favorite holiday? Fourth of July
17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Plyns (blankies)
18. What is you favorite thing to eat for dinner? Chicken & rice
19. What do you want to be when you grow up? Ballerina

Aida Joy, you have truly been a joy these past three years. You are absolutely gorgeous and are told so just about everywhere we go. You are smart, so smart! Strong-willed does not even begin to describe you and as much as this may drive mommy crazy a lot of the time, I wouldn't change it for anything! You are so sweet and love being around people, often saying HI to everyone we meet! Your daddy and I look forward to watching you blossom into such a wonderful young lady!