Happy 3rd Birthday, Madeleine!

Celebrating Madeleine's birthday this year was fun because she was so excited for it. She started off the day with one present - some stamps from us.

My sister was here and we all went to Fairyland for the afternoon. Fairyland is a lovely little storybook park in Oakland with beautiful trees, flowers, a little train, puppet show, and animals. 

After her favourite dinner of lemon tuna pasta salad, we had a "3" lemon cake, which she had helped me decorate, and she got to open the rest of her presents.

Ross was thrilled that he had a present sent from NZ as well - and Miss 3 showed him his new book with all the authority and wisdom that she inherently has as a big sister.

Madeleine was happy with her new balance bike, but the torch and scissors she got definitely won out in terms of time spent with them.

I remember wondering what she would be like at this age... and here we are, with a big 3 year old girl who makes us smile each day. She is imaginative and organized, goofy and shy, curious and all-knowing. She loves mothering her dolls (and Ross), playing ball, riding her scooter, cleaning things, drawing, and climbing. She has no fear of heights, but doesn't like wobbly things. She couldn't care less about princesses, but does like hearts, animals, diggers, and cement mixers. She makes up songs about what she's doing, and dances when no one is looking. How exciting it will be to see how she changes over the next year!