Happy Golden Birthday to my Sweet Girl!

We've had a fun weekend around here! This girl is definitely not lacking in birthday celebrations. We celebrated with Monte's family a couple of weeks ago, then yesterday we met Monte's mom at the zoo, and went out to eat. Today, just the three of us are celebrating, and next weekend we'll have her party with my family! Oh, and also on Friday night two sets of neighbors gave her birthday gifts. She got an easel from one neighbor, with a chalkboard on one side and a white board on the other side. She was SO excited about it, that she woke up at 3:30 this morning. I was worried when she got up, because that's not like her, I thought maybe she was sick or something, but the crazy kid got up because she wanted to play with her easel! I explained to her that it was still nighttime, and then rocked her for a while until she fell back asleep. Then, this morning after Mass, we took her to the store and said she could pick out whatever she wanted to eat. She picked out bananas and doughnuts. She was so proud of those bananas, carrying them all around the store. We then let her open a couple of presents from us, she got a little banjo (which, for some reason, she thinks is a potty for her dolls) and a Waterbaby, which she is now in love with. We also got her some books, but I might save those until her party next weekend.

I cannot believe what a big girl she is now! She's becoming more independent all the time. She can say anything and everything, and is talking in complete sentences. She does get me, you, and I mixed up. She always says "you" when she is talking about herself. She loves to say the words to the sign of the cross, and is getting better at the actions. She loves to play ring around the rosie, especially with her cousin, Rachel. She is counting to ten, and knows just a couple small parts of the abc's. She knows all the basic colors, this winter I'm going to work on shapes with her. She still loves to read, right now her favorite book is "Momma, Will You?", we read it about 20 times a day. Some of her other favorite activites are playing with Play-Doh, and coloring. Her favorite toys are her baby dolls and their accessories. She loves going to church, and gets excited when we tell her that's where we're going, we found out a long time ago that if we bring nothing for her to do in church, she doesn't think it is playtime, and will sit really still and pay attention (thanks to my sis-in-law for that tip). Her best friend (other than her cousins Marie and Rachel) is a little girl named Katelynn. She calls her "Kay-haan" and Katelynn calls her "Canbella"! She can be very shy around people she doesn't know, and has a very tender heart. Sometimes just telling her the word "no" will break her heart. She has been the greatest joy in our lives, we are so blessed!

At the zoo - Three generations.

Her new easel.

Can't hardly wait for Daddy to get the baby out of the box.

Giving baby a kiss.

Her new banjo (aka doll potty!?)