Look Who's 3!

My sweet little Samantha turned 3 last Friday! Oh boy, did we ever have fun at her "Kinkerbell" party yesterday :) She just loves being the center of attention...what 3 year old doesn't?

It's tricky business getting those little baby fingers into the right "3" position, but she got it figured out.

Mom, can we be done taking birthday pictures now? I wanna go play with my green balloon.

I love you, my sweet Sammy Ruth.

We got everything all decked out in Tinkerbell for the party. We even played "pin the star on Tink's wand". Of course, it wouldn't be a party without a pinata stuffed to the gills with left-over Halloween candy. I was sort of glad we couldn't find a Tinkerbell shaped pinata - it would have been a little disturbing to have the kids beat her with a stick - we settled for a rainbow instead :)

Coloring is also a standard activity at our parties. Just google "free coloring pages Tinkerbell" (or whatever character you're looking for), and you'll find lots of great stuff. I prefer to right click on the image, and save it to my computer. Then I print the image...that way you don't get text printed out at the top of your coloring page (usually the web address...very annoying).

Of course, there were so many cute presents to open. We have such incredibly loving and generous family and friends!

This is one of my sisters, Tiffany. I have two sisters. I've already introduced you to my sister Megan. Hmmm...I need to do a "tell all" on Tiff...I've got the goods on her! Just kidding, Tiff, I won't tell. (Actually, I'm mostly just fearful of what she'd have to share about me!) Isn't she purty? I think so - my sisters are both so beautiful :)

And then...there was...the cake. Oh, the cake. I love to make fun cakes for my kids' parties. I've made Bob the Builder, Elmo, and this horse for a cowgirl party, and a monkey for a jungle party. I usually have moderate success, and feel good about the cake. It's a labor of love for me...I look so forward to that "wow!" look on their face when they see their special cake that Mommy made just for them.

Sammy, of course, wanted a Tinkerbell cake. I was determined to deliver, and given my history of reasonably nice cakes, I was confident in my ability to make her one. I found this awesome site, and learned a neat method for transferring the image to a cake. I found the image I wanted, did all the prep necessary, and got to making the cake.

Let me introduce you to our birthday cake. We lovingly called it "Skeletor in a Green Dress":

As you can see, it didn't exactly turn out (at ALL) like the picture I was working from. But at least it only took me about 4 hours to make Skeletor!

It all turned out fine though. It was a tasty cake, and when Sammy saw it she squealed "KINKERBELL!" to my delight (and extreme relief). I was a bit worried that she'd have nightmares about goblins in green dresses and fairy wings, but it looks like 3 year olds are a bit blind to details (thank you, Lord).

And the three little candles burned just fine on the scary cake. Although, I was a bit concerned about lighting the candles because the last time Sammy saw lit birthday candles, she started screaming and crying in fear, "NO FIRE! NO! NO! FIIIIIIIRE!" But that was my cake with 35 candles on it - it was quite the blaze. I guess I can understand her thinking we were burning the house down. Sometimes I wish I had to make this stuff up!

And here's a fun little clip of Sammy talking about her party - so cute!

Happy Birthday, Samantha!

You make me and your Daddy so very proud. You are sweet, gentle, generous, and silly. You love to snuggle....and you simply spread joy everywhere you go. You love music, playing pretend with your dolls, and doing art. You also love to be a mommy - always helping with Thomas or walking around with your baby under your shirt "feeding" her :)

You're spunky as all get-out. Last night when I was tucking you in to bed, you were so very tired. I kept giving you hugs and kisses, and you'd had enough. Finally, you said, "Mommy no more kisses. You making me canky (cranky). You go out now. I sweep." Daddy and I giggled all night about that one!

I can't wait to see what you have ahead of you! But, oh, little one...you carry with you a huge and fragile piece of my heart, so please don't be in too much of a hurry to grow up and get away from this Mommy who loves you so much...but who sometimes makes you "canky" ;)

I love you,

Mommy