Lila's 3rd birthday

Lila FINALLY turned 3 on October 26th! I say finally because she's been talking about turning 3 since before she turned 2 1/2. She'd tell anyone and everyone that her birthday was "Ah-tober twinny-six."

 

The birthday celebrations kicked off on Thursday the 24th, when Lila was the snack helper for her preschool class. She got to bring the snacks that day and help serve all her classmates their food and water. Earlier in the day, her teachers had helped her decorate her very own birthday crown, and she got to wear it during snack time as everyone sang "Happy Birthday" to her. 

 

On Friday the 25th, we picked up Grandma Bonnie and Papa Jeff from the airport! We were so excited that they were able to come for Lila's birthday (and Halloween, since they stayed until November 2nd).

The morning of her birthday, Lila got to open one of her presents. Not surprisingly, she picked the present wrapped in purple paper (her favorite color), which was from Grandma Bonnie and Papa Jeff.  John offered up his present-opening skills.

Lila loved her new Sofia the First outfit, purple headbands and temporary tattoos! Also in the box were the Sofia tiara and necklace that go with the Sofia dress Mommy and Daddy had gotten for her to wear on Halloween.

Here are Grandma and Papa sitting with the birthday girl as she ate her "birthday" waffle.

We spent the rest of the morning at Arlington National Cemetery, which is about 10 miles from our house. It was absolutely gorgeous outside -- the perfect day for a visit there. Papa had never been before, so we were glad we could take him. Then we drove the short distance to Georgetown, where we had lunch at a BBQ restaurant and picked up some birthday cupcakes for Lila at a famous cupcake bakery called DC Cupcakes.

After naptime, we had a little gift-opening party for Lila. We were hoping a few of our neighbor friends would be able to stop by to join us for dessert, but they couldn't make it, so we decided to just bring the cupcakes to the restaurant we were going to for dinner. Lila didn't mind too much that she'd have to wait on the cupcakes, since she still got to open presents!

Before the unwrapping began...John was her helper again.

Opening the gift from Mommy and Daddy -- the Ariel Duplo castle set! Ariel is her favorite Disney princess (besides Sofia). Look at these smiles!

Daddy helped Lila open her presents after John was tasked with building the Ariel Duplo castle. She got a Disney princess storybook from her big brother; Snow White and Cinderella Duplo sets from Aunt Katharine and Uncle Jarey; a gift card from Uncle Jesse and Aunt Sarah; and an adorable new Gymboree outfit (in purple, of course) from Grandpa Harry and Grandma Robin. Thank you, everyone, for the great gifts!

The whole purple-y gang! It's hard to tell, but even Daddy is wearing a (light) purple shirt underneath his sweater. 

Lighting the candles on Lila's mini birthday cake! She had told us she wanted a cake for her birthday, so Mommy and Daddy baked and decorated a tiny one for her (in addition to buying the cupcakes).

She was so smiley once she had blown out her three candles! I think she felt like she'd finally turned three because she'd blown them out.

 

So the sad thing about the cake was that it turned out to be completely undercooked! It had looked strange when I was mixing it, and it had looked REALLY strange when I took it out of the oven, but I figured it was ok and we frosted and decorated it. Then, when I cut pieces for the kids, Daddy and Grandma noticed it looked like dough on the inside, so we had to pitch the whole thing. John and Lila were SO upset and started bawling! In hindsight, I think the problem was that the butter I added to the batter wasn't cooled enough (the directions on the box said to let the butter cool completely). Oh well, at least it looked cute!

 

Thankfully, we were able to distract the kids from the cake disaster by telling them we had cupcakes to eat after dinner. We packed up the cupcakes and headed to Ledo Pizza -- our favorite local pizza place -- where we met up with some of our Army friends who are stationed at Fort Belvoir. John and Lila are good buddies with Abby, Matilda and Delaney.

 

Lila and Matilda....

 

Lila picked a chocolate cupcake for her birthday dessert. She had picked out Disney princess party plates when we were at Target a few days earlier.

Delaney, Abby and Matilda helped Lila get ready for her big birthday moment. What helpful friends they were! Lila got really shy when we all sang "Happy birthday" to her.

We all had such a good time at Lila's birthday dinner and were so glad we could celebrate with our friends from our days at Fort Hood! All of the kids did a great job at the restaurant. It helped that we'd brought the iPad for John to play with and that Lila had a new Barbie doll and vehicle to play with (courtesy of Abby, Matilda and Delaney). It was Lila's first-ever Barbie! The three older girls showed Lila how to play with her.

Our little Lila-pie is such a big girl now. We are especially amazed at what comes out of her mouth these days! Stay tuned for a more detailed post about Lila at age 3. There are some funny sayings that HAVE to be documented, hehe.