B is for Baby Birthday Cupcakes

As I have a little bit of downtime while the girls nap (or sit quietly in their rooms chatting to themselves...) , I will write about Hayden's birthday. She turned THREE years old last month! I can't believe it's been so long from this...

to this...

We had a few friends over to help us celebrate her birthday. I think she had a great time being the center of attention. She was very into opening her gifts - reading the cards, finding out who they were from, and giving hugs to say thank you. She was especially excited about Candyland (which she had only recently learned how to play).
The highlight of her "party" was her selected dessert. Baby cupcakes. I had received this book for Christmas, and Hayden had enjoyed looking at all the different decorated cupcakes. When I asked her what she wanted for her birthday, she said baby cupcakes. No amount of encouragement would change her mind, and she stuck with that decision over several weeks. So I decided to try it. Brittany was kind enough to come over and help me with the decorating - Hayden helped too a little bit. And I think they turned out pretty cute! I give you

BABY CUPCAKES!

Hayden thought they were fantastic and couldn't wait to eat the. She did pretty well blowing out her candles and then dug right in. I think you can tell what her favorite part of the cupcake was.
The day after the party was her REAL birthday, and we celebrated it as a family. She got to open a big pile of presents. So big, it was climbable! Even Eliza tried to climb Mt. Present. She even tried to help with the unwrapping, but Hayden didn't need much help.
The reason the pile was so big was because from us, Hayden got a...... TRICYCLE!! She was thrilled since that was one of the few things she asked for consistently for her birthday (that and a baby crib (thanks Grammy!) and a doctor kit (thanks Aunt Lacey!). After nap time, she was ready to hop right on to test it out. She liked it a lot. Though I will admit, it has since been returned, because it wouldn't let her put on the breaks. (We're in the market for a balance bike or scoot bike. Any suggestions?!!!)

For her birthday dinner, Hayden had selected salmon and french fries. We were busy doing something (not sure what but probably related to the upcoming move), and didn't get around to heading out to get the salmon till just before dinner time. Alas, when we went to leave (Jason was already out dropping stuff off at our storage place), the car had a big ol' flat tire. Hayden was fascinated by this (ask her about it, she will still tell you the story), and a little bit bummed about not going to the store. But the Birthday Fairy waved her magic wand, and what should appear but the....

ICE CREAM TRUCK! We had yet to actually purchase anything from the truck, though it comes thru our neighborhood about once a week in the summer. We seized the opportunity since it was her birthday. So instead of salmon, Hayden had a sandwich for her birthday dinner - an ICE CREAM sandwich!

For the record, we did do her birthday dinner later on in the week. When I told her we were doing her birthday dinner, she said we couldn't "because my birthday was last week!" And then she promptly decided to eat NO salmon, despite having purchased it specially for her! :)

We also got to celebrate her birthday again a little bit when my parents came up to visit a week or so later. Hayden got a "band in a box" which she was very excited to open. She jumped up immediately to start dancing while playing the instruments. Eliza liked them too.

So there's the tale of Hayden's birthday. A little bit late, but still a lot of fun to tell. She is a darling, happy three year old these days who likes to "have a conversation", dance, sing, play with her babies and just generally enjoy life. She's still not quite big enough to fill our shoes, but she certainly keeps us entertained.

Happy Birthday Hayden!