Happy 3rd Birthday to my Princess Annabelle!

I am a day late in getting this written but I have been busy celebrating Annabelle!  I have made it a tradition to take off of work on the day of Annabelle's birthday to celebrate with my little girl all day long.  This year we had a blast! 

We started the day of by taking Maggie to school and going to a playdate with some of Annabelle's friends at Pump It Up.  We then went next door for some yummy pizza and pasta with our friends and Mommy loved chatting with mommies while Annabelle ran around playing with Ryland, Avery and Ethan.  She was so excited about having her birthday with her buddies and they did not disappoint!  It was a great morning. 

We tried to go home and take a nap, but the excitment got the better of her and she played more than slept during her rest time.  Of course, the big change in our regular routine this week has been the departure of the paci and this change has caused a SHARP decrease into Annabelle's willingness to take a nap.  So, I was not thinking we would have much success in this area but Mommy needed to clean the house so I thought that a rest time was in order for the birthday girl!

I then put curls in Annabelle's hair to get her ready for her photos at Target.  That is the other tradition we have for the birthday-Pictures!  The first year Annabelle and I actually went to 2 different places for pictures because the first place we went did not go very well.  So we went home to let her have a nap and then went out for another session. 

Last year on Annabelle's 2nd birthday-I was 2 weeks from delivering Maggie so we had some birthday pics and maternity pics. 

 This year Annabelle actually posed for some pictures and we got some great photos of my little princess.  Even though I had to fake cry to get her to smile-they were worth it!

 After the photo session, we went to get Maggie from school and we were both glad to have the girls together.  We then went home to a GREAT suprise of having our living room full of ballons from Grandpa and Annie!  Annabelle had a GREAT time playing with all the ribbons and pulling down balloons and then throwing them back into the bunch.  It was FUN! 

After getting some dinner we had all of the family over for a great night of cake and hugs and kisses.  Annabelle was looking forward to her birthday cake for HOURS and was very glad when we told her it was time for the blowing out of the candles!  This year she actually blew then out---this was the first! 

After the cake we opened some fun presents and then Annabelle kinda walked around in a daze playing with all of her new prizes and trying to figure out what to do next.  Luckily there were lots of people there to give her kisses while she tried to figure out which toy to play with next.  

It was a fantastic day and I am so grateful for each of the last 1096 days that I have had the privelidge of being a mommy! 

Annabelle is a wonderful joy in our house and provides lost of lessons for mommy and daddy.  She has made parents out of 2 people who had no idea what she had in store for us!  She has rewarded us with so many kisses and hugs I could not count them if I tried and is turning into quite the little lady with a heart that is eager to please and hears that are always open to hear what we think of her.  I know that God has given me this beautiful little girl to teach me more about Himself and more about the state of my heart.  Being a wife is one step into the idea of seeing how Christ loves us, but being a mommy leads us to see how much we dont deserve His love and how much He really wants to give it to us.  Thank you Jesus for allowing me to be Annabelle's mommy.  I know you chose us for each other for a reason and I am so excited to see what lessons I learn from my daugther!