Elodie Marie is Now Three!

Elodie was so excited to turn three. All day, when I told her we were going somewhere, like to take Xander to music class or to go to the store or to walk to the park, she wanted to just go to the "Children's Nuseum." I found out a couple weeks ago that on the first Tuesday of every month, they have a free afternoon, and since her birthday fell on the first Tuesday, we decided to incorporate the Children's Museum into her birthday party since we've never been there before. Well, when we finally got there, it was packed (free fun = overcrowded) and Elodie was a bit overwhelmed, shall we say! She's kinda the slow-to-warm-up type. When she saw the dress-up dance studio, she wanted to try it out. But when it came to actually doing it, well, this was the result.

Before long, she warmed up and began clickity-clacketing around in the tap shoes, twirling the rainbow ribbons, and swishing the pink scarf.

Then she enjoyed a little stint as a clerk at Whole Foods, reshelving what the 20 other kids were steadily ransacking off of the shelves.

Then she joined Xander the train engineer for a few minutes before we had to get home to have the "real party" with dinner, cake, and family.

The long-requested princess cake made her appearance this year. Elodie tends to change her mind, and had gone through all of the princesses as she expressed her greatest birthday wish over the last couple of weeks. Before I added the food coloring to the frosting yesterday, I made her nail it down--a blue Cinderella or a beautiful pink princess. She went with pink. I made it Monday while she was in bed and didn't let her see it until after her birthday dinner of "noodles and sausage and cheese" (Pasta Bake).

She seemed to like it, I'd say! I had lots of fun creating it--it's so fun to have a little girl! It definitely took more work than last year's butterfly cake, so I am VERY glad that she changed her mind last minute last year from a princess cake to a butterfly cake. I had the time to enjoy doing it this year! I was remembering tonight that Dexter came home from the NICU last year the day after Elodie's birthday. It seems so long ago. Alas, I digress. After numerous attempts, Elodie finally blew out all THREE candles (one is hiding behind the cake). As I was tucking her in bed tonight, I asked her what some of the best parts of her birthday were. First, she said watching a princess movie with everybody. (After opening presents, she convinced everybody--Grandpa, Grandma, Melayna, Rachael, me, and Xander--to watch 20 minutes of Barbie Swan Lake with her. So this may have been listed first because it was the most recent thing she'd done.) The next favorite thing she listed? "The cake." Aw, thanks Elodie! How'd ya know I worked hard on that just for you?

All around, it was a full and fun third birthday. We love our spunky little Elodie Marie!