The Gift Finally Given: Caroline turns 3!

Of course this happened seven months ago... and now my memories of the events are vague... So more pics than text! We celebrated Caroline's third birthday shortly after returning from our gigantic road trip. While we were away (or just before we left) her main birthday present was delivered! Thanks Uncle Dan and Aunt Lauren for the fabulous trampoline! And we picked up a slide for the backyard as well for our main gift to her. But we kept these hidden until her birthday party when we had the big reveal. We had a mini-celebration on her actual birthday, bringing cupcakes to school for a world goes round the sun party. This was a lovely ritual. She walked around a candle (representing the sun) as the teacher and kids recited the months of the year 3 times; each time around her teacher set down a picture from whatever year of C's life we were marking with that circling. I think there were other elements too... but anywho... twas nice. That night she blew out candles on a cupcake at home. And we decorated the tree (as we did during labor!) And she opened presents sent by loved ones.

At some later date, shortly thereafter we had a small birthday party. She said she wanted a Pooh and Piglet party and so we decided to have a "Best Friends" Birthday Party. She invited three of her closest friends- one from school (Josephine), one from church (Gwynne), and then her best friend of all (Fiona). Fiona's brother Ethan joined us too! We spent most of the party on a craft project. We traced each kid and then they decorated themselves. The idea was that Caroline would have representations of her best friends to decorate her room when all was said and done. They spent a long time on this!

And then the cake... a rich blueberry molasses cake with cream cheese frosting... Mommy made the cake and frosting and did the basic frosting. Daddy traced the images mommy found on the web and filled them in with colored frosting. And voila! A Pooh and Piglet Best Friends Cake... with blueberries inside for our little girl who has always said her favorite color is blue!