Happy Birthday Little Bear!

Yesterday was Chloe's birthday. She turned 3! It's so hard to believe that she is 3 years old already. I feel like she was just born not that long ago. She has grown and changed so much in the past year. She and Aubrey are definitely buddies and playmates - something that was definitely not happening last year. Her vocabulary, thought processes, attention span, and ability to do things have changed too. She's no longer my baby girl (which I know she wasn't last year either, but...). Next year she'll go to preschool - it's just so hard to believe. While I know it's a natural process for our children to grow older, that doesn't make it any easier. Some days I just wish I could freeze time and have my kids stay little forever. They are at such fun ages right now and are so much fun to watch and see the ideas they have and the things they come up with. Not that they won't be fun when they're older, but I just love where they're at right now.

Okay. Enough with the sappiness. Calvin was inside a little later yesterday morning, so he woke the girls up. It's so funny how different they are when they wake up. Chloe takes about 10 seconds to open her eyes before she puts a smile on her face and starts talking about whatever random thought enters her mind. Aubrey, on the other hand, does not like getting up in the morning and you are usually met with crabbiness and her laying in bed for at least 5 minutes trying to wake up before she'll actually get out of bed. Calvin was met with these responses. Chloe was excited that it was her birthday. She asked me when she would be 3 - was it after school? When I told her that she would be 3 all day today and that the whole day was her birthday, she was thrilled. The girls got dressed and then went downstairs to eat breakfast. I had put up balloons and a birthday sign in the kitchen, so they were excited to see that. After breakfast and taking Aubrey to school, Chloe had a birthday donut that Aunt Kathy gave her. She then decided that she wanted to play Barbies. We spent the rest of the morning cleaning up, setting up the Barbies, and then playing with them. After getting Aubrey from school and eating lunch, we went outside to play. It was the first time that we had been outside since all of the snow. The girls had a blast playing on the big snow piles and the piles around the house. It was so nice out - no wind, sunshine, and decently warm (25 degrees) temperatures. When we were done playing in the snow, the girls took a nap and then we went to my niece Abby's volleyball game. The girls had been wanting to go to one for several weeks. They got to have popcorn and a ring pop, so they were happy. After the game, we came home and ate supper with Calvin, had birthday cake, and then opened presents. Chloe was so cute when she said that she would share her presents with Aubrey, since Aubrey didn't have any to open. We let them stay up a little later so they could play with Chloe's new Dora tent. They had such a good time. What a great day for my little Chloe bear!

Eating birthday donuts from Aunt Kathy

Aubrey standing on one of our big snow piles

The huge drift by the horse barn - Aubrey loved sliding down the drift.

The girls sitting on the mountain of snow Calvin has made by clearing out our lane

Making snow angels

Happy birthday Chloe!

Blowing out her candles
Ready to open presents

Chloe's new book from Aunt Norma and Uncle Al - she loves them!

Opening cards

They were both excited about the Dora tent.

The new Dora tent