Kate Turns 3!

Our Kater-Tot turned 3! The night before her birthday she was SO excited. It was so funny and adorable to hear her talk about how she was going to have a birthday the next day. I took this picture the night before her birthday after she got out of the bath. She could hardly contain her smile.

We decorated her room that night with balloons so she'd have a fun surprise to wake up to, and then I decorated the house a little and made a "Frozen cake" at her request. Luckily I found Frozen candles and that made the decorating pretty easy. :-)

This girl really appreciates decorations. I'll often find her "decorating" things around the house randomly. So she was super excited to wake up and explore her birthday decorations.

We let her open a couple presents before we headed to Matthew's T-ball game.

After the game we gave Joshua a quick nap and then went to Chick-fil-A for lunch. After that we came home and did cake and the rest of the presents.

This girl loves cake!

Family pic! (Minus a sleeping Joshua)

I then took her for a Mommy/Daughter date to As You Wish, which is one of those places where you pick something to paint and then they fire it for you and you pick it up a few days later. We had to wait a while since it was super busy, so we popped into Paradise Bakery next door and got a cookie.

When we finally got in to paint, Kate LOVED choosing the princess to paint and then painting it. The only problem was that she wanted to paint way more than just 1. Haha. Anyway, I think she did a pretty good job for her age.

(showing it off a few days later after I picked it up)

Anyway, we absolutely love this girl. She is a ray of sunshine and has a contagious smile. She is INDEPENDENT. Seriously, Little Miss Independent likes her space and doesn't want all that much attention. Me and Michael laugh all the time about this because it can be hilarious when we try to lay with her when we put her to sleep and she says something like, "Mom? There's the door. Go out of it please." (Michael has been told similar versions of this.) She likes to teach herself things and if there's something she can figure out by herself, she will. She is definitely not the type to ask for help unless she really, truly needs it. She is not super mushy or touchy either. It makes it all the more special when she gives us an unprompted kiss on the cheek or says to me, "Mom? You want to watch me dance???" Why yes! Yes I do!

Kate is a total insomniac. I used to actually worry about it, but she has adjusted to this basically being her life so I have too. Ha! She struggles almost every single night to fall asleep, no matter how exhausted she is. It is not uncommon to hear her in her room a couple hours after her bedtime, singing or talking to herself. She also hasn't napped for over a year. Luckily she will almost always sleep past 7. Yay for sleeping in! :-)

Kate has a great imagination and loves pretend play. She is very good at getting Matthew to play what she wants to play, since she's the less interested party with all the power. :-) She has a major sweet tooth and can hear me open a bag of any sort of candy or cookie from a mile away. She likes to help me make cookies and loves going on donut dates with Michael. She likes to read and has really started to enjoy me reading to her. (She has always liked it, but has recently started loving it as she's gotten better at holding still for a little longer, haha.) Kate is very smart. She started writing letters by herself before I'd even started thinking of teaching her how to write. I'm hoping she'll actually let me teach her some things in the future. ;-) She is a Daddy's Girl and has recently started figuring out how to use her daddy's love for his little girl to her advantage. Haha!

Kate is a total girly girl. She loves all the princesses and knows almost all of their names, even though she hasn't seen a good portion of the movies. She loves to have her nails painted and lipstick put on. She wants to do these things herself, and I have let her on occasion, but most of the time I'm too lame to deal with the mess. :-) She loves dresses, pretty shoes, and has a pretty impressive collection of "jewels." As of right now, she wants to be a hair stylist. She is also brave. While she cries super easily if she gets hurt, or "hurt," (ha) she was super brave on all the bigger rides at Legoland and has very little fear when it comes to trying new things, even if they're scary.

Some more things Kate loves include all forms of sugar, dance class, baths, being pampered, bubbles, blocks, playing at the park, being with friends, her family, stickers, swimming, Pez, coloring, crafts, singing, and "decorating" things. (Especially for holidays.) 

Some things Kate really doesn't like include when someone takes something away from her, getting bossed around, fireworks, criticism, feeling rushed, having to be quiet, and snow.

I love this girl so much. I am so thankful that I have a daughter and that she's everything I dreamed she'd be and more. I love her beautiful and independent spirit and I love watching her grow. She's such an important part of this family and I hope she always knows that.