My 3-year old

This weekend was all about Nicole and celebrating her third birthday.






We went through a cake book and an online kids cake site and she decided she wanted ladybug cupcakes. Jim harassed her all week that I was going to make spider cupcakes instead. She'd get all riled up about it and confirm with me that indeed we were going to make ladybugs.

On Saturday at 8:30a her Grandma Hook and Aunt Connie came from 2 hours north to have breakfast with us and shower both kids with attention.

The official party started at 5p and was a joint party for Nicole and Lindsay. We had tacos, quessadillas, salad, appetizers galore, and of course ladybug cupcakes (and ice cream cake for Linds).

Nicole got lots of great gifts. Jim and I gave her a kitchen set so we'd organized a few relatives to get her fake food and dishes which worked out very nicely. My dear aunt took it a bit far with a 123 piece set of food. We now have individual french fries, pringles, and hot dogs littering the living room.

Hollywood-bound Nicole is featured wearing Cat in the Hat pajamas, lovely sparkle star plastic heels and sporting a ringing cell phone in fuchsia.



Nicole's favorite gift was an Ariel doll from her cousin Ryann. Ariel has gone to Meijer, Kohl's, the bathtub several times, and to bed.

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On her actual birthday we took her to Graeters for ice cream. Of all things she picked LEMON sorbet. That's my girl.

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I made a clown cake for her class but they ate it at snack time so I didn't get to see them sing to her. : (

A few notes on Nicole's accomplishments to date:

• She weighs 30lbs. 3 oz. and is 3 feet 3/4 inches tall. This makes her in the 50%ile for both height and weight

• She's currently really into tracing letters and numbers. She's gotten very good control over a marker so she's quite accurate. The letters and numbers she writes on her own are clear about half the time, guessable 1/4 of the time, and a mess the other 1/4. She can write her own name but the C is always backwards and the E is illegible. Not too shabby though!

• She makes up a lot of words and alternate lyrics. Her favorite thing to involve in her craziness is "Silly Sally". This does get kind of annoying at times.

• She colors in the lines.

• We practice continents, planets, etc. by saying "I love you to Saturn and back" and alternating where we love the other person to. Problem is that she now understands the full concept of superlatives and will trump what you say and cut the game short by saying "I love you to Venus and Jupiter and Neptune and EVERYTHING". If you try to cut back in she'll remind you she said "EVERYTHING".
• Getting dressed in the morning is no longer a problem. She gave up and I get to pick all her outfits.
• She never gets tired of watching Dora, reading books, cuddling, or eating snacks. If you offer to do any of the above she'll drop whatever she's currently doing to do the other unless you tell her she has to quit one of her favorite things. If you offer to read books while Dora is on she'll explain that she wants to watch Dora first and read books second.
• Yesterday in her bath she asked me if Flounder was Ariel's henchman. I had to explain that henchmen were helpers yes, but normally to bad people. Her vocabulary astounds me some times.
• She's still all about making deals most often trading her evening song for another book.
• Greg and Jenna got her a scooter for her birthday. She's not fully gotten the hang of it yet but it's entertaining to watch.