Maddie's 3rd birthday party!

Since once again we will be away for Maddie's birthday (on the 17th), we decided to again celebrate on Brandon's birthday! It was fun to have our first party at our new house and we fully utilized our nice backyard and deck! We just had a few friends and family come over, plus at the last minute Maddie decided she wanted to invite the 3 little girls who live across the street. Did I mention before that we now live across the street from 3 little girls?? Their girls are 9, 5 and 4 and Sammi and Maddie have already been over there a few times to play. Sammi and Maddie are constantly looking out the window to see if their friends are outside so they can go play. They are really nice neighbors and their girls are so polite and cute. They treat Maddie like a little baby and just follow her around like 3 little mothers. It's just adorable. We are so blessed!! So anyways, they came over too and we just had cake and ice cream and I made a strawberry pie for Brandon.

Maddie wanted a Dora cake, so I made this one for her.

She was shy when we sang Happy Birthday, but you could tell she enjoyed it.

She loved opening her presents. Sammi got her this Barbie Doll that is a veternarian. She picked it out all by herself and used her own money. She was very excited for Maddie to open it!
We were given some gift cards to Toys R Us for the girls by our realtor, so we decided to use them to buy Maddie a bike for her birthday! A few weeks earlier I said to Maddie, "Can you believe you are almost 3!" And she said "Yeah, then I can ride Sammi's barbie bike!". Plus, the girls probably spend everyday riding their bikes outside in the driveway. And Maddie only had one of those little toddler bikes before. So, it seemed like the right time to move her on to a big bike. In her hand, she is holding her princess helmet, which she got from our friend Jen just before she saw the bike. She thought the helmet was very exciting, and then was even more excited when she saw the bike! Her face just lit up! It was so sweet.

Brandon took her out to the street right away to try it out. She needs a little practice steering, but she'll get it soon I'm sure. You can see in the background the feet of the little girls next door who of course had to follow her :)

It's hard to believe my sweet little baby is almost 3! How did that happen so quickly! She brings us so much joy and we love her to pieces. She has such a big heart and is such a good little and big sister. And I still call her my snuggle baby, because she still loves to snuggle! And this is one of my favorite pictures. I think it sums her (and Abby) up perfectly.