Happy Birthday to Winnie!

This has been a week-long celebration of MY GIRL. She is now three, and will someone please stop time?! I burst into tears in the car when she was saying, "I'm three, then I'll be four, then I'll be five...[counted all the way up]...and then I'll be twenty!" Happy birthday to Winnie!

One of her favorite gifts, real ballerina slippers from Grandma and Grandpa

I wanted to make her birthday as special as possible, so she got to take her great friend Sonya to lunch (without Rush. she kept emphasizing that) at Bread Co. Later, we went to SweetArt to pick out birthday cupcakes and then to Bradburn's to pick out some little Calico Critters that I think are too cute.

I've never noticed how tall Sonya is! Loving on each other with bellies full of smoothies and pumpkin muffies.

Birthday dinner at our house

She had (more) cupcakes with princess candles. Her gift from us this year was a little initial necklace that is so cute.

She also had a "party" at school today...her teachers made a big sign for the door. I brought in snack...individual ice creams. I heard they went over a little better than the additional apple slices. Surprise, surprise.

It's almost surreal to think that she's been here for three whole years already, but I can hardly remember what my life was like without her. She's the best thing that's ever happened to me (with the exception of her brother, of course!) and her birth marked a huge change in my life. She gave me purpose and a larger meaning for my life that up until three years ago was pretty much all about me. I've never really been good at much in my life, but I am a good mom. It's nice to be able to feel like you are fulfilling God's purpose for your life. Winnie is so perfect and wonderful and hilarious and so full of life. I can hardly keep up! I'm so glad God put us together. To know her is to love her...