Mariah's 3rd Birthday!

We had such busy, but fun day! And Mariah had a wonderful day! She was just beaming and all "grown-up" by bedtime (and exhausted). We started with having three balloons hidden around the house--each one containing a small toy inside. She had me pop them though--she didn't like the sound of the pop (most kids don't, but it is fun to have a prize inside the balloon). Then she got "special cereal" for breakfast (Marshmallow Mateys). Then Grandma Robertson came to pick us up to go to her house for a birthday get-together! I hadn't been able to decorate the cake yet (do to hopefully finding "our house" and making an offer and what not), so I took the stuff to decorate with us--I should have known that there was no way that I would actually get it decorated before afternoon naps--though I tried. The kids had a BLAST together, though they kept the adults very busy! We had macaroni and cheese for lunch (not very healthy, but one of Mariah's favorites--she only eats two things for lunch--peanut butter sandwiches and mac and cheese. It was really fun to have friends and cousins over for her birthday to play! Emily even was able to make it. It was her birthday too--Mariah's middle name is after her--but she got really sick a few days ago and has been preparing for the last 8 months to run a marathon this Saturday, so she was trying to just take it easy and get better, but she decided to stop by and take it easy at Mom's--which was really nice to have her there.


Mariah got such nice gifts from everyone! She is just having so much fun with them right now. After lunch Mariah handed out fruit snacks and toy rings to everyone. Unfortunately I didn't get the cake made before friends had to leave, but I promised them I would bring some cake to them later (which I did--and it's a good thing too--they were counting on it! What cute kids!). Aubrey, Mariah, and James watched Enchanted with Grandma and had popcorn. It was really cute! I was able to finish decorating the cake while they watched the movie. I would have to say that it turned out REALLY cute! It was late enough that we got some pizza and subs and had dinner. Then we sang happy birthday to Mariah and Emily, Mariah blew out the candles and immediately pulled them out of the cake and licked off the frosting! It was pretty cute! The kids all wanted specific parts of the cake, but all were content with pretty much any edge piece with lots of frosting--and that's all any of them ate anyway! When we got home Mariah got to finally open all of her presents. She got a little toy purse and a new doll with hair--she was so adorable with them and felt all grown up! She kept saying how she was now grown bigger and bigger and now could have this or that or she could do this or that--it was really quite cute to see her trying to be so grown up! Here are some cute pictures from her birthday:

Here is the "Annie" cake (from Little Einsteins)--it was actually really fun to make! I used one of my large wedding cake pans (so it's two box mixes). Mariah helped me make the cake and got to lick out the batter after we were done. I printed off a coloring page from the Disney website, scanned it larger and used that as a guide for Annie. As I decorated the cake, Mariah watched on and off. Though James Morrise was extremely interested while I decorated--he would ask questions and was really excited and enthralled about it--it was really cute!

Mariah--quickly taking out the candles to lick off the frosting!
Mariah at home, showing us how old she is turning with her fingers.

She is about to open her presents.

These are some of the cute things she got--she is waving to us with her doll (that she LOVES)!! She was VERY excited about the Star Wars toys as well--yes, Jon is her Dad!