Emery is three!

This past week we celebrated Emery's third birthday and I made the sacrifice of all sacrifices by baking her a "banilla" cake with "banilla" frosting (banilla as in vanilla, not some combination of banana and vanilla, instead of chocolate as I would have liked). Because let's be honest - who's going to be eating the leftovers, Emery or me?

Well, to my great surprise, Emery declared the cake "too yummy" and barely made a dent in her piece, while I developed a newfound appreciation for the true flavor of vanilla unsullied by the distraction of chocolate. Not that I'm going to be requesting a banilla cake for my birthday or anything, but let's just say I have definitely enjoyed the leftovers.

See here the birthday girl digging into her turkey meatloaf and broccoli, which I guess aren't "too yummy."

Backing up a bit, our morning started with some present opening at the breakfast table and the jewelry box from her cousins was quite a hit.

As was the Cinderella carriage CD player from Henny and Papa ...

Not to mention the real Cinderella movie, her first full-length movie to sit through! It came as a nice break amid the chaos of a birthday morning ... as well as a nice way to cap off the chaos of the day itself.

                                 

Later we headed over to Volkswagen to have lunch with Daddy and Emery proudly marched through the parking lot with her new butterfly cage / purse. It's pictures like this one that remind me she will only be a little girl for a very little while!

Our valiant attempts at a decent family photo ...

Back in the car with the butterfly catcher / Emery catcher ...

The cake that was "too yummy" and definitely screams homemade, which we shared with some neighborhood friends in lieu of full-blown birthday party ...

 Ta-da! Emery is THREE!

Some comic relief

Though every day has its share of frustrations (one being the wail that is coming from Anna Kimball's room after a mere thirty-minute nap), here's what's been making me laugh recently:

• Emery has finally become brazen enough to start tossing items in the grocery cart as she sees fit. A few weeks ago we were at Fresh Market and when we had just about finished checking out I realized we had paid for smoked salmon, pine nuts and Japanese fish sauce and were about to pay for a Ritter chocolate bar. All great ideas, yes, but not in the budget. The cashier was none too amused when she had to refund us for said items. Today we returned to Fresh Market and this time I watched Emery toss in the same smoked salmon, arrived at the checkout line to find the same pine nuts in our cart, and once again, almost scored a Ritter chocolate bar. I'm not shocked that she's doing this, but what does shock and amuse me is the repetition ... so maybe her 3rd birthday dinner will/should involve these ingredients?

• Emery got a haircut a few weeks ago and for the few hours that followed, she repeatedly asked us, "Where's my haircut?" (probably because everyone kept saying to her, "Emery, did you get a haircut?") Even now, three weeks later, out of nowhere she will inquire "Where is my haircut?" When you try to explain to her that a haircut is something that happens to you, well, you don't get very far and you begin to empathize with her confusion.

• Anna Kimball, well, she doesn't need to do much to make me laugh. Black bean soup became finger paint last night, I can't get enough of how she swings and kicks her legs in crazy mad frustration when she sees Emery running off to do something potentially very fun and she's still stuck in the highchair, and experiencing the slide at the park today was none other than hair-raisingly hysterical.