A Bugga-Bugga Birthday

Ellie Bug is three! How did that happen? Somehow, it doesn't seem like it's been anywhere near three years since I typed up her her drive-thru birth story and started trying to figure out how this whole "mom of two" thing worked...and yet, it also feels like we've always had a Bug! She's such a fun little girl, and has been going around telling people (under Bear's coaching) that she is "two point nine" for the past couple of months as we counted down to the big 3.

It's funny to compare her to Keira at this age, because it seemed like Keira was so grown-up already, while Ellie still has her little cartoon/munchkin voice, chubby cheeks, and baby-fine hair. They're still so much alike, though: Ellie HAS to wave goodbye and throw kisses out the window to everyone who leaves our house, she HAS to tell Bear to "watch out for mean snakes and nice turtles!" when he leaves for work, and she loves doing puzzles and pretending to read, just like Keira did when she turned three. She's much less of a planner or a worrier than Kiwi is, though, and could teach all of us a lesson on "living in the moment"--she never asks what we're going to do next or when XYZ is going to happen, because she's too busy having fun right this minute! She definitely has plenty of attitude when she wants to, and we have a hard time not laughing when she crosses her arms and yells, "NO!" and stomps away...but we're starting to crack down on it now, because that's only cute for so long!

The night before her birthday, Ellie sat down and drew this picture, which she presented to me as "a picture of me when I was in your belly." I love that she draws downward-facing eyelashes on her people-blobs. That mini-blob in my belly is Ells!


After she went to bed, I filled her room with balloons (my camera's flash makes it look like she went to bed in broad daylight!)...


...and hung rainbow streamers from her doorway. (I've seen the idea on Pinterest where the mom taped streamers back and forth across the door so her kid could "burst through" it on Christmas morning, but I think Ells would've just panicked at being trapped in her room behind colorful bars!)


On her birthday, she opened her presents from us: a "new" play kitchen (Craigslist, baby!), a book, a new bedspread for her pink room makeover, and a doctor's costume...


...and then we headed to Irvine Park for some fun! The girls and I went for a hayride...


...they joined an Easter egg hunt...


...and they got their faces painted! Ellie was a monkey...


...and Kiwi was a bunny:


Oh, the cute! It hurts!!


Before we left, the girls used their last tickets to decorate Easter cookies. This was the part where I thought Bear might literally roll on the floor laughing at Ellie, whose black dots on her eyelids looked like scary demon eyes staring off into the distance as she decorated her cookie:


On Saturday, we had her birthday party. After Keira chose an Angry Birds theme for her birthday back in October, Ellie seemed to think all birthdays had to be based on iPad apps and asked for a "coloring party," so I figured rainbows and art was the closest thing to that. The girls spent the night at my grandparents' so I could paint Ellie's room pink and give it the makeover she's been begging for, but the HGTV-style reveal I'd been hoping for didn't quite happen--apparently, painting a bathroom, redecorating a bedroom, and preparing for a birthday party all in one week was biting off a little more than I could chew! It got painted, but the decorating would have to wait...it was party time!

Here are the rainbow decorations...


rainbow pinwheel cookies (thank you, Pinterest), which I opted to make with premade cookie dough to save time--why is that stuff so delicious? Must be all the partially-hydrogenated oils. Mmmmmmm.


...and rainbow cupcakes (thanks again, Pinterest) covered with Skittles and rainbow sprinkles:


The kids painted flower pots (there's the new play kitchen in the background)...


...and used rainbow sidewalk paint to decorate the cement in our backyard:




It was a pretty fun party, and I swear there were other kids there besides the girls; I just feel odd posting photos of other people's kids without asking first!

Now that Easter is over and we're having a quiet day at home, the girls are having a blast trying out all of Ellie's cool new toys:




Happy birthday, Ellie-Bug! We love you soooooooooooo much!