To Be 3

"Is my Birthday next?
"Is my Birthday today?"
"Are my friends coming now?"

We were asked these 3 questions every morning for nearly two month before Lily's 3rd Birthday.

She would whisper to willing checkers at the supermarket about her princess birthday party. She would share about her impending party plans with the child card helpers at our little church. She would inform new friends on the playground that it was her birthday ' next.' This kid knows how to party and in true Gulbrandsen fashion our not-so-little Lil had an entire weekend dedicated to her 3rd Birthday.

Cake Time at Party #1 with Cousin Forest and Auntie Tiff

 She begged for a Strawberry Cake.

 T Strong AKA Nona wore her wedding dress circa 1977 to the big party. That's what I call recycling.

 Don't mess with the Birthday Girl when she has a bat in her hand.

 Posing Cousins.

 Great-Grandparents. Grandma Cookie donned another gorgeous gown as the Queen Mother.

You would think that after months of dreaming about her Princess Birthday Party there would be significant let-down the day after the festivities cease. Not the case with our girl. She lay in her bed the night after her Princess Party and told me 'no more my birthday.' Then she grinned at me and said 'Mommy's birthday next.' Always the optimist. Always looking forward to the next big party.

No Way!

Life is precious. Lil reminds us of that every day. We are still so grateful for what we have even when our 'precious little princess' acts like this.....

Christmas in... January?

Yeah, I know that I am about a month too late. But everyone loves a little Christmas cheer, right?

We had the pleasure of spending some time up in Victoria with Ben's family this past Christmas. Ben and Lil braved the weather and drove the thousand miles (each way) along with the Booth cousins all the way to Canada. A little bit crazy with a 2 year old? Probably. But we will chalk it up to saving some serious cash and the ability to see new parts of the west coast. Our trip to Canada consisted of eating ( food that we did not have to cook), catching up on some Chick Lit (me), playing  XBox (Ben) and running up and down the hallways of the 'Big House' (Lil, maybe sometimes Ben too). While up north, we also gained a future brother-in-law! Ben's sister Heidi will be marrying her German prince charming this coming June. Lil is pumped to be a flower girl.

January has been... hectic. I think that we are all still feeling the growing pains of our new busier lifestyle, but we are blessed. Life is boring when you just stick to the norm, so we might as well make our brief hours count.

  Christmas time Sushi. Japanese Village is the best.

 Couple of cute Christmas Cousins.

 The Christmas 'Prom' Shot.

 Woo-hoo! The soon to be Mr. & Mrs. Weber

 Christmas Morning

Doing her hallway laps with her new ' princess running shoes.'