Bree is officially three and we celebrated her birthday this past Friday the only way I know how…opulence on a birthday is forgivable, right??!!!

We started with pancakes…Bree asked for her to be shaped like triangles…and Daddy made it happen!  Mine were thick and round….and ridiculously fabulous!

Then there were presents.  I saved her presents from our Quincy family (Mee-Maw, Skylar and Ian) and she had some from Mommy, Daddy and Bauer as well!  I hid them all over the house and she hunted them all down and admired her stack before she set to ripping them open!

She got a vast assortment of Snap N Style Doll clothes and props, a couple books, and some fun Littlest Pet Shop underwear (let’s get potty training).

Bauer came in to check out all the loot and Bree and him immediately started playing tug of war with the packing peanuts that came out of one of the boxes!  It is always the boxes and the packing materials that are the most interesting gifts!

Bauer got his half-birthday gift on Friday as well.  He got some additional train tracks and train cars to go with his well used set.  Bree immediately forgot her dolls and was onto the fun of the trains.

Bauer is in LOVE with his trains.  I’m pretty sure it could be his only toy and he would be just fine with that fact.  He sits by his tracks and makes “Woo Woo” sounds over and over.  He just can’t get enough.  I find it humorous that he is so into his trains.  He has grown up around all of Bree’s girl toys and got his first train set from one of my dear friends at work, Mardie, on his first birthday.  It starts that whole conversation about nature v. nurture.  It is truly a blessing to get to raise a boy and a girl and see the subtle and blaring challenges it creates!

Bree headed off to school on her birthday ready to share Capri Suns and cookies with her classmates.  She was wearing a new outfit and looking more sophisticated and mature than I believe it possible!

We had one more surprise in store for our little diva when she arrived home from school.  Mee-Maw had generously offered to let us take the Barbie house she used with her granddaughters for the past few years when we were in Quincy, IL last September.  We boxed it up and placed it in the attic.  We were waiting for Bree’s love of dolls to become apparent. And it has!!  So Sean set it up while she was in school and it is just the perfect final piece to her big girl room!  And to her birthday!

She and Bauer immediately took a liking to it and tried to not only climb the house but also the storage cube right next to it.  Those two monkeys definitely keep Sean and I on our toes!

What a great week for my birthday girl and half birthday boy!  I’m pretty sure next to Christmas, birthdays with little kids is one of the best parts of this whole parenting game!