Lauren's 3rd Birthday

Little girl with your Daddy's eyes
you warm your mothers heart.
Your sweet little hugs and happy smile,
are only just the start....

Everything you say and do,
is so adorable and cute.
And day after day I wish you could stay,
my little girl forever.

Happy Birthday Lauren,
With love from your mother.

(September 27th 2009)

This birthday was a highly anticipated event in this little girls life. At least six months before she turned 3 she began telling me what kind of party she wanted to have for her next birthday. First, she said she wanted a "kitty party." Then it became a"Tinkerbell" party. Then, after seeing the Little Mermaid this summer she wanted an "Ariel" birthday. But her most recent interest has been in Cinderella. And so, Cinderella it was. Complete with the crown and glowing wand that Daddy brought home from work. Her Cinderella doll Cake with fondant frosting turned out just as I had hoped but not without great effort and a very late (or early) night spent decorating it.

Later in the week she had a birthday party with all of her little friends. They made princess crowns with glue-on jewels and ate cupcakes, drank pink punch and enjoyed frolicking around the house in their little princess dresses. The boys got home from school just as her party was coming to a close. When they walked through the door their eyes bugged out and Joseph exclaimed..... "Mom, this is such a pretty party!" I guess a "girly" party is something these boys haven't seen very often.

Lauren at 3 years old

Here are some little things about Lauren at 3 years old....

-Lauren loves her kitty. She carries her around like a baby doll and gives her lots of love and affection.

-Lauren loves "helping" mommy in the kitchen when I'm baking or making dinner. She is famous for climbing up onto the counter to sit down next to the bowl sneaking licks and begging to take her turn stirring.

-Lauren loves stories and more recently has developed an interest in fairy tales and princess stories. Any time we go to the library she grabs the books with the pinkest, girliest covers on them. Lately I've been finding her up in her room next to her bookcase "reading" stories aloud to herself or to her kitty who is sitting in her lap.

-Lauren loves to sing songs and she loves making songs up while driving in the car. We love her songs but she gets very embarassed when we mention anything about them. She will usually stop singing if she thinks we're listening because she usually gets embarassed. Most of her songs are little stories. She talks about everyday things in a sing song way. It's very cute. Here is an example of her singing one of the first songs she learned.....

-Lauren also likes to be sung to. Her favorite songs that she requests for me to sing are Disney Princess songs. She will say, "Mom, sing me the Snow White song", (or Cinderella, Belle or Ariel, etc.) So I sing her one of the theme songs from that movie with my best princess sounding voice impression. She loves it and smiles with delight before asking me to sing another one. One of the funniest ones I do is the Little Mermaid one where Ariel is singing the AHHHH, AHHHHH, scale going higher and higher until she says, "Oh, Eric!" She will ask me to sing the "oh, Eric" song. It is so cute and funny.

-Lauren loves dressing up. She has one pair of pink dress up shoes that she loves clomping around the house in. She also loves wearing her pretty nightgowns and Sunday dresses. I already know what we'll be getting her for Christmas. She also loves princess crowns. I made her one out of aluminum foil and some craft gemstones I had around the house. It looked so junky but she loved it and wore it all the time until it finally broke.

-Lauren is a good balance of being girly and tough . It's not uncommon to see her dressed up in her dress-up shoes and fancy sunday best while duking it out with her brothers light-sabers or nerf gun.

-Lauren is fearless. As I wrote about in an earlier post, she is not afraid of many things. She is not timid at all especially when it comes to trying new things and not being afraid of the unknown. She is not scared to approach big animals or hold chickens while they flap her in the face with her wings. She cracks me up.

-Lauren is very spunky and assertive. She has a very naturally sweet personality but if she is crossed (especially by her brothers) she has no problem asserting herself and putting them in their place.

-Something cute that Lauren does is to hop up and down when she gets excited. It is so cute and actually reminds me of something similar I used to do as a little girl.

-Lauren loves her Daddy. She loves snuggling him and hugging him and he loves the attention and affection he gets from his little girl. She can melt his heart in an instant with her little hugs around his neck. Every night after we have family prayer and scriptures Aaron takes Lauren to her room while I read to the boys. He has his own little bedtime routine that he does with her....I'll have to get him to record it here:

Me- Who's my angel?
Lauren- Me
Me- Who's my sweetheart?
Lauren-Me
Me- Who's my princess?
Lauren- Me
Me- Who do I love?
Lauren- I love you too, Daddy.

Me- Have sweet dreams okay?
Lauren- okay
Me- What are you going to have dreams about?
Lauren- um, butterflies and princesses and fairies and angels and godmothers and flowers....


-Lauren is a silly little girl that loves to get a laugh. Here is an example of her silliness. She was making a funny face one day at lunch.....

Happy Birthday Lauren. You are a joy and a delight to all of us, we love you!