Happy Birthday Little Princess!

Ginger the Giraffe
Princess Caitlin & her balloons
The Disney Princess Big-Girl Bike
Caitlin's 3rd Birthday Cake--all about the Princesses
Caitlin on her new bike

**Sorry for the delay in posting about Caitlin's birthday. We actually celebrated on the 27th**

It seems like just yesterday that we brought Caitlin home from the hospital and now, here we are, celebrating her 3rd birthday. She was actively involved in the planning, insisting that she have the Cinderella cake and party supplies that we found at Target a month or so earlier. Yes, the Disney Princess obsession is still going live and strong.

We celebrated here at home (with Ben, Cara & I along with Grandma Ogoe and Aunt Effie who were visiting from MI) after debating whether or not to go to Chuck E Cheese or somewhere else. Turns out that Caitlin had a blast regardless of the location...she was living up the moment. Ben cooked a big batch of his wonderful spaghetti, I made some french garlic bread and we had veggies on hand for a nice big salad. Caitlin's favorite meal (besides Tyson chicken nuggets) is Daddy's spaghetti, so dinner was a big hit. Afterwards, we presented her with her Disney Princess cake and she was so excited and ready to blow out the candle.

This year, Caitlin received, from Mommy & Daddy, a Little Tyke's easel complete with paints, crayons, marker, glitter pens, colored pencils, stickers, paint sponges...the whole nine yards. It has been a hit since she has been creating little masterpieces (and putting her creative mark on our off-white carpet) every day since we assembled it. On one side there's a big clip for paper and on the other side is a chalkboard. By far, the paints and paper have been the biggest hit.

Aunt Effie (and Uncle Kofi) got Caitie the cutest little Disney Princess big-girl bike. True, it only sits about a two feet off of the ground and has training wheels, but it's a big-girl bike nonetheless. We took Caitlin to a park up in Estes Park (pictures to come) and let her try out her bike the following day. She loves to sit on it and put things in the little backpack but...she's having difficulty pedaling because, unlike her tricycle, she cannot pedal backwards on this bike, when she does, it applies the brake, which frustrates her. So, we have some bike-riding lessons in store of her. No doubt that she will pick it up quickly with a little practice.

Earlier in the week, Aunt Effie took Caitlin to Build-A-Bear Workshop where Caitlin made a birthday giraffe named Ginger. Ginger proudly follows Caitlin just about everywhere wearing her Cinderella outfit. Caitlin had a blast picking out her animal (she wanted just about all of them and we had to convince her that she could only have one) and then dressing her up. Unfortunately, I didn't think to get any pictures from Build-A-Bear. She did, at one point, have a piece of fake hair on and she looked exactly like a little Beatle, no joke!

Anyway, enjoy the pictures! :)