Clairvaux's 3rd Birthday

I know we JUST celebrated her 2nd birthday last week so I wrestled with the idea of her being three whole years today all day.  She was precious today.  We really didn't have to do a thing for her because she was just so delighted it was her birthday.  John's parents sent a card a couple days ago which she has been clutching and even slept with the first night.  I hung her birthday banner up this morning and it delighted her so much that she kept smiling at it.  She could have cared less about presents.  We sang to her several times throughout the day and she always added at the end, "Mom, you didn't sing "May God Bless You."

She asked me after I took this picture if she looked cute.  

We took her to Target to pick out one special gift of her choosing.  

She completely understood what that meant.

We did this last year, but just John and I took her.  We thought it would be fun for the older kids to help out.  Wow.  One thousand suggestions later...

Her first pick was this shopping cart.  Rose was trying to convince her otherwise.

The peer pressure continued as the opinions and aisle selections grew.

The sister posse with the celebrity.

Then, it happened.  She looked down and saw this stroller and it was all over.  She knew exactly what she wanted.  

Clairvaux, your personality at this age is a good combination of sugar and spice.  We work hard on obedience usually everyday.  You are over-flowing with love and affection for all, but we do struggle listening and obeying.  We have found out that if you are having a tough time, you respond well to compliments.  It cracks me up every time as I often tell you how TALL you are getting and it snaps you out of the craziest moods and meltdowns.  It is so funny.  You said today, "Look Mom, I am getting bigger because I'm three.  I can reach things on the counter."  To which she grabbed something off the counter to display her newly discovered three-year-old habit.  When we were visiting family a couple weeks ago, you were struggling bad to go to sleep as you were ridiculously over-tired.  We had arrived around 10:30 PM, but stayed up until past midnight.  The next day you didn't have a nap and consumed large amounts of sugar and junk.  By around 4:00 PM, you were french fried beyond belief.  We fed you and put you to bed which always results in hysterics if everyone else is staying up especially if you are over-tired.  To make a long story short, you screamed/cried for over an hour and the only thing that made you go to sleep was when I leaned over your bed and told you how tall you had gotten.  You closed your eyes and fell asleep.

You hug my stomach most days and ask, "Is that your baby?"  To which I always reply, "Yes and this is your baby too."

You love to do geography everyday together and can pretty much do a majority of the European countries and landmarks.  Papa decided to begin teaching you to read this summer.  You humor us with your excitement.  I sure it will be a couple year process, but we do these things to humor ourselves.

You were a delight today and we all enjoyed celebrating with you.  I say it every time, but your siblings always make every birthday wonderful.  They are always so excited for the birthday celebrant!

I love you too much!