Friday, March 16, 2012

Julietta is Three!

She did it. My little stinker Julietta Annabelle went and turned three years old despite promises to stay my baby forever!

She woke up on her special day in her new birthday jammies. The night before her birthday Julietta described how she would be "HUGE!" when she woke up. I was worried. She was right. Look how huge she is! I really do love her more than cupcakes - and that's a lot!

Our entire family gathered around our littlest miss to sing her the *Happy Birthday* song and we got this reaction. She did not like the candle. At all.

She did like the donut.
Of course, Julietta ate from her special birthday plate. I love that tradition.
After eating a delicious breakfast treat, Julietta got dressed in her birthday *princess* dress. I bought the dress off the clearance rack two years ago for just five or ten dollars and saved it from that moment for her birthday! It's a size twenty-four months and fit like it was made for her. She wore a sparkly cross necklace and requested two bracelets. Of course she had a big poof atop her pretty little head. Pink polish adorned her tiny toes, which peeked out of her sparkly peeky boo shoes. I adore that Julietta Annabelle calls them her peeky boo shoes. Oh, and that she says whoopies instead of whoopsies when she drops something.

Grandma came from Russell to spend the day with her tiniest grandaughter.
Our first stop was Build a Bear. Julietta shyly chose a puppy dog. She filled her with fluff, added a heart, and chose a fancy dress for her new snuggle buddy. She named her pup Annie Belle. {swoon}

Then, off to the carousel we went! Julietta adored the carousel. She looked so perfectly sweet on the horse she rode. She had it picked before we entered the gate. Hers was a white pony with a silver tail and mane on the top tier of the ride that was adorned with an orange and yellow checkerboard saddle.
(My settings were way off  that morning so please excuse the photo quality. Let's say I was going for the vintage look and smile about how successful I was - grin)

See? Perfectly, deliciously sweet. *sigh.




After the ride we ate lunch with grandma and headed home for a nap.

While Julietta was napping I finished her ombre ruffle and rosette layer cake and the celebration set up. The bottom tier of the cake was vanilla and the top was chocolate. The backdrop is one of Ella and Liliana's old bedsheets that I tacked to the wall. To that I pinned a handmade bunting and some vintage inspired ribbons. Julietta's gifts and cake were atop her crib blanket. I used a simple milk glass cake stand and filled vases with spring flowers and tree sprigs cut from the lawn. Most of the gift wrap came from the dollar store and was adorned with ribbon and embellishments. The tiny crowns she refused to wear (of course!) were an easy little craft.  Maybe she'll let me get a princess photo at some point . . .


 
Once again, we gathered around our birthday girl and sang to her by candlelight. I've been saving these vintage tapers for more than a year with dreams of pink cake and a pink princess dancing in my head. This was her reaction.{again} The trauma made for one of my favorite images of the day. It's her party and she'll cry if she wants to.
mommy: Julietta Annabelle, how old are you?
julietta: FFRREEE!

Three things I love about Julietta.
1. I love her curiosity. All day I am answering "Why?" Whheerree?" Why? Where? What's that?" For a long time Julietta only knew why and it was the question for everything.
2.  I love how Julietta snuggles. She naps in her own bed, but sleeps in "mommy's bed." Before she goes to sleep Derek and I have to individually tell her a made up story. My stories always start with "Once upon a time there was a little girl with blue eyes and yellow hair and her name was . . ." {Then my little miss says "JUWIETTA!" with her arms wrapped around me, nose to nose, grinning}. When I get into bed later she almost always grabs my hand and holds on tight. I love the way Julietta snuggles.
3. I love Julietta's enthusiasm. I adore it when she is excited and jumps up and down and shouts "Hooray!" When I come hope from the market it makes me absolutely swoon as Julietta runs into my arms and says "Mommy! I was missing you!" At dinner Julietta will take a bite of something and declare it "dee-wish-us!" after humming an exaggerated "mmmmm." It's really great.



After removing the candles, Julietta perked up and was ready to open gifts.
A few weeks before Julietta's birthday I was in the powder room and Julietta was in the hallway. I overheard her chatting and it took me a second to wrap my head around what she had just said. She was praying. Her prayer was (verbatim) "Dear God, I wuv you. Pwease give me a new doll house." 

Little did Julietta know, there was a doll house waiting for in the garage! Derek and I got her a doll house and some goodies with which she can furnish it. It is not decorated or wired for lighting so it can grow with her.



Julietta got lots of goodies.

She named this puppy Lucy and calls it her "goggy called Wucy." Lucy has a pink ribbon her neck at all times and is always ready for a walk.






Julietta also got a new lion, talking Baby Bop, a dance tutu, two new outfits, water bottle, games, art supplies, bracelets, painting kit, and "whipstik!"


Now that Julietta is a big three year old she has to put on her "whipstick" before she does anything. So it begins. "Lipstick" was on the top her list and she loves it.
 Julietta is a sweet combination of all her siblings. She gets the "girly girl" from Ella. She loves babies, dressing up, and whipstik like Ella. She has the love of sports and action like Liliana. Her big sisters are always taking her to the park and for walks. She is growing up on the sidelines and in the gym and her love of it is obvious. From Jack she has developed a deep love for pretend play, imagination, and story telling. Julietta loves to pretend. She is always some animal or bossing her siblings to be something or other. She adores books and television like Jack as well. Her favorite shows -Barney and Yo Gabba Gabba - get her on her feet. She dances and sings along like she's on set. It's so fun to watch her watch.

Julietta had a great day. I can't believe she is three. 

Happy Birthday my sweet Julietta Annabelle!

To see Julietta's first and second birthday click HERE, HERE, and HERE.

3 comments:

  1. happy birthday to your sweet girl. That party table and dress look magical.

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  2. wow, that table and its set up are gorgeous! and so is your sweet girl!
    happy 3 to julietta!

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  3. Too cute! If my 4 yr old could type she would say the pink dress is absolutely fantastic.

    What magic your little girl must bring into your life.

    Found you through the blog hop. Thanks for sharing your darling girl.

    Jennifer

    http://www.practicallyperfectprincess.com/

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