When blowing out the candles loses its luster

Today was the 4th and final birthday celebration for Maya's 3rd birthday........thank the Lord! I think Maya shares my sentiments. It was so much fun at party number 1, but a week and half of celebrating later, and she's soooo over it!

Having already had a couple celebrations, I decided to forego ordering a cake and try my hand at making my own! I also decided to make a 2nd dessert in case the one wasn't enough. We also made a full lunch for everybody.  Following this party, we decided that we must be crazy! That's a lot of work! Aaron smoked some yummy babyback ribs in his new Weber smoker. I prepared Robin's party potatoes (thanks to my mommy for her help in the kitchen ;), seven layer salad, chips/dip and then thawed some of our family's homemade applesauce.  Then we had a frosted giant cookie as our "cake" and I made some adorable ice cream cone cupcakes!

Lunch was delicious and then came time for the presents! I don't know how 3 year olds are supposed to act, so I get a little embarrassed when my daughter starts ripping into all the presents like the Tazmanian Devil. She'll have 4 gifts open before anyone even knows she's in the room!!  So, I attempted to get her to slow down and find out who the gifts were from. It was a shower of tissue and wrapping paper!  Nobody even knew what hit them......& then it was over.

On to dessert......my pride and joy of the day.  I had never decorated a cake, so I was pretty proud of the way her's turned out!  It got the message across and it tasted phenomenal if I do say so myself!  The cupcake cones were really yummy too! And a big shout out to Prairie Farms for the delicious vanilla ice cream!!  Way to go PF!

We did run into a bit of a problem at "Happy Birthday to You" time however.  As you've seen in previous posts, Maya truly enjoys blowing out the candles.........today, she was having none of it!  We all started in on the "Happy Birthdays" & Maya just up and left the table, yelling to stop singing to her and that she WAS NOT blowing out the candles.  Her rude demeanor and smart mouth bought her a short time-out and a "probably too nice & understanding" talk with her Mamaw (all you grandmas out there know how it is :). But after all that, Birthday Girl came and joined us for dessert.........but still no luck on the candle front!

We all had a wonderful time visiting and enjoying some fresh air outside today as well.  Aaron put the swings back on our swingset and Maya got to play in her "playground" for the first time in months! She was thrilled.  Her day was complete.....or so we thought.....then came the final birthday gift. The Barbie "motorcycle."  Maya was elated!!  I've never seen her move so quickly! Off she went and she loved it!!  Even if her birthday celebrations did drag out too long, at least it ended on a high note.