Third Time's a Charm

Cora's third birthday was pretty near perfect. We had a very small birthday party with her little friends, Claire and Sophie. Cora helped decorate the house. While we didn't have a "theme" this year, we went with rainbow colors! We hung streamers, had party hats, and plenty of noise makers. The girls made ornaments out of popsicle sticks and glitter. They turned out beautifully. :) They also played Pin the Tail on the Donkey. I think Cora and Sophie were a bit too young for the game, but Claire did a good job of leading her troops. We skipped the blindfolding, so every tail was placed in the correct spot. Thirty tails all stuck one on top of the other. It was pretty cute. I made a rainbow colored cake and Lee bought a dozen balloons for the house. Birthday parties might be one of the best parts of having kids.

Craft time!

Sophie strategically pinning the tail on the donkey.

Cora Long Legs pinning her tail on the donkey.

Claire rounding up all the balloons.

Taking Soph for a lap around the house.

Lee coming out with the cake!

Cora gets pretty embarrassed when being sung to. She didn't really enjoy the Happy Birthday part, but she did love eating the cake. :)

The rainbow cake. The most fun part of this cake was making the different colored batter!

Claire and Sophie gave Cora a Leapfrog electronic device that teaches her to draw shapes and numbers. It is a nifty little thing. They also gave her a toy horse that she LOVES. She still plays with this horse nearly every day.

Sophers

Lee took a great picture of the cake.

A shot of our festively decorated home. The streamers stayed up for a whole week so Cora could enjoy them on her birthday. We took all the birthday stuff down on Christmas Eve, so Christmas morning would be more Christmas-y. It worked well.

Our little trio celebrated Cora's birthday on her actual birthday, December 23. Lee was pretty anxious to get to the presents, so we opened everything in our pj's. We had a nice, relaxing day hanging out.

Cora getting help from Daddy with a present. What is it?

It's a cool flashlight from Grandma Jo that makes animal noises!

Her first Skippy Jon Jones book from Aunt Jean. I highly recommend these books.  I think I have the most fun reading it out loud. I think we will eventually get the whole series because they are nothing less than fun to read.

Who is excited it's her birthday?

Mommy and Daddy gave Cora new cowboy boots and some more toy horses. 

She thinks the cowboy boots are pretty great. :)

Two birthday parties for one three-year old makes for an exciting week. Cora is one special little gem to us. It is wonderful to celebrate the day she was born. I think I can easily speak for Lee when I say that December 23rd is always one of the best days of the year.