Marvelly at 3

We celebrated Marvelly's third birthday on Friday. It's crazy that the little baby of the family is already three. I'm still completely amazed how fast a year can go by. Or how fast three years can go by for that matter.

It's so cliche and every mother says it, but it really doesn't seem like that long ago that we brought her home from the hospital....

Her first day in the hospital she scratched herself on her left upper cheek and it scabbed over and eventually scarred. Today her cheek still carries the remains of that tiny little scratch from only one day old. I thought over time the scar would disappear, but it's only slightly faded. She will likely carry that little reminder of babyhood with her forever. So that even after all her baby teeth fall out and it appears she has nothing left on her from her baby years, every time I look at her I'll have that tiny little physical reminder she was in fact at one time...a baby.

I know she's only three. But Sydaleigh is five. Five. And soon Marvelly will be too. And before I know it I'll blink, and poof...they'll be grown ups. It's this knowledge that motivates me to give a little more at the end of the night when I feel like I'm on empty. To read one more story. Rub their back for one more minute. To be silly when I feel like being serious. To sing Disney music with them when I feel like being quiet. To dig into my imagination and play polly pockets when it feels like my make-believing skills have all but vanished for the day. These fleeting years of youth motivate me to give a little bit more because I know that my days to be silly, play polly pockets, make play-doh ice cream, read story books and sing Disney show tunes won't last forever.

So, in honor on my newly minted three year old....dig a little deeper. Because they won't be this small forever.....so check your grown up distractions at the door and go jump in a puddle!

Happy Birthday my little moonchkie! ( a nickname that started out as munchkin, but over time evolved into moonchkie. I don't know where I come up with this stuff sometimes.)

I made her a 101 Dalmatians cake after her favorite movie this year which she probably watched close to a hundred times.

We had a couple of friends over to celebrate her special day, eat some dessert and open some fun presents. One of which was an 80 piece 101 Dalmatian figurine set. $10 on Ebay. And quite possibly the best $10 I've ever spent. E-ver. The girls have never been entertained with a toy for as long as they are with these. I'm talkin' hours worth!

And as soon as Daddy got home we took the girls to the CIRCUS!! The Shrine's Circus was in town performing at the Civic Center and we happened to have free tickets, and we don't really pass up free...so yes please we will go watch some bears ride around on a motorcycle!( I don't ever remember going to the circus as a kid, even though I know i did, so I was just as excited to go and see some pretty bizarre things.)

 see, really riding a motorcycle. 

Sydaleigh got to ride an elephant and Marvi rode a pony downstairs in the petting zoo area. Not hesitant one bit!

(I love Isaak's face in the pic on the left!)

It's truly amazing the things that you can not only train a human body to do...but an animal's as well. Getting a wild animal to jump through fire for fun. Dude.

And then of course...

 I don't even have the muscle in my hands and arms to hang from the rings on a playground set...but some chic can hang from a rope by only her teeth. Dude. Duuuuudddde.  How you do that?

And then of course I just ask why? Why???? Running in place on top of some moving contraption while jumping rope? Do you want to die?

Like I said...we saw some pretty bizarre things. No bearded ladies though. Bummer. 

But it was Awesome!

Happy Birthday my Marvi girl.

28 lbs. (24%) 35 1/2 in. tall (14%)
still pint sized
still wearing some 12 month pants (when i realized that I had to box them up just on principal)
loves shrimp, any type of dipping sauce, hard boiled eggs, manicotti, and avocados (to which she sometimes calls Manicados. Hee hee)
her favorite movies this past year were 101 Dalmatians and Barbie 12 Dancing Princesses
fully potty trained-Hallelujah!
just recently got into Strawberry Shortcake with the long hair
talks in her sleep, a lot
knows all of her colors, alphabet song, shapes, and can count to 15ish
still working on drawing a straight line
aggravates Sydaleigh to know end
makes me fuming mad one second then has me buckled over in laughter the next
crosses her arms over her chest and tucks her chin down when she pouting
mimics Sydaleigh all.the.time.
is sure to do the exact opposite of what you tell her (especially Sydaleigh. as soon as Sydaleigh asks back for anything Marvelly has taken from her, it's sure to result in Marvelly running away laughing)
doesn't take too much seriously, unless she feels you've committed some sort of injustice to her, otherwise, she's all laughs all the time
is sure to run away if you pursue her, especaially if you're pursuing her to give back something she's taken, then she'll run away, laughing at you the whole way.
did I mention she doesn't take much seriously?
will not stay in the corner for nothin'
stutters over her w's and s's
likes to tell us what to say to her
the only time she's still is when she sleeps
continues to have a deep obsession with her blanket...she's our little Linus.
still gets milk at bedtime
when she's being corrected she'll tell us, "Stop it Mommy. Stop it Daddy. Stop.it."
and has more expressions than all of us combined
corrected herself from saying "Siyyayyee" to  "Sydaleigh"-that made me pretty sad.