Birthday Girl!

A few weeks ago I took Miriam out for a Mommy/ Daugther date. After a few minutes she volunteered the following statement, "When I grow up I want to be a Good Bear". I didn't quite understand so I inquired abit further. What do you mean a "good bear". She replied, "No, not a good bear, a Good Obeyer". "Great! I love to hear that. So, when do you think you will be a grown up?" to which she replied, "When I'm four." Miriam is growing up so quickly and maturing into such a sweet girl. She loves babies and anyone younger than her. She daily helps Eliza brush her teeth, put on dress clothes, cut up her food... so helpful.

This year for her Birthday she wanted to celebrate with a "car" theme. (She wanted to follow in her brother's foot steps). I really want her to be her own person so I suggested that we look on the internet for some ideas and a "snorkel" cake is what she settled on.
Since we're new to the area we didn't have a huge guests list. But it ended up that the two friends & her two siblings attending her party were the perfect combination. She had a great time. We had her "snorkel" cake- a cake made to look like a child was swimming under water with swim mask and snorkel (except we didn't have a snorkel and couldn't find one around here). We played a fishing game, made a fish craft and played a handful of other games. The afternoon was perfect.

Below photo: party at our house. (Like the zebra sofa? I'm going to try and have it recovered soon :)


Below photo: cupcakes at school (Eliza went that day too).


Snorkel cake minus the snorkel.

Keeping with the under water theme we made "fishy" cupcakes for school. The Friday before her birthday we took 52 cupcakes to her school to help her celebrate with her classmates. A cultural lesson I learned- I brought cupcakes thinking that it would be a simple way to give each child a piece of cake. What I learned... they had NO IDEA what to do with the little cake gift I gave them. I showed them what to do but they all looked at me with perplexed little faces. I didn't know what to do. A few minutes later their teacher returned to the classroom with enough spoons for all the children. It didn't even cross my mind that these children would not think it appropriate to eat something with their hands. When given spoons they dove right in enjoyed their first taste of an American Birthday cake.

Her Birthday was a great time. She loved it and has some great memeories. She recieved her first bike and has loved riding it around the nearby plaza & in the lobby of our building (yep, they let kids do about anything they want here= even riding indoors.)