Princess Malea is 3!!!

My sweet little Malea turned 3!!! I can't believe she is so grown up! We had such a fun weekend full of lots of fun festivities.

On Saturday (her actual birthday) we had a Princess Party with some of her friends. It was SO fun! It was a little chaotic at times, but I think everyone had fun. All the kids dressed up like princesses/princes. We had pizza and then all the kids decorated a little foam crown with jewels and with sparkly letters to spell their names. It was really fun! Then we had cake & ice cream and presents. She got so many fun things, including a really fun slide/basketball hoop toy that was a combined gift from us and her grandparents. My aunt made this AMAZING cake, everyone loved it! She is so talented.

Now this is the part where I get sentimental and you can stop reading if you want :)

The day before her birthday, I came across a movie on TV called "Motherhood" (it has Uma Therman in it, I had never heard of it before that day but I guess it came out in 2009). Well the movie was just okay, but there was a part in it that really struck me. Uma Therman's character was preparing for her daughter's 6th birthday party. She looked out the window to see her daughter playing outside, and stopped to watch her. She put her hand to her chest and said, "today is her last day of being 5." Well I don't know what it was, but I burst in to tears! That sounds so silly, but it really hit me that Malea was turning 3 and this day was the last day of her being 2. She was never going to be 2 again. It just really made me think about how fast kids grow up, and despite how frustrating or difficult it can be sometimes, we should just cherish every minute of it!

Malea is just such a joy. There are so many things I love about her. She is very energetic, has a great sense of humor, and loves to have fun. She can be a little drama queen sometimes, but that's just Malea. I wouldn't want her to be any different. She is SO smart. I am just amazed at the things that come out of her mouth sometimes. She loves to do arts and crafts, which I just love. I will be sad when she doesn't want to do crafts with me anymore. She loves to get out of the house and do things. She is very motherly and is so sweet to her little brother Isaac. She is always watching out for him. The other day at church she was in nursery and heard a baby cry out in the hall. She said, "that's my little brother! I need to go help him!" and she ran out of the doors and almost in to the other ward's sacrament meeting before the leader caught up with her! She just loves him so much.

I just can't believe how fast these 3 years have gone by! It seems like I just had her yesterday and now she is a big 3 year old. That sounds so cliche, but its true. I'm so excited to watch her grow up and so proud of the girl she is becoming, but I can't help but get a little sad when I think of how fast she is growing up. There are times when I am busy with something or pre-occupied and Malea will say "play with me mommy!" I am trying really hard to remember that cleaning the house can wait, and its more important to spend time with my sweet little girl.

I LOVE YOU MALEA!!!