Eliza's birthday

Eliza turned 3 this year on Sept. 9th!
It was so much fun. She has been looking forward to this birthday for some time now. Every time we'd go to the store she'd say. I want that for my birthday (to every toy in sight). We had to explain to her that she could ask for a lot of things for her birthday, but that she would only be able to get a few. I was a little worried she would be disappointed, but she was completely grateful for everything.
She woke up for excited in the morning and we let her open her first present which was a birthday princess shirt. (She loved it and requests it to be worn often since.) As I was preparing a few things for the birthday, she kept asking when is it going to be my birthday? I kept telling her it is your birthday. She could not grasp that it was the entire day. Eventually we got to the park and had a Dora the Explorer Birthday party. We invited her friends Maya Teemant, Maya Stevenson, Whitney Jeff, Ariah Snow, Lupita and Paola Sanchez, (and Rebecca Sanderson but she couldn't come). The party started out with a Dora Explorer treasure hunt. I told the kids that Dora had called and told me that a squirrel had taken her pinata. She needed our help to find it. We used the "map" (hand made by yours truly) to find it. First we had to go down the slide, then cross the street, then by the frogs (plastic of course) and then to a hidden tree with the pinata. The kids thought it was really fun and I was relieved since I wasn't sure how it was going to go. The kids then all took a turn hitting the pinata. After each kid having two turns we decided it was time for the adults to take a swing. Thankfully Aunt Des finally cracked it open and the candy poured out. We then sang happy birthday, had Dora cake and pink icecream, and opened presents. (I was glad to see Eliza so happy because I always worry that parties can be kind of a bummer for kids sometimes because the parent is so worried about the party they can't focus on the birthday girl. But she loved it. When we first got to the park she kept falling down because she was jumping and running around with so much excitement. I was happy to see her so happy.)
After the party, Eliza really wanted to take her new bike (kinda) out for a ride, so I told her we'd take it up to the parkway in the canyon. She fell asleep on the ride up. (Which I actually was hoping would happen, tricky!) We turned around and came back home for a nap. When she woke up I told her that daddy had a special surprise for her and we had to go. We drove to Chuck E. Cheese's and met Rob there. She opened some more presents, played lots of fun games, and ate pizza. It was a great day! Perfect in my book.
Throughout the week she got some fun presents in the mail from the McMillen family that she was very excited about. It's kind of funny because now every time we get a package, she says that it must be a present for her.
The birthday extravaganza ended with a birthday part on Sunday with the Stevenson side of the family. After every gift she would go around and hug the people who gave her the present. I was very proud of her and what a sweet person she is.
I feel so lucky to have her in my life. She brings joy to me each day! I read in a book the other day to enjoy this preschool age because it is the only time that as a mom you are everything to your child. I think that is so true, she just thinks I'm the greatest no matter what I do. I love watching her little mind go and create new things too. She is an amazing girl and I love her so much. Thanks Eliza for being my Bubby. You are my sunshine!