Rose turned FOUR this year!
I've gotta admit, it's been our toughest year together. My hormones were all over the place with this pregnancy and I was/am so tired all the time, and she's been exploring and pushing boundaries and growing and learning and everything a LOT this year. Rose moved into a big toddler bed this year and stopped taking naps and exploring her independence has been quite the adventure for both of us.
But look at this face! It's hard to stay upset with her haha.
Rose remembers everything, so she had high expectations for her birthday this year. She wanted balloons, cake, a birthday party with friends, a Mommy Rosie date, birthday presents, etc. I was in the third trimester of my pregnancy so I tried to keep everything as simple as possible while still making it feel magical for her. On the day of her birthday I took her on a date to the mall. We picked out a new outfit, some small trinkets at Claire's (what little girl doesn't think that's the coolest store in the world?), and then got a smoothie and cinnamon pretzels in the food court.
We made a chocolate cake together in the morning and then had a birthday party with my parents and siblings. My mom saved Lucy's presents for when they were here visiting, so Rose and Lucy both got a bunch of fun presents. (rain boots, dress up clothes, a cash register, art supplies, new swimsuits, new clothes) Rose requested a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting AND strawberries. But I decided to let the strawberries be on the side and let everyone choose if they wanted them or not. Rose did, obviously, and got to put them on her cake HERSELF. haha
We had a little birthday party with some friends from church later in June. She has been obsessed with fairies this year so we did a fairy tea party. We had pink lemonade, a tea set (Rose's birthday present from us), some pink cupcakes with pink frosting, and my friend Johanna made whipped cream strawberries and cute little fairy sandwiches in the shape of hearts. The kids thought it was the coolest thing ever to have lemonade in their tea cups. By the end of the party the kids were just taking turns in the bathroom because they had all had SO much lemonade. I put together two simple crafts where they got to make little flower crowns and a fairy wand. The party was a hit and it wasn't too much work to throw together (remember: third trimester of pregnancy, everything was exhausting). And my friend Johanna helped so much and hosted it in her backyard, which was so so nice of her. Rose's friends gifted her a necklace they made themselves, some Frozen sticker books, and a froggy camping lantern (because that was her favorite game to play with her friends.)
Some things I love about Rose: she is ALWAYS making little gifts and notes and coloring pictures for others. She loves giving gifts to anyone and everyone she knows. She's so creative. She always makes sure to give us a hug AND a kiss when we go somewhere, even if only for 20 minutes. She is brilliant and remembers everything she hears. Which means she is often using big words that she's heard someone else say. (Some of my favorites that she uses are "perhaps, we should do ____" or "it would be so lovely if we went to the library" or "I'm def-nit-ly bigger than Lucy" or "Dad, you are such a disaster!") She's a wonderful friend to every kid she meets. She's a little shy and nervous at first, but once she makes a friend she holds on tight. She loves learning about Jesus. She keeps our family on track and makes sure we say prayers every day, talk about Jesus or tell stories from the scriptures, and she's always telling me different things that she's learned at church or asking me to sing primary songs. She's so sweet, smart, spunky, thoughtful, and adorable. One of our friends says that her voice is like that perfect little kid voice you only hear in movies. He thought it might be fake, and told us that he has come to the conclusion that it is not. haha and it's not, she really is just adorable all around in my completely unbiased opinion.
