Tessa Mae is Three.

Yes, my baby turned three on Monday.  I can hardly believe it.  I think it is just plain rude that our babies have to grow up. 

She has been a hoot to raise.  She is constantly laughing and smiling.

She makes our family complete.

Tess makes me stop what I am doing, and find time to enjoy life.

Tessa Mae is worth celebrating.

Grandma and Grandpa Swenson were here to visit so they got to party right along with us.

We started the morning with breakfast in bed.

Tess wanted waffles.(luckily, I had pumpkin chocolate chip waffles in the freezer)

She popped right out of bed when we came in to sing to her. She had the biggest smile ever.

She immediately wanted to open a gift.

I let her open this little birthday outfit.  She looks so adorable in yellow.

She was thrilled to see all her party decorations, and couldn’t wait for me to to start baking her cake.

I enjoyed decorating with pink, yellow and orange.

She asked for a pink and yellow cake with orange frosting.  Then she wanted suckers on top.  She is hilarious.  She knows what she wants.

I asked her what she wanted for lunch, she said, “chick away.” (translation: chick-fil-a)

So Grandma and Grandpa treated us to lunch a Chick-fil-a.

(taken with my iphone)

Once daddy got home from work, the real party started.

We started by releasing some of Tessa’s balloons.  My Grandpa died last year on Tessa’s birthday.  So we sent some of the party to him in heaven.  This will be a new birthday tradition on her birthday.

I miss you pops.

Then we celebrated with Tessa’s favorite dinner; homemade Mac-n-cheese.

She could hardly stand it, and wanted to get right to presents.  She was excited to get money among other new outfits, and toys.

Then it was time for cake.  She loves blowing out candles.

In fact, all day long, she sang, “Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday dear Tessa, Happy Birthday to me!!”  It was the most adorable thang ever.

We ended the night, by letting the kids decorate Halloween sugar cookies.  I think this will also be a new Tessa Birthday Tradition.  It’s the perfect time of year to do this.  We do it anyway, and the kids just love it.  It turned out to be the perfect party activity.

Tess was in love with the sprinkles.

It was a beautiful day.

Some of my favorite things about Tess right now:

She says a hundred times a day, “hold me.”  My back has been bothering me, and I haven’t been able to pick her up and hold her.  Now she says, “sit down and hold me.”  I will gladly hold her as long as she lets me.

She also like to have an excuse to get out of bed.  Her excuse, “I want to snuggle.”  How do I refuse that?

She loves to laugh.  She finds everything funny, and has the most adorable laugh.

She loves to dress up.  She wants jewelry, and fancy hair bows.  Everywhere we go people say, “look at that little girl.”  I think she likes the attention.

She talks so cute.  She often tells me, “I be eight so I get baztized?”(baptized)  She already wants to be like Stella.

She loves to play dolls, and is often found with a stroller and a purse.

She loves when I sing to her, and wants to read the same book over and over.

We all adore this little girl.  I am so thankful for her every. single. minute.

WE LOVE YOU TESSA MAE!!