Happy 3rd Birthday, Belle!

Dear Belle,

3 years old! How did you become such a big girl! This past year you have gone from toddler to little girl. In true motherly form, this wouldn't be a birthday post without my list of things to remember from this past year.

1. This year you became a big sister.  This is a role you are phenomenal at.  You have pretty much held a great balance between loving on Evie without being overly interested and hurting her.  Evie laughs at everything you do, and you love to make her smile.  You, my girl, are one amazing big sister.
2. You remember everything!  This is a good thing and a bad thing :-)
3. Animals are still one of your favorite things.  Surprisingly, you are more into things like turtles and frogs than you are into soft and fluffy animals.  This makes Rick the Reptile Guy your best friend.
4. Purple.  Your favorite color.  You love to tell us that this is your favorite color.  You also know that green is my favorite color and blue is Daddy's favorite color.
5. You want to do everything on your own...yet you want me to do everything.  You are an independent girl who knows what she wants, yet there are still so many times you just want your mama to do it.   
6. You love all things that are messy....playing with water, painting, coloring with markers, eating.  Everything somehow ends up all over your arms and on your face.  
7. You are the queen of one-liners.  Holy smokes you have me laughing (and everyone on Facebook) daily.
8. You love to sing like your mom.  
9. You like to watch movies with your daddy.
10. You have just begun to play with your dolls, little ponies, and stuffed animals in scenarios.  There is always a mommy and a daddy and I love to hear the things you come up with.
11. You are one confident little lady.  You are very rarely shy and will talk to most anyone.
12. You are a champ on your bike!  This summer you learned how to ride a bike and it didn't take long for you to be zooming up and down the sidewalk with no problem.
13. This year may have been one of my biggest challenges in motherhood yet.  You are a night owl like your mom, and once we moved you to a big bed you wouldn't stay in your bed or in your room.  We tried it all!  Thankfully, these issues have been resolved for the most part.  You are a much happier little girl, and I am a much happier mama!
14. You are a whiz on the iPad.  You can turn it on, find the app you want, and play away.  On a funny note--you now think everything is a touch screen.
15. I love that I can have conversations with you that make sense (usually) :-)  
16. Your prayer is, "Dear God, Heavenly Father.  Have a good day.  Glory. Amen."  Verbatim.  Every. Time.
17. You love it when your dad reads the book "Oui-Oui" to you at bed time and you know that since it is in French I cannot read it. In fact, you could "read" it to me.
18. I love that we brought you to Shedd Aquarium this summer and you still haven't stopped talking about it.
19. Your favorite animal is a cat and you keep saying you are going to get one.  Your insanely allergic father would have to move out before this happened.
20. You love to chat with everyone at Meijer.  I must do some more stranger danger education :-)  Honestly, you make best friends with everyone!
21. I love how you walk around church like you own the joint.
22. You could watch the exact same movie or television show over and over again.
23. Nothing melts my heart more than when you give me a huge bear hug and say "I love you, Mama."
24. You love to be naked.  Love it.  You love to lay on the couch with your blankies and your paci completely in the nude while watching TV.  I have also caught you outside on our deck naked and have had to stop you from answering the front door before putting clothes on.
25. You are THE BEST helper to bake with.
26. If there is a hard surface, it is inevitable that your head will meet it in some form creating a cut or a bruise.  I am surprised we haven't had CPS called on us yet for the amount of injuries you have incurred from your own running around.
27. You are Daddy's little helper at church when he sets lights or clears the stage.  He is training you young.
28. I can bribe you do to most anything by offering you some sort of junk food.  
29. Your favorite food is popcorn.  Hmmm, I have NO clue who you get that from. 
30. You and your dad make some impressive forts.
31. I love how you associate books with your Mema and instantly grab them for her to read them to you when she visits.  I'm pretty sure she loves it too.  
32. You refer to McDonald's as "Old MacDonald's," Lucky Charms as "Monkey Charms," your underwear as "under-dunders," toilets that flush automatically as toilets that are "commando," and you are constantly referring to knives as scissors and scissors as knives.
33. Every birthday gift I bought from you you found--Even the ones in the top shelf of the laundry room.  I have a feeling we will be finding very random locations for upcoming Christmas gifts.
34. You truly treat your birthday like a national holiday, and talk about it months in advance.
35. I may be bias, but I think you are the coolest 3 year old around.  You are forever melting my heart, cracking me up, and making me love life more and more each day.

Happy Birthday my sweet girl!