Happy Birthday Riley Roo and Happy Easter Too!

Our Little Miss is 3 years old today!  It's so hard for me to believe that 3 years have passed since I became a mom and that my "baby" is no longer a baby or even a toddler for that matter, she every bit a little girl.

This year, Riley's birthday fell on Easter Sunday, an event that won't happen again until her 85th birthday.  The colliding of these two events, meant a full day of fun and celebration.  There were birthday presents, a basket of treats from the Easter Bunny, and egg hunt, a special birthday breakfast and our annual Easter lunch with family at Gigi and Popdaddy's house.  Oh, and candy, candy, candy and some cake too.  A pretty perfect birthday I think!

Finding eggs from the bunny

The birthday girl with her cinnamon roll, her special birthday breakfast request

She gasped with every egg she opened and then said "more M&Ms!"

The birthday girl won the head from the lamb cake this year, lucky Roo!

Daddy, helping Riley claim her prize

While the things that I love about my little princess are too numerous to count, here are a few things that we know and love about our 3 year old:

*She has an amazing imagination and can keep herself occupied with pretend play for hours.  She also has 2 imaginary friends, LaLa and Rosie, who conveniently take the fall for most of the hi jinx that happen around our house.
*She is still a little bookworm. Riley loves to be read to, look at her books by herself and has also become a great storyteller herself.  It makes us laugh when she corrects a missed or changed word on our part, she definitely pays close attention.  We love to listen as she "reads" to us too, her stories are the best!
*She's a little bit of a drama queen.  I love the inflection in her voice, her expressions and her gestures when she talks.  She also regularly catches me by surprise with her ever expanding vocabulary. 
*While she is somewhat discerning, she is anything but shy.  She tries to make friends wherever she goes and is more than willing to strike up a conversation with just about anybody about princesses, her favorite thing to eat, our cat Bella, pretty much whatever is on her mind.
*She also adores her friends and pretty much has the most fun ever when she's around her buddies. 
*She is still a great little snuggle bunny.  Riley has enjoyed being cuddled to sleep since she was a newborn and would still prefer to always sleep this way if at all possible.  As far as I'm concerned I hope she never out grows that. 
*Her favorite food is pasta, fruit and chocolate ice cream
*Her favorite color is purple.
*She loves to sing and dance.  Her songs are sometimes real songs, sometimes made up and most often a mixture of both.  She also loves for us to dance her around the living room, waltz style, while pretending to be a princess.

Riley Roo brings so much laughter and joy to our lives and we are so lucky that this sweet and sometimes silly little girl is ours.  Happy Birthday Riley!