MATTIE'S 3RD BIRTHDAY

Mattie turned 3 years old on March 9th!

This is what she woke up to that morning:

Daddy carried her out of her bedroom and took her to see all the pictures. And then she got to open her first gift before she even had breakfast!

French toast for breakfast - one of her favorites!

After breakfast, she opened the card from Grandma Forsgren. It had 3 dollar bills!

We took CJ to school and then got Mattie ready for her big day. Here she is, our 3 year old!

Then it was off to Mattie's first birthday activity: her very first mani/pedi!

Picking her color. She liked this polish because it was "spark-a-ly"

Though she was shy, and wouldn't talk much to the nail techs, she loved her pretty nails and made sure to point them out to people throughout the day :). Maybe we've started a birthday tradition! 

When we came home from her mani/pedi, Mattie got to open another gift: a My Little Pony movie (and those are My Little Pony fruit snacks on the table too :)!

After we picked up CJ from school, they had fun taking pictures of each other :)

Then we thought we'd open up the birthday box that Grandma Forsgren had sent. Mattie did a great job of letting CJ help and CJ was excited to see a few things in there for him too (Grandma Forsgren is always really great about that :). Mattie loved everything in the box - the candy, the butterfly blowers, the bendable rabbits, and the dress-up dolly - but she absolutely loved the music jewelry box Grandma sent her! It even had jewelry and a coin purse inside of it. It was perfect!

After her nap, Mattie woke up to find her Papa and Gramma there, along with Tyler, Gaby, Zack and Domenic! Perfect time to go jump on the tramp!

Cute cousins! 

Gramma Sheila brought over special birthday cupcakes! Mattie was eating hers like a kitty :)

(don't you love the post-nap and post-trampoline hair? :)

Then it was time for Mattie's birthday surprise. She loves animals, so we went to the local animal shelter and walked some dogs! The kids got to choose which dog they wanted to walk, and then we got to take the dogs into some pens and let them run around and play. It was a blast!

Checkin' out the dogs and cats 

Mattie and the little dog she chose to walk

Playin' in the pen 

Mommy and Powell with our sweet Mattie Gayle

Look how happy she is! Someday she'll have a puppy of her own (just not yet :)

After playing with the pups, it was time to head back for Mattie's favorite - Costco pizza - along with strawberries (both plain and chocolate covered), apple slices, Go-gurts, and pink lemonade. After eating, it was finally time to open gifts.

Besides a unicorn from Tyler and Gaby, the My Little Pony train, and a Lala Loopsy mermaid doll, Mattie also got a cute little piggy bank (that was actually a pig dressed as a lamb :) from CJ that he picked out all by himself, and a fabulous dollhouse from Gramma and Papa

Then it was time for cake! This year we started a new tradition. Before singing "Happy Birthday," everyone was given a coin to put into Mattie's new piggy bank. We passed the bank around and as we placed our coin in, we told Mattie either a birthday wish we had for her or something we love about her. It was special and we hope the tradition lasts.

As she requested: Mattie's pink horsey cake

"Happy birthday to you..."

Mattie asked for the horsey's eye. The birthday girl gets what the birthday girl wants..even if it's a little weird :)

Happy 3rd birthday to our little princess!

We love you, Mattie!!