Today is Catherine's 3rd birthday. Wow! I cannot believe it's already been 3 years. It's gone by so quickly. I feel like I was just holding that little 6 lb 3 oz baby girl and wondering how our family would be now that we had a daughter. I had no idea how much joy she would bring to our hearts. She is a fantastic girl.
A few of Catherine's favorite things: Catherine loves to sing. She sings to herself and we sing together almost all day. We make up silly songs about brushing our teeth, going potty, getting dressed, etc. She also loves for us to sing to her to when it's naptime and bedtime. Some of her favorite songs include Jesus loves me, Jesus loves the little children, God bless America, To God be the Glory, Amazing Grace, Blessed Assurance, How Deep the Father's Love, Oh How I love Jesus, the doxology, the Barney song (which she calls "how much I love you"), and Onward Christian Soliders. Her favorite cd is Josh Turner, a country singer who has a really deep voice.
She loves the color pink, princesses, cupcakes, her babies (Gertrude and Cornelius). She loves to go on walks, to take pictures, and to have her back scratched. She loves to read books and is learning to read on her own. She recognizes and can spell a few words all by herself. She knows all of her letters and can write the letters C, A, V, L, O, E, T, and P all by herself. She can spell her first and last names. She loves to tell us what time it is and how long things will last. For example, this afternoon she said her nap would last 7 minutes and that she would get up at 10 o'clock.
Catherine loves her friends and family so much! She loves Will and is really good big sister. She helps him and is very good at sharing with him and making him laugh. She says she misses him when he takes his nap or she's at school. She frequently prays for her friends and family, especially if they're sick or have a boo-boo. She has such a tender heart. People tell her that she's beautiful all the time (and she absolutely is) but we've had to be careful to teach her that the most beautiful part of her is her heart. She frequently reminds me that Jesus is in her heart. God has been so gracious to us to give us Catherine as part of our family.
Okay, enough sentimental mommy thoughts. Here's the birthday celebration.
Catherine started her birthday with breakfast at McDonald's with Daddy. She was so excited that when they got there she lifted up her arms and shouted "Praise God!"
We had a birthday party with her friends from my Mentor Mom group today. She was so excited all morning about her friends coming over to play.
Catherine with her cupcake tree--pink of course. She helped put on the sprinkles and only liked to lick the icing. She even has on a special birthday shirt that says "I love cupcakes" (well it has a heart and picture of a cupcake)
Catherine's friends and their Christmas masks they painted. I was brave (or crazy, depending on how you look at it) and had them all paint today! The only casualty was Harland's shirt. From L to R: Harland Couch, Ada Grace Church, Lilly Vaughan, Lucy Lightcap, Olivia Boyd, Olice Fisher, and Catherine. Eddie and Will were busy playing and wouldn't stand still for the picture.
Catherine's favorite birthday gift was her dress up clothes. I had gotten her a trunk of princess dresses. Jill got her the set of Princess shoes, and Aunt Wissa (Jay's sister Melissa) sent a princess purse with accessories. (and none of the 3 of us coordinated that. It just happened.) She dressed up all afternoon. In this picture she has on 2 dresses, 2 crowns, a necklace, rings, and shoes. And you can see more princess paraphanalia on the floor behind her.
For her birthday dinner tonight we went to Chick-fil-A, her restaurant of choice. The manager gave her a Chick-fil-A cow for her birthday. She was so excited! After dinner we went to see the Christmas lights at Roper Mountain Road and looked at pictures of her when she was a baby. It was a great birthday celebration!
(I have more pictures from the day, but my computer will only let me put on 4. I'll try to post a slideshow or a link to view more. I'll work on that tomorrow.)
