Miss Kine is Now Fwee

Translation: Caroline turned three! Way back on July 28th.

For Caroline's birthday we invited a few relatives for a pasta and cake feast and called it a party! Thanks, Uncle Dan, Aunt Cindi, Ally, Denise and Great-Grandma for coming to make her birthday so fun.
Caroline wanted a Strawberry Shortcake cake. My mom had the pan from when I was a little girl and wanted the same cake, so that helped. I asked Caroline what flavor she wanted and she asked for chocolate. I found a great recipe "La Diva Chocolate Cake" from my trustworthy cookbook A Passion For Baking. This cake is supposed to be wrapped in two layers of ganache--dark AND milk chocolate. But we needed colored frosting instead. I think it would have been pretty amazing with all the ganache, so I need to try that some day. Anyone having a party and need a cake??? Let me know : ) Anyhow. I love to bake. I'm terrible at decorating. My lovely mother came home from a long hard day at work and kindly made the chocolate cake look like Strawberry Shortcake. She had some helpers before the job was done.

The super cute finished birthday cake.
When it came time to open gifts, all the guests fled away from Caroline to avoid being in pictures. But I managed to get them anyway.
Caroline still opens gifts with gusto.
A hug for Great-Grandma.
Poor Caroline. She asked for a scooter for her birthday this year. I was so happy she did, because a couple years ago when Ezra earned a scooter by potty training we bought two scooters. They were 50% off and we knew that Caroline would want one some day. So, we've had a pink scooter hanging out in our stuff for a while now. We moved it from Snoqualmie to Idaho. Then we moved it back. And we packed it in storage. Where we can't find it. That's right. She asked for a scooter...we have the scooter...but somehow she couldn't have it for her birthday. Bummer. So, she got a sleeping bag. Which she's pretty excited about. We told her that someday when we get a house and free our stuff from storage she'll get a scooter and then it will be extra exciting.

Nora is trying to move these days in any way she can. If she's on carpet she grabs at the fibers and attempts to haul her body forward. She has rolled over and over a few times to get to a toy. And once while she was sitting up I saw her move her leg and scoot on her bum (just the way Caroline used to do instead of crawling) to try to propel herself forward. All of this movement terrifies me. This is only the very scary beginning!
She does love Strawberry Shortcake.
He helped her blow out her candles and gave her a big old birthday kiss.


Can you tell this little one had had just about enough party? It was a good time to call it a night!