Our baby is three!

While we were out of town in June, we got to celebrate Sophie's third birthday. What birthday is complete without a huge chocolate dessert to kick off the festivities? This was actually Sophie's birthday eve.

Our "baby" was thrilled to wake up on her birthday in a hotel room.

On the way home, we stopped at Colorado Mills for a special surprise for the birthday girl. It has become a tradition in our family that when you turn three, you get to go to Build-a-Bear and build a special friend. Sophie chose a pink unicorn, which she bestowed with the moniker "Pinkie". She lovingly filled her with fluff... and then gave her a bath.

She named her and made a birth certificate.

Then she picked her out an outfit and a travel bag to bring her to her new home. Sophie was SO stinkin' cute, dad suckered for the "pony purse".

It was such a busy day, the birthday girl totally passed out on the way home with her new friend.

On a somewhat separate note, I can hardly believe that our baby is three! Sophie has definitely challenged us over the last three years, but she is an absolute delight. For the first year of her life, Sophie was a very mellow, sweet, quiet baby. I don't know what happened after that! She can be such a handful, but she gives us reasons to smile and laugh EVERY single day. Sometimes I call her "little Sophie Sunshine" because she truly lights up our lives. She tries hard to be like her big sister, sharing many of the same interests, (like the color pink, High School Musical, and the Jonas Brothers!) In fact, Sophie can name most Jonas Brothers songs in the first two measures, no lie! Sophie is a social butterfly and a good friend. We are very lucky to have Sophie in our family.