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We had a fun day this past week celebrating our Raegan’s third birthday. I hope you don’t mind if I take a few moments to gush over my sweet girl just a little bit. Here’s a little look at how she has grown over the years.

I can hardly believe how big she is getting. Although . . . as I was putting that little collage together, I realized that she wore the same shirt on her birthday this year as she did last year, so she obviously hasn’t grown all that much . . . at least not weight-wise. LOL. But, she has grown a lot in other ways. From the day she was born, Raegan has been a little bit of sunshine in our lives. She was a very happy baby who restored my faith in my ability to handle a newborn. And, through each stage of life, she has just grown and learned in a pretty smooth, seamless way. We love hanging out together while the boys are at school. Our “just girls” mornings are some of the happiest hours of my day, everyday. But, I think she is most happy when her brothers come home from school so they can be rowdy together.

This was the first year that Raegan really understood the concept of having a birthday. We talked about it for several weeks leading up to the special day, and she was definitely excited about it. She said that she wanted a strawberry cake, and I found the perfect recipe in my Cake Mix Doctor cookbook. (By the way, I highly recommend this cookbook. So far, every single recipe I’ve tried has turned out wonderful.) We had a hard time deciding what to get for her birthday, but we finally settled on some nice girly toys since the bulk of what she plays with now are the boys’ cars and legos. And, let’s just say that I’m still trying to get a few photos that I can scrap using Yari’s Sew Cute and Sweet kit.

We invited all of our family members that live close by to come over for cake and ice cream on the evening of Raegan’s birthday. After we lit the candles on her cake and put it in front of her, we started to sing. And, as we sang, I watched Raegan’s expression change from a joyful smile to embarrassed shyness, and then she started to cry. My heart just about broke. She’s been showing her shy side a little more often lately, and I think being the focus of so much attention overwhelmed her a little bit. But, once I helped her blow out the candles, she cheered up and enjoyed her cake and ice cream. In her words . . . “I ate it all!”

So, Happy Birthday to my sweet Raegan girl . . . my little “rae of sunshine.” We love her so much, and we’re so glad she’s part of our family. I’m excited to see what changes the next year will bring for her. Thanks for letting me share just a little bit of our family memories with you.