i'm free!

(or three, rather. It just sounds like 'free' when Miriam says it). Today is our sweet little Miriam's 3rd birthday! Is that even possible? It is incredibly amazing to think of how much she has changed in these three short years --from a helpless, tiny newborn baby to a spunky, talkative little girl with a personality all of her own.

We have had two celebrations for Miriam's birthday and will have another one in a few weeks. We celebrated last Sunday with my extended family. I don't think Miriam knew that she would be showered with so much love from everyone (and presents!). She got so many wonderful gifts from clothes to an abacus to a camera. She just loves them all. She was also so excited for her birthday cake that she managed to take a huge bite out of the side before it was even cut.

Then, for her actual birthday today... we asked her what she would like to do. So far, we've been to McDonald's for lunch (complete with some time to play in the play place) and an attempt to go to the apple orchards. Unfortunately, the orchards don't have apple picking until next weekend and also didn't have the huge inflatables set up as they usually do. So, we will try a visit there again soon. We will hopefully have some sort of ice cream dessert (by her request) this evening.

Here are a few pictures from last week's celebration and this morning when she opened up her gifts.

And, I thought it would be fun to look back at her past birthdays: