Birthday Celebration

Aurora woke up on her birthday to balloons in her room, all over the living room, and ribbons hanging from the light fixtures.  Dar and I were sitting at the kitchen table when she woke up and we could hear the squeaking of the balloons just before our birthday girl knocked on her bedroom door for us to let her out.  We knelt down at her door and sang "Happy Birthday" to her, followed by lots of hugs and kisses.  She was so excited about the balloons and the ribbons :)

She and I did one of our favorite morning activities--we snuggled on the couch while watching her favorite choice of movie: Tangled.  When "Punzel" was over, we got to watch most of it again because it was on TV!  Rori was excited about that and she watched while I cleaned and got a few things done.  Mostly we had a nice, relaxing day together.

When Daddy got home from work he surprised Aurora with a balloon bouquet (made extra special with a "Punzel" balloon included) and a beautiful rose for our birthday girl.  He also surprised me by bringing home a bouquet of flowers for me too, because I carried her for nine months and gave birth to her.  He's such a great husband and Daddy!

For dinner we ate one of Aurora's fav's: noodles and broccoli!  After dinner we had a small celebration with just the three of us.  We ate banana cake (which Aurora helped me make) and ice cream.  We even got "special" expensive, ice cream for the birthday girl, and of course she wasn't that interested in it. 

Please excuse the fuzzy pictures...we need to get a better camera!

While we were having our small family celebration Uncle Jared came by with a gift for Aurora--a special birthday outfit to wear for her birthday party the next day.  She loved the outfit so much she made us put it on her before bed and then had a huge fit because she wanted to wear it to bed.  We finally forced convinced her to put her jammies on :)

Wearing the adorable outfit (Thanks, McSweeney's!) before bed time and watching music videos on Dad's phone

 

We planned to take her outside to play in the snow on her birthday when Dad got home from work, but it was getting late and dark by the time he got home so we went with plan B and took her out on Saturday.  She completely surprised us by sleeping in until 9:00am, which she never does.  Aurora and Daddy shared some snuggle time after a quick breakfast to head out and play in the snow.

Our little munchkin loves to swim, but she also loves to play in the snow.  She didn't seem super thrilled to just go tubing, so she and Daddy played for a long time on the playground instead.  I gladly watched and took pictures/videos.

We made two more attempts at tubing down the hill before heading home.  I wasn't ever sure if she really enjoyed the tubing or not, but at least she has experienced it :)

After an unsuccessful attempt for a nap it was time for her small birthday party with a few close friends and Gramma and Bampa.

She helped us sing "Happy Birthday" to her and was a pro at blowing out her candles this year

After cake and ice cream she opened her presents

 

Mickey was close by to help check out her new wagon from Jimmy and Becca

 

Gramma and Bampa gave her a Little People Princess Castle so the princesses she got for Christmas have their own castle now.  This is by far her favorite gift. . . she plays with it all the time :)

 

A huge THANK YOU to everyone who came to celebrate our little one's special day, and also to all the phone calls and birthday wishes she got from those of you who couldn't be with us.  We sure are grateful to have Aurora in our family.  We love you, Baby Girl!