Sara Turns 3!

It's birthday galore around the Joachim home!  From March 1 to April 24 we celebrate 4 birthdays.  So we sure get our fair share of birthday cake and ice cream, presents, special breakfasts and dinners, and happy days!  And Sara's 3rd birthday was definitely a happy day.  And for some reason it turned into a few happy days.  (I think she had something to do with that!)  

It actually started back in March when we started talking to her about her birthday and how old she would be.  I started talking about it mostly to get her thinking of the possibility of wearing "big girl underwear".  She kept saying over and over and over how she wanted a Dora cake and a purple lollipop for her birthday.  Those two things never changed nor did she add anything else to the list.  Simple enough, right?  

Two days before her birthday Tom and Matt began making a cake to be auctioned off at the Scout's Blue and Gold dinner. However, from the moment she saw the flour and cake pan she was certain that cake was for her birthday.  All day Saturday, as the final touches on this delicious, elaborate cake were being made, she insisted it was hers.  As Saturday evening came and Tom and Matt were ready to take the cake to church, I couldn't bare the thought of taking this cake away from her.  So we auctioned off the cake at home and determined it was worth $40! (I paid more than that last year for an incredible chocolate chip cookie dough cheese cake that was to die for!) Tom and Matt dropped off the $40 and we saved the cake to eat the next day!  

So our little girl is 3!  Wow!  Time sure does fly around here and no matter how much I try, beg, plead, or bribe, these kids do not stop growing up.  As these pictures show, we have quite a spunky little three year old around here.    

So here are THREE things we LOVE about Sara: (Do I really have to pick only THREE?)

1.  We LOVE hearing what comes out of her mouth!  She says the darndest things that surprise us or just make us giggle.  Sara doesn't use the words "hungry" or "full".  Rather she'll say,  "My tummy is happy!" when she is full or "My tummy is sad!" when she is hungry.  And she said to me a few weeks ago, "Mommy, Diet Coke make your tummy happy?"  Oh, it most decidedly does!  

2.  She LOVES technology!  She is a master at an iPod, iPhone, and iPad!  She can maneuver her way around any of those products and knows how to find what she wants on any one of ours.  She LOVES to sit on Daddy's lap either in the morning or night and watch/play with his iPad.  After she finds what she wants she will lift up her shirt and take Tom's hand and demand to be tickled.  (And of course Daddy LOVES that too!)

3.  Sara LOVES her older brothers and sister!  She looks up to them and adores them!  She also has them wrapped around their fingers.  She can get them to do pretty much anything she wants them to do!  (Actually, she can get pretty much anyone to do anything.  I wonder how she does this?)  She will go up to Matt or Zach with a ball and say, "Play with me!".  She loves jumping on the trampoline and doing cartwheels with Allie.  She is the top member of the Joachim dog pile and has no hesitation jumping right on.  

I remember a family photo we had on the wall of our old home.  It was taken when Allie was only about 18 months old.  I passed this photo every time I went up or down the stairs.  I knew each time I looked at that photo that there was someone missing.  I knew our family was not complete.  Sara completes that picture.  She completes our family.  We can't even imagine our family without her!  We LOVE her so much!

Happy Birthday, Sara!