Tia is Three

Boy howdy has it been a week. However, you will have to wait a bit for this post because I need  to spotlight Tia and her birthday celebration. We celebrated Tia's birthday on the 14th because we were going to Arizona on the 15th. Tia kicked it off in her traditional way of throwing all MY plans out the window. Tia slept until nearly 8;00 which meant no present opening before Daddy went to work and because it was such busy day she had to wait all the way until after Daddy got home from work. Anyway, we got up and I fixed Tia breakfast of eggs and muffins. She even helped with the majority of the cooking. She did a good job and we had a super tasty breakfast. After breakfast we kind of just hung around a bit and then we went to swim lessons. I am not sure that Tia's pinkeye was 100% cleared up, but you know you can only deprive a kid so much on their birthday. Also, we only got to stay for about half of swimming lessons, because Kylee had a nativity and singing gig at an assisted living home. So, Tia had a blast a swimming and then was a super champ while Kylee did her thing. Seriously she was so good. I was trying to catch some video of it and she just was as quiet as could be and really wasn't too restless either. I was really impressed. For lunch we had the normal--meat and cheese melted together. While we were eating Aunt Kitt got here. WAHOOOO!! It was so fun to have her come and she brought some cool fruit and a new granola bar to try so it really was quite the party. Then Kitt read the girls a story and put them to bed while I started presidency meeting. Presidency meeting went well and really didn't last too long. Although, I got two insurance calls while I was in it. One was from the people insurance that hit our car saying they would pay for it and the other from the rental car company that we will be using while our car is getting fixed. They were both good an important calls, but kind of bad timing. Oh well.

After naps is kind of when the real partying began. We had a snack and made brownies. Tia was so excited to help. She did pretty good, but she still struggles a bit with keeping her hand out which is especially bad because of how sick we have been at our house lately. Oh well, we all survived and the brownies got made. It was fun to do something very special just for Tia. We played and read books and just kind of hung out till Daddy got home. Once he was home it was present time. Tia got some pretty cool stuff. She got a Duplo train, TinkerToys, Chutes and Ladders, Mr. Potato head, and some cute clothes. Tia had such a great time opening the gifts and is still loving playing with all of them. We even played Chutes and Ladders for FHE last night.

Tia opening her gifts

Tia dumping the train. Dumping is by far her favorite way to get things out of a box.

Setting up the train.

Tia and her presents.

While Tia was playing with her presents we made her birthday dinner--Mac and Cheese with hotdogs and peas. It was super easy and super delicious. After food was cake and ice cream. Then we played some more and took baths. Then we sent the girls to bed. Us adults talked for a bit, but all need a good rest for the next day.

Jason lighting the candles. We both want to do that part because we never got to light candles as kids. How silly is that?

Tia and her cake.

Our crazy family.

Our favorite Aunt Kitt.

It was kind of a simple birthday, but I think she loved it. We tried to be as much about her as we could. She loved her birthday sign. She loved figuring out how to tell people she was three. She loved the cake and ice cream. She loved licking everything to help clean-up and we ate all of her favorite foods, so really even though there was nothing super amazing it was perfect. She feels special and she knows she is three so that is what is important.

So now on to the really important part of this blog post Tia. Tia is now three and really in the last couple of weeks she has become ready to be three. It is kind of hard to explain, but she has. Just in some of the ways she handles things, expresses herself, independence, and stuff like that. It was pretty amazing to watch what my brother calls 'the losing of her tail.'

Tia is such a wonderful girl. I can not believe all the things she has done between the ages of 2 and 3. She is now fully potty trained. True she sure gave me a run for my money on this aspect, but she did it and is doing great. She has now learned that she can get down from the table to use the bathroom once during a meal and does it every day every meal.Tia has tons of words now. Kylee and I usually understand most everything she says. Others have a little harder time, but you would be so impressed. She sang I Am a Child of God all by herself on Sunday for our family's Christmas program. She sang all the words and she didn't need any help. Tia can speak easily in 3-4 word sentences and sometimes longer depending on what she is saying. She loves to sing with her sister and dance. As always, Tia is a mover. She loves to dance, run, jump, chase, play, swim, and ride her bike. She can swim underwater for about 3 seconds, and she can now jump off the side instead of just supermaning it. She can now do 12 piece puzzles and some bigger ones, but needs a little help. She loves reading books, playing with trains, building with blocks, and taking care of her baby. She loves to change her clothes. She also loves to color and it is interesting to watch her because she does it much more purposefully than Kylee did at her age. She is still Kylee's biggest fan and Kylee is her biggest fan. These two girls love each other so much and are really good at playing together. They love to copy each other, make each other laugh, team up against mom, push each other to do better, and sometimes just like to be together.

I can not believe all that has happened this last year for Tia. She has had speech and occupational therapy which has helped her go from saying "wa-wa" to saying "Drink of water, por favor." She has gone from not being able to focus on a fine motor task for longer than about 2 minutes to lasting about 10. She has so much personality it is amazing. She is determined and has her own ideas that she wants to make happen. She loves life and takes at full strength. She has recovered from her 44 staples no problem. She has learned to loving reading books and watching shows. Her favorite is "Curious George and the Man with the Yellow Hat." I think it is funny she calls it that instead of just Curious George. I am telling you Tia is a real joy. She gives us a run for it sometimes, but then other times she can just turn on the charm and spunk and you can't help, but stand in awe of the awesome daughter of God she is. She seems to always know when I need her and is more than willing to help with things. I feel so blessed to have my Tia girl. She is so fun and spunky and I feel so blessed to have her with me in my life right now.

Happy Birthday Tia. I hope 3 is the best year yet. You own it girl!!

Tia is so a second child. I have no recent pics of just her. So enjoy this one of the three of use taken three days before her birthday.