Alyssa Joy turns 3

My sweet girl....Every morning when she wakes up, she groggily walks around the house until she finds me and I just hold her. I stop whatever I'm doing, sit down and cuddle until she has decided she is ready to jump down. Summer is nice for that. I used to have to wake her up when we took Tyler to school and I didn't get to do that as much.Or if she came to me, I was getting Tyler ready for school, so I wasn't as available. My boys favored their dad, which I was ok with. But AJ, she'll choose me, although she loves her daddy just as much. She doesn't like to eat cereal, but she offers to have a sippy cup of milk with fruit snacks for breakfast. We settle on a cereal bar. She likes to pretend she is a kitty cat and meow's around the house. Her favorite thing lately is to say when she wants to play with me, "You can come to my house." Meaning she wants me to push babies in stollers down the hall to her room and play in her kitchen. She also likes to boss her brothers around saying, "I'm the MOM, you are the dad, and you are the baby." They are willing participants in her games. She'll quote Madagascar the movie, which she's only seen once when she says: "Mommy, I have to tell you something....the tiger bites on the zebra's butt and the zebra says....No I not." She doesn't quite have the verbage right, but she's said this multiple times a day for about 2 weeks now. She also likes to say she's "going to Ashlee's house a dippa day" she just spouts this phrase out of nowhere in order to avoid silence. Weird. She knows all her princesses, even though she hasn't seen their movies. She likes her accesories (which I love) and carrying around purses with babies stuffed inside. Michael loves that she'll just sit and rub the top of his head. She is so independant that she makes me stand in the hall when she uses a public restroom, but don't worry, she slathers on tons of soap just for the fun of it. She'll push our grocery card, with Strawberry in the baby seat...buckled in, of course. And when I try to steer the cart away from the shelves or another person, she chirps at me that she wants to push. She'll say whats on her mind, but she is obedient and often walks to time out before I tell her because she knows she's done something wrong. She is still in denial that she is another year older, when we tell her she is 3, she says, "no, I'm 2" with a grumpy face. I'm with her on that aging thing......

She is fiesty and fearless

Loving and nurturing

Sassy and chatty

Adorable

Grumpy when she wants to be

Loves her babies...especially Strawberry Loves cheese and cake and says, "It makes my tummy feel better" even if her tummy never hurt
loves to be with her brothers
and loves to sing Popcorn popping each night before bed

I try to do a photo shoot with my kids around their birthdays, and I got the chance to take Alyssa out to the trail by our house in the morning...just the 2 of us. She wasn't excited to be there, but I tried to make it a tad bit fun. She doesn't give me the smiles, so I have to try to catch her essence in other ways. Then in her swimsuit getting ready to go out standing with her party balloons. The last set is outside with "birthday" balloons. I've dreamed up her walking with balloons for a while, but she wasn't thrilled with my plan. I'm pretty happy with the way they turned out. Tell me which balloon shot speaks to you. I can't quite decide.

Party images and the rest of the days activities coming soon.....(I may post them below this post)