Asparagus is 3!

Our Kara Jane, KJ, Kara Boo, Asparagus, Boo boo, Sis, whatever you want to call her turned 3 this week. She and Kate have birthdays a mere 8 days apart. All 6 of us have birthdays in 6 months (to the day) of the year. Then we have 6 birthday-free months. Time to put the birthday banner away until February. It was fun to hang it one last time in honor of Kara.

She had a bit of a hodge-podge party, but still felt like a little princess. She's quite the poser for pictures now and cracks us up all the time. Tonight while we were reading scriptures (New Testament) it was her turn to "read." We say some lines and she repeats them back. I said something about Jesus being surprised at "their unbelief" and she said he was surprised because they were "on a leaf." I love this age! Well, I know 3 can be hard too, but it's so fun to teach Kara things. Right now she's learning how to get herself dressed. She just mastered washing her hands all by herself. She's very excited to go to preschool this fall, and I'm excited for her. I look at Kate and think how soon she'll be three. I feel a mix of sadness and excitement about our family growing up. So right now I'm trying to enjoy every day. Enough of the sentimental tangent: on to the birthday photos!

Kara with her new Bitty Baby, whom she promptly named Marianne. Kyle was a bit sad about that. I think he's still hoping for a name change for Kate.

Kara got to go to a special birthday lunch at Red Robin with just Mom and Dad. She liked being the only kid there. Well, Kate came too, but she just slept.

My friend Britney made Kara these cute princess cupcakes for her party. They were perfect!

Kara was quite serious about blowing out the candles. I love this look of concentration.

Annie and Alice look on while Kara opens presents. Kara is lucky to have such good friends.

What? You want some bonus baby snaps? Why of course, I'm happy to oblige.

Sponge bath in the kitchen. The kids all want to watch. So funny.

Happy to be done.

Tummy time in the crib.

Tiny Kate in her crib. We can tell she's growing, though.