Monkey's 3rd Birthday Par-Tea!

Today we celebrated Monkey's birthday with a Tea Party.  She always loves to pretend to have tea parties, but begs to have real tea parties, so today we finally did and she loved it!

I set up a table for the adults to grab some snacks and to display her birthday cake.

Found a yummy chocolate sugar cookie recipe.  I'm still working on the royal icing, but it was so much easier to do than regular icing!  Plus I was able to make this a week ahead and cut out the shapes, put them in the freezer, then bake them when I needed them.

Once everyone arrived, we all headed into the playroom so the girls could have their tea party.  I was able to set the table using some of JuJu's antique tea cups, my wedding china saucers and plates, and GaGa's cake plates.  Monkey got to pick our her tea cup and then we set the rest around the table.

I made some extra cookies.  I'm glad I did!  There wasn't a single one left when the party was over.  I'm telling you, it's an easy and yummy recipe.

The pink and white stripe is the cup that Monkey chose for herself.  I loved that each cup was unique.

I think she was pretty excited.  Notice her dress!  Her GaGa got her a tea cup twirly dress for her party.

She had been the life of the party and then everyone started singing to her and looking at just her and she started to get shy.

She had probably 4 or 5 cookies.  This chocolate mouth was evidence of just finishing one up! 

She came to me when all the circles were gone and asked if she could have the teapot!  I settled for the tea cup.

After the tea party, we headed back into the den to open her presents.  Turning 3 for some reason in my mind is such a big birthday.  I think because so many games have an age 3+ on them, they can start doing more and it's just a lot of fun because they really get what is going on!

She was overwhelmed by the presents that she received today.  She enjoyed opening and seeing new presents, but our little girl was pretty spoiled today and she wasn't quite sure how to take it all in.  She was pretty subdued while opening and I loved her running commentary.  I wish I had a video of it, but we just captured pictures.

Family shot before opening gifts. 

Opening Cootie from Cousin Libby.  She also got a game like Kerplunk called Honey Bee Tree from Aunt Ruth.  Tiece brought her a bear and some new clothes.

She loved the Doc McStuffins and Sophia playdough toys from Aunt Allie, Uncle Ryan, Emme, Larkin and McCallie

She was very overwhelmed with this Elsa dress from Uncle Brad.  I think she loved it so much that she didn't know how to react.  Once the party was over, she put the dress on and ran around the house singing Let It Go and didn't take it off for hours.   Aunt CoCo also brought some lip gloss and an Olaf book. (Can we tell this girl LOVES Frozen!)

She opened a Minnie Mouse electronic reader, magnetic doll set, magnetic pattern shape set, and a ceramic tea set from Doc and GaGa.  Then she opened a dress, a coat, a dress up dress, and a frozen play set from Pop and JuJu.

After she opened what was wrapped she had 2 big gifts left to open.  She was pretty excited about both of them!

Doc and GaGa got her a scooter.  She has a little strider bike that she just isn't comfortable with, so I thought she might like a scooter.  She put one foot up on it and started riding as soon as she got it today.  She is still hesitant, but I can tell she is going to like it!

After the scooter, came the mini trampoline!  This child is always jumping on her bed and loves to bounce.  This is perfect for her.  She took her shoes off without anyone telling her to and hopped on to start jumping right away.  She loved it.

We took the scooter outside to try it out there and she liked having it outside.  I think this is a better fit than the bike right now.

Then of course the next thing to do is come inside and jump in your helmet while eating a cookie!

A quick shot of sisters!

Lil Bit had already gone to bed, but I snapped a pic of Monkey with her Great Grandmother Tiece before she left.

What a happy today it was today!  I still can't believe our little girl is 3, and somedays I can't believe she is ONLY 3!  She had so much fun today.  Thank you to everyone for coming and celebrating our girl.  Happy Birthday Monkey!