Birthday Recap: Maureen is THREE!!

I cannot believe it. I truly cannot believe my baby girl is officially a threenager. She's the spunkiest, sweetest, most observant, compassionate, funny little human I've ever met, and I absolutely adore her. As of 9:30 PM on Thursday, May 29th, she's also a 3-year-old. While we celebrated a little on Thursday, her real celebration was Saturday, May 31st and boy did we celebrate! Maureen got to have both of her best friends as well as another friend from church come celebrate with her. My hubby's parents, Maureen's Nana and Grandpa, also made the drive up to celebrate, and our sweet girl got spoiled, loved on, and treated like a princess. It was a day for the memory books, and I'm so grateful for the ability to remember it through pictures and this blog.

The day started with a decent bit of preparation. What usually is a laid-back morning where we all ease into the day, was spent cleaning up and setting up for Maureen's party. There were dishes to be done, food to be made, a living room full of toys to be cleaned up, and goody bags to set out. Maureen skipped soccer in favor of playing with her big birthday gift from myself and her dad, a small, indoor trampoline, which is still the prominent item in our living room, lol.

Once everything was ready, it was time to await the arrival of our guests. My in-laws arrived first, and Maureen happily greeted them, promptly insisting on showing them her trampoline. She was the center of attention, and had a blast showing off her newfound trampoline skills while Nana and Grandpa observed and cheered her on from our living room couch. Maureen's bestie, Sloane arrived next, and upon seeing Maureen's new trampoline, made herself right at home bouncing away with Maureen. At this point, my hubby was in the kitchen preparing burgers, hotdogs, chicken nuggets, and fries, so the smells of cookout foods filled our home. Maureen's friend, Heidi arrived next and after settling in, joined Maureen and Sloane bouncing on the trampoline. I got the cutest picture of the three of them!

Finally, Maureen's other bestie, Max arrived and after receiving a hero's greeting from Maureen and Sloane, joined the birthday fun, opting to explore Maureen's collection of cars and trucks instead of bouncing on the trampoline. In the midst of all this, we were also serving food, and "the mommies, " as myself, Sloane's mom, Allison, and Max's mom, Hilary are affectionately referred to by Maureen, Max, and Sloane (Heidi's mom, Laura was also a "mommy" during Maureen's party.), began slowly herding the kids to the table to eat something. Per usual though, Maureen and her friends grazed, opting to take one or two bites at a time before leaving the table to go play, and then returning a few minutes later for another one or two bites. #toddlerlife

After the birthday meal and a decent bit of playing, it was time for presents and I'm pretty sure my sweet girl was overwhelmed by the number of gifts she received from her friends and grandparents. She enjoyed opening her gifts, but also frustrated Heidi, who was sweetly trying to help, by choosing to play with each gift as it was opened rather then promptly moving on to the next gift. I felt badly for Heidi... she just wanted to see Maureen open her gift. ☹️ By the end of her presents, Maureen was happy to allow her friends to open the gifts for her while she played with each new item. The favorites were definitely, her trampoline, a container of farm animals from her Nana and Grandpa, and a Scribble Scrubbie cat from her best friend, Sloane. Presents were followed by cake and time outside playing with bubbles, sidewalk chalk, and balls. The party wrapped up with a group trip to our local playground so the kids could all run off some of their sugar energy. It was the highlight of my day to see all four kids comfortably interacting with and walking beside any of the parents there. I loved seeing this little church fam of mamas forming, as our kids played and each of the parents helped where needed. My heart was so full! <3333

By around 4 PM, the party had wound down, and Maureen's guests had all left to return home. While initially, she was sad to see her friends leave, Maureen quickly dissolved into tired, cranky tears once everyone left, and the rest of our day was pretty low-key. Overall, Maureen had so much fun celebrating with her friends. She told my hubby and I several times that it was her "best birthday ever," melting my heart in the process. I'm so proud of my sweet, baby girl, and incredibly blessed to be her mama. Happy birthday, Maureen Grace! You are dearly loved by so many.

For those who are interested, below is a photo dump from Maureen's birthday.

Thanks for reading! I loved getting to share a little about my sweet girl and how we celebrated her 3rd birthday. <33 If you like content like this, would you let me know by dropping a comment down below? I love hearing from my readers and am always looking for feedback on the content I share. If you're new here, welcome! Please consider subscribing for new content three times per week, and plenty of homeschool-centric info and ideas. Well, that's it for Maureen's birthday post. Check back on Wednesday for more content... See you then! 😄