Picnic Brunch Third Birthday Blast

This was a special, intimate day for us. We celebrated Paloma's third birthday with some twenty friends and family at the beautiful Parc de la Ciutadella. It was sunny and warm, but we picked a spot under a large magnolia tree to give us some shade. With the breeze, it was perfect! We brought our food, drinks and some fun. Come on in!

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Marking our territory with overgirliness.

Angel and Fernando pause for a snapshot.

Pino does some light workout picking up two toddlers.

Bubbles! Giant bubble makers are all around the park.

Viola got a chance to make some gigantoid spherical wonders.

Cake time! A chocolate cake baked, frosted, and decorated with sticky sweet love.

I finally found the birthday cake hat locally! Paloma poses with a few friends.

"Count 'em, that's three!"

The busy crowd gets ready for the huge blowout.

Chip-eating girls look on as it took about ten minutes to get these candles lit on this breezy day.

She wished, she blew, and now it's ready to cut!

But wait, a quick pose with the visiting abuelos.

Presents time!

A jump rope...not sure if they got the concept.

My daughter gets strangled a bit, but that's cool.

Thanks for looking, friends!

Paloma's Third Birthday Extravaganza at Playgroup

While our daughter's official birthday was on a Wednesday, she still had to complete her weekday obligations to go to playgroup. No problem! Parents are invited to celebrate the birthday with their children and stay as long as they like on their special day. How lucky was I? Here's a mini-tour!

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The train o' kids and teachers.

Family pictures get displayed too. These ones are taken of last year's summer vacation down south.

With summer in full swing, the hooks for hanging their own jackets and sweaters are empty.

Here the girly girls copy each other and lay face down on the sofa.

 Paloma got to blow some birthday bubbles out on the patio.

This spring, the kids got a chance to grow different herbs and plants in the patio's mini-garden.

Paloma has also learned the British version of kids' songs since the owner is English. "Ring a ring a rosies, a pocketful of posies...."

"...a tissue, a tissue...."

And the best part: "...we all fall down!" Yeah, they did this 23 times.

English, Spanish, and Catalan are spoken here. It was interesting to watch Paloma speak different languages to different kids, based on what their first language was.

The school follows "the rhythm of the child", meaning, if you want to listen to a story, you can. If not, you can play whatever you'd like.

They also have a no-sugar / low-sugar policy. Here the owner Sarah (who we adore!) brings out the yogurt honey cake that mommy baked with looooove. There is a third candle there hidden on the left!

Cake time! Paloma closes her eyes to avoid the brightness of her three candles. The future is bright, my dear!

 Paloma blows out her candles after the kids sing the English version of "Happy Birthday".

Now in Spanish.

 Catalan! We're out of breath!

 Now it's time to practice the very important habit of brushing our teeth.

 Thanks for celebrating with us!
Picnic party bash coming up!

Happy happy 3 years old! Third edition hot off the press!

Hallelujah, it is here! Can I get an "amen"? How about a "Thank you, Jesus!"? She turned three on June 20, but I'm still celebrating! Yes, we are so proud of our growing and exploring little wonder.

Time does fly so fast.
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It's no lie that pink is the color for most three-year-old girls. "Look at this street post, mommy. It's pink!"

Often she wants to "cook" with me, so I bring out a small table, her cooking utensils, and cookbooks. Here, she's doubting the proportions of the ingredients in the recipe. 

You can't really tell her to sing or dance on demand anymore. Her tiny brain cells have figured out how to bribe you...I mean, have you find another way to get her to do something.

Emotionally, she is practicing self-control when experiencing frustration. We have to be patient. And understanding. Little adult in training!

She's really getting to understand her independence. She keeps testing us as parents, but that doesn't stop ever, does it?

How she wishes this were real and had chocolate.

Who's going to school in September? That's right. Her official photo which we've passed on to the school. Let's hit the books!

We can't get away from these pay rides throughout the city! It does still make a good photo op though.

My funny honey and I sharing an under-the-covers squeeze.

Down and serious times happen too, and that's okay.

Okay, one more gratuitous with mom. At the Maremagnum shopping center.

Another pay-to-play ride. The carousel - a classic!

At bedtime, we read books, and then she asks for a made-up story, sometimes she invents the characters and their names like "Goodits", "Badants," or "Boosh-Boosh" who live in places like "Prokmy," "Loofeef," or "Ploopeep". Huh? Her imagination has gone wild.

We also catch her putting on her "storybook voice" and reading aloud even when she's really flipping pages of a blank notebook. She also does a lot of pretend play where the hallway is her house, and the living room is mine. How many imaginary doors have we opened?

I've had no regrets about how we've raised this happy kid. There are so many ways to do it right. But we did it our way, and we'll do the same with #2!

One last picture of our little Paloma, our fledgling "dove". Spread those wings, tiny one. We know you're going places ;-)

I got lots to share still. Stay tuned, my massive audience....I'm gonna start rolling out the posts quickly I think!