Maggie turns 3!

After all that Maggie has been through, we weren't entirely sure we would ever get to see the day she turned 3, but on October 8, we celebrated as a family the wonderful event.

The birthday girl!

Opening up her first present. I love the surprised look she gets on her face. The funny thing though is that she went to the toy store with us the night before and picked out her presents (a little unconventional) so they should not be much of a surprise.

Grandpa and Grandma Bixler gave Maggie a doll house, so we got a bathroom set to help fill the house.

We thought to help Maggie with the upcoming transition, we would get her a baby seat. As soon as she opened it, she went to get her baby (see next picture).

She got her baby (which was actually one of my babies when I was little). The baby doll is almost as big as she is!

We went to the park as part of Maggie's birthday celebration. It was quiet so she was able to go on the slides without little kids running her over. She also loves to swing!

Opening up her last present--a cash register!

Maggie was excited to help put icing on the cake.

Singing "Happy Birthday" to Maggie.

Say "Cheese!"

After our cold birthday celebration, we came back to our house to finish the Ohio State game and warm up. We were able to get a couple of pictures that I wanted to share on here as well.

We were able to get a "cheese" out of Maggie. This is a very tough thing to do, and I think the trade-off of the "cheese" was that she got the camera to take her own pictures afterwards.

How else can you get Miss Maggie to smile? Tickle her!

The Presents

Maggie was almost more impressed with the card than the presents.

As Maggie opened up each present, she would say, "Daddy look!"

Everyone was very patient with Maggie as she opened up her presents. It was a very chilly day--the upper 50's, with wind and threatening rain. I thought choosing the first weekend in October would give us the best chance of good weather, but this has proven to be wrong as last Saturday was hot and this coming Saturday looks to be just as beautiful.

We had Maggie's birthday party at the same park as where we had her 1st birthday party. The weather was drastically different between the two years as was Maggie's demeanor. If you go back to her 1st year birthday party on this blog, you will see a very unhappy child who was on steroids. Now, 2 years later and drug-free, she's so happy.

Maggie informed us the night of the party that she wanted a birthday hat. We had not gotten any hats and so scrambled the next morning and found one that she had for her first birthday party.

Showing off her presents to Daddy and the camera.

Thank you to everyone who was at Maggie's party and gave her presents, as well as those who have sent her presents. We are very grateful to all of you and appreciate the outpouring of love we continue to get from our blogging family.

The Cupcake

We were watching a tv commercial that showed Dora cupcakes and how to make them. After that, that's what Maggie wanted for her birthday--Dora cupcakes. We tried our best and though it isn't a masterpiece, they did taste pretty good.

It was a bit of a struggle to get the candles lit with the wind. I think the wind ended up blowing them out.

She really liked eating the icing off the candles.

Maggie prefers the icing to the cake.

Yum, that was good!

Birthday Celebration

The Birthday Girl!

Grandma Lehman went to Disney World and brought everyone back some presents. Maggie really likes the hat, and I enjoyed her M&M's.

Maggie enjoyed carrying around a balloon and trying to blow it up. It eventually had to be blown up for her, but she was still happy.

Eating our hot dog lunch

The girls were having a balloon "fight," which Maggie really enjoyed.

The Fountains

These pictures were taken back in September when we got back from vacation. We went to the Greene (our hot spot given that we have been isolated) and Maggie immediately wanted to go to the fountains. She has watched children play in the fountains for 2 years now and finally she was able to do the same. The first night it was quite chilly, but she ventured in anyway. We ended up coming the next day and she enjoyed every minute. In fact, we struggled to get her out and move on. It was a happy day!