Grace's Birthday Celebration

Our sweet girl turned 3 years old. We simplified our celebration as part of simplifying our lives ... and I must say the day was very relaxed and enjoyed! Instead of a party, we had birthday dinner with grandparents ... with birthday dessert instead of a cake that took hours to decorate and we cut out invitations, balloons, favors, and major decorations.

Our decoration was a banner I made displaying a picture of Grace at birth and each year until 3 yrs old. I plan to keep this banner and add a new piece each year.

We continued our family tradition of birthday girl/boy picking the menu. Grace told me over and over again that she wanted corn on the cob to eat on her birthday. So Grace, in her birthday dress, Raggedy Ann and I went to the Farmers Market early Saturday morning and were pleased to find some delicious Butter and Sugar sweet corn. She enjoys chicken alfredo with spinach noodles so that was our main course. Grace loves peanut butter so we decided on a brownie with pb icing as dessert. yummy!

Matt continued his tradition of giving Grace a pink rose for each year old ... light pink roses mean "grace" ... she smelled each rose and beamed when Matt gave them to her with a kiss.

Gifts were simplified bringing such joy to Grace (and Nathan).... Nathan made Grace little tea bags to use with her tea set and she's already made several cups of tea. My mom used material from our scrap bins to make Grace's Raggedy Ann a nightgown (pajama dress as Grace calls it) and an adorable pink top and John Deere tractor jumper. I made Grace and Raggedy Ann matching outfits (dresses and hats) ... with material I'd bought on sale awhile ago and put away. And Matt's parents gave Grace additional pieces to the doll house they had given her for Christmas.

I must admit that I had fun making and decorating theme cakes, making decorations, creating handmade favors, buying balloons and plates etc to go with theme and more in the past for my children's birthdays .... but with no doubt our relaxed celebration this year was great and didn't feel like anything was missing ... in fact, felt more meaningful. Simple is better!