Carina’s birthday dinner

We had a birthday dinner for Carina on Sunday.  With Levi and Audra recently moved and Sabina and Liam in Argentina, it was a smaller gathering that we are used to, but I know Carina felt the love.  She basically did whatever she wanted to do, and it was hard to even get her to sit still long enough to open her gifts.  At one point she even just stood up and walked into the computer room while all the boys kept opening her gifts.  I did some butterfly decorations in sunset colors – pink, red, orange and yellow.  We had wraps for dinner and red velvet cake for dessert.  It was simple and pretty short so that the birthday girl could get to bed.
I can’t tell you how much that little girl was oohed and ahhed over all day.  She definitely had a day in the sun, and Chad especially could not stop talking about what a cutie she is.  She is lucky to have grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins who all adore her. 
She got her own little cake and it was the most entertaining part of the evening.  Watch her eat it in the video below and how she insists on having her new doll with her the whole time. 

Here are some pictures from the day.




Two things my mom did that really meant a lot to me:
She showed up with sandals that she found for Carina at Goodwill that not only matched the outfit I already had on her perfectly, they were the perfect size, and had butterflies on them. 
She took the time to decorate Carina’s bags, very cutely, to match the whole theme.

I can’t tell you how many times I have thought about my mom since having Carina – the kind of mother she has been to me and how much I want to be that mother to my daughter.