My favorite Three Year Old!

Our sweet Christin is three years old!  April 28, 2011 was a wonderful day for her.  After whooping her way up and down the hallway, shouting about the fact that it was her birthday, Christin got one of her favorite Asian treats for breakfast: you tiao which literally translates as "oil stick."  It's basically the far east version of a doughnut...a strip of dough is fried in hot oil and puffs up dramatically, getting crispy on the outside and just slightly chewy on the inside.  The locals dip theirs in hot soy milk, we take ours home and dip them in sweetened condensed milk.  Yummy!  Christin loves it!

The weather was beautiful and so we took the whole family to the zoo to ride some of the (chintzy and slightly dangerous) rides.  This particular train ride on a rusty, dirty train took us around some weedy, reedy, swamp water and through a very narrow tunnel where my knee got bonked as we entered.  The girls thought it was fun though!  I'm just glad no one got hurt!

"Yes, I am the birthday girl and I'm too cool for this train!"

Our next ride was a favorite...we rented a little electric boat that could be driven around a small pond.  The boat included a laser gun to shoot at targets throughout the pond and if you hit them, they would spray water.  The girls all had fun driving the boat and shooting the gun, and I sat in the back seat and enjoyed watching them!  Fun times!

Christin was delighted at her turn to do some shooting.  I never thought I'd see the day!

Ok, the girly girls are still around.  Whew, just had to get that gun business out of the way, I guess!  The above picture is what you get when you ask the girls to pose for a picture. 

Love this girl.  Three years old!

Christin had been deliberating for weeks over what kind of cake she wanted.  Every time I asked her, it was something different: a pink heart cake, a princess cake, a rainbow cake, an oreo cake, or even cookies!  I settled on the pink heart cake and kept it simple this time.   Isn't that the sweetest smile?

Everyone wanted to help blow out those candles!

When we sat down to lunch on the day of Christin's birthday, Clara Anne asked me, "When will Christin open her presents?"  I had to admit that we had not prepared anything for Christin to open, but had taken her on the outing to the zoo instead.  Clara Anne said, "It's kind of sad not to have presents to open on your birthday, Mommy.  I will wrap some things up for Christin."  So she did!  She found a few items and wrapped them, and John and I made a trip to a local market to find something small to give to Christin as well.  We chose the pretty pink sandals you see above!  Christin LOVED them and has been very attached to them since. 

We're so thankful for our Christin Arielle!  She's such a funny girl and often makes us laugh with her "grown-up" ways of speaking and the funny things she says.  She is my sweet cuddly girl who loves for me to "tickle" her back.  She's also really tall for her age and is already wearing some 4T clothes!  Her hair is wispy and so white-blonde, just like mine when I was a little girl.  She loves fruit, yogurt, and always asks for sips of my black coffee.  Gum is another favorite, and lip gloss is probably the item besides her "wa-wa" (the bunny blanket) that she loves the most; she frequently can be found with several lip glosses in her pockets.  (You know, those Bonne Bell ones that taste like fruit or coke or root beer or whatever?  LOVES those.)  She usually still says "y" for "l", i.e. "yip gloss" instead of "lip gloss" but her stuttering is much improved.  She's proud to be three and is growing so fast!  She can ride a bike (with training wheels) very well now and even does fine getting the bike in and out of the elevator and out of our building.  She's gaining independance and is often stubborn about doing things herself.  She frequently tells me that she loves me and gives me smooches and big hugs. 

So, four weeks of pre-labor and then finally giving birth in this country were worth it for our Christin!  Thank you, Lord, for her.  We pray that the Lord will give her many more years of life!  Happy Birthday!