Cambri's B-day Celebration

We got back from Banff on Thursday night, and soon Meemaw, Gma & Gpa, Rissa and Javier's family, and Aaron and DeAndra's family would arrive over the next couple of days to celebrate Cambri's birthday. This was also Easter weekend, so on Saturday we went downtown for an Easter egg hunt.

Just a little bit of chaos

Both girls got a lot of candy, as well as a golden ticket to redeem a toy. They both chose to get a Barbie.

After the hunt, we got some mac n cheese going for everyone. Mac n cheese is Cambri's favorite food, and there isn't a close second, so that was the obvious choice for her birthday lunch. Cambri wanted unicorn mac n cheese, so we made some of that for the little kids. For the big kids and adults, we made the same mac n cheese that was served at our wedding.

While the mac n cheese was baking, Emily busted out some Cool Whip to color some eggs.

With a couple drops of food coloring, the kids swirled the colorful concoction around with a tooth pick. They then added the eggs and covered them with the Cool Whip.

They all thought it was pretty cool.

This technique made for some pretty cool looking eggs.

After we all chowed down the mac n cheese, Cambri was ready to move on to the cake.

Emily spent a lot of time leading up to this by practicing her frosting piping skills in order to get the flowers just right. Meemaw made some Minnie and Daisy cake toppers to finish it off.

Cambri loved it.

It was pretty cute to see her get so nervous with all the attention as everyone sang her "happy birthday."

The cake was delicious. Emily out-did herself yet again. The Nutella-cream between the layers was really a big hit.

Cambri was all about that frosting.

Hadley would definitely not get left out of opening presents. So much so, that she almost boxed Cambri out from unwrapping them.

But she was a good sport, and with everyone visiting, there was plenty for her to unwrap.

Cambri scored some good mermaid stuff, mostly of the Barbie variety.  She also scored some books, a unicorn soccer ball, stuffed bag with stuffed unicorn animals, and some princess dress-up stuff.

She also scored a new bike, which she has asked to ride almost every day.

It was fun having so many family members come celebrate with us. As stressed as it makes Emily, we enjoy playing host every now and then.

* * *

A few days later (when we reminded ourselves) we headed over to Osprey Park so the girls could play on the playground, and I could take a few pictures of Cambri. The kid is a little character, and it was pretty tough to get a simple picture of her smiling.

She could hear the shutter click from the camera, and would immediately strike a different pose in time for the next picture. The following are the result of that:

We did get a simple one of her smiling. It's a nice picture, but definitely does not adequately show off the personality of this girl.

Cambri is a mixture of a whole lot of things. Her personality and character can be all over the place. She can go from happy to frustrated really easily, but can reverse it just as well. 

She fulfills her role as little sister to Hadley by constantly pushing her buttons and annoying her to no end, as well as act as bully. But she will also do absolutely anything for Hadley and wants to be around her and play with her all the time. If she sees Hadley is upset about something, she will share what she has or do what she can to make sure her sister is happy. And then she'll just randomly walk by and smack Hadley on the head or something. It reminds of the movie Hot Rod, where Rod does everything he can to help get his ailing step-dad better, just so he can fight him.

She also loves her role as a big sister to Harlow. Since day one she has been very caring and protective of her. When Harlow falls asleep on the floor, Cambri always makes sure to place a blanket on her. When Harlow cries, Cambri will rush to get her a toy to help her calm down. When the robot vacuum goes off, her first reaction is to go find Harlow to make sure she won't get run over. 

Needless to say, Cambri is a good sister to have. 

Happy birthday to our 3-year old!