Ivy's Bithday and Fasching!

It's so hard to believe our little peanut turned 3 years old, she is growing too fast!!  It amazes me watching her as she grows through the years; how much she has learned in the last 3 years, how much character she has developed, and her personality traits. She has taught me so much, like how to slow down and enjoy the simple things in life.  I admit I still struggle with this but we can learn a lot from a child's innocence.

She had multiple parties prior to her birthday and through last week, and she still has a good bye party at her kita (daycare) this Friday before going to a new kindergarten next week.  A week before her birthday we had a party for her at Kinderwelt, an indoor play area with bouncy castles, climbing castles, trampolines, carousels, etc.  She didn't find out about it until an hour before because she was already wanting to know why we weren't celebrating her birthday. She gets excited about these things way too early and doesn't understand why it isn't happening now.  We invited 2 of her friends, one of her friends was leaving for China for 3 months the week of her birthday hence the early party.  I can't share a lot of pics from her party since they have her friends in them and I wouldn't want to upset the parents for posting their children's pictures.  I do have a few cute ones of her though. 

Pumpkin muffins I made for her party

A selfie of Ivy and I before going to the party.

 

 

The pumpkin muffins topped with cream cheese frosting with some cute sugar lady bugs.

 

 Ivy anxiously waiting for her friends to arrive at Kinderwelt.

 

  Ivy's Birthday usually falls around the same time as Carnival (Fasching) which fell on the Tuesday after her birthday but her kita celebrated Fasching on the 12th and 13th so they celebrated her birthday the following week.  She also had to dress up for Fasching at kindertanzan on Wednesday and she chose to be a princess since Grand Mommy and Grand Daddy gave her a princess outfit for Christmas.  She really enjoyed dressing up at both kindertanzan and her kita, it was also special for her to dress up on her birthday even thought they didn't celebrate it that day at her school. 

 

Ivy waiting for the bus to go to kindertanzan.

 

 Daddy and Ivy

 

 My little princess is 3 years old.

 

 Ivy style, wanting to wear her crown even though it's cold outside so this was her compromise

 

After her busy day of Fasching at school, she came home and celebrated her birthday that evening.  We had homemade chicken tenders, mac and cheese, and peas followed by some leftover muffins with fresh cream cheese frosting.  She decided after her bath, that her pj's just weren't good enough so she put her princess dress over her pj's before opening her presents.

She had a great birthday and spent the next morning playing with all her new gifts.

The Monday before carnival is Rosenmontag which is a holiday for kids more than it is for adults and all the schools and daycares close.  On Rosenmontag the carnival festivities start with a costume parade.  We weren't aware of any parades last year but my friend told me there was a pretty big parade in the town of Burbach on the other side of Saarbrucken, so Ivy and I got on a train and ventured over to Burbach to check out the parade.  We had a great time and Ivy did very well considering she didn't have a nap all day, however the parade was crowded and a little crazy for me.   Especially since this was a parade where they tossed out candy and everyone (parents included) scrambled to get some.

 

Finally, the Wednesday after they celebrated Ivy's birthday at her daycare.  I didn't want to make a cake this year since last year a lot came back, so I found a recpe for cake balls which Ivy helped me make.  This was my first time making them; they are like cake  pops but with out the stick and everyone thought they were pretty tasty because the container came back empty.

Ivy helping me make the cake 

 

It has been a busy two weeks but we all had fun and in light of carnival I will leave you with this cute pic of Ivy using playdoh to make a clown nose.  I hope you all had a great weekend!!