Birthdays are a BIG Deal!

Today is Adair's birthday and at our house, birthdays are a big deal!  We enjoy celebrating well before and well after the actual birthday.  Since they only come around once a year, we figure we might as well live it up at each opportunity! 

It is my desire to develop lifelong traditions in our house surrounding birthdays, so since this is Adair's third birthday and she is fully aware of what that means in her own three year old way (i.e. cupcakes, candy, gifts and parties) we thought this was a good year to try out what we hope will become our birthday traditions.

Tradition One:  A Birthday Countdown
We started celebrating with a birthday countdown last Sunday...6 days before Adair's birthday.  Each morning she got to open a small numbered gift...beginning with number 6.

Sunday, number 6

A Jumping Ball

Monday, number 5

"Knuffle Bunny"

Tuesday, number 4

Sticker Mosaic Art

Wednesday, number 3

"Move Over Rover"

Thursday, number 2

Play Jewelry

Friday, number 1

"Click Clack Moo"

Tradition Two:  A Special Outing
Yesterday, Adair and I had our first mother/daughter manicure (well, polish) and I think I might have created a mini-monster, because she was very into it.  This is the first time she has ever even had nail polish on her fingernails, so she was very excited.  She did have a hard time sitting still long enough to let the polish dry, but managed once she got in front of the little DVD player showing "Tangled" at the salon.  She was very proud of her blue fingernails (truly, so light they are almost white) and had to show Daddy immediately upon arriving home.

Tradition Three:  Birthday Banners Everywhere
After Adair went to bed last night, Hank and I decorated the house with lots of signs and "happy birthday" banners.  As we were hanging them at 11:30 pm, Hank kindly reminded me that Adair can't yet read...as if I didn't know that already!  My defense was that she knows it's her birthday, so she will be excited and I am sure that she can guess that they say "happy birthday"...and I was right.  When she came down this morning, she was thrilled with the colorful banners and signs and guessed right away that they said "happy birthday". 

Tradition Four:  A Collectible Gift
Today's gift was part fun, part serious.  She found a tunnel and a tent in the living room this morning and crawled into them immediately.

Inside she found a tiny wrapped box.  When she opened it, she found an add-a-pearl necklace with three small pearls in honor of her third birthday.  Each year we will add to the necklace and by the time she is 18 she should have a full strand of pearls.  Adair isn't old enough to truly appreciate this gift, but I am sure some day she will realized how meaningful it really is.

Tradition Five:  A Special Occasion Journal
Inside the tent Adair also found her journal.  This is a tradition that Hank and I started while we were dating and began last year for Adair.  Her journal is a place for us to write to her on her birthday and other special occasions.  It's a way for her to keep all of the notes we will give her over the years in one place and in chronological order.

Tradition Six:  A Special Birthday Breakfast
After Adair opened her gifts we took her out for a special birthday breakfast.  One of our favorite breakfast places is Salem's in downtown Homewood.  Now, Salem's is not a large or atmosphere pleasing restaurant...it's what I affectionately refer to as a "hole in the wall" type place, but the food is delicious and the people are incredibly nice.  They were even willing to indulge me and put the candles I brought with me into Adair's chocolate chip pancakes.

This has already been one fun birthday...for the birthday girl and for Mommy and Daddy...and we haven't even gotten to the parties yet!  This afternoon we are hosting a "carnival" for all of Adair's sweet friends and can't want to celebrate with everyone. 

Yippee, Adair is three!

Here's to THREE!

Adair will be THREE on Saturday!  I woke up this morning wondering how we got here so quickly.  I know it sounds cliche, but I really feel like we just brought her home from the hospital yesterday and now she's turning three-THREE.  Sometimes I don't want to close my eyes because I fear that when I open them she will be heading off to college and I just can't bear that thought right now. 

To commemorate Adair's all-to-fast-approaching, third birthday, here's a look back at the past three years.  This little angel brings more joy and life to our days than we could have ever imagined.  We are thankful every day that God chose us to be the stewards of her life.  That is truly an indescribable gift.

 May 28, 2008

Just hours old

10 days old

July 2008

Cuddling Lovie Now Known as "Ribbit"

2 months old

August 2008

Grinning after Bath Time

3 months old

December 2008

Bathing in the Kitchen Sink

6 months old

 March 2009

Playing in the Moving Boxes

9 months old

May 2009

First Birthday Party

1 year old

 September 2009

First Family Beach Trip

15 months old

January 2010

Baking Cookies

19 months old 

April 2010

Wearing Mommy's Old Lamby Shirt

22 months old

 August 2010

First Push-up Popsicle

2 years old

October 2010

Singing "Jesus Loves Me" at a Family Reunion

2 years old

November 2010

Cheering for Auburn

2 years old 

November 2010

Baking Pumpkin Bread

2 years old 

February 2011

Sliding at Homewood Park

2 years old 

Today

Almost three years old

Happy Mother's Day!

I wouldn't choose to spend my days with any other person on earth!  I love being Adair's mommy and I count it an incredible blessing that God has entrusted this special little life to me.  I love you, Adair!

Dance, Dance, Dance

This year Adair has been taking ballet at Children's Dance Foundation in Homewood.  She has loved every minute of it and today her class got to showcase what they have learned at their recital.  I have to admit, I was a little curious to see how it would go, because the parents were in the same room (without the bright lights) with our daughters, so they could see us.  The girls did a great job!  Adair actually turned into a little performer.  She loved showing off for us and continuously yelled, "watch me, Daddy".  One neat thing about CDF is that each class is accompanied by a live pianist and many of the songs that they dance to have words.  Adair has made it her mission this year to learn the words and she was the only dancer singing...well, yelling...during the recital.  All in all, the recital was incredibly cute and brought lots of good laughs for the parents observing!



Adair, Adair, quite contrary...how does your garden grow?

We decided recently that a fun Spring project for Adair would be planting and caring for some seeds.  On Saturday, we purchased some large planters, dirt and flower seeds and Sunday we went to work planting those seeds.  We chose zinnias, sweet peas and a version of peonys.  With the help of an almost three year old, it should be interesting to see how and where the sprouts pop up, seeing as there was no method or pattern to the planting.  Adair had great fun with it though and has been a great little caretaker so far.  We plan to track the growth of our little seeds and hope to be bringing in cut flowers for our kitchen table this Summer. 

He is Risen, Indeed!

Christ is RISEN, He is RISEN indeed!

Living, He loved me
Dying, He saved me
Buried, He carried my sins far away
Rising, He justified freely forever
One day He's coming
Oh glorious day, Oh glorious day!

We love Easter in the Powers' house.  It's just such a glorious day where we acknowledge formally that Christ is risen.  If not for Christ's resurrection, our faith would be without merit, but because Christ not only died, but also was raised, we have life everlasting and a reason to live. 

The resurrection is difficult to explain to an almost three year old.  For the last few weeks we have enjoyed listening to "Jesus is Alive" on one of Adair's CD's and each time we sing it (alive, alive, alive forevermore, my Jesus is alive) Adair responds, "Jesus isn't alive...I've never seen Him".  It's given us a great opportunity, time and again, to talk to her about Jesus's resurrection.  I really think she is starting to understand and it's given us a great picture of what faith really is...believing in something not yet seen.

We enjoyed a wonderful service at church today followed by lunch with my family.  After lunch, Adair hunted Easter eggs and opened her Easter basket.



Dying Eggs and Making "Bird Nests"

Today, Mom, Dad and I introduced Adair to the fun that is dying Easter eggs.  We experimented with a white crayon, stickers, and rubber bands to decorate the eggs and then died them in eight different colors the old fashioned way...with vinegar, hot water and food coloring.  Adair loved this little project and I am sure it will become a favorite Easter tradition.

 Decorating the eggs

 Getting ready to drop it in

 Waiting, waiting, waiting

 Inspecting and organizing the finished products

 Mommy and Adair with our masterpieces

After we finished our eggs, we made "birds nests" as a fun Easter treat.  When I was growing up I knew this treat as a haystack...melted butterscotch chips, peanut butter and chow mein noodles.  To make them nests we flattened them a little and added Cadbury mini eggs to the top.  I think they turned out pretty cute and Adair had a ball making them.

 Measuring our ingredients

A proud baker with our finished nests