This year we didn’t end up going to San Jose before her birthday like originally planned so we decided to improvise and assemble homemade birthday decorations together. We got out the construction paper, pipe cleaners. dental floss (for hanging), balloons, coloring supplies, some scissors and tape. It was fun to do and came out great! I actually ended up preferring this over store bought decorations. We did buy one princess themed Happy Birthday sign that we found at Super Ronny.

We surprised Pookie on her birthday morning with a balloon curtain on the doorway of the bedroom 🙂

Will found long skinny balloons and looked up how to make balloon swords…which was a huge success until one popped and scared the crap out of Pooks. Sabi still loved it and ran around holding hers yelling “”HI-YA” which of course pissed Pooks off even more b/c she was terrified that Sabs was going to pop it.

My pipe cleaner heart hangings

Pooks birthday crown and necklace

Her homemade birthday card which she felt needed some more details b/c i left Happy Bear and Lovie Bear out of the family picture.

Her birthday chair which she designed (that is pookie standing on a cake and the other side not pictured is her drawing of our family)

And at last…the cake! We made a homemade vanilla cake with homemade buttercream icing and Pooks decorated it with a ton of sprinkles, I added some strawberries and the writing. It was YUM… though it turns out Sabs doesnt like the texture of sprinkles so she didnt eat any of it.

We also set up a birthday scavenger hunt! We bought a few little presents from the grocery store in town and Will went out on a long walk in the morning with Flo Bo hiding all the presents along the path to the beach and on the beach. He then found a piece of driftwood and designed a little treasure map for Pookie to follow and find the gifts. He did a killer job and it was sooooo much fun! Here is his map  (he did this all within 45 minutes, super impressed). Sophie absolutely loved it and he improvised along the way with rhyming details and clues to find. It was brilliant.

Now on to some pics throughout the day! Here is the birthday princess answering her bday phone calls and watching her bday videos in the morning

A few from in the house before the treasure hunt and waiting for Dada to give us the green light to head out

Then off to get hunting!

First stop find the boats- check!

Next up – Carambola tree – check!

Off to find the two scary faces…check!

Now the beach down the stairs…check.

To the tree with many roots…check! Now if you look very close…there lies the very first prize!! Will and I joked that we should have made a treasure map each day in Italy b/c both girls walked more during this journey than the entire time in Italy.

Glow in the dark necklaces!!

Next she had to find the path between the rocks and two skinny trees with an old ants nest…check!

Birthday Kazoos!

Then a little more walking and some more clues until she had to find a red container. Binoculars! This was def a favorite find and all other clues were searched for through these two lenses obviously.

Back to find the tallest tree where Pooks was so busy looking through her binoculars to find the prize that Sabs was actually the first one to spot it! This gift may have trumped the last one…Pooks very first pair of scissors. She is so obsessed with them she has cut almost all paper in sight and has already commented on how she could cut her hair (of which i reminded her about my hair cutting experiment as a child so i think I officially scared her enough to never attempt this, hopefully).

Off to find her last prize back up the beach stairs, and this one she really did need her binoculars for because there it is…way up there in the palm tree! She had to figure out an idea to get it down. We found a long stick and decided that was the best tool to knock down her sky high prize. The last prize was a pack of little plastic pots and beach toys to make pretend soups and things at the beach. A little snack of strawberries for all the efforts and then we headed on the journey back home :). It started pouring about a half hour after we got home and rained until the morning. Perfect timing!

Wrapped up the night with some birthday cake, singing, kazoo playing and tickles! HAPPY BIRTHDAY POOKIE!!

I’d like to thank both little peanuts for sleeping until nearly 8am so i could get this post done before we head off to San Jose for some more birthday adventure today! XOXOXOXO

Here we go…another year that went by way too fast but was full of incredible memories and joy thanks to this little angel! I know it is cliche to say but words truly can’t even describe the love and pride I have for this child. She is happiness. She is pureness. She is beauty. She is laughter. She is intelligence. She is sensitivity. She is strength. She is determination. She is comfort. She is fierceness. She is curiosity. She is adventure. She is confidence. She is compassion. She is greatness. She is LOVE. In it’s purest form…LOVE.

Pookie, keep on keeping on with your quirky self. You are perfectly imperfect and I am forever blessed to have you as my daughter. I could list all your milestones and achievements that you have conquered this past year (which are plentiful), however your sheer existence is all the matters. You make my heart happy each day, and I know you fill everyone else’s heart with love as well. You are a sparkle. A bright, shiny, glorious, sparkle. Keep shining your light on everything around you. I love you endlessly. HAPPY BIRTHDAY. FELIZ CUMPLEANOS MI AMOR!

Here are a few others from this day at the beach…which was actually one of those really magical fun days at the beach (apparently for all of us). The water was calm and beautiful, the weather was perfect, we played frisbee, climbed trees, played chase, swam in the ocean, ordered sand soup and rock cocktails from Sophie’s beach restaurant, and watched a crab crawl endlessly on dada. Super fun.

This morning Sabsy walked up to me and said “Doo Doo’s” I said ok, you made doo doo’s? She then took my hand and took me to the potty. She took off her diaper and I propped her up on the little potty seat. I waited for a minute and she looked at me and said “Go”. I walked out of the bathroom and stood by the door where she told me to “Stay”. Then a little one came out and she yelled “Doo Doos!”. We all ran in and started dancing and singing and she started dancing on her little potty seat and then told us all to “GO” again. So we left. She stayed a few more minutes and then hollered “Doo Doos!”. We came back in and she was already dancing on the potty seat waiting for our antics. We jumped, dance, sang, she declared she was “All done” and that was sweet Sabsy’s very first doo doo on the potty!! WOHOO! Of course i had to take a pic. She was telling me Go and No in this photo. GO SABI GO SABI RAE!