Modern Day Mama: Princess Violet Turns 3

The baby of the family turned 3 today. Our little redhead is no longer a toddler. She's a little girl.

When I was growing up, my mom always picked us up from school before lunch on our birthdays and then took us to Des Moines for a "special day." It was the only time we didn't have a sibling along with us. Special days were awesome. We chose where to eat lunch and what to do afterward. I almost always chose to eat at Garcia's -- which was my favorite Mexican restaurant back then. And then we'd go shopping. I remember going to the Theatrical Shop one year, and the magic shop at Merle Hay Mall another year. Dad joined us once and there was a quarterback throw contest at the mall that he talked me into doing. I won a Joe Montana t-shirt -- a feat that impresses Mazy more than anything else I've done in my life.

So today it was my great pleasure to take Violet on her first-ever special day. And it was doubly fun because we invited Mom to join us for a late birthday celebration for her!

We started the day with breakfast at the Cracker Barrel -- where Violet made friends with all the grandmas there. Then we went for mani/pedis. I have never seen Violet so quiet or serious in my life! She sat there not moving a muscle. She picked a neon pink polish and I convinced the guy doing her nails to add white polka dots to them. Violet is a big fan of polka dots. After that it was a trip to Valley West Mall for shopping. She picked out a fancy dress, a new pink purse, pink diamond-studded Barbie sunglasses, a blue Frozen umbrella, a bag of sour Jelly Belly "jello beans" (that's what Violet calls them) and a purple pair of Merrell sandals for the summer. She also visited the Easter Bunny and rode the Easter train three times. And her favorite part of the day, by far, was riding the escalators. I think she and I made 9 roundtrips on them... After all of that, we were ready for a late lunch at The Tavern for pizza -- Violet's favorite food. We dropped mom off at her car, and then we picked the boys up at school dismissal time and headed home. Violet napped for about 45 minutes in the car as we waited for the boys. We really tired her out.

Tonight she opened her presents and had Stam's Chocolates for her birthday dessert. I'd say our princess had a pretty good birthday.