Happy 3rd Birthday Little Miss!

This week we celebrated our Little Miss's 3rd Birthday!!

Little Miss has been waiting, literally months, for her birthday to come. The first half of our year is filled with birthdays and birthday parties. As each one passes by and she says, "My birthday is next, okay?!" Well 'next' finally came and we celebrated her 3rd birthday on May 1st.

It was a beautiful afternoon, temperature was in the high 70's F. We prepared and grilled kabobs of chicken, chunks of lamb, lamb chops, tomatoes, and onions. For dessert, Mommy made Birthday cake, Cheesecake and Strawberry Shortcake, Daddy made Hareesa. Mommy usually makes special Martha Stewart cakes for my kids birthdays. However, this year with fresh, plump, beautifully red strawberries being sold everywhere, I was craving Strawberry Shortcake! So....I decided to make three special cakes for my special little girl turning three!

We grilled and spent the day at Grandma and Grandpa's. We entertained around 20 family members and wished for more! We had 'fancy' balloons, which were fancy shaped balloons in a variety of colors, and birthday streamers in the garden near to where we grilled. Hubby, his uncle and cousins did most of the grilling outside, while I and the ladies prepared the meat and made salad inside. After finishing our meal, we drank coffee and tea as some smoke the hookah (typical after dinner combination in Jordanian culture). We, then, went inside for a round of Happy Birthday.

This was the moment Little Miss had been dreaming about! She was so excited to be the one sitting, in her birthday dress, in front of the cake and the candles that were lit 1, 2, 3! For those of you who don't know, the birthday candles in Jordan are amazing! They remind me of large sparklers on the 4th of July. The fizz and spark light into the air about 3 feet high! The kids love them and Aisha is not excluded from this. As we were about to light the candles, she instructs for the overhead lights to be turned off....1, 2,3 the candles were lit, sparks flying into the air, and songs of Happy Birthday being sung. Aisha sits smiling, giggling and giddy as a 3 year old should be!

The 3 cakes and Hareesa were eaten piece by piece until it was nearly gone. I don't know who liked them most, but I'd venture to say it was Hubby...he is always a sucker for sweets!

After the dessert, what comes next but the birthday gifts. Little Miss was gracious enough to allow her cousin Little S. help her open her gifts...he is always so good to help her and she enjoys and sometimes needs his help. They had fun, along with Little Boo, playing with the gifts until it was time to head home.

All the way home she continued to sing "Happy Birthday" and reminisced with us of her party favorite moments. It was a fun day and she is now looking forward to the 'next' birthday party....