Three Years Old

Well, this is overdue, but I figure better late than never, right? So here goes...

My baby girl, Shingil Taylor Ryals, has turned THREE YEARS OLD. She is now a full-grown toddler just oozing with independence. Quick to tell me "no," but just as quick to run into my arms and tell me, "Momma, don't go to work." Three very short years ago, I walked into the hospital int he morning, saw my giant heap of a belly reduce to about half the size, and saw the most beautiful baby I had ever set eyes on in my life. That little baby, Shingil Taylor Ryals, changed my life - our lives - permanently.

On Thursday, March 10th, I still had to go to work, but I wanted to make sure I sang Happy Birthday to her before I left, so I woke her up and brought her to the kitchen table. Then, I went into the kitchen, put three candles in a Ben&Jerry's mini ice cream cup (Chocolate Fudge Brownie!), lit them, and brought it to her. We sang Happy Birthday, she blew out the candles, gave her a big kiss, and I was off to work. Yes, she got to eat chocolate ice cream for breakfast, but it was her birthday! That evening, I brought home a small princess cake (delicious!) made by the fabulous CakesBySweets Tonia and went over to Beth's house for dinner. Beth made a delicious birthday dinner, we ate, sang Happy Birthday once again and had her blow out another candle. We consumed the delicious red velvet cake and by then, it was the girls' bath time, so we drove home, washed, and went to bed. [Jeff was still down in Daegu supporting exercise at this time, so it was just us.]

Sunday, March 13th, was her scheduled birthday party. What a crazy morning. We got the girls up and ready, drove to pick up the cake and cupcakes from Gerry of ButterSugarCream fame, got lost enroute and almost got wedged between two buildings in a back alley of Itaewon, successfully got the GORGEOUS cakes and cupcakes (that probably took her like 100 hours to make), and finally made it to Olympic Park where Dalki Kid's Restaurant/Amusement was located.

While I set up the room and the cake with Riley, Tay and Daddy got to go play on all the play equipment with almost no one else around!  JOY!  I can't WAIT to see the pictures taken by the great Close To Home Photography's Jen Lucia!

I expected most folks to show up around 11, so I stood outside near the drive-in gate to the parking lot around 10:30...luckily the weather was NICE. I think had no one gotten lost, everyone would have been there by 11, but about four or five families got lost in the exact same spot (near Lotte World) and I was useless in guiding them in.  Luckily, they all found their own way to the location, so the party finally got started around 11:45.  The food started to come out...and boy, was that a surprise. A fancy course meal for the kiddos starting with soup and salad?  Odd.  I should have read the menu better.  Anyhow, it was delicious and probably healthier than pizza (if I had a pizza option, I would have gone for that, but nay, that was not an option), although the kids didn't seem to enjoy it much. I will just chalk that up to the fact that they just wanted to get back to playing.  :P

Another surprise was that there was a SCHEDULED PLAN for how the party was going to occur...with dressed up characters and all!  Who knew???  I clearly did not because I thought maybe they'd come out and wish Shingil a happy birthday and be done with it, but there was an MC who did magic tricks and everything!  Unbelieveable. Funny (and a bit sad) thing was that Tay was brought to stand on a chair in front of the cake and we all sang Happy Birthday to her (TWICE! 'cause we didn't sing it enthusiastically enough, apparently), and then after she blew out the candle, she was asked to make a wish. Then the MC asked her what she wished and she said, "I wished to go home."  ::sigh::

I think she was having a great time, but I think she was getting tuckered out by that time...it was around 12:30 by then, and she usually naps at 1, so maybe that's what it was.

Another awkwardly funny part was when Sam (of the Withington clan) had to come up (by direction of the MC) and give Tay her first gift. The MC just kept talking and poor Sam was just standing there holding the gift and Tay wasn't receiving it because she was distracted by all the talking...anyhow, I finally just had to tell Tay to receive the gift and say "thank you" so Sam didn't have to keep standing there...::phew::
None of the kids wanted to take pictures with the "characters" that came out (a strawberry gal and a watermelon guy), so that was another odd part of the "party." They just wanted to get back to playing...which they happily did...all of them except...the birthday girl.  Hahahaha...when Beth said she was going home, Tay said, "I wanna go with you, Tita." Hey, it's her party, so when she was done, she was done. So, we let her go with Beth and after the rest of the families went home, we closed out the rooms, packed all the lovely birthday presents in the car, went by to pick up Tay from Beth's house, and went straight home. She got to open her presents that night, which she LOVED...and yes, we are still working on thank you cards!

ANYWAY, all in all, I think she and everyone else had a wonderful time at the party, and we thank all of you for coming to celebrate our Shingil Taylor's 3rd birthday! I think maybe next year, we'll probably just do a small birthday at home...this one just WORE ME OUT.  And I didn't even have to do any decorating!

Happiest birthday to my Shingil.  I love you!!!