Sonja is 3!

This first picture captures the essence of Sonja at 3! Such a happy little girl who seems to be always smiling and being goofy. I will tell you though that it does swing the extreme opposite way as she is still learning how to express what she wants without so much "passion." And by passion I mean whining and being crabby :) We love our crazy girl as she is sometimes affectionately called but we are starting to see another side to her as well. Along with entertaining the room with her fashion shows, stories, impressions and songs, she also loves alone time doing puzzles, putting things together and is beginning to love to color, not just crazy scribbles anymore. Although she can tend to be a little too enthusiastic with her love for her little sister and cousins, she has a softer/caring side too, wanting to help with whatever little tasks you give her and offering comforting words when someone is sad or hurt. And you should hear her cute little prayers. She is really aware of the world around her. She loves going to school, playing at church, playing with dolls, riding her bike, dress-up, getting her own snacks (sometimes a good thing sometimes not :), collecting things in bags all over the house, making people laugh, dancing and smiling.

We love her beyond words and love watching her become who she is.

goof ball

Opening presents on her birthday...we were out of town for a wedding on her birthday and Greta and Scott were watching her for us. They did a great job with all of our families usual birthday traditions. Thanks Greta and Scott!

Birthday party

And I had to take a picture of this as it is a new side of Sonja that has been developing lately. She is starting to be very methodical and organized about things. She was painting some pictures for thank you notes and she painted them all exactly the same just in different colors. She always did the first two lines in one color and then the third line in a second color. Might be boring to you but I thought it was interesting :)