They're 'free!

For those of you who may not speak toddler, that's "three". Rachel and Owen celebrated their third birthday on Tuesday. The pictures are from their party last Saturday. I've accepted that I will never win "Mother of the Year" for birthday parties or cakes. It's usually a low-key family event with a regular cake. They carried the cake mix and frosting around after I bought them, knowing it was for them and feeling special so I'm okay with that.

Continuing with the John Deere theme from Christmas

Rachel is definitely all-girl

How can so much cuteness be in one picture?

The struggle for independence has already begun. I know I would not want them to stay babies forever but this in-between stage is hard. It's just easier sometimes to do things for them instead of letting them learn to do it for themselves. It takes patience to explain and wait for them and let them make mistakes. But that's how we learn, right?

I have been thinking about success lately and how we define it. Success is not always about prospering. It's not always about things turning out. Sometimes we succeed when we try something that fails and we realize how "not" to do it. As long as we learn from that mistake, then I think that's how we succeed. I know these things have been said before (really, there are very few original thoughts anymore) but sometimes you don't realize the truth of an idea until you've experienced it. Sometimes you feel like a failure but as you look back over your experience and realize how you've grown and matured and understand more now, you realize that the mistake wasn't worthless. That it's only worthless if you continue to beat yourself up over it and never move forward.

That might be a bit heavy for a three-year-old to understand. But it's good for me to remember as I let them slowly and painfully try to do things on their own and let them make mistakes.