Kinley is 3!

Photo by Terra Herring Photography

This year, Kinley Marie Ladd doesn't have to crash the party because she's the guest of honor.

Three years ago, our little immediate family was scheduled to have Christmas 2011 at Jill and Eric's house the final weekend of December. Jill and Eric weren't traveling for Christmas that year, since they were expecting their first baby January 12, 2012. Brent was home from his graduate studies at the University of South Carolina.

We were planning to arrive late in the day on Friday, December 30, so we could begin our celebration after Jill and Eric arrived home from work.

Instead, we got an early-morning phone call. Kinley Marie Ladd was crashing our Christmas party. This was one party crasher we were glad to welcome!

She was born at 4:30 AM, December 30, 2011. She weighed 5 pounds, 15 ounces, and was 20.75 inches long. She was about the size of her Christmas stocking. (Grandma had already replaced the sonogram photo with a newborn photo in her stocking by the time she arrived home from the hospital.)

It's hard to believe how much she's grown in these three years. Grandpa added her 3-year-old height to the wooden growth chart in the dining room when they were here for Christmas. She is taller than her Mommy at age 3, but shorter than Uncle Brent.

 She's now a big sister.

 

 She loves swinging ...

... and helping Mommy in the kitchen. 

She likes music.

And she loves books. 

 Sometimes, she pretends to be a kitty cat.

 And she loves all things PRINCESS!

Uncle Brent supplied one of her favorite Christmas gifts here - an Elsa doll.

Mommy and Daddy won Christmastime points with her Elsa costume and the Princess Playdoh set.

Today, she's taking cupcakes with the Frozen theme to preschool. We're looking forward to Saturday, when we can celebrate the joy that Miss Kinley has brought to our lives the past three years.

Happy Birthday, Kinley. Grandma and Grandpa are so glad you crashed the party 3 years ago!