Too bad she can't read

Pearl's name was in lights, literally, today thanks to a surprise "favor" called in by our neighbors.

But the surprises didn't stop there... with a new Pearl-sized bench for the yard and a fancy Leap Frog computer. Pearl knew exactly what to do with the computer mouse and I'm sure will be helping her old mom fix the real computer in no time now!
And not only did Pearl have a happy birthday message for everyone driving through town to see, but Jeff surprised her by writing "Happy to You Pearl" all over the sidewalk this morning. I didn't notice either of them until Pearl started wandering over to the sidewalk chalk and jabbering at me to look and Jeff called me to ask if I'd checked my email yet. It's just too bad Pearl can't read yet!On other birthday updates, we took popsicles and graham crackers to daycare today. I told Pearl she had to share with her friends and that the treats were for her birthday. She didn't care much for what I was trying to tell her because once she (and the other kids in her class) saw them, chaos and screaming erupted! I guess they were a big hit... I had meetings all afternoon so I missed out on the fun. When we got home, I decided I better hurry and wrap her present, after all we had cute wrapping paper for just the occasion. I think Pearl had more fun helping me wrap her present than actually playing with it. I'm a lame mom I know, but I figured why make a big fuss about something she doesn't get at all and if it was more entertaining to help me put ribbons and tape all over the wrapping paper, then it was time well spent. Luckily Pearl was excited to then open the present so we wandered outside to open her present and uncover the BIG present that had been sitting in the garage all week. If you didn't guess what we got Pearl from a previous post, we bought her a play kitchen which came with a bag of dishes and accessories. It was funny to watch her lift up the blanket covering the kitchen and then shout "TOY!" About 10 minutes later, when the video camera had been turned off of course, she said "YEAH!" and continued to open all the cupboards over and over again. Her favorite part is the ice machine though followed closely by washing her hands in the sink. I wish I could post videos of all the wrapping and unwrapping but they are just too big to upload! You'll just have to use your imagination and try to remember what it was like as a kid to have a birthday filled with fun toys! And the scary part is that we haven't even had her official birthday party yet.