Grace's 4th birthday has been a week of celebrations.  This is definitely the year where she understands the meaning of a birthday and that it is all about her!  (Which has made the after birthday celebrations a huge let down in the eyes of my babe and a struggle from the mom perspective to deal with the attitude...)

Two days before the big day, we slid an oversized unicorn hair bow in my girls hair (which I, of course, didn't get an actual picture of) and picked up some cupcakes.  The first celebration was at preschool with all of her classmates.  They get to wear a sticker around announcing their birthday, bring in a sugary sweet snack and the whole class sings a preschool rendition of Happy Birthday.  She bounced out of preschool that day with a huge smile on her face.



Rob took Grace's actual birthday off.  It was Kansas Day (early) and Dad's Day at preschool.  So all the dads flooded into preschool the last 45 minutes of the day and did all sorts of fun activities, including dancing/singing in a circle and those really fun "All About My Dad" surveys.  We took the birthday girl to lunch after preschool and at the very last minute another big girl threshold was crossed... Grace got her first haircut.  4/5 inches on the floor later, she all of a sudden looked like a big girl to match her new age!  That night my parents and sister came out for dinner, Buffalo Wild Wings (the birthday girls request!) followed by cupcakes, another rendition of Happy Birthday and a few gifts.



Three days later was the birthday party girlfriend basically spent all week waiting for.  A princess birthday party was requested and after cleaning the entire house that still had a post Christmas funk to it, hunting down some felt princess crowns from the Target dollar spot and hitting up Dollar Tree for just about everything else... we were ready for the invasion of family and friends.  Perhaps some of the most exciting visitors, two of her preschool friends were able to come out with their families... the birthday girl was happy as a clam!  Rob fired up the grill for some bratwurst to accompany the other wise really large food spread.  It really isn't a party at our house if the grill isn't going.  Nobody left hungry (I hope).  After playing a game of Kiss the Frog (Pin the Tale on the donkey... with a frog and a pair of lips), the last round of Happy Birthday was sung to a girl surrounded by all of her friends and family.  The cupcakes were devoured and the presents opened, signaling the end of another successful party.

Thanks to all the friends and family that made it out to celebrate with us, wished our girl a happy birthday, sent birthday cards and gifts, and just thought about us as we celebrated another year of life with our oldest.  We are surrounded by the greatest village of people.


always,
amanda