Lily's 4th Birthday

Our little Lily turned 4 today.  I know that every mom says this all of the time, but it is amazing to me how quickly she is growing up.  It seems like just yesterday she was my little baby girl and now she is this active and inquisitive little preschooler with the most vibrant imagination.  Playing pretend is her specialty these days and she loves having tea parties with anyone that is willing to sit down and sip pretend tea with her.  It isn't unusual for her and Charlotte to come into our room in the morning and wake us up with a cup of pretend tea for each of us.

Lily has been counting down until her birthday since mid-January.  I'm really not certain where her birthday obsession came from, but it has been a topic of conversation almost daily since then.  When I asked Lily what she would like to do at her birthday party she was very insistent that she would like to have a tea party.  I wasn't sure how to make that work with the busy little crew that we were inviting.  I saw some really cute ideas online, but then I realized that I'm 9 months pregnant and my energy and motivation aren't at their best right now so we had a simple tea party with sandwiches, fruit, and apple juice tea.  The kids also made some little sun catchers and ran around the yard playing with bubbles while we moms sat in the shade visiting.

One thing that I love doing for birthdays is making cakes, and yes, they are much larger than they really need to be, but it is fun for me.  This year Lily asked for chocolate cake with chocolate filling and yellow frosting.  I decided to make it simple and feminine for my little princess here so we went with rosettes on the bottom and a diamond pattern for the top.  Lily loved it which is of course what matters most.  It is fun to see her excited about these things.

For some reason Lily still struggles with blowing, I"m not sure why, but it is cute to watch.

 Lily loved her presents and played with them all that evening.

 I'm glad that she has such good little friends.

We had her party on Saturday, the day before her birthday.  This morning we got up and I made crepes for breakfast because Lily loves them.  When we were done she was sad that she ONLY got to eat 6 because she wanted to have 11.  I had 2...  Then we let her open our family gifts.  Charlotte picked out a cute dress-up dancing costume for her and Tyson and I got her a ball, bat, and mitt so that she play T-ball this summer. Lily and Charlotte spent the evening outside trying to trying ever so hard to toss the ball so that the other could hit it with the bat.  

We are so grateful for this sweet little girl in our home.  She is willful and stubborn sometimes, but she is also compassionate and caring.  I'm amazed at how quickly she is learning and by her thirst for knowledge.  While it is sad to see the time fly by so quickly, I'm excited to see her continue to grow and explore the world around her.