LO's 4th Birthday Party -- 1 of 2

Today we celebrated LO's 4th birthday with a fun firetruck-themed party at the house. It was so much fun to see her (and Chase) play with their cousins and families they don't typically get to see very often. Both of the kids had a blast, and I loved the fact that it was MUCH more laid back than my typical parties for the kids (meaning: I didn't have to do as much work!).

She has another birthday party on Monday (her actual birth date) at ((gulp)) Chuck E. Cheese's. She'd been asking to have a party there and I finally gave in this year. I'm actually looking forward to it--at least the parts that I don't have to worry about (decorations, food, entertainment, clean-up, etc.)! It should be a lot of fun!

I'm still not sure I believe this little baby girl of mine is turning 4 years old. But I sure hope the 4s are a MUCH-NEEDED improvement from the 3s. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that her behavior and attitude somehow find a way to get at least a tiny bit better!

Here are some pictures from our day of celebrating. Enjoy! :)

The cake. Mommy made it. My first attempt at one of those "character/shaped" pans. Not too bad but BOY did those red stars take some time! LO oversaw the entire process from about 2 inches away and provided excellent directions (and feedback) for me... :)

The birthday girl! You can't see her birthday shirt very well, but it has a firetruck on it, a number 4 on the pocket, and says "Fire Chief" in a funky, girly font under the truck. My plan is that one day I'll make a quilt for each of my kids from their birthday shirts.

Hilarious! One of LO's cousins was spinning her around and around in the living room. I'm not sure, but I think she was enjoying it at least a tiny, little bit...

It's not a party until Chase has a meltdown of some kind of proportions. This one wasn't epic, but definitely enough to command the attention of everyone in the room.

I'm not sure Chase is a fan of those party favors LO is blowing into his face.

 

 Money! Money! Money! Thanks, Gram & Pap! :)

Believe it or not, one of LO's cousins is hiding under all that tissue paper!

She's very focused during the gift opening. It's serious business to a 4-year-old!

Wait--what's this? Chase is happy again! Ah yes, my sweet bipolar little boy. Good thing Gramma & PaPa gave LO a singing Toy Story birthday card to keep Chase happy and entertained!

He really likes that card!

My little goofball. MAN I love this kid!

My beautiful little fire chief... very pleased with her new fire station play set!

Singing and birthday cake time! Love her smile in this one. For someone who loves the spotlight, she still gets a tiny bit embarrassed with the focused attention almost 20 people!

Make a wish, sweet girl!!!

Just to be clear: hubs and I have taught LO how to eat. This fact is evidenced by the photo below. When it comes to cake and other baked goods/sweets, for the times when we do actually use a fork (rather than our fists), we do in fact attempt to fill every empty space in our mouth with as much cake as possible in one fell swoop. That's our girl! Notice Chase is watching intently and taking pointers of his own.

Super firefighter girl to the rescue!!!

We're looking forward to party 2 of 2 on Monday night! Will post pics of that one in another blog post next week! Thanks for tuning in! :)