Well, my little girl is four years old. <3 We definitely did about as much birthday celebrating as we could, too!
It all started with a little party at her preschool, the day before her actual birthday. She told me she wanted to wear something special, so I let her pick out whatever she wanted from her closet:
I dropped her off, then came home to finish up her cupcakes - she wanted all things Paw Patrol for her birthday this year, and I was thrilled when I found these little rings to adorn her homemade cupcakes!
When I got to the school her class was on the playground, and I loved watching her run around and play with her friends. This kid LOVES preschool.
Then we headed inside to PARTY!
That night the birthday'ing continued while she was fast asleep. I blew up (Paw Patrol!) balloons, hung streamers from her door, and left one present on the foot of her bed - just like my mama always did for me...
One of my favorite memories? On Saturday morning, I just happened to turn on the monitor and look at her at the very moment she started to wake up. She was rolling around in bed, opened her eyes, and I saw the look on her face the minute she saw the balloons scattered all over her floor. She popped out of bed, grabbed a balloon, and the biggest smile took over her sweet face. Like at that moment, she realized it was her birthday, her special day. She took one balloon and crawled back in bed, and just laid there and smiled...
We went in and sang Happy Birthday, and she quickly tore open the present on her bed. A stuffed Marshall from the Paw Patrol, of course!
She went downstairs and beelined to the rest of her presents. We decided when she turned 1 that we would always do the four-gift rule on birthdays: something you want, something you need, something you wear, something you read. The stuffed Marshall was the something she wanted, and she got new long-sleeved pajamas (something she needs), a Paw Patrol t-shirt (something she wears), and an autographed book by Clay Rice, a silhouette artist we met last month (something she reads). Andddd.... GUM! As I mentioned before, for whatever reason we told her a long time ago that you can only chew gum once you're four. And the girl has been counting down the days. She was SO excited about it, and thought she was so cool chomping on gum all day long. I even overhead her tell her brother, "Evewette, you can't chew gum yet. But you know what? I can, because today I am FOUWA." And by the time her head hit her pillow that night, she'd chewed a grand total of FIVE pieces of gum. :)
Birthday breakfast = cinnamon rolls with sprinkles, of course!
And the surprise? Disney on Ice! She absolutely loved it, and we had such a great time, just the three of us!!
We headed back home and let the birthday girl skip her nap, chew more gum, and watch a movie. It was a rare moment where we all sat still, on the couch, and snuggled. Ellie included, of course. And CK asked if she could take a selfie.
One last request from the birthday girl? Pizza for dinner, "at a westauwant, pwease."
We wrapped up our girl turning 4 with a homemade cake, another singing of "Happy Birthday," and CK declaring that she wished she was part of the Paw Patrol...
It really was such a fun day! But we weren't done celebrating yet!! Because a week later it was time for her actual party, which was a group party! Four of her friends also turn four in October, so after last year when we were all going to each other's birthday parties, we thought a joint party would be fun. And boy was it! First, the invitations (I've covered up some information for the privacy of the other kiddos!):
Y'all... Amy at One Good Name designed, printed, and shipped the invitations and I cannot sing her praises enough. The customer service was outstanding, prices were awesome, quality was incredible, and shipping was so fast. Any invitation or party signage needs? Contact Amy!!
As you can see from the invitation, we did a fall-festival-ish birthday at the local country club. We kept it pretty simple, honestly. Some Cheetos, grapes, pretzels, lemonade and water, along with a mini cake for each birthday boy/girl and 100 assorted cupcakes. And yes, my little birthday girl is the only girl who didn't want a princess-ish cake. What did she want? Drumroll.... PAW PATROL!
We had a gift table set up and divided for the gifts, because omigosh I think we had at least SEVENTY PEOPLE come. It was such an awesome turnout! Because we were expecting a large crowd, we decided to donate to the Carroll County CASA in lieu of party favors.
The mamas got there early to set up and drink some coffee with Baileys, so I was SO excited when my girl came running into the party! Her eyes lit up when she saw the three bounce houses, face painting table, duck pond game, sno-cones, and cotton candy machine! Luckily all three sets of grandparents were there to keep an eye on Everette (who loved the little bounce house!) so I could focus on the birthday girl.
I did a TERRIBLE job of taking pictures at the party, because I was too wrapped up in talking to guests and enjoying my four-year-old. But I want to say a huge THANK YOU to all of our sweet family members who made the trip to GA for the party! As I mentioned, all three sets of CK's grandparents were there, and even her Aunt Beth and cousin Smith. <3
These five little pumpkins had the absolute BEST day celebrating their birthdays!!
And us five mamas survived! We toasted with champagne as soon as the bounce houses were deflated.
But no, we still weren't done celebrating! We headed home to open presents and have a little family time since so many special people were in town. Also? My mother-in-law is an incredible cake-maker, and outdid herself this year with a cake that put a huge smile on our girl's face!
It was a preschool celebration, Disney on Ice, pizza dinner, fall festival party, family get-together, two sets of cupcakes, three birthday cakes, and five pieces of gum kind of birthday for our girl. That, I'd say, is about as good as it gets. :)
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