Happy Birthday Evie!

As was previously mentioned, we had two parties this last weekend for Evie's birthday.  Since her "actual birthday" fell on Sunday we I decided it would be a good excuse to have a laid back family barbecue.  I have to send out a BIG thank you to Tiffany and Steven who helped me get the back yard cleaned up and the food prepared. There is no way it would have happened without you. (Or at the very least I would have been a big ol' sweaty mess and a LOT less pleasant by the time of the party...) So thank you, Thank You, THANK YOU!

And thank you to all of our family who came and made the day so much fun, and made Evie feel so loved!

A few high-lights from opening the presents.  We gave her a treasury of Fairy Tales because she is so very into princesses and stories about princesses right now.

The other night Brian was reading Cinderella to her and it ended with "... and they lived happily ever after."  Brian asked her if she knew what that meant and she said, "Yeah. They got married."  He then asked her if Mommy and Daddy were "living happily ever after"?  At this point I jumped into the conversation with, "Yeah, but we work dang hard for that happily ever after!"

(I can see I have my work cut out for me teaching her that while you CAN live happily ever after once you are married, being married doesn't automatically equal happily ever after...)

Rainbow Bright doll from Aunt Caite and Uncle Patrick. Boy, does that bring back memories!

A fluffy unicorn from Uncle Kaleb, who couldn't resist after seeing Despicable Me with my kids. She has slept with it every night since, and his name is Mr. Fluffy the Unicorn.  All three of my kids love to grab him and say, "It's so fluffy!" or "He's SO fluffy I'm gonna die!"  (If you've seen the movie, you get it. If you haven't... you should.)

A pink Leapster from Pa Dave!  She absolutely loves playing on Jake's and is thrilled with having her very own... especially since it is pink!  She also got a Princess game for it from her brother, and I am impressed at how quickly she has picked up how to work it on her own.  (The hardest thing about it has been making big brother stop hovering and "helping" her all the time!)

How many IT wizards does it take to install batteries in a child's toy?  

And last but not least, a minivan for her doll house!  She has been asking for a minivan for a month or more and I was really confused until we were in the toy aisle at Walmart and she showed me the one she wanted.  I was relieved to figure out that she meant a toy one, because a few weeks ago we were out running errands and out of the blue from the back seat I hear, "When I get old enough, I am so-o going to drive this van Mom."  (You have to imagine this said in the most teenager-ish voice you can.) Startled, I said, "Oh. You are, huh?"  To which she replied, "Sh'ah." And I was like, so-o not ready to be sh'ah-ed by my three year old...

She also got a pink princess backpack from Grandma and Grandpa T. with lots of little presents in all the pockets, a card with some crisp new $1 bills from Grandma-great and Grandpa Jerry, and an over-sized cupcake from Tiffany and Steven which turned out to be filled with all the princess bling a four year old heart could wish for!

We had brownies and ice cream sundaes for dessert, which went over well with all the children...

It was a great weekend, but I think if I ever decide to do two parties like that again I will make sure that I have a couple of days in between them to recuperate!

And now I will finish the birthday posts with a list of my four favorite things about my favorite four year old!

To Evie:

1. I love your attitude of gratitude! Whether it is throwing you a princess birthday party, letting you have bubbles in your bath or getting you a drink of water, you usually respond by throwing your arms around our necks and saying "Oh thank you for that Mom (or) Dad!"  It makes it a pleasure to do things for you when they are so genuinely appreciated.

2. I love your willing spirit.  I love how excited you are to do your daily chores and how you feel proud of accomplishing it by yourself a little more each day.  

3. I love your enthusiasm for life. I love that you are equally excited by going to the library or the grocery store as you are to go out to a movie or other fun activity with your family. You are a daily example to me of what Mima Kim always said, "Find Joy in the Journey." and I hope you never lose that part of yourself.

4. I love the sweet and loving spirit that you bring into our home.  I love that you still want to be cuddled and snuggled and that a hug and kiss can still fix most of your woes.  I love how you adore your brother and sister and how much fun you all have playing together.

But most of all, I love you Genevieve, and I can't wait to see what an adventure you will have being four!