the party

c has been four for three weeks now, as she will take every opportunity to remind you.  that seems to mean that she alternates between acting about six and acting about two, but i digress.. ;-) 

since our home is unsuitable in many ways to a gaggle of kids, we had a party for her at a friend's house.  this in itself is quite remarkable.  just six months ago, i was wondering to myself who we would know to invite to a party, hardly dreaming we'd have friends willing to host one on our behalf.  and believe me, it was quite an undertaking!  we are very thankful.  many of these pictures came from the gracious hostess as well.

c surprised me by agreeing to wear her 'fancy dress' and wanting her hair braided:

the kids (and a few adults ;-) ) caught 'fish' (wrapped candies with paper clips attached) with their 'poles' (tomato stakes with strings and magnets attached):

we had a craft station where the kids could decorate pages with a space for their pictures, which i put in page protectors and tied together with ribbons to make a birthday book:

these don't do justice to the amount of glitter glue used ;-)

c gratified me by paging through this for an hour the next day and declaring it her 'favorite book' (at least for the day ;-))

the weather was gorgeous, perfect for bubbles and balloons =)

of course, there was food:

yum yum, but it will be at least a year before i attempt these again =p

knox fruit juice jigglers cut into stars

beautifully done by a sweet friend.  c had 3 more of these that afternoon!

c specifically requested a strawberry cake for weeks in advance, but of course on the party day, there were many more exciting things, so i'm not sure she even tasted it.  i, however, decided it's my all-time favorite cake =)  recipe here

as you can see, c was just thrilled to pieces that this was her special day with all of her friends and family.  it was so fun to see.  but wait, there are still.. presents!

these are used multiple times a day

the mailbox kit was a huge hit.  it sits outside their door, and daddy leaves a note every day now before leaving for work

all in all, the day was everything i could have hoped.  c still talks about it: how all the friends we invited were able to come, how she wore her fancy dress, how they used these stickers in her birthday book...

someday i hope she will look back and see how very well loved she was at the ripe old age of four =)