Happy Birthday, Miss Chloe

Happy Birthday my dear Chloe! Wow, 4 years old. What a day we had! When Chloe went to bed last night I taped streamers to her door frame so when she opened her bedroom door this morning there were streamers hanging all through the opening. She was the first one up and we heard her door, then we just heard, "Heee hee hee! Hee hee! Hee heee hee!" It was pretty cute. I finally had to call her in to see if she knew why the streamers were there. She did. And I have to say we started the day off on the right foot and it really did stay all day. We had a wonderful day with her.

I started decorating the cake around 8:45 am and finished with everything about 11:45 am. Two chocolate layers (square), two strawberry layers (round), and 24 cupcakes (white cake). Whew! Not to mention the three tubs of frosting! I do decorate my kids' cakes but I sure don't make frosting. So three tubs held this thing in place!

Chloe LOVED getting phone calls today from family. Uncle Troy called first, followed by Aunt Gina & cousin Gabi, then Aunt Robynn & Uncle Dust. The added bonus is that they invited her and Isaac to go mini-golfing this morning. That was a fun treat (not to mention that it allowed Royce and I some time to wrap presents, finish food, and clean house instead of chasing kids). Thank you Robynn & Dustin!

Chloe got to pick what was for lunch..."Mac-a-nernies" in her words. Followed by corn and watermelon. Quite the birthday combination! Then she actually was able to lay down for a nap and she took a long one.

Now it's PARTY TIME! We had the party at Frontier Park. It was nice for the kids to have playground equipment and it really was a nice day other than the wind. We were semi-sheltered but we weren't able to get all four candles lit at once. She kind of blew one candle out along with the wind helping. But that didn't hurt her spirits.

Still sporting her KSU tattoo from the game Saturday.

Quick lift from coolest-ever-Uncle-Dust!

Jacob, Isaac, Greg, Chloe, and Elijah.

Girls not pictured: Tessa (shy) and Jaylen (wiggle worm!)

Silly Girl!

Chloe and Tessa

They go to Happy Days together (along with Elijah) but we realized

last week that we live across the street from each other. Yay, a neighborhood friend!

After cake Chloe opened her gifts. The kids were so well behaved. We were

surrounded by such great friends and family today.

Doctor stuff!!

After presents the kids all played. I actually had a surprise up my sleeve for Chloe's party today. Chloe loves balloon animals so I had someone come and make balloons for the kids. They got swords, dogs, flowers, and monkeys. It was cute. But the balloon artist also left the kids 'rocket balloons'. Wow--what a hit. These balloons are blown up with a straw and then when you let them go they soar into the air and 'scream' while they're zipping everywhere (plus they are re-usable). The kids LOVED them. A complete hit. And the best part was that the kids chased the balloons all over the open space so they were red-faced and exhausted afterwards! They each got rocket balloons to take home with them. So that was fun!

After the party the remaining family came over for grilled hamburgers. It was a nice ending to the day. Chloe got to start playing with some of her gifts and everyone else got to unwind. Tonight after getting in PJ's she just kept saying that she wasn't tired. I think she knew deep down that once she went to bed it wouldn't be her birthday anymore. So she snuck out of bed and snuggled with her daddy on the couch for a while which was welcome on both ends of the deal.

She finally went to bed.

Our smart, beautiful, oh-so-grown-up 4 year old.

We love you, Chloe, oh so much.