Our Big Girl's Big Day

It's birthday time...

Okay, a little disclaimer here: this is the third attempt at writing this post...my pictures are not uploading correctly, and blogger is making them appear sideways.  Grrr...

So please bear with me if you suddenly see sideways, upside-down, or otherwise awkwardly-displayed photographs in this post.

Thanks to all of you who commented on Isabelle's birthday shirt!  Yes, I did make it, and you know what?  I also learned a valuable lesson- I'd been saving that shirt for this project, and while it fit beautifully just a month ago, that gorgeous little girl of ours did the unthinkable and GREW!  The sleeves are too short now, ha!  But she didn't really care, and neither did I.  I was really happy with how it turned out, and of course next time, I'll make sure the shirt still fits!

 What says Happy Birthday like taking a bath with Luke?  :)

We were getting her all gussied up for preschool (yes, it was the day before the big day, but she wanted to show her teacher & friends her special shirt).  

aw, blogger, you're killing me here!

 I don't know what it is about this picture, maybe because I can see so much of her baby face in her expression, and those beautiful brown eyes and big, bouncy curls...I just love it!

This was her down time watching Diego, waiting for preschool while I worked.
I laughed at the sight of this-

and this...

Everything was spotless just 24 hours earlier!  How does that happen???




Here we are heading to preschool.
Well, we weren't actually sideways...

She was SO excited when we arrived!
We brought in her pink & purple snowman & lightbulb lollipops to share (I forgot to take a picture- boy, did they look ca-ute!)

 

 lunchtime with all her pals

And then suddenly the BIG day was upon us...and my baby girl was turning four.  For real.

I'm so happy, but at the same time, there is such sadness and loss that also comes with each birthday.  Not only is she growing up, but birthdays are such painful reminders of how much we missed in her earlier days.

She has been remembering and expressing some very early memories, trying to sort out details and such, which is actually pretty exciting, but that's for another post.

Donuts for breakfast!  What a nice birthday treat!

Okay, so I always get one package of basic cinnamon donuts when I grocery shop, but this time I bought one package of cinnamon AND pumpkin!  Whoa!  I am just that adventurous!

I was upstairs for a minute, probably gathering laundry, and this is what I see when I come back...

She'd removed her pajama pants and pulled on her ballet skirt, ha!

 

Here's my little ballerina at dance class...wearing the shirt...again, ha!

Glad she liked it!  :)

Someone was VERY excited to see these beauties sitting on top of the counter!

Wednesday nights are cheapo nights for kids at some of the restaurants in town, so out to dinner we went!

Here is Isabelle getting her way...

Here is Isabelle not getting her way, ha!

It has been so much fun to watch her blossom this past year- she is such a charming, sweet, funny, and SMART little girl!  I think she is going to give us a run for the money when she's a teenager!

After sitting down, I realized we were shy one boy.

I found him filling out a raffle card by the entrance.  ha ha

The funniest part?

He actually knew the first part of our email address, but instead of "yahoo" had written "yoohoo".

I laughed hard over that one!

 

 Jonah was on fire with the tic tac toe!

the usual horseplay

Yes, I was there too- proof!

Anytime someone would ask, "Who has a special birthday shirt?," she'd laugh and yell "Me do!"

At least she got some good use out of it since it isn't going to fit at all in another month, ha!

We left the restaurant and headed home for cake and presents.

In hindsight, I should have told everyone at church that I wouldn't be attending youth group that night, but I thought it would be no big deal to squeeze everything in.

I didn't like having to rush my own daughter's birthday along in order to get Ethan and I to church.  At least I'd told them we wouldn't be on time!  And we weren't.

LOVE the look on her sweet little face when Daddy took the present off the counter for her

Isabelle Kate's first big girl baby doll (no, it isn't American Girl- I'm not ready for that investment just yet)

she wouldn't stop looking at her and touching her- so cute!

the other present was matching pajamas for Isabelle and her new baby

I had so much fun making those!!!

Oh, would you look at that?

An actual smile from Mr. Too Cool, ha!

Look at the way Isabelle adores her big brother, awwww!!!

More rushing...onto the cake and candles...

This was probably the most pitiful cake I've ever made, but Isabelle loved it!

When we celebrate with family and friends in January, I think I'm going to do a farm animal themed cake.

Happy Birthday My Little Princess!

Here she is the next morning...

 

And here we are, almost one week (and many posts-to-be-written) later, and I've got to get to work in the kitchen!  Have a great day!