Violet's 4th birthday

She is four years old today, wow! The day couldn't come fast enough for her! I made a paper chain of the days left until her birthday and when I created the whole chain, it was 20-something chains long, and each night she ripped off a day. It was a big motivating factor getting her upstairs in bed, getting to rip off a day. Last night we made her birthday cake together, and she had to wait an entire day to eat it. This morning she woke up around 7:30 and climbed into bed with me. I told her Happy Birthday, and she said "I'm four! I think I feel taller!" and she jumped out of bed, stood on the floor, and put her hands on her head trying to "feel" if she was taller. Silly girl. She wanted me to sing her happy birthday right away so I tried my best with my morning sick voice. Daddy got home from the gym shortly after that and she celebrated the fact that it was her birthday over and over. I snuck downstairs while she was still upstairs and put the helium balloons that I had gotten for her on the kitchen table with the completely decorated birthday cake. Last night she only saw the green frosting go on the pink cake (her color requests) but not the decorations. When I asked her what she wanted ON her cake, she told me these things: -a picture of Violet with pigtails -a picture of Calvin -hearts -flowers -"a box of a game" <--her exact words, which means a picture of a game that is in a box, she received a few games in boxes recently for gifts (memory, Twister, etc) so that must have been where her mind was -the number 4 So I tried my best to make a cake with all her requests, and when she saw the balloons and cake she got even more excited. Calvin and her immediately disconnected the balloons from the bag of candy that was holding them down and ran around the house with them. Helium balloons are the best toy, I should pick them up more often for temporary fun! I went to Bible study at 9:30 this morning, and she got to play with all her friends at the chapel for a couple hours and eat lunch together. She passed out fruit snacks to her friends in honor of her birthday, some of the kids sang happy birthday to her. She ate four bites of her peanut butter and jelly sandwich, four baby carrots, and took four drinks of her water and a whole bag of chips (a little one). Apparently she wanted to eat more than four bites of chips. :) When we got back from the chapel I got both kids down for a nap. I am feeling pretty sick with a sinus cold and congestion so my head felt (and still feels) pretty congested and horrible. I laid down to take a nap the same time the kids did, and I woke up when I got a text from my dad saying he had arrived. I knew he was coming and would show up at our house around 3-3:30 so I knew to wake up around that time. I got myself "awake" and let him in the garage. Violet woke up shortly after that, Calvin slept a little longer. She was really happy to see Grandpa Jon. She gave him a big hug and he held her for awhile. He read her some books that he brought from home. One in paticular, called "I am four" is one from my childhood that brought back a few memories for me. It was a gift for Rachel when she turned four, but I read the book a lot when I was younger. Dave and I got dinner ready around 6:00. Violet polished off all her food (a few big pieces of ham, a big pile of rice, and broccoli) and even had two extra helpings of broccoli. She found independence with the stick of butter near her and her own knife, I'm sure she smeared butter on all her bites of broccoli before the bites hit her mouth. Either way...she got her veggies for the day. Then...THEN....FINALLY we got to eat the anticipated cake. She picked out four candles herself and stuck one in the cake (way too far) so I did the rest. We sang her happy birthday, she grinned from ear to ear, and blew out her candles in a few blows. Of course she wanted to eat the piece that had a stick figure drawing of her...which was huge. Dave cut her a piece and she only ate half of it. Calvin just sat in his chair during the meal...didn't eat or want anything. He had asked for oatmeal when he woke up from his nap and I let him have some since he's had such a picky appetite since being sick. He only wants oatmeal. I guess it isn't the worst thing to want, in fact its pretty healthy, but he refused anything else. I think Violet is the only healthy person in the family right now. Dave is feeling under the weather, I have a cold, and Calvin is getting over croup. Calvin didn't even want cake. Violet then made sure we were all done eating cake, and was super excited to open up all her presents. It went much like Christmas time a month ago. She was on a mission to open all the presents as quickly as possible, barely looking at each gift. She got most excited about a little outfit for her baby doll and wanted to dress her as soon as she opened it. She did inspect every gift after she opened them all. She got: -bendaroos -a huge cupcake pan to make huge cupcakes -a sparkly pink folder to put papers and drawings in -a card with $50 from Hardinger Great Grandparents -two sets of furniture for her Loving Family dollhouse -three shirts -a pink baseball bat and ball -Elmo tickle hands (Calvin got his own set too) -a pack of gum I may have missed something, but for now that is all I can remember. All in all she had a really great day. I thank God for her, she is a sweet little girl.