Happy 4th Birthday Princess Allyson!

So our baby girl turned four today! Both of the girls were so excited about the upcoming party. I broke my rule to never have another party at home and had her party at home. (The plan was to have it at a friend's house but she wanted to have it outside and I was afraid it might rain.)

Here is Allyson coming downstairs on the morning of her birthday. (You'll notice a Christmas tree in this video. Just to explain... it's decorated for fall. It's a "fall" tree!)

We had a princess party. Here is the little princess herself.

This is what greeted guests as they arrived. 

We kept the party in the girls' playroom so all of the decorating and food, etc., was in here. Britt was a huge help hanging the sparkly stars, balloons and plastic tablecloths (instead of streamers).

I had some pictures of Allyson's prior birthdays on display. There would have been more but the printer threw a fit the night before.  

We cleared a lot of the extra "stuff" out of the playroom and made the bookshelf a princess display and place to keep the guests' gifts. Instead of treat bags the girls received tiaras and wands (they decorated the wands elsewhere). The boys received knights helmets and swords. 

We did peanut butter & jelly "star-shaped" sandwiches, grapes and carrots along with chocolate dipped strawberries (with pink and white sparkles). There was a lime/cherry 7-up punch. The wands for the girls are also in this picture.

All (or most) of the kids dressed up as a princess. Nicole wanted to dress up as Ariel.

The girls with Allyson's friend, Brooklyn, from preschool.

And then there's Zion. He came in camoflauge, complete with a toy bow & arrow. He was thrilled to add a knight's helmet and sword to his gear. Here's our knight in shining "camouflage" armor riding a "brown" horse...

L-R: Holland, Darcy, Essie (Esther)

Zion makes Nicole laugh

Nicole, Max and Zion

Who's the clown?

America. One of Nicole's best friends.

America and her brother, Max

After eating we played "Kiss the Frog." This is the same game we played for Nicole's 3rd "princess & pirates" birthday party. (The one where I swore I'd never have a party at home again...) Britt is amazing. He just finds a picture of a frog on the internet and freehand draws the picture onto a piece of poster board. The girls helped him color it.

After "Kiss the Frog" it was bounce house time! Our friends recently bought a castle bounce house with the intention of renting it out for birthday parties. Fortunately we are close enough friends they just let us use it! Now, we've seen it in their back yard before but it just didn't do justice to how big this thing really is. It's as tall as our house! 

View of the bounce house from my 2nd story bedroom!

Some of the kids took a break from bouncing to check out Zion's bow & arrow. Here he's giving Allyson a private lesson. (No worries. Britt has his eye on this guy. Lol)

A friend of ours normally makes the girls' birthday cakes. Unfortunately she wasn't able to this year. So, I had the crazy idea to make a princess cake on my own. As I was decorating it I thought we would be making a run to the grocery store to get another cake. But Britt and the girls loved it. So we went with this Mommy-version of a Cinderella cake. Everything was great until it was time to cut the cake. See, I had pinned some pink ribbon as her bodice. But, since she was in the cake, little Cinderella was naked from the waist down. Didn't think about that when I pulled her out before cutting the cake. So... we had a naked lady pop out of Allyson's birthday cake! 

Allyson really enjoyed her cake and ice cream!

After cake and ice cream it was finally time to open gifts! We sat Allyson down on the stage Daddy built for her. The mirrors behind show the kids watching. Very closely.

Oh... the moment we've been waiting for finally arrives!

Oh my gosh. Present time is absolute CHAOS! The kids crowd, Allyson just wants to open, tissue paper goes everywhere and Mom has no stinking clue who gave what. Here's just a sample of what that was like. At the end she opens one of Papa & Grandma Sedenko's gifts. It's her favorite movie, Aristocats. She is speechless with happiness for a moment and then performs a snippet of one of the movie's songs, "Everybody likes to be a cat."

Here Allyson opens the second gift from Papa & Grandma Sedenko: a Rapunzel (or Tangled) barbie. Her guests were just as excited about that as Allyson!

And we saved the "big" gift for last. With a little extra from mom & dad we used money from PaPa and Nana to buy a Cinderella bike complete with tassels, bell and Cinderella carriage for her to carry baby dolls in. Unfortunately, the night before her birthday, when Britt went to put the thing together, we realized the idiot company didn't send the seat! Not to mention the bell... that was missing too! 

Britt was really determined she would have a bike on her birthday. He went to Wal Mart to buy a seat but they didn't have one that would fit. He still didn't give up. He was smart enough to think of taking the seat of Nicole's old bike and putting it on this one. Since it was a princess seat, it worked perfectly! The company is sending the correct seat and bell (and giving me a partial refund because I told them they almost ruined my kid's birthday gift from her Papa & Nana!). But, Daddy saved the day on this one.

I was a little shocked by her lack of response as Britt rolled the bike into the room. I think it took a minute for it to register. Then she suddenly jumps up and says, "Bike!" She's still figuring out the pedaling but really loves it!

You can't really tell in this picture but America had just given Allyson a gift. Due to a miscommunication between their parents, they hadn't gotten the message about the party until that morning. Without time to buy a gift, America gave Allyson some of her own money. Britt wouldn't let her give more than a dollar. In this picture, Allyson is putting the money in the "trunk" of her bike's baby carriage.

Bye to Brooklyn!

Aunt Becky (my mom's cousin) is always a guest of honor at our girls' birthday parties. It means a lot to me to have some family there. Aunt Becky has been an educator all of her life. She has headed the education department at Evangel University for umpteen years. She's been a great resource when we were choosing schools and evaluating teachers for Nicole and Allyson. What's more, she always brings the girls the greatest educational gifts and always gives a book that becomes a new favorite. I look forward to her reading the book on their birthdays every year. This year Allyson received Goldilocks and the Three Bears. 

(The next morning we read the book together and made porridge for breakfast. Nicole loved it and said, "I can see why Baby Bear loved porridge! lol)

The other kids started to join Becky and Allyson on the couch, wanting to her the story, too.

The party ended at 1:30. Darcy and Holland along with their mom, Sarah, stayed after the party so the girls could enjoy watching Aristocats together. After they left, Dad took Allyson out for some bike practice while I took a much-needed nap. (Dad took his nap during the movie.) 

Then, because we still had some hours left to party, we decided to go to Incredible Pizza! I took the opportunity to let last year's birthday outfit get worn again.

Allyson got to spin the birthday wheel. Unfortunately, she won a round of miniature golf. Not very useful for a four-year-old (I know, Papa Davis would not agree.)

Fortunately, she got to spin it again. (We traded those 50 tickets in for a free attraction in the game room.)

After stuffing ourselves it was time to play! Nicole desperately wanted to ride the go-karts when she found out she's tall enough to drive one on her own. (I know... hard to believe!)

Allyson rode with Daddy. 

Nicole's car broke down just as she was about to win. Because her car died, I asked if we could try again and they let us. This time she won! (Of course, Mommy had to shut out a little punk who was trying to bumper-car his way to the front. A little "coaxing" of his car into the wall where he could only barely move was just the trick. Ha!) Nicole was SOOO excited to get this ribbon! 

After go-Karts we did our traditional "Deal or No Deal" game. We, of course, chose case #4 and ended up winning 50 tickets! (Pretty good as we usually get like 3 or 4, lol).

When we got home the girls begged for one more piece of cake. We took the opportunity to let Allyson practice telling us how old she is now.

Then it was bedtime. I noticed Nicole's ribbon was already hung on her wall.

We let the girls sleep together in a tent that night.

Before they went to sleep, I wanted to read, once again, the very special card from Nana & PaPa. When I first read it, I laughed because it seemed to fit Allyson perfectly. But what made this card the most special was the personalized note inside. I will save this one in her baby book!  

Allyson fell asleep a very happy four-year-old, clutching her beloved Rapunzel doll from Papa & Grandma.

I know this is a very long post. I made it very detailed so you could feel as if you were there. With every video and picture I took, I was thinking of our family and wanting to share these moments with you. We  wish you could be here in person. I hope this is the next best thing. Thanks for making our little girl so happy on her birthday!