A Fourth Strawberry Celebration!

Lily loooooooovesssssssssssss  strawberries, so choosing a birthday theme this year was pretty simple for a summer party!

Finding a date for Lily's birthday party, however, has proven to be tough the last few years trying to work around Andrew's traveling, band camp, our friends' kids' birthday parties, and George's work schedule.  After a little rescheduling, we finally found an evening that worked and it was a go!

I decided I'd make supper for everyone and we'd celebrate with our favorite people with cake, yummy snacks, and hanging out after supper.  The kids played and the grown ups chatted into the evening.   Finding a recipe to make a big group happy isn't always easy, but it was a success! I made this delicious crockpot ravioli. It's one of my kids' favorites and easy! I also had English muffin pizzas available for the kids. Garlic bread and salad to complete our meal and I successfully made supper for 21 of us.  As one of the guys said, everyone "ate the hell out of that."

Our parties consist of good friends who are family, hanging out laughing, kids playing, and good food.  They're simple and we spend the time focusing on enjoying each other.  I love our people!

That simplicity doesn't stop me from making sure there are a handful of special details for each of my kids for their birthdays.  One thing I've always done is make their birthday cakes.  Some years they've been more elaborate than others. They last few have been been from scratch.  I have a favorite go-to chocolate cake that is always a hit, but this year, Lily asked for a pink cake, so I went searching for a strawberry cake recipe.

I made "4" cookies and jello jigglers, Lily's special birthday hat. There were lots of fresh strawberries to eat along with chips and dip, cheese and crackers.  We love snacks!

The girls played outside with chalk and on bikes and then inside with dolls and dress up dresses while the boys played outside with nerf guns and then inside playing video games.

The babies hung out and ate a lot.

We sang Happy Birthday to Lily {her 4th time this year} and she opened her presents while we ate cake and ice cream!

At the end of the day, my girl was happy to spend celebrating her birthday with her best friends and that makes me happy!

And that's a wrap on 4th birthday celebrations!

Cake & Presents for Four

Andrew came back from Tennessee and his visit to the beach with his dad's side of his family a few days after Lily's birthday and it was time for cake, ice cream, and presents with Lily.  She wanted to wait for him, so we did.  She also wanted a pink heart with purple sprinkles birthday cake, so she got just that.  Happy 4th birthday, Punky! 

She was very excited about her presents and I love how open she is about her excitement!
She got a Frozen sisters poster and tshirt she had seen when we were in a store once, some Disney Klip Klop princesses, and her very own Lego Friends sets. Her daddy picked out a special pink flashlight for her! She loves playing with his flashlights!

Andrew {with the help of his Dad}wrapped up his gift to her. He gave her a UniKitty Lego movie cup, a sweet little Tupperware tea set, and the "It's so fluffy!" unicorn that Andrew's dad crocheted! 

Lily loved all of it!

Lily's First Day!

It's time for Lily's 1st day of preschool!

Lily's school is 3 days a week for 6 hours and taking a lunch in a lunchbox is a definite high point for her! In preparation for school this year, we headed to Toys R Us for a Frozen lunchbox. The advantage of starting school later, all the backpacks and lunch boxes were on clearance! Score!  We found the very last Elsa and Anna lunch box!  And after careful consideration of all the choices, she picked a princess backpack.

Finally the morning was here! When she woke up, Lily started singing the Daniel Tiger  morning ritual song to get ready for school. "Clothes on, eat breakfast, brush teeth, put on shoes and off to school..." Though she wasn't happy with me that I made her eat breakfast before getting her clothes on.
She chose Fruit Loops to eat.

She picked out a pink dress {surprise surprise} to wear for her special day!

When we got to school, she was happy to find her new cubby and then begin her day. She proudly showed off her lunch box and new backpack before telling me it was time for me to leave! I'm so glad she loves it!

One of the things I love about her teacher is that she takes pictures in the moments at school that moms don't typically get to see and she shares them!  At home, we've been working with Lily to hold her pencils, crayons, markers correctly instead of in a fist, so I was happy to see that she was doing that yesterday! Now to get her to slide her hand down a little bit. ;)  Work in progress...

She had a great first day!

And because I love comparison pictures...
September 10, 2013 (pre-k 3) and September 8, 2014 (pre-k 4)

Here's to a great year, sweet girl!!