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!

July 24, 2014

We like to do something special on actual birthday days even though a party is planned for another day, so when Lily's actual birthday rolled around we knew we'd be celebrating our girl then too!

We continued our tradition of taking Lily to a bakery to pick out a special cupcake--which is one of my favorites! We tried a new bakery this year and although the first time we attempted to go, they weren't open yet, we did make it back and had success!

First, we had a playdate with some of our best friends at a new-to-all-of-us park though!  The day was beautiful! It had started off with a little bit cooler weather which seemed to be par for the summer this year. The sun came out and it warmed up. In fact, at times it was hot with no cloud cover and no breeze. We all brought lunch and found a picnic table to eat before the kids played in the sand, on swings, the big boys rode skateboards, and the moms got to hang with the babies and chat.  It was a perfect afternoon!

 
After the park, we headed back to the bakery!  Lily picked a special chocolate cupcake that had a cherry on top!  She wanted to sit outside on the bench to eat it while I snapped some pictures.

 Violet was worn out after the park, so she fell asleep contemplating.

We headed home and the girls took a nap! Lily decided that she wanted to eat at Eat 'n Park for her birthday dinner this year!  It was Violet's first time to sit in a highchair at a restaurant too.

One of the best parts of having a summer birthday and 2 days after her daddy's birthday that Lily loves is going to a local ice cream shop! We always go on George's birthday {and many other times} and for some reason Lily decided that ice cream shop is called "Daddy's Birthday!"  So, after supper, we headed to "Daddy's Birthday" for ice cream.  She chooses a teeny vanilla cone with rainbow sprinkles every time!

Lily decided that she wanted to wait the couple days until Andrew got home from the beach to have her cake and open her presents!  She is a very empathetic girl and cares about how her family and friends are feeling or if they're included, so this didn't really surprise me. I love this about her!  

It was a happy 4th birthday for our Punky Pie!