Our Baby Turned Four

I'm sure that every year, on each of my children's birthdays, I will say something like this. But here I go: I cannot believe my baby is FOUR! Her birthday this year was a little bittersweet because although we had a great party, her daddy wasn't able to be there. He's deployed at the moment, and thankfully, this is the first birthday he's had to miss.

My little one started crying about Daddy being gone right after waking up that morning, but birthday pancakes, gifts, and a party with friends cheered her up. My children have come to expect sprinkle pancakes on their birthdays, along with balloons and decorations that magically appear overnight, so that's exactly what they got that morning. We open presents immediately after breakfast and that is solely due to the fact that we live overseas and all of our family won't be awake much longer on the other side of the world. So we called each family member, one by one, and let them watch as she opened their presents. It's a small way that we try to keep their presence in our children's lives, despite the distance.

First gift of the day! Notice her aunt propped up against the vase. :)

She loooved these bracelets.

And anything "My Little Pony" doesn't disappoint.

She has played with this "My Little Pony" wedding castle every day since opening it.

After debating for weeks, my little one finally decided on a Mulan-themed birthday party. So we decorated with lots of red and yellow (the colors of China), paper lanterns, fortune cookies, chopsticks, and I even made some rice-crispie-treat sushi. I wish I could tell you we had an amazing spread of Chinese food, but with my husband being gone, I went with homemade pizzas. Cheap and easy. Ha. We also invited her friends to wear kimonos if they had them. Lots of kids end up getting them while living in Japan.

Big sister's drawing of a Chinese pagoda made a nice addition to the party.

I had a couple of activities in mind for the kids to do, but if they weren't eating, they were playing together. And who wants to break that up? So us moms got to chat while the kids played, and after a little while, we started Mulan on the tv. Kids watched on and off and were welcome to stay as long as they wanted. Thing 2 seemed to have a great time and really enjoyed her birthday. Her last present of the day was two princess dresses that I had picked up on Halloween clearance and I told her that Daddy had picked them out for her. She and her sister have worn them every day and each time she talks to family on the phone, she tells them about the princess dresses her Daddy got her.

I wish he could have been here, but at least he can see photos. Thanks to all of our family and friends who helped make the day special for her. Love you all!