Birthday Celebration

Anna has been happily anticipating her birthday for weeks. So it was no surprise when she came into my bedroom just after 6 am ready to get the party started. To try and avoid waking the rest of the house, we snuck out for an early morning birthday errand.

We headed out to the only place I could think of that would be open at that hour, King Soopers. Luckily their flower/balloon counter opens at 7 am. We ordered balloons and then went off to pick out donuts for everyone. We also stopped at the in-house coffee shop and got hot chocolate.

Anna was adorable and took great care in picking out donuts she thought each person would like. While we drank hot cocoa she kept saying, "Oh, it's so great to be four years old." Love her.

Aren't her pajamas a crack up? Backward pants and huge t-shirt tucked in=priceless.

As soon as we got home the Balloon Party commenced with opening presents. (It was especially fun to have Grandma Marlene here for the big day. It made it so special for Anna. More on that later.) We have been telling Anna that for birthdays you only get a couple of small presents so that she wouldn't have grand expectations and be let down. So she was especially thrilled that with Grandma Black and Grandma Marlene's presents, in addition to ours, she had eight gifts to open. She counted them over and over and announced, "I am so lucky to have eight presents!"

She received from Grandma Black a digital camera key chain and a Tiana Barbie Doll. From Grandma Marlene a Calico Critter Bunny family and kitchen set.
From us she got a Calico Critter Kitty family and baby twins, a new dress (see b-day pics below) and the movie, Princess and the Frog.

Enjoying her pink star donut with sprinkles. (She picked out a matching yellow one for Isaac.)

We let Anna choose any restaurant she wanted for lunch. She really wanted to go to White Fence Farm but it was closed for lunch. Bummer. Second choice was Texas Roadhouse. I was a little surprised and asked why. She told me she likes to pretend she's an elephant and eat the peanuts there. Ha! Proof that if the kids are happy at dinner we pretty much ignore what they are doing. We've been there as a family a few times before and never noticed Anna doing this.

Grandma Marlene wanted to take Anna out to a movie in the afternoon and Anna happily agreed that would be a fantastic idea. I took the Buds back for a nap and Grandma, Jeff, and Anna made their way to see "How To Train Your Dragon." When they returned, Anna announced to me that it was good, but really short. Actually, she just fell asleep about 10 minutes in. Oops.

We finished the day with cake and candles and singing. It was really a lovely day.