Charlotte's 4th birthday

Happy birthday, Charlotte!  I really can't believe you are 4!  But it's true, and we had a party to prove it.

On Charlotte's actual birthday, it was just a family morning celebration.  She got a few small presents, a "birthday throne" (Game of Thrones style), and birthday cake pancakes, which have become a tradition here.  I'll tell you one thing that won't become a tradition - a roomful of balloons.  I put them in there while the girls were sleeping, and when she woke up, Charlotte was afraid of them! She refused to step out of bed.  We had to carry her over the  balloons!

She cheered up quickly, though, when she saw the set-up downstairs. She opened presents first.  She even let Paige help her open one.  Then she and I made the pancakes together.

More presents.  This Elsa dress has been worn about 70% of the days since her birthday.  No exaggeration. And it's only about 70% because we didn't take it with us for the holidays!

She also got two dragons, Toothless and the Angry Nightmare.  Both girls loved them.  They ran around playing while the pancakes cooked.  When they were done, the dragons stayed right next to their plates.

Random Jacob shot.  He hung out with Daddy for most of the breakfast celebration.

Can you tell they were excited to eat the pancakes?  They both really enjoyed them!

After Daddy left for work, both girls went back to Charlotte's room to play with the balloons.  I guess with Paige by her side, Charlotte was feeling a bit more courageous.

The following day, we had Charlotte's birthday party.  She had requested a Pirate Pinata party, so that is exactly what she got.  (In fact, she had been saying since Paige's party she was going to have a pirate party.  She never changed her mind.)  She decided to be Elsa for the party, so really it was a Princess Pirate Pinata party.

The pirate ship. 

We had to do her pinata inside since it rained the night before and during the party and was really cold out, so Koby and I held up the pinata on a hoe and braved 4 year olds swinging a wooden pole.  Very scary!  In the end, the pinata was too tough.  No one could even dent it!  So after a few go-arounds, we just set it down, pulled it apart with our hands, and threw candy and toys around the living room. 

This is the pirate tunnel they painted.  Gotta have something for a house full of young boys to run through!  Oh, did I not mention that?  Every single kid invited was male, with the one exception of a younger (18 month old) sister. What can I say, those are her friends!

So Koby lit the candles, but Charlotte didn't wait for us to sing to her, she just immediately blew them out.  He lit them again after telling her to wait.  She stood there, looking so pleased, licking away at her Ring Pop while we sang, then tried to blow out the candles again, only one wouldn't go out!  It kept on through 5 or 6 vigorous blows, until finally Koby lifted her up.  Then strawberry cake with chocolate icing, as requested, was enjoyed by all.