happy 4th brithday, madelyn!

the day madelyn has been waiting for has finally arrived - her birthday!  madelyn is so excited to be 4!  we have had some tears over the past week about not having a party (and not getting presents) but we talked through all her concerns and she was happy about everything by the time her big day arrived.

since madelyn and mason's birthdays are so close together we are going to celebrate them together on saturday, but we still wanted to make their actual birthdays special.

we had a small gift for madelyn in the morning - an ariel t-shirt.  and then we started her special, pre-planned, menu for the day.  for breakfast she chose cinnamon rolls. and "since [she is] a big girl now" she wanted to ice them herself.  of course, mason had to help too.

and then we got dressed to go to the moms group i attend.  it just so happened that their summer session started on her birthday and she was going to get to play with some other kids - sort of like a party.  the happy (and colorful) girl was kind enough to pose for a birthday picture.  she chose to stand up against the door so that i could see how tall she was - mason followed suit.

on our way to moms' group we stopped by wal-mart for madelyn to get one of her birthday presents - a rainbow pony.  matt and i decided to let the kids pick out their own gift(s) from us this year.  we are taking them both on saturday, but i wanted her to have something new to play with on her actual birthday.  (unfortunately, she lost the pony for some of the afternoon after choosing to bite her brother's hand and then lie about it while we were getting in the car.)

madelyn enjoyed going to the moms group.  we were all pretty hungry so we headed home for some pb&j (madelyn's choice).  additionally she picked out applesauce, string cheese, carrots and grapes (i was pretty impressed at the healthy choices because madelyn usually just goes for the carbs and sweets - unfortunately, just like mommy).

dinner was her easiest (and most surprising) choice.  she wanted wanchai ferry sweet and sour chicken.  this is something that we used to keep in the freezer for those times when there is very little time for dinner prep but then the kids started eating more and one bag isn't enough for the family.  now i use it as an occasional something special on nights when daddy golfs (because madelyn and i like chopsticks); the kids eat the sweet and sour chicken and i eat something else.  anyway, for her birthday i got two bags and we all ate with her!  (madelyn calls it "chicken with pink sauce and pineapple in it" and this is the only brand/recipe she likes.) 

as i started to prepare dinner madelyn reminded me that she is a big four-year-old now.  yes, that is right.  and now that she is a big four-year-old, she can help make her dinner.  she was quite delighted to stir the chicken in the pan but then decided that it was taking too long and i could do the rest while she played.

all day long madelyn had been insisting that you couldn't have a birthday without balloons.  "do you remember how in wisconsin we had balloons for my birthday?" "i think we need to get some balloons for my birthday."  "i need four balloons for my birthday.  because i am four."  and so on.  it was hard for me to keep it a secret that daddy was already planning on picking up balloons for her on his way home from work.  she was very excited when she watched him take them out of the car - but not as excited as i would have thought after all the talk during the day.

the birthday girl with her sweet and sour chicken dinner and birthday balloons.

now it was time for desert! (and she didn't even have to eat her vegetables first - because she is the birthday girl.  she will usually choose not to have desert instead of eating her vegetables.)  madelyn didn't want cake this year.  she wanted strawberry ice cream.  we ended up having cookies and cream with strawberry slices on top.  we just put the balloon candles in the ice cream.  the air vent in the kitchen kept blowing the candles out before i could get them to the table.  so we lit them again on the table and handed it to her.  she blew them out before we could sing or take a picture.  oh well.  and then she told us that her wish was to get a rainbow pony.

even though we asked both sets of grandparents not to send too many presents (because of our limited storage situation, maddux crawling and that they usually

send way too much), madelyn ended up with a pretty good pile of gifts.  even she said that her grandparents sent too much!  she opened her gifts and they quickly became added to her 'hoarding' baskets with her other toys. 

i think that she enjoyed her birthday even though she had been concerned about having a birthday without any friends to invite over.  the celebration will continue on saturday when we celebrate madelyn and mason's birthdays together on daddy's day off.  love.