Happy Fourth Birthday, Sweet Sofia!

Seriously how has it been four years?  How is my baby girl growing up so fast?  I know I'm not the first parent to feel this way but my heart aches and swells at the same time as I watch her grow. On one hand, she is such a little person now and I love that she and I can just "hang out" and have conversations.  On the other hand, I miss being able to cradle her to sleep in my arms and all the other baby things I sometimes miss.  Let's be honest, I still try to cradle her in my arms.  The great thing is, she still lets me :) Oh, and the things she says. . . today she was looking at wedding pictures and asked "Mom, who babysitted me when you and Daddy got married?" I mean . . .she's just such a joy to be around.  I feel truly blessed.

So, this year we wavered on throwing her a party.  It's just been a crazy year but we've realized that's probably how it's going to be from here on out so we said what the heck.  And since it's the first year she's truly CARED about having a party, we decided kind of last minute to go for it. She has been talking about her birthday party for like the past two months so we kind of had to do it! She's obsessed with the movie Frozen (as am I) so it was a no-brainer.  We kind of had to home grow this party because all the Frozen "stuff" at the store is totally sold out.  It turned out great and I know she had a great time having all her little friends over.  Every time a new friend would arrive she would yell "It's my birthday, and I'm Elsa!" (We made her a dress to look just like Elsa from the movie that she obviously loved.)

It was a super crazy busy day!  Luckily we had help all weekend from my mom, Roxanne and Martine with party prep!  The day of the party, I took the kids to church so Mike could get the yard ready.  Then, I dropped the kids off at my parents' house (so they could hang out with their BFF Martine one more time) while I got the cake and balloons.  We then sped home to feed the kids lunch, get Sofia to soccer practice and Gabe down for a nap. . . whew.  Then 4:00 came way too soon and it was party time.  I'd say a successful party overall, we all had a great time.  Not only was it great for the kids to have all these friends here, but fun for us to see our friends too.  Although, it's never enough time to catch up with everyone!

A close up of some of the "party table"

 My favorite decoration, ha :) 

 Her cake

Queen Elsa

 The swingset we got the kids for both of their birthdays (since Gabe's is only three weeks away)

 Sof and some of her friends hanging out watching Frozen

Mike made snowflakes :) and I bought some

 Pin the nose on Olaf

 I love this picture for some reason.  Look at that happy smile :)

 Singing Happy Birthday

 Cake time

 Mike and I were slightly worried about judgement from other parents about our non parenting of Gabe during the party!  We pretty much did not watch Gabe at all b/c we were both so busy . . . and he loved it.  He walked around barefooted and a hot mess the entire time and I've never seen him happier.  This pictures below pretty much tells the story.  

 After everyone left, we opened presents  as a family.  Luckily Grandma thought to give Gabe a gift for when Sofia was opening.  He got tons of new matchbox cars that have kept him busy ever since.