Clara's Birthday

So Clara had a blast on her 4th birthday! She was very excited but also a little apprehensive about the big day, so I was glad when the day finally arrived.

We spent the day hanging out at home, playing and putting the cake together. Growing up, the design on the cake had always been a surprise for the birthday girl, but Clara (and Gracie) have always been adamant about wanting to ice their own cakes. Clara has been cooking and baking a lot with me lately, so I know she was really excited about helping.



We had made the (vanilla) cake in the morning, so when John Michael was napping, we just had to frost it. Clara decided on pink frosting (big surprise) and then she wanted sprinkles on top of that (blue and yellow) and finally, yellow icing for decorating. She was in charge of drawing the picture, but I had to push the plunger for the icing decorator. So she guided my hand around the cake to draw a big "person." A big head, with arms and legs coming directly off of that. We added some curly hair, her name and age around the edges and it was all done.

Mimi & Pap were able to come over that night, so Clara got an extra special party! We had artichokes and pot roast for dinner (her choices) and then opened presents.

Not everybody was as excited about the present opening ...


I think he was being told not to touch "sissee's" presents.


Very excited about this gift!

There seemed to be a mountain of things to open, but Clara made short work of them! And even let some "helpers" participate in the opening, too.



Arrrggghhh - that ribbon is on there tight! Good thing Gracie's got the scissors!


Then we finished up with cake, and Clara scrambled to play with as many of the toys as she could before it was bedtime.


She took a few minutes out from playing with her new 3D chalk to say goodbye to Mimi & Pap.

Bedtime wasn't even too terrible, thanks to Aunt Camille who made it special with those new Tinkerbell sheets. Just what was needed for a very, very tired 4 year old that night!