the big 4!

waaaaayyyy back on march 18,

my beautiful little caroline turned 4!

(told you i'm a horrible blogger... but i'm an even worse scrapbooker, so this is all we'll have to remember this party!)

i would say it's hard to believe that she's already 4...

i would say that i can't understand how the time went so quickly...

i'd say she's growing up so fast...

but really?

it feels like 4 years.

at least!

i LOVE caroline.

and i LOVE being a mother.

but it's not like the years just rush past while we pick daisies in the sunshine and gaze happily at our lovely children.

we've had our share of tantrums & screaming fits.

we've had our puddles of urine & other bodily fluids.

we've had plenty of concerns & worries along the last 4 years.

would i trade it for anything else?

nope.

she's amazing.

beautiful inside & out.

i LOVE this stage of her life, and as she learns to interact with us & with the world as a person (and not a baby), i'm looking forward to getting to know her better all the time.

so the birthday party?

what else:

A Fairy Princess Tea Party!

(she wanted mermaids, too, but i had to draw the line somewhere!)

here's the invitations (from Hobby Lobby):

and the poem i wrote for the back of the invite...

my favorite thing about the invitations is that it assumes that i'm the queen... it's good to be queen, i'll give you that! : )

on her birthday morning, we had the traditional cinnamon rolls for breakfast & a mini-celebration with just the 4 of us.

(she likes sitting in the booster seat still... no complaints from me!)

opening a few small presents... she got lots of princess dolls, which gave her GREAT JOY!

(and this is the only picture i can put online because she chose nakedness as her birthday outfit)

we let julia play with some balloons so she wouldn't feel left out... she thought that was fantastic!

then we got ready for the actual birthday party!

once the girls hit age 3, we begin inviting one friend per year that we're celebrating.

so caroline got to choose 4 friends from school and church, and she could NOT stop talking about them as we got ready for the party! she knew where they should sit, what they should eat, what they should play with... super cute!

we made princess wands as our main activity- 2 per girl.

everything was from Hobby Lobby- inexpensive & fun!

i would say that i went way overboard on the decorations, but we've used all of that stuff up making art projects & crafts since the party. we love sparkles!

and by we, i mean caroline...

i painted the 'wands' white so they would show the pastel colors better.

the dining room- all ready for the party!

the birthday banner- we use this one every year.

it's just watercolor stencils on postcard size paper, then a grosgrain ribbon in coordinating colors strung through the letters.

each girl got some tacky plastic princess stuff... i mean, they got their own place setting of princess jewels & fairy princess napkins to wipe their hands.the candy necklaces were a gift to caroline from her grandma- my mom. they were a BIG hit with the girls, and they added at least 10 minutes of happiness to the party!

i use these floral 'splat mats' for everything... table cloths, floor covers for art projects, picnic blankets. love them!

julia was not impressed with the decor, but she did continually try to choke herself with a balloon string!

caroline waiting for her guests to arrive...

i was SO busy helping the girls with their wands that i didn't get pictures of them creating them! we have some video, though- it's really cute!

the finished product:

this is snack time- popcorn, grapes, lemonade and then the birthday cupcakes.

the cupcakes were really simple this year... no crazy towers or ice cream cones!

white chocolate cake with pink vanilla icing- beautiful & really yummy.

happy birthday, my beautiful 4 year old!

we love you more every day!