Lillian's Birthday

My Lillian just turned 4. Where has the time gone? Look how much she has grown in just 4 short years. I can't believe I have a 4 year old! Lillian is such a sweet little girl. She is so sensitive and kind. She is a wonderful older sister to Isabelle. She has so much patience with her and she teaches her with such care. She loves to learn and is constantly asking questions. I am amazed at the things she asks about and the things she remembers. She is such a little girl and I love that. She loves to sing and dance. She comes up with the funniest songs. She is so much fun! I thoroughly enjoy being around my daughters. I am so lucky to have them.

Lillian has been planning her birthday since like November. This day and her party were very important to her. One day in the car she said, 'Mom, let's talk about my birthday." She planned everything including the plates and cups.

Lillian's favorite books are the Fancy Nancy books so we decided to go with a Fancy Nancy theme. On the invitation it instructed the guests to wear their fanciest clothes. The guests did not disappoint their were adorable and very fancy.

They each got a name tag that said, "Bonjour, My Name Is..." because Fancy Nancy loves French. Then they came in and colored Fancy Nancy.

Fancy Nancy prides herself on making things fancier than they really are. So we took plain canvas purses and made them fancier. The two boys were very good sports and they decorated buckets instead of purses.

It was so fun to see how the kids tapped into their creative side. Their bags looked fabulous! That is the one thing about kids this age, they aren't worried about conforming and they just do what makes them happy.
I was so lucky to have Kevin, Melissa, and my good friend Betsy, help me out with the party. It would have been impossible without their help!

After purses we got some wiggles out with a great game of freeze dance.
Lillian loves the ABBA song, Mama Mia, so that's what they danced to. Look at those moves!
According to Kevin, and I have to agree, a birthday party isn't complete without a pinata. Since one of Fancy Nancy's books is, 'Bonjour Butterfly', we had a butterfly pinata.
The kids were really good about trying to be orderly and stay in the line, but it is really hard when there is the possibility of candy falling at any moment.

Kids this age have a hard time hitting a pinata with the force it takes to break it open. Kevin, seeing this, took a few good hits himself to try and break it open a little. You should have seen the look on those kids faces. They were horrified! They were like, 'what is he doing?!" Thankfully he hit it pretty well or we would have been there all day waiting for the candy to fall.

After the pinata it was time for the presents.
After presents it was time for cupcakes. Lillian was very insistent on chocolate cake with chocolate frosting with a real strawberry on top. It was very fancy and very delicious.
After the Fancy Nancy party we had a party with my family. It was a full day of birthday celebrations for Lillian.
For dinner Lillian wanted Shrimp Fettuccine Alfredo and Blueberry Cheesecake for her birthday cake. Doesn't she have great taste? Thanks to Courtney's awesome Alfredo recipe the dinner was a success.