Lyla turns FOUR!

 Lyla girl turned FOUR on September 8th! 

I had a bunch of contractions the night before her birthday and prayed so hard the baby would stay in there one more day so I wouldn't miss celebrating Lyla on her special day. So grateful those prayers were heard!

We started her the day with our birthday tradition of a stack of old fashioned donuts and a sparkler candle. I loved watching her reaction shift from shy to beaming over being the center of attention as we all sang "Happy Birthday" to her! I truly think it was one of her favorite parts about her day.

Luckily it was late start Wednesday for Liam so we had enough time to let her open her presents before he had to leave on the bus. Pretty sure this was her second favorite part about her special day. ;)

The thing she wanted most was a pink light up scooter! How cute is her reaction as she opened it?!

Some of my favorite things about 4 year old Lyla ...

She is my best helper and says every day, "I'm going to help mom throw away the stinky diapers." haha

She wraps her arms around my neck at bedtime and squeezes tight.

She loves to ride her bike and her scooter around the neighborhood. 

She is incredibly friendly and says "hi" to anyone she passes.

She knows all of her colors, can count to 20, and can write her name.

She is so independent and wants to do everything herself.

Her smile still lights up her whole face just like it has since she was a baby.

She saves every single piece of mail, receipt, magazine, and paper she can find and calls it "her work". haha (a.k.a. she won't throw anything away, that part is not as endearing for someone like me who is the opposite of a pack rat/hoarder/collector at heart).

She loves filling bags, purses, boxes, and suitcases full of toys and carting them around with her wherever she goes. 

She loves playing house and school just like I did when I was her age.

She loves stuffed animals and playing dress up. 

She's loves to wear pink from head to toe but is a tomboy at heart and is always in a pair of tennis shoes over anything else. 

I couldn't not love this four year old more!!!

My favorite picture from her special day <3

She is so silly and always knows how to make me laugh!

She got to go to her favorite place on her birthday ... preschool! She wore a birthday crown, shared treats with her friends, and invited me to come visit and help her share her VIP poster with her class. 

Then she rode her scooter until the sun went down!

Happy Birthday Lyla! We love you so much!!

A Magical Birthday Party For Lyla

If you know our Lyla, she sprinkles a little magic wherever she goes! There is something about her that is so electric, fun, silly, contagious, and joyful that a magical birthday party seemed like the perfect fit. I saw that "She is magic that one" banner, knew it would be perfect for her room, and used it as my inspiration for her whole party. We kept it really small last minute due to traveling family and trying to be as safe as possible with Covid exposure right before baby's arrival so it was just my mom and our sweet little neighbor girls that came. 

The thing that was so fun to watch was how special Lyla felt the whole day ... like when I put this "Birthday Girl" banner on her. <3

We surprised her with a bounce house rental and she was in total heaven and LOVED it!! So many adorable giggles happened in there ...

The giant slide was the favorite part!

Her only request was a rainbow cake like her first birthday. So sweet! Who doesn't love a funfetti cake with rainbow chip frosting?!

She both acted shy and soaked in the attention when we sang "Happy Birthday" to her!

I was so happy with how the cake turned out with my little experience in baking them myself. Typically I order cakes for my kids' parties. But really, you can't go wrong with a boxed cake mix ... it was more the leveling, coloring, and frosting part that intimidated me. How fun is the inside though?!

The cake was a BIG hit ...

Opening presents ... she has played with a baking playdo set that she got from her friends all weekend!

We saved most of her presents for this week so she could open them on her actual birthday but something that has been such a fun tradition for me as her mom is gifting her one of my dolls from my childhood each birthday. This year I gave her "Scott". I always loved him because he looks and feels like a real baby so I was hoping it would be special for her right before she has a new sibling come along. The hilarious part for Nic and I was that she kept calling him a baby girl despite the fact that he is in blue ... she is still very much convinced that her sibling is going to be a sister just like this baby girl doll. haha

I made them all magic wands ...

Liam thought they were cool for a minute but then pulled out his true Harry Potter wand. ;)

My mom got her this adorable coat for winter and a pretend princess laptop that she has carted everywhere so she can "do her work just like dad!" ;) So cute!

Also wearing her favorite twirl dress to celebrate!

We loved spoiling this beautiful girl and can't wait to continue the celebration on Wednesday when our baby turns FOUR! 

4th of July 2021

 The 4th of July this year was equally as hot as the entire month before it. It meant no afternoon bike parade this year and as much water as possible! We snapped a quick family picture before heading to Josh and Nicole's for a family bbq and apparently Nic's genes really do run strong in this family ... haha the triplet eye squint!

I tried a new recipe and made watermelon lime slushies to cool us off during the day. They were so yummy! I have the perfect shelf these days to set mine on too. ;)

We brought red, white, and blue water balloons to the family bbq for all the cousins and they had two pools set up for the kids to cool off in. If I hadn't stayed inside most of the time, I would have jumped in there with them! 

Matthew, so proud of his water balloon!

These two were cracking me up the whole night. They either had a snack bowl full of chips they were sharing or scavenging for other people's water bottles to backwash into. haha

Pa gave them all a challenge to see who could pick up the most water balloons and that person would get a dollar. Grams footed the bill. ;)

My poor dad tripped over a park bench backwards that morning so he was hurting pretty bad. I wanted to be out of the heat so him and I hung out on the couch together most of the night! We'd occasionally have visitors who wanted to join the party and the festive glasses came out.

We were grateful to Josh for being the bbq master and feeding us all! You should have seen what he was wearing! I didn't end up with a picture of it but it was a pair of flag shorts overalls with nothing underneath them and a handlebar mustache. hahaha It was a sight to behold!

My sister-in-law pulled out my niece's tooth while we were there and we all started encouraging Liam to let her do the same. He has hung on to this front tooth he hit on my mom's couch back at Christmas time and refuses to let anyone touch it. I had scheduled an appointment to take him to the dentist a few days after the 4th because the adult tooth was coming in front of it but after a night of trying to gain his trust and many attempts, he let his auntie pull it out right before we left! Two days later, the other front tooth was hanging by a thread too so I convinced him while he was distracted watching a movie to let me try the dental floss trick and it popped it right out! The cutest toothless grin and a very busy tooth fairy!  

After we got home from the bbq, we did a few fireworks as a family in front of our driveway.

We let them take turns choosing which firework to hand dad next but Lyla always had a whole lineup in her arms ready to go!

They felt like they were missing out by not getting to help light them so safety dad let them each have a turn ...

He saved the best for last (the dragon one).

Then we had some fun with sparklers! Only one moment of tears at the very end when Lyla touched a hot part while trying to throw it in the bucket of water. Nothing got burned but it was still a stressful moment.

Baby, you're a firework! #29weeks

We let the kids stay up past dark to see a few of the big ones and then everyone (including Nic and I) crashed long before the sounds disappeared into the night sky. Can't believe we'll have another member of our family when we celebrate this holiday next year!