Claire's 4th Birthday

Birthday

Chris and I did some very special fun Pintresty things to make Claire's birthday extra fun that she loved and said thank you for over and over. I measured and mapped out a rainbow maze, moved the couch and rug, cleaned it, then Chris and I used colored tape to complete it in our living room when they were asleep. Chris had the awesome idea to spread out the alphabet letters through out the maze so they can find them and go through the maze and learn. For the morning we taped up some balloons to their door so when they woke up and opened the door they all fell in and surprised them. We were so excited to make her life magical since she has blessed us with such wonderful times being parents.

Preparations

The party planning was so fun for me because I was excited to make it a fun party for Claire and her friends. I mentioned the banner last week that has been up for a while, but I also worked on the rainbow cupcakes with food coloring in the batter and frosting. I bought and cut up fruits and snacks in the colors of the rainbow including strawberries, Nilla wafers, mango, green grapes and kiwi, blue fruit dip, and purple grapes and put them in matching bowls. Made a punch piñata box with treats and prizes inside each cup as the main game of the party, but also bought white gift bags to color as another activity that will hold their winnings and party favors. 

Party

Although I invited a lot of friends, only one was able to come and it was a small party. Shay was excited that he brought a mom friend to play with and Claire was excited he brought a car she could play with. They started with playing with the balloons and showing off their maze while the pizza was cooking, then we all enjoyed food and sang Claire happy birthday so we could eat the cupcakes. We colored the party bags and I brought out a bunch of stickers they could use to decorate their bags, then punched out the piñata cups to fill their bags. It was a little out of control but since there were only three kids they tried to all go at once and get all the prizes and candy. We opened presents next and then played with the presents! There were bubbles, puzzles, play dough, and a spelling game that entertained them for the rest of the time. When their friend went home, we looked at the other gifts and practiced writing in her new preschool practice book, dipped into the sidewalk chalk, and came back in because it was too hot outside and looked through her new hair clips instead.

Claire

She now says "I'm four" when asked instead of she will be four because we kept correcting her, and she gets so happy when someone tells her happy birthday. All week she kept asking when her friends were going to come over for her birthday and I would show her the calendar to explain what Saturday is and how many days were left. We had a lot of deliveries this week and every time she wanted to see inside and I had to hide it from her and tell her it had to wait until her party. When I was moving our couch around she came up with a puppet game and used some figures to put on a show for us that didn't have any premise but was adorable anyway! She posed for her picture to show off her new PJs like a bug I guess and wore her new dress to church today too.

Shay

She has had just as much fun with all this birthday fun as Claire except when she couldn't also open presents when Claire was. She gets to play with all the same presents, but not being able to unwrap them was painful for her especially when I was trying to get videos to send 'thank you's to the family that sent them. My sweet girl doesn't know how to not have attention on both of them together since all she knows is how much we love them both! One Sunday morning Claire and Shay took a bath to wet their hair after breakfast and we used Claire's new hair curlers to get some pretty waves. I love my sweet girls so much!

Visit

We had our first out of state visitors come stay the night on their way to see Redwood National Park and they brought their dog with them. The girls were so excited for a fury friend and sad that they only stayed one night, but Chris and I enjoyed the girls going to bed early because of their busy day. We were able to play a game and catch up with family we don't get to see that often! I had cleaned out my previously called sewing room to become the guest room, and now we are ready for my mom who is coming to visit next week, too! Such an exciting time August has been, and now we prepare for another visit and another birthday next week.