Janey Beth is FOUR

 Our Janey Beth is FOUR today.

She is too precious.

Before I had children, when I thought of what it would be like to have a little girl, it was Jane I was thinking of.  To a tee.  She is sweet, girly, and extraordinarily loving.  She loves ballet, frilly dresses, crafts of all sorts, beauty, and bedtime stories.  I tell her all the time that my favorite thing about her is how her heart is so full of love, and indeed, it is.  She is affectionate and loves physical affection, in return.  And she loves to care for things, whether it's by making a nest of all her bedding to sleep in (she is the mama bird, and all her stuffed animals and dolls are the baby birds), or dressing a doll or brushing its hair.

 But there are also things about Jane that I did not imagine in my little girl.  Like how zany she can be.

Or how she can be so emotional and unreasonable from time to time, or how she can work herself into a little snit and get in trouble for being rude and angry.  Or what an independent thinker she sometimes is.  But it makes me glad that she's got a touch of sauciness--I wouldn't want her to be so sweet she gets trampled on in life.  A little tang will help her along, I think . . . as long as she can hold it in check. :)

 This afternoon, she had her regular ballet lesson,

 and then after we went home and had dinner and cupcakes (she said that of all the dinners in the world, she wanted sandwiches--well, okay then, birthday girl!), we surprised her and took her to Build a Bear, where she's been longing to go for a long time.  This is the friend she built:

 Actually, I hate the My Little Pony cartoon.  It's inane, I don't think the animation is pretty, and the voices drive me up the wall.  But she loved this purple pony--in fact, she had eyes for nothing else--so purple pony, it is.

And we let Noah get something, too.  He chose a pretty basic bear, but he got a Yoda costume for it.  (He is REALLY into Star Wars.)  It is awesome.  I like Yoda way better than the purple pony, but don't tell Jane.

After we left Build a Bear, we dipped into the Disney store for what we all thought would be a quick look around.  But I ended up buying Jane some "glass" slippers, and my mom bought her a Merida dress.  Both are very awesome.

And so ended an epic day.  I have one wonderful four year old.  She is a blessing to our family, and we love her lots and lots and lots.

A Couple of Birthdays

 A few more pictures from sweet Clara's birthday party:

Grandma and the birthday girl.

Our dining room, outfitted with a garland of photos from Clara's first year and snacks that went with the Peter Rabbit/garden theme.

When both the cakes you make fall to pieces, all you can do is throw some grapes on top and hope it looks pretty.

 

 

 Friends!

Sweet cake eater.  Oh, and that hair!

The best thing about Clara these days is that she is a great hugger.

 It's not the typical fleeting baby hug; she pulls you in tightly and holds on for a good five or ten seconds.  It's marvelous.

 Clarabelle is a delight.  We love her lots.

~

 A week later was my birthday.

The card Nathan gave me, referencing my two gifts, cracked me up!

 For dinner, we went to a nice restaurant, which is also a plant nursery (Tiny Boxwoods, for you Houstonians).

It was really nice that we had some family along.

Matthew,

Andrew,

and Emily.

Cute couple.

 I recommend the sangria.

It is wonderful, as you can see.

We were seated outside, at a picnic table.  I really like this restaurant, because the food is really nice and upscale, but the atmosphere is unfussy and relaxing.

Our group.

 We stayed a nice, long time and chatted until after dark.

And after we went home, we ended the night with--what else?--a board game.

 Happy birthdays, both!

Progression of a Photo Gone Wrong

At Clara's birthday party, I tried to get a picture of all three of my kids.  I set my camera for continual shooting, pressed the shutter button, and held it down while several adults and I tried in vain to get all three kids to 1. sit still, 2. sit near one another, and 3. look at the camera.  The progression of how it just all falls apart (thanks mostly to Clara) made me laugh, so I thought I'd post it.

 

 

 

Clara's First Birthday!

Clara turned 1 today!  

Can you believe that this is the messiest she got while eating her first piece of cake?

She's a tidy little girl.

She's 1!

She had a happy time.

Sweet little face.

We love you ever so much, Clara.

We can't wait to see what the next year will bring.

My Janey Turned Three

My Jane Elisabeth is three years old.

 She had a princess party.

And she got a new princess dress, which she loved because it's a Cinderella dress.

(All her other princess dresses--which she wears daily--look more like Cinderella's clothes before the fairy godmother showed up.  They're just worn to tatters.)
Also, from time to time, she feels distressed that her princess dresses do not reach the ground.  It's just part of being so tall that none of them do, and it truly makes her sad.  But this dress does reach the ground!  Joy!

 She was so precious that day.  And so excited!

 I didn't end up with pictures of all the decorations, but my goal was that our house looked like a pink bomb went off inside.  We had pink streamers hanging from the ceiling, pink tissue paper flowers, real pink flowers, a pink castle, pink wrapping paper, and so on.

Even a pink princess cake.

Actually, folks, this cake was a pink Cinderella ballerina cake.  Now, there is not a single thing that would suit Janey more.

Janey and me.

(Did I mention that everyone got to wear a crown?)

We played a game called "Sleeping Lions" that I read about in this book, and, let's be honest, it's pretty awesome when you can get a bunch of rowdy preschoolers to play a quiet game.  Next time there might be some rule-tweaking, but hey, it was fun.

The party went well, but the gift opening was crazy.  We do have some friends who don't open gifts at the party, but I want my kids to practice gratitude, and I know the gift givers want to see the child's reaction when they open their gift, so I like to open presents during the party.  But just to make sure everything went well, I took Jane aside in a quiet room and talked to her about opening her gifts: "Jane, the reason we open gifts while people are here is so that you can look everyone in their eyes and say thank you.  Do not forget to thank everyone for the gift they brought.  Look at their eyes when you say thank you."  I really drilled it home, and she was very receptive.  But Noah and another little friend were bringing her gifts before she could finish unwrapping the one before, and it just got way out of hand.  Just like on Christmas Day, she didn't even know what she got before the next one was half unwrapped.  We'll have to figure this out.  I will say, though, that even though she hardly knew what was given or who gave it, she sure did have a lot of joyous fun.

One of our gifts to Jane was a brush.  Y'all, don't miss the significance here.  Jane finally has enough hair that she needs a brush!!!

My Little Lovey.

A Belated Birthday Post

Finally, here it is.  My post about Noah's knights and castles birthday party, complete with pictures of the castle cake I made.  

Ta da!

 Not all that impressive, I have to admit.  I would have liked to have had straighter lines, for sure.  But I did think it came out fairly well, considering that I don't do this often and am far from a professional.  Plus, it tasted good!

By the way, the marshmallow skulls on pikes were Nathan's contribution.  Don't worry; he put them there for the picture then took them back up again before the kids saw them and freaked out.  The funniest part is that the red plastic on the end of the toothpick looks like blood.  (We have a weird sense of humor, I admit.)  He also let the kids catapult candy at the cake before we cut it, having a little castle siege.

Also a hit was the cardboard castle.  Actually, a month and a half later, it's still out and regularly played with (very much the worse for wear, though).  I have to say, it did show up my poor cake.

 Hooray!  Castle seige!

Jane and me with a slice.

 Spencer, the brave knight, and Jane, the fair damsel.

Happy cousins.

Everyone had a good time. :)