Happy Birthday to my sweet Birthday Girl! Chloe turned 4 today and did it in style! With having a birthday so close to Thanksgiving, Chloe has always been lucky enough to have more than one birthday party each year. Ever since she has been born, we have traveled for Thanksgiving to one of the grandparents' house. Each year, she has been thrown an "early birthday party." This year was no exception- she had 5 "early birthday parties!"
Birthday party number one was shared with Chloe's cousin Tristan who turns 1 the day after Chloe's birthday. They celebrated on the day after Thanksgiving at Grandma and Papa's house.
Cousin Paige gave her a pretty princess dress up dress, to match her own.
Grandma made cupcakes and Chloe ate quite a few!
Party number two happened on our way back from Idaho after Thanksgiving. We stopped in Tri-Cities for the night and Chloe got to open gifts at Nana and Papa's house.
She loves games!
On her actual birthday morning, Chloe was so excited she could hardly wait to start celebrating. No, the time on the clock is not what time she woke up..... she was awake by 4:30 (or earlier, we're not positive). Mitchell decided he didn't want to miss out on the fun and woke up minutes later. The time on the clock is when I started making her birthday cupcakes and cake. And yes, folks, that is A.M...... Once the kids are up, there's no sleeping in. Ben left for work at 5:30 and I had nothing else to do, so I started the birthday prep work at 5:37 a.m. I know, I know, we were the ONLY people in the world awake at that hour- awake and doing things.
By 6:00 a.m., Mitchell was already exhausted. He was ready for a nap soon after, before most kids in the world are even waking up for the day! But by 7:00 a.m. I had accomplished a lot- the cupcakes and cake were made and baked and I made 2 loaves of banana bread.
Breakfast was also made and cleaned up before 7:00. Chloe requested animal pancakes (her new favorite thing). I made a mouse with chocolate chip facial features.....
And some birthday balloons for good measure.
Our day was jam packed. The Birthday Girl had preschool at 9:00 and here she is with her show and tell.
Party number 3 was at preschool. After she was off to school, I made birthday treats to take to her class (M&M cookies) and took them at snack time. Her teacher made her a birthday crown to wear, too.
The cookies were well received by the class!
After school, she came right home, ate lunch, then was off to play group with some friends. I bustled around and got everything ready for her next party while she was gone. When she got home, I let her open a few gifts early. She got some Hannah Montana pajamas.....
And some new slippers!
In her new sleep wear, she was ready for Party number 4!
Here are the invites we sent out for her first friends birthday party- a little girl in her pajamas in her bed.
It was a pajama party theme and we asked each little girl to wear her pajamas and bring her pillow to the party. And the girls did just that- they all looked so adorable in their pj's with slippers and pillows. Chloe was so excited she could hardly stand it!
First on the agenda was to decorate socks with puff paint. The girls kept telling me that they already had socks and didn't need new ones.
But when we started decorating the socks, no one had any issues with it. They were all so cute as they waited their turns for each color.
Some of them glopped on the paint by the bottleful, including Chloe. It was fun to watch and I was glad Chloe had a chance to do this, as I never let her do these kind of projects otherwise.
Next was musical pillows! Each girl put her pillow on the floor and walked around in the circle until the music stopped. Don't let the picture fool you, though- this game was quite confusing to the girls at first! Getting them to stand behind their pillows and walk in a circle was a task itself! And then, when the music stopped, they all wanted to sit on their own pillow. No one got upset, though, and we finally convinced them to just sit on any pillow by the last round.
With 10 little girls in my small family room, I realized if I ever want that many kids (ha ha) I will definitely need a bigger house!
I was so impressed with all the girls. When they would get out, they all sweetly went and sat quietly and patiently on the couch until the next round started. Chloe was so well behaved. She can be quite bossy, especially with friends over at her house, but she was so relaxed and wanted everyone to have a good time. When each girl got out, she would try and make room next to her on the couch so every guest could sit next to her.
Our next game was the Stuffed Animal Toss. The girls divided into two teams (or tried to, anyway) and stood behind a pillow and threw stuffed animals into a basket. The girls were very cute and would cheer each other on.
Go Chloe!
Chloe opened presents next. All of the gift givers were so excited for Chloe to open the gift they had brought and couldn't wait to tell Chloe what it was and how to use it.
Chloe was equally as excited to open them! She was very sweet to thank each person after opening their gift. Everyone brought such cute presents and Chloe loved them all.
Next was cake time! The girls all enjoyed a pink cupcake around the table.
After dessert, each girl sat on their pillow in the family room and we put on a movie (Barbie Swan Lake) and passed out popcorn.
They LOVED the popcorn and happily ate, watched and visited while waiting for their mom's to come pick them up.
It was a very fun party- Chloe has the cutest, sweetest friends and they were all such a delight to have at the party. I was amazed at how well behaved and sweet they all were. Everyone shared, no hurt feelings and they all loved to eat! :) As much fun as it was, I'm glad this pajama party was not a sleepover! We will be waiting many years to do those...... 10 little girls, all night? Can you imagine? I'll wait patiently for that day, and then we will take it one friend at a time!
To keep the birthday fun going (and to try to get her to bed at a good time), we dove right into party number 5 after all of Chloe's little friends had left. We ate a quick dinner (as if she was hungry after all the treats of the day), then opened gifts from Mom and Dad (us!)
I was worried that after all the cute, fun gifts her friends gave that she wouldn't be excited about the gifts from me and Ben. But she oohed and ahhed over each one of them. Here she is, happily scribbling in her new Hannah Montana notebook. She could write and doodle all day (and cut, if I let her).
Chloe LOVES rainbows right now, so I thought a rainbow cake made with skittles would be fitting.
She thought it was very pretty, but was so full she couldn't even eat one bite, not even a skittle!
I can't believe my "baby" is 4! What a wonderful 4 years it has been with a very busy, spunky, hilarious little girl! She keeps us on our toes and laughing constantly.
Thanks to all who called and send cards and gifts to wish the birthday girl a happy day! She had a wonderful birthday.
