Daniel & Annabel's Adventures

The morning before Annabel's family birthday party, this past Sunday, we kept the kids busy with another touch-a-truck show! (SO glad the predicted 100% chance of rain held off!) Annabel's beloved pink mixer was there AND the Scooby-Doo Mystery Machine was back (he was unable to come last year)- my kids were thrilled to see these two trucks! The crane was a big hit, too- we don't usually get to see those up close like this. And of course we had to check out books from the Bookmobile- that's always such fun. We managed to see every truck a little bit, sitting in most of them to pretend to drive, and then we headed inside to check out the fun in there- bounce houses, little prizes from various booths, and of course my eagle-eye children spotted the popcorn in there! We also ran into Amelia and Kaleb and caught Bella's dance performance just in time- the kids enjoyed seeing her little show and we were glad to be there to support her. All in all, a good morning! The kids were very excited to get home, though, and get ready for the party and guests that would be arriving shortly! So glad we could make it to one of our favorite events of the season!

Pink mixer!!!

Daniel loved driving the tow truck!

Such a cool truck- the crane!

Daniel was very excited to be allowed to honk this rig's horn!

Annabel was in heaven driving this pink mixer!

Scooby-Doo and the Mystery Machine!

The kids loved posing next to this (creepy, I thought) lion (he was there for the local Lion's Club)...Daniel does love lions (he's got his in his backpack).

Last Tuesday was a fun day celebrating Annabel's birthday! Annabel was just so excited for her birthday to finally be here and she was so sweet about it all, too. She kept asking when is it going to be my birthday and we'd tell her in four months, three months (yes, she was asking that far back!), etc. and we'd always get the answer "I can't waaaaait that long!"...and when it finally got to be around 8 or so days, Annabel finally said, with vigorous nodding, big smiles, and bright happy eyes, "I CAN wait that long!" Too cute.

Annabel was super excited that I would be going with her to school that day. She was also excited that she would get to go out for dinner and that we would be having her choice of dessert- ice cream cake! Just those three things were on her list of exciting things for the day- mommy coming to school, ice cream cake, and going out to eat- that's it, that's what made her day special for her. So sweet- I loved it. And then Daniel kindly chimed in and said, "Annabel, don't you want to open presents, too?" to which Annabel responded, eyes getting wider with each word, "I get to open presents??!!" Made me crack up! But seriously, I loved how presents weren't even the first thing on her mind- she was happy enough for the special school visit and special treats coming up that day. I just really loved how sweet about it all she was. Warmed my heart!

So- indeed, Annabel had a fun day with me at school. She got to be first to do projects, she got to do the backpack job (apparently the most coveted job!), we had a ball doing many activities and a few projects together, we shared her chosen birthday treats with her class- Birthday Oreos, and we read the class one of her favorite books- Dog Loves Drawing. We even went outside twice! Annabel thought that was just the best thing ever! I got to see her play on the playground at the beginning of the day and I really enjoyed our hike through the forest behind the school at the end of the day- it was such beautiful weather that day! All in all, we had a fantastic morning at school!

After lunch, Annabel opened our presents for her. She sat down in her chair, ready for presents, and Daniel took one look at her sitting there and gave her the biggest hug- so sweet! Daniel rounded up a garbage bag for her, sweet brother that he is, and she had a ball opening presents and was thoroughly delighted with every single one, sweetly saying thank you. She made a home for the Birthday Care Bear I found for her right next to her on her chair- so cute. She'd asked for games and art stuff for her birthday- I loved her simplicity; we had fun finding some cool new things for her- glittery paper, color changing markers, a spin and color game, a tower stacking cooperation game (which makes us all laugh!), and we had fun surprising her with a few other things, too, like this squeezy pogo jumpy thing (which the kids have had a ball with), a rainbow soccer ball (!!!!), and of course she loves the Nutcracker book I got her (ever since we watched The Nutcracker Ballet for free on our Roku, she's asked about it again and again- alas, it's not free anymore, I may need to buy the DVD for her sometime, too!). Daniel was so sweet about choosing a gift for Annabel- she loves to play tea party, so he found her a Minnie Mouse tea party set and that's been a big favorite this week! Daniel was also quite creative in finding one more surprise for her- M&M Chocolate Chip cookies! So, as you can see, presents were a hit!

We had fun getting outside and trying out the pogo jumpy thing and of course playing soccer with the rainbow soccer ball. We tried out Annabel's new games and had fun with those. Annabel loved talking to both grandmas on the phone when they called- her face just lit up when the phone was for her! And Annabel spent the longest time trying out all her new art supplies- her pink drawing tools (Target is selling these cute packs of Crayola art supplies where get different things to draw with that are all the same color- so we got Annabel her favorite color- pink!), her awesome super fun color changing markers (I may or may not have sort of hogged these that day!) and her new rainbow pack of pens (she loves to draw and write with pens). Dinner was Red Robin (after many mind-changes for a certain little four year old!) and Annabel really wanted them to sing to her and she smiled the whole way through. And then as soon as we got home, we had Annabel's Oreo ice cream cake, which was delicious- we all sang to her again as she sweetly looked on at the four candles on her cake and then blew them out! Whew- busy birthday day!

Daniel took it all in stride, but it was hard for him to follow Annabel's shadow on her birthday this time around (as I always say, ages and stages- every occasion, it's a different experience)- all the attention was on her, she was choosing all the activities, wanting to try out all of her stuff...and that was all hard for him, understandably- he's very "six" these days, mature and yet still figuring out his place in things, as a first-born and as a six-year old and as a sibling, all these roles he has- we're trying to keep the bigger picture in mind and understand his stresses and perspective, and really, it's all very normal and he's done the best he can- he's a GREAT kid and we're so proud of him, he's really done some extra-special sweet things lately that have just warmed our hearts. We had a wonderful rest of the week- I was literally flying high with how awesome the week turned out for us all!

And now, tomorrow, we'll be whooping it up for the big family Beach-Ball/Rainbow themed party! Just wish it was going to be sunnier and warmer instead of chilly and rainy...all that sunshine and beautiful weather we had this week doesn't seem to want to hold out for tomorrow! Oh well...we'll still have fun! Annabel is very excited that everybody is coming over just for her birthday! And she had a lot of fun picking out her balloons at Party City tonight, and while carrying them to the car, she exclaimed, "They are having a balloon fight!" because they were bopping around in the wind like crazy...so cute! Time to party!

School fun!

Annabel's birthday doorway...four streamers!

Present time!

Now let's play!

Cake time!

It really is so bittersweet, this fourth birthday...I can't believe my baby is FOUR! We started this week out with a three year old and now we have a four year old and a wonderful four year she is! Such a fun week we've had! Happy Birthday again, my sweet girl! Hope your wishes come true!