My Four-Year-Old Girl
My E. My firstborn. My darling girl. She turned four not long after Christmas, and though it is over a month since her birthday and this post is, therefore, long-overdue (once again), I cannot write about anything else until I have dedicated some words to this girl who is growing up before my eyes and who I love so much my heart hurts with the weight of it. She is my sensitive, quiet, joyful, book-loving, imaginative girl who has an amazing memory, a love for all things pink and fancy, and who is, in more ways than not, MY girl with the face and emotions to prove it. I heart this girl so so SO much.
One of the things I love about her is her girlyness. Is that even a word? If not, it should be. Because she is totally girly. She loves pink (as aforementioned), twirly dresses, tutus, ballerinas, princesses, tea parties, dressing up, and...did I mention pink? For her birthday this year, princesses and ballerinas were the thing. And, since we did two parties for A, we HAD to do two parties for E. Right? It's in the parent handbook for how to be an amazing mom and dad. So we did princesses for her actual birthday, a day we celebrated with just our little family. And then we did a ballerina theme, specifically Angelina Ballerina, for a party we hosted for some of our local friends. We had so much fun celebrating our girl, and we are increasingly thankful for the gift of grace she is to us. Praise God for our E and for another year of joy with her! May the Lord continue to bless her and keep her and may He cause His face to shine upon her that she might know Him and love Him all of her days.
Happy four years, my darling one!
Birthday morning. The bed sheet makes an encore appearance as a tablecloth. And since we have plenty of princesses and tutus already (thank you, grandparents), decoration was a cinch for our family day of fun.
She's four. I can't believe it.
Homemade doughnuts with sprinkles, courtesy of my sister who gifted me with a doughnut pan for Christmas. A gift for all of us.
Present time. First, a hula hoop. A tad big.
Presents from my sister. Cookie baking playset and tea set. Perfect.
Skyping with my mom while opening the gifts she sent.
New books. And a bean bag on which to sit whilst reading new books.
And her big gift...a violin. E saw it in a music store several months ago, Nathan told her that he would maybe buy her one for her birthday...and of course, she remembered and has been asking for one ever since. Haha. Thankfully, they're pretty cheap here. And we'd love for her to take lessons, which we hope will be a good opportunity for her to meet some other kids her age and help in language-learning (for her and me too!)
It's cake time.
Party. Take 2.
Ballerina decorations courtesy of the U S of A. Balloons courtesy of Spring Festival. Ribbon wands courtesy of Pinterest.
Ballerina craft. This was a BIG success. Kids here don't have the opportunity to do artsy things like this. They just study. And study. And then study some more. So the girls we invited had a lot of fun just being creative and playing with the paint and stickers and markers. We had a lot of fun!
Pin the bow on Angelina.
Pinata time. This one was recycled from A's party, so it was a little worse for wear. But E was oblivious to this and loved it.
Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Strawberries. Popcorn. Cupcakes. KoolAid. An American lunch = a big hit with the locals. Also, singing Happy Birthday in two languages = a big hit with E.
A ballerina music box. The perfect gift from my language tutor.
Thankful for these friends and the blessing of celebrating our girl!
One of the things I love about her is her girlyness. Is that even a word? If not, it should be. Because she is totally girly. She loves pink (as aforementioned), twirly dresses, tutus, ballerinas, princesses, tea parties, dressing up, and...did I mention pink? For her birthday this year, princesses and ballerinas were the thing. And, since we did two parties for A, we HAD to do two parties for E. Right? It's in the parent handbook for how to be an amazing mom and dad. So we did princesses for her actual birthday, a day we celebrated with just our little family. And then we did a ballerina theme, specifically Angelina Ballerina, for a party we hosted for some of our local friends. We had so much fun celebrating our girl, and we are increasingly thankful for the gift of grace she is to us. Praise God for our E and for another year of joy with her! May the Lord continue to bless her and keep her and may He cause His face to shine upon her that she might know Him and love Him all of her days.
Happy four years, my darling one!
Birthday morning. The bed sheet makes an encore appearance as a tablecloth. And since we have plenty of princesses and tutus already (thank you, grandparents), decoration was a cinch for our family day of fun.
She's four. I can't believe it.
Homemade doughnuts with sprinkles, courtesy of my sister who gifted me with a doughnut pan for Christmas. A gift for all of us.
Present time. First, a hula hoop. A tad big.
Presents from my sister. Cookie baking playset and tea set. Perfect.
Skyping with my mom while opening the gifts she sent.
New books. And a bean bag on which to sit whilst reading new books.
And her big gift...a violin. E saw it in a music store several months ago, Nathan told her that he would maybe buy her one for her birthday...and of course, she remembered and has been asking for one ever since. Haha. Thankfully, they're pretty cheap here. And we'd love for her to take lessons, which we hope will be a good opportunity for her to meet some other kids her age and help in language-learning (for her and me too!)
It's cake time.
Party. Take 2.
Ballerina decorations courtesy of the U S of A. Balloons courtesy of Spring Festival. Ribbon wands courtesy of Pinterest.
Ballerina craft. This was a BIG success. Kids here don't have the opportunity to do artsy things like this. They just study. And study. And then study some more. So the girls we invited had a lot of fun just being creative and playing with the paint and stickers and markers. We had a lot of fun!
Pin the bow on Angelina.
Pinata time. This one was recycled from A's party, so it was a little worse for wear. But E was oblivious to this and loved it.
Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Strawberries. Popcorn. Cupcakes. KoolAid. An American lunch = a big hit with the locals. Also, singing Happy Birthday in two languages = a big hit with E.
A ballerina music box. The perfect gift from my language tutor.
Thankful for these friends and the blessing of celebrating our girl!
Love everything about this - even the pink! I especially love the last photo. So thankful for your life dear Abigail!
ReplyDeleteSo thankful for you, Patti! I was just thinking yesterday about Emma's first birthday and how you and Mike were such sports dressing up for the Slugs and Bugs theme. Sighhhhh...we sure do miss you guys.
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