For days Kate has been waking up, going to her calendar on the wall and counting how many more days until her birthday. "Is six days a long time, Mom?" This was repeated over and over. When I told someone at the store that Kate was four a few days before her birthday, she quickly corrected me "No, mom. I'm not four yet. I'm still three." She was so excited to be four, though. And the day finally came! We had a great time celebrating with her!
The night before her birthday we had her great-grandparents and grandparents over for Sunday dinner. She loves to have company and she requested her favorite dinner. Orange Chicken, edamame, watermelon and chocolate cake with pink frosting. Kate has been talking about a dollhouse for months so when I found the dollhouse below for half off on black Friday I got it! It was exciting to finally open it and put it together the night before her birthday.
It was too big to wrap, so we draped some sheets over it and closed the door to the dining room hoping she wouldn't find it until Paul got home from the early morning Seminary class he teaches, so he could see her find it. I was doing pretty well distracting her until Gwen started crying and I had to help her. A few minutes later Kate ran into the room where I was, all excited--but whispering "Mom! There is a
gigantic dollhouse on the dining table under Gwen's sheet. Do you think it's for my birthday!?" She then preceded to jump up and down all excited, squealing and so happy. "A dollhouse, just what I wanted all along. How did you know?" It was fun to see her so happy. Her and Gwen haven't stopped playing with it since.
Too excited to finish breakfast and wipe the crumbs off her face.
We got annual passes to Disneyland as a Christmas present and decided to wait to go for the first time on Kate's birthday. Paul got to take the day off work and join us. In the photo above, the girls are on the parking lot bus going to the park. They were both thinking very seriously about what they were about to experience.
They do a good job with birthdays at Disneyland. Kate had a special button and kept forgetting how everyone knew her name when they would wish her "Happy Birthday, Kate". She also had a phone call from Goofy wishing her Happy Birthday when she went to pick up her button.
Dumbo, the carousel and Toon Town were the big hits.
And Princesses, of course! Ariel, above, also happens to be Kate's sunbeam teacher at church!
We went home for afternoon naps--Kate actually took a nap for the first time in months. After her nap she opened a package from Mumsi--a custom made Belle dress she had sewn for her. Kate was so excited to wear it that night. We had dinner at Goofy's Kitchen with all the Disney characters to celebrate her birthday. She was in Heaven!
The Princess conversations going on were very intense. One of the best lines was when Jasmine told her she lived in a gold palace. Then Jasmine asked Kate if she lived in a palace. Kate replied, "No, I live in a house. It's just beige."
Gwen was fond of Minnie Mouse and the Princesses were ok. She wasn't sure about the Chipmonks and definitely did not like Pluto. Kate got to dance around with the characters and would have stayed all night if we let her.
We capped the night off with a ride on the teacups. The next day we took a special snack to her school and Kate did the "Montessori Birthday walk" and walked the Earth around the Sun four times to symbolize how old she was. It was really sweet.
Happy Birthday, Kate! It was fun celebrating with you!
