LILY'S FOUR!

Today Lily turns four years old!  I am not one to get sappy very often, but birthdays always shock me into realizing that my babies are growing up.  And this one is the same.  (here's last year's b-day post) I am a little shocked and a lot amazed that I've been a parent for four entire years and that Lily is constantly transforming into an older, often better, version of herself.

Lily is funny, loving to giggle and laugh with her friends, both real and pretend.  She loves to read to herself and to Bella, as well as being read to.  Coloring is one of her favorite activities, and her teachers regularly remark at how good she is at it for her age, as well as the unique fact that she colors equally well with both hands.  So far, she is seeming ambidextrous, which is highly unusual.

Lily is an excellent big sister, and we can see the oldest child tendencies beginning to really manifest as she often gives instructions to Bella or tries to help me manage Bella.  She is very much looking forward to having brothers and talks of them often.  She is a rule-follower, but she will still let me know how she feels about following those rules for better and for worse.

The age that Lily is at right now is one that we would be happy to freeze her at.  She is helpful and fun in a delightfully charming way so much of the time.

I have a meeting tonight, so we seized the opportunity to do a birthday lunch with the girls at All Aboard - a restaurant in town where trains deliver your food.  It is always a hit.  The girls were pretty cranky on our way there, but once we got there, things got a lot better.



In this picture, the girls are calling out, "Choo choo!"



After lunch, we headed to the cupcake place for dessert.



I think here Lily is pondering what all the next year holds for her.



I wanted to get a picture with the birthday girl, but Bella kept photo-bombing.  Which is mostly okay since she's super cute.



And, Lily wasn't overly cooperative, so this is the best we got, which is also okay, since it's her birthday, after all.

We sure love our Lily girl and are thrilled to celebrate her 4th birthday with her!  At lunch she was saying how much she loved Daddy and Bella and Mommy.  SOOOO, much, she said.  And we love her right back.

We will be hosting a much-anticipated (by the birthday girl) horse birthday party later this month.  I made horse cookies for her class today, so I guess I have pretty well sugared up my children today, since they have had cupcakes and sugar cookies all before 2 pm.  That's what birthdays are for.