Friday, April 17, 2009

She's 4 Now!

From Elise's 4th Birthday!

Princess Elise and Princess Audrey Auna, ready to celebrate. They are just two weeks apart in age and Elise got to go to Audrey's party in March. A couple of weeks ago, Elise reached for the JoySchool Calender, which was a little high for her. I asked her if she needed help and she responded confidently, "I can do it, I'm four now!" It was sweet but it kind of broke my heart -she's growing too fast. She is such a loving, nuturing, sparkly daughter. We are so grateful for her and for her development. She is great at drawing her name and other letters, she loves art projects, singing and dancing. She is a joy.

Here is a collage of pictures showing our princess pizza & costume party preparations (cake, cardboard castle, playdough, kiss the frog), the night before the kids arrived... Aaron is as always, a wonderful antidote for my stress. He humors my ideas and does everything he can to help me, even though his philosophy is "simplify" and I tend to complicate things.

Damon and Ches couldn't make it to Elise's birthday celebration, so good thing we had some cupcakes at JoySchool a couple of days before!

Sarah was so kind to take some video for me, and she had a great idea to place Elise on the table to blow out her candles!
From Elise's 4th Birthday!

We are so grateful for Debbie, Jeff and Michelle. They have been such a blessing to us ever since we moved here. At one point in the party, Debbie was on her knees, cleaning my floor! She is so thoughtful.

From Elise's 4th Birthday!

Bubbles and dancing. It worked better in my head, but the kids seemed to like it anyway. In this picture: Aaron, Elise, Alayna, Kate, Sefa, Will & Alexandra.
From Elise's 4th Birthday!

Dear friends, Alexandra, Sarah, and Elizabeth. If you read this, thank you for making the effort to come! It was so wonderful seeing you all. It doesn't happen often enough.
From Elise's 4th Birthday!

The sweet Palmer family: Nizhoni, Sefa, and Nei Nei.

Cute Kate, with Michelle and Audrey in the bottom picture!


More pics if you can stand it. : )

8 comments:

.kai. said...

oh my goodness, this is just the cutest party EVER!!!! they look like they had tons of fun. happy birthday to your little girl.

Michelle said...

we really were so sad to miss it! What a cute party! The cake looks awesome! nice job!

Sheena said...

Happy 4th Birthday, Elise! I sure was thinking of you that day! I loved the pictures from her party and it made me wish so badly that we were there...and I recognized familiar faces- the Palmers!

treen said...

Wish we could have been there - Summer would have LOVED that party! Happy birthday to our friend Elise!

Tiana said...

It looks like so much fun! Sorry we missed it. Fabulous job on the cake!!!

Trisha said...

Glad you left me a note, so I could find your blog too!
Cute party pictures:) I wanted to make that castle cake for Naomi, but did a different one instead. Yours turned out great!

alexandra said...

What a fun party it was! That cake was awesome, too.

Ashley Chong said...

Great cake! Happy Belated Birthday Elise! I think I wrote a happy birthday to Elise on another section of your blog? =/ Maybe? Miss you all! Lots of love!