Yesterday was Lily's 4th birthday, and it was a great day :).  She had been keeping track and counting down to her birthday ever since Christmas, asking us, "Which holiday is next?  Is it May yet?"  After Sunday and Mother's Day, she knew it was finally her turn, and was so very excited!

She got to start the festivities off a little early by opening a present from her Aunt Shannon – the cute t-shirt she is wearing – just like the one her cousin Payton has :).  She loved it and was begging to wear it early, but I made her wait until her actual birthday.

When she woke up, Derek and I sang her Happy Birthday, and then I made her a special breakfast of "Square Pancakes."  Then she got to watch a few of her very favorite shows and play some fun games.  For lunch, her daddy came home from work to surprise her with a special lunch at McDonald's – she is in love with Happy Meals – he he!  (If you look at the pictures of our lunch, notice the gray background, due to the smoke of the fires in the area.  Luckily we had quite a downpour last night that cleared away most of the smoke.)

After lunch, Lily had a phone call from Debbie, the sweet lady who works at the office of our apartment complex.  (Lily stops in and gives her a hug almost everyday when we go get the mail.)  She had a special surprise for her, and Lily couldn't have been happier 🙂 – especially since she gave her a puppy stuffed animal – not the real thing, thank goodness, but enough for Lily.  Lily also had special birthday phone calls from Grandma Valerie, and my parents in Scotland.

While Derek was taking his nap, she took advantage of the opportunity to play a computer game Debbie gave her, and I tried to take a nap.  Before I knew it, my sweet little girl decided it would be more fun to cuddle up and take a nap with me :).  Derek woke us up a little while later, but it was fun while it lasted.

Then I had to get going on finishing the castle cake Lily requested.  I had spent almost 3 hours working on it the night before, but had another 3 hours of work before it was finished – the CRAZY things we do because we love our kids.  You see, I let her look through the book and pick any cake she wanted.  Last year I got lucky with the easiest one, but this year was a different story.  It's all good though, because it turned out great and she loved it :).

Things worked out even better, because although Lily chose a difficult cake, her dinner choice was very simple – Pizza Rolls – her favorite.  After dinner, our good friends Andrew and Jeren came over.  Andrew had just returned from Iraq, and we hadn't seen him in a year, and so it was especially fun.  Once they arrived, it was time for presents and cake – and watching our hilarious kids. 

When we got out the presents, Derek decided he needed to help Lily, and started unwrapping them right away.  Lily didn't seem to mind that much, as long as he gave her whatever was in the package right away :).  She got some pretty fun stuff – a dancing dress, a new Little Einsteins movie, a puzzle, the Dora ABC game, a feathersword (a miracle find by Grandma Valerie), a sit-and-spin, and . . . a new Dora scooter!  We were a little out of control, but have been buying things and stashing them away for a while, and we didn't realize how much we had until we got it all out.  Oops!  Oh well, sometimes you have to spoil your kids :).

All in all, it was a great day and I think Lily had a very happy birthday :).