Addison Turns 4!

My baby turned 4 this past Saturday. My how our lives have changed drastically in the past 4 years. Starting at 7am I was telling Addie what we were doing 4 years ago - we were on our way to the hospital after I'd been awake and in labor from about 3a.m. Through out the day I shared stories with her. We had her third (more on that later) birthday party at my mom and dad's house at lunch and then Chris and I went to Jen Petrash's wedding that evening. I left for a while to feed the baby and it was right around 7pm when I got to my mom's house. After I fed the baby I took Addie aside and told her that this was the time of day she was born 4 years ago. I can't believe how much she has grown in 4 years and how lucky we are to have such an amazingly smart, funny, stubborn, and beautiful little girl.

Back to the 3 parties for this little 4 year old. It started two weekends ago in Fredericksburg. Since Oma and Aunt Courtney were going to be in Mexico on Addie's real birthday we decided to have a party in Fredericksburg on Saturday the week before her birthday. We simultaneously decided to have her 2nd party in El Campo on her actual birthday. This meant Aunt Misty couldn't attend because she had a wedding in the San Antonio area that evening so she joined us for the Fredericksburg party. It was a good time and it worked out perfectly because one of the beautiful dresses that Aunt Cassy gave Addie was perfect for her Pinkalicious party in El Campo. Addie kept telling me that she wanted a rainbow flavor cake so I took an idea that Misty gave me last year (which actually originated on Martha Stewart) and made her the best rainbow cake I could. The one on Martha Stewart's is much prettier but mine didn't turn out too bad. We had a fun lunch and then went fishing in Luckenbach that evening - a perfect day for Addie!






The second party was a Tangled/Rapunzel party at school with all her friends. The school was really sweet and let Nora go into Addie's class room to sing happy bithday and have cupcakes. We sent our camera to get pictures with Addie's friend and funny enough most of the pictures were of Addie and Nora together. Unfortunately the few that were taken of Addie's class were kindof blurry - boo. But there was one really great picture of Addie and Morgan who have been the best of friends since the 12-18 month class!






The third and final party had all of our little cousins which Addie ALWAYS looks forward to. As a special treat, Daddy and Uncle Dwayne had a little cotton tail that they caught the night before hidden under a big planter. The kids gathered in a semi-circle around the pot and we lifted it up. After sitting there for a while the bunny took off across the yard and then the pasture with the kids doing their best to keep up. It cracked us all up! You'll see in the photos Nora even ran after the bunny in her purple princess heels! Only Kennedy was smart enough to know from the start that there was no way that bunny was going to be caught. She just stood there and watched the bunny run! Next was the Pinkalicious pinata that we let them all beat on. (Eventhough it was a pull string pinata - what's up with that by the way, who wants to pull strings??? Beat the thing, that's the point!) After everyone got a chance to hit it, all the strings were pulled, and Camden beat on it some more, we finally ripped it open and out came the candy!


















Addie received amazing presents at both her family parties and we were so happy to see so many family members in the past two weekends. We are blessed in so many ways!