4: The Big Birthday Bash!

We love birthdays around here. I love the little traditions we've started and I love how excited my kids get over each birthday (their own and their siblings') and I love celebrating with them. While I love doing the fun little things each year, I'm not a big fan of huge birthday parties every year. They take a lot of work and, frankly, I just don't think my kids need them every year. Since I grew up in a house where we did birthday parties every four years, I have become a big fan of that system. It didn't take long for Justin to see the wisdom in the every-four-year-party idea and so that's how we've been doing it. I love it.

Because Josie turned four this year, she got to have her very first birthday party. She'd been talking about it for at least a month. We decided to do a makeover/princess party (appealing to every girlie bone in Josie's tiny little body). We invited six of her closest girl friends (in fancy party dress, of course), kicked the boys out of the house, and we had a very fun and feminine time!

We began by having the girls sit down while we talked about how the beauty of a princess has more to do with her inside than her outside. Then we decided that, while it's most important to be beautiful inside, it's a lot of fun to get beautiful on the outside too!

We had the girls sit in the kitchen while we (myself, my mom, my SIL, and our 8 year old helper) painted the girl's toenails and fingernails and put some lovely make-up on them (lots of red, pink, and glitter).

Kambry was our 8 year old party helper. I highly recommend this to anyone having a party for a group of 4 and 5 year olds. Those girls adored Kambry and were over the moon to have her there. She was a great helper too! She ran party games and helped the girls with everything! Seriously, this may have been my best party idea.

 Don't the girls look lovely?

We made little bracelets with the girls.

 It was perfect. The girls were so focused on their bracelets, it was so quiet!

After the bracelets we had some lunch and then...
high heel races!
The girls each got a pair of my heels (low ones, of course) and they had to race across the family room. It was pretty hilarious!

Then it was time for cake! My mom made Josie this princess pillow cake - complete with crown! Josie, of course, adored it. The pinkness, the crown, the candles...it was a hit!

 Each girl got her own crown to wear.

 Then it was time for gifts. Josie was so funny while opening her presents. She would get so animated and scream things like, "OH MY GOODNESS!" and "IT'S MY FAVORITE!" and "OH THANK YOU, THANK YOU!" It had us cracking up.

It was a great party. The girls were so good and everyone (including the adults) had a great time. I will admit, it was pretty fun planning and throwing such a girlie affair. I look forward to doing it again (but not for another four years).

Happy birthday Jo! We adore you!