I guess it's true. Your children have to grow up. There's no exception clause. No way to bottle them up. I've tried. I asked her for a month straight to "please stop growing" and she would just laugh at me and keep on getting taller. Seriously though. Every morning as I sat holding my tiny newborn on the couch Hallie would waltz in wearing her jammies and looking like she'd grown another inch overnight. She would come snuggle up under my arm and I'd tell her I had a big question to ask.....she knew what I was going to ask so she'd beat me to the punch and say "mommy, I grew last night." She would usually follow up that statement with "it's what big girls do mommy." I often asked myself if it was normal to want to burst into tears every morning at the first sight of your child. I could literally see her getting bigger right before my very eyes and I needed it to stop. ;)
She kicked off the big "4" celebration in style by going on a big shopping trip with Nanny. We'd been having a power struggle when it came to dressing and clothing selection so Nanny came up with a fantastic idea to take her on a shopping spree. The only rule: Hallie got to select her own items. She returned home with piles of clothes and four new pairs of shoes which she had proudly picked out all by herself. The newfound freedom has put an end to the meltdowns. And by some small miracle she doesn't have to wear pink pants EVERY SINGLE DAY any longer. Free retail therapy for mommy. Saves me loads of patience now. ;) Here she is doing some modeling for us after she returned from her big day with Nanny.....
Filling her room with balloons the night before her birthday is a tradition. It just is. I wrote that last sentence for my husband who seems to ask me every birthday eve without fail..."why are we doing this again?" Because. He may be a birthday scrooge but I think his question usually stems from the fact that I forget about the balloons and wait til the very last second to blow them all up. But it's so worth it to see what she has to say in the morning. On her second birthday the excitement quickly turned to tears when she realized that she couldn't pick up twenty balloons at once. The impossibility of it all left her devastated in a floor kicking tantrum. Ha! Last year she insisted on leaving the balloons in her room for days and days until they magically "disappeared" one day. More devastation. This year she was equally as excited but came in to the living room that morning asking me "where are all the pink and purple balloons?" Yep, that's my sassy four-year-old. We acknowledged 8:31 that morning and tried to explain that THAT was when her birthday officially began. She wasn't buyin' it. Maybe next year. ;)
The girls and I left Riley at home to tend to a very special mission that morning. Gman and Meg were coming to town early that morning to assist him with the mission. As we backed out of the driveway dad's truck was pulling up. Hallie didn't notice a thing and I certainly didn't try to bring her attention to it. The girls were kind to their momma that morning while I was flyin' solo. At church she wished her July 27th birthday buddy, Karen, a happy day when Karen approached to give her birthday greetings. Hallie accidentally responded with "Happy birthday" instead of thank you but we got a good laugh seeing as how it was coincidentally very fitting.....
Purple on her fingers and blue on her toes. A hilarious conversation with her new nail tech friend. Bella and I sat back and watched and tried to hold in laughter. She's just so goofy sometimes. No wait. All the time. The men were almost finished with their big project so we made one last birthday request happen (strawberry ice cream cone from Braums) and then we met Aunt B, Spencer, Gman, Meg and daddy at Subway for a quick lunch before the reveal. Hal was all smiles still.....
Since we had already eaten earlier that left Hallie and I antsy to get home to the big surprise. She knew there was something waiting at home....she just wasn't sure what it was. When I asked her if she had any ideas she would say either "balloons" or "a cake." So clearly she was about to have her hopes exceeded. ;) When we walked into the backyard I put a blindfood around her eyes (which looked hilarious on a little girl by the way) and I led her by hand to where she could see her gift. Once I removed the blindfold I don't think she knew what to think at first. She started running towards it and then looked back and asked if she could go see it. Well yes!!!!! She stopped midway to admire the new sandbox that was on the corner of the porch. Thanks Aunt Alta! Hal hopped on the round saucer swing first and gave thanks to Gman and Meg. It made me wonder where such a cool swingset was when I was younger. Since then we haven't been able to pry her out of the saucer. It looks like so much fun that if I didn't exceed the weight capacity you can bet I'd be in it too!
Hal clearly loved her new toys and got busy testing everything out....
Just like any other birthday party day I knew that getting her to take a nap would be like pulling teeth. And it was. She claimed that she didn't need one. Well, this picture tells otherwise.....
A nap didn't happen. Just lots of not napping.
Dad and Meg took a snooze on the couch, the guys messed around with the old truck in the garage and Bailey and I talked in Bella's room. The afternoon breezed by and before I knew it it was past time to load up and get to the waterpark. We didn't have much to carry in or setup. Hallelujah. I wanted to kick myself for the past three years of parties....weeks of work, hundreds of dollars and the same result. A happy girl. Would I do it again? Yeah, probably so. But that's my sickness. ;) Needless to say, my four-year-old princess adored her simple princess party at the waterpark....
And even more so she adored all of her little friends who flooded in.....
The beauty that spills out of her little soul just blows me away....
An hour of swimming flew by and the cake was calling her name. Strawberry on the bottom, white on top. No need to ask her what color she wanted! The Cake Lady made us smile yet again with this princess castle cake....
Nanny helped Hallie light her candles as her sweet friends gathered round....
Make a big wish sweet girl....
Can't believe she's 4!!!
The littles enjoyed cake and then flocked around the birthday girl to help her open presents....
As always with Miss Hallie there was no rhyme or reason to emptying packages. Tissue paper flying, gifts being strewn about....all I knew was that she was having the best time ever. So I stood back and just watched.
We had a big surprise when Miss Gari spotted her party going on from the park and she stopped in so say hi. All of the Free Spirit kiddos came over for hugs and hi's....
Covered in green frosting and surrounded by a plethora of gifts fit for a princess....
The party began to wind down as Hallie gave hugs and thank you's to her guests and I snapped picture of anyone and everyone who would let me.....
Meme surprised us by showing up with Aunt Deedee. Such a treat! She had a long, rather taxing walk into the waterpark so David and Spence came up with a better way to get her back to the car.....
One last bit of fun on the train at the park. Well, fun for her. She wouldn't let me ride with her...told me she was a big girl and could ride alone. Mkay big girl, but your momma can call you her baby anytime she wants to....
We had our annual giant birthday balloon release in the backyard when we got home and settled in....
A special tradition that I have no doubt will continue for a very long time...
A great way to remember a very special woman who would have given the world to this little girl...
She held up four fingers to let Grammy know how old she was this year...
She wasn't ready to call it a day or take a bath so we sorted her birthday gifts into piles. Count me in!! She's so my daughter. We had a jewelry/lip gloss pile, a toy pile and an arts and crafts pile. Me thinks she loves organizing just as much as I do!
I quickly realized that the walls were closing in and at the rate that she was opening her new gifts the house would either have to be condemned by morning or the producers of Hoarders were going to come and visit us. All of the sorting and playing must've worn her out. Or wait, maybe it was that BIG BIG DAY she had had.....
Ok, definitely the BIG BIG DAY....
I gave her cheek four kisses that night. And then I cried. I tried not to. I wanted to curl up next to her and sleep with her that night in an attempt to soak up just a little more of this childhood phase. Because once it's gone....well, I don't want it to be gone. Is it sad that I went to bed that night trying to devise a plan to keep her at home longer?
I love you baby girl! Yes, baby. ;)
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