Lauren is 4!!!

Our first baby girl turned 4 today - obviously she isn't a baby anymore!  It's hard to believe we now have a 6 1/2 yr old, a 4 yr old, and 1 1/2 yr old - what happened to our babies?  In four short years Lauren has definitely made her mark on our family.  She is, and always has been, the most stubborn member of this family (although her Daddy is a very close second, if not the winner sometimes in this category), but at the same time, she is also the most loving and fun little girl!  She'll beat you down with her constant questions and never ending stories, but the minute you need someone to pick you up and make you smile, she is the go to girl.  Sweet and polite with a dash (a rather large dash) or sassiness - that's our girl.  In order to celebrate her big day, we did a few little "celebrations."  The first came over the Thanksgiving holiday with Trav and the Quast family (I was home sick in bed so I missed out on the fun).  She received lots of great gifts and had fun on what she called, "her fake birthday" - thanks to all for the generous gifts - she loves them and couldn't stop telling me all about them.  After that, Trav, myself, and the kids had a small "party" on Sunday night to celebrate.  We brought out the ice cream cake Grandma Donna had bought for Lauren's other party that didn't happen on Friday (again, because I was sick), and had a little celebration complete with candles and singing.  She loved the gawdy, sprinkle filled, purple covered, Princess ice cream cake so thanks for that Grandma - sorry you couldn't be here to celebrate with us.  After cake eating, Lauren opened her gift from us, a purple bathrobe just like mine (well almost, mine is pink and doesn't have a monkey on it, but otherwise they are pretty similar).  She loved it the minute she saw it, but just couldn't remember what it was called.  She referred to it as, "the thing Mom wears in the morning and after showers - you know."  Yes Lauren, I do know, and I can only hope you love your robe as much as I love mine!  With the cake and presents done, the Sunday portion of her celebrations wrapped up, but Monday morning was just the start of more fun (on her actual birthday).  To start the morning off right, I had ordered a dozen helium balloons (or baboons as she calls them) in her favorite color, purple, along with one balloon that says, "Look who's 4 today."  I went and picked them up early Monday morning and snuck into her room where I let them all go.  Apparently I didn't "sneak" as good as I thought I had because during my exit from her room, she woke up and said to me, "Mom, you're waking me up."  I replied simply with, "go back to sleep" and made my way out.  After that I was kind of nervous that I may have ruined her surprise, but when she didn't come out of her room for another half hour, I knew the plan was back on.  When she did finally come out, she came out running and said to me, "Mom, I dreamed about baboons and now I have them, come quickly."  Playing along, I ran to her room with her where she excitedly pointed at all the balloons dancing across her ceiling.  I asked her why she thought she had balloons in her room and she said, "I dreamed them and there they are" - simple as that, if you dream about something, it will happen (god I wish that was true)!  After checking out the balloons, Lauren insisted that we go get Dad and Ryan right away and show them what happened in her room.  Who knew a little idea I saw on the Internet would be such a big hit.  The one downside of course was when Ryan said, "why didn't I get balloons on my birthday?"  Don't worry buddy, you're day will come - now that I've started this tradition, I can't stop with just one of them.  Hopefully it will be as fun and as exciting for the other two when it is their birthdays (or maybe they should just dream about it on any random day and they'll have a room full of balloons!).  After the fun morning, Lauren had to get ready for preschool where she had yet another celebration.  As the birthday kid, you get to be the leader all day and bring treats to share with everyone - she brought M&M cookies and apparently they were a hit.  And finally, when she walked out of preschool, she had her last surprise . . . Auntie!!!  Ash had driven back from CA with Dad over the Thanksgiving weekend and this was her first time seeing the kids - not sure who was more happy, Auntie or Lauren (and Ellie and Colt too - Ryan missed out on seeing her because he was at school all day)!  With all the fun winding down, Ash and I took the kids out for Lauren's birthday lunch and then her "celebrations" officially came to an end.  I hope we were able to give her just a little bit of happiness on her special day - it is the least we could do for all the fun she brings to our family!

Love you lots Lauren!!  Happy Birthday!!

Here are some pictures from the various celebrations . . .