Allie's 4th Birthday!!

HAPPY 4TH BIRTHDAY ALANA!!

My baby girl is 4 years old!!!! I've been very transparent about my difficulty with change and my sentimental-nature so it should come as no surprise that this was a bittersweet birthday celebration for me. I'll emphasize how grateful I am that my children are growing and strong but boy it's just so hard watching those years tick away! Plus, ages 2 & 3 are pretty much my favorite ages and now they're gone!! I mean, I love all the ages, at least until 7/8 when things really start to change, but still.

I know, many people think I'm crazy for loving 2 & 3 because they can be so difficult. And believe me, about a month before Alana turned 2, she definitely took a sharp turn into attitude-town and fit the bill for three-nager. But, there is also so much sweetness, exploration and learning that happens during these years, it's just fun to watch. Just about everything a 2 & 3 year old does is adorable. Even in those difficult moments.

last night as a 3-year-old

Anyway, my sweet pea, precious Allie is now a 4-year-old big girl! Happy birthday to you baby girl!! I'm so happy God chose me to be your mommy, I cannot even believe how blessed I am to be mommy to all my littles. You are still an energetic, sassy, strong-willed, fun-loving, sweet little girl who loves to munch all day and would survive on cheeseburgers, chips & cereal if I let you! My sweet Alana can give hugs and kisses, but also give some attitude and are very difficult to get to sleep at night. Work in progress. We did not plan and were a little freaked out to have 4 kids, but you have added so much joy and personality to our family; you're the perfect bookend.

How we spent your day:
Today was actually your first day at Mother's Day Out for this school year. I hated to miss that time, but you wanted to go and it gave me time to finish your cake. Plus, I brought Frozen popsicles as a birthday treat to share with your class, so that was pretty cool. As soon as you came home, we showed you the cake and opened presents!

 I didn't get a good picture, but you loved the unicorn cake mommy made you! And my goodness, did you love your presents! You are such a My Little Pony girl, quite possibly obsessed. Love the pics I got of you opening presents. My sweet girl.

 Then, what's better than opening presents? Playing with all your new toys!! We played for awhile then Grandma & Paga called to wish you a happy birthday and asked if we could meet for dinner. So we met them at Cracker Barrel and you had yummy pancakes and eggs for dinner! After, they took you to the store and let you pick a present. More My Little Pony, of course!!

We had cake and home, then a little more time to play with all your new ponies before heading to bed. I love you so much my preshy girl, and am grateful to celebrate another year with you.Happy happy birthday to you Allie!!!!

Back to school!

We did a soft start last week- getting a start on math and phonics but this week marks our official start to school! New this year, we're going to a Classical Conversations (CC) tutorial that I'm pretty excited about as well as some new curriculum that gives a chance to have a group day with friends as well- this will be Fridays. Our CC community day is Monday, so we jumped right into the week with CC today! The 3 oldest have Foundations in the morning and Will has Essentials in the afternoon, so it was a full day, but we loved it!

Allie starts MDO tomorrow, but she goes to CC with us so I had her pose today. :) The sun was so bright, they all had a hard time keeping their eyes open.

Here's to a great 2018-2019 school year!