4 year old!

Taylor is now 4 years old! Our baby is growing up and I cannot believe that we are already celebrating her 4th birthday! She had a great day today from the start. We let her open her gifts from extended family this morning to spread out the gifts so that she had time to enjoy them all and play with them throughout the day. She did just that! She opened the gifts from Aunt Angela and Uncle Doug first which was a Leapfrog tag book "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" and a "My Little Pony" Playdoh set. She opened them on the way to Joshua's school and couldn't wait to get home and open the playdoh. She didn't have the Leapfrog Tag pen yet, so she did not know the significance of the book she got at that point. She played with the pony for quite some time...combing the playdoh mane and making flowers and stars and hearts to put in its hair. She then opened Aunt Chris's gift which was a Mickey Mouse travel pillow and sleeping bag, which she loved! She immediately put them on the big chair in the living room and snuggled into them with her lamb. After about 5 minutes, she took them upstairs and put them on her bed along with her camping sleeping bag which she has been sleeping in for about a month now! From the moment we got her the sleeping bag for camping trips, she has been enamored with the bag and wants to use it on a nightly basis. I'm hoping that this lighter, easier to wash sleeping bag will take the place of the bigger one for nightly use! She then opened Grandma and Grandpa's gift which was the Leapfrog Tag Pen to be used with the Leapfrog books. As soon as I got the pen's software downloaded and the books, she had fun using the pen for quite some time. I think that it will help her complete her letter and number recognition which she is doing well with, but has 20-25% of the letters in the alphabet that she needs help recognizing. She then got a gift delivered to our doorstep this morning from my friend Julie Jones. It was an adorable Peter Rabbit canvas purse with satin lining and a beautiful book called "The Lost Unicorn". She had me read the whole book to her and it was really sweet with beautiful illustrations to look at. So...the rest of the morning and early afternoon was spent playing, watching a little bit of TV so that I could work on the kitchen and then bike riding once Joshua got home. We also made a trip to the store to pick up the cake that she had chosen, "Minnie Shopper" which consisted of a road that Minnie Mouse stands on looking at a storefront which can be turned into a picture frame. She also picked out a Care Bears balloon which mysteriously was destroyed within the first two hours of its life! Joshua had a guilty look when asked about it so I am assuming I found the offender! He was sweet to his sister on the way home from school, though. He said that he started making something for her at school in his free time, but didn't have time to finish it so he was going to save it for next year! He also gave her a kiss (on the lips!) in the car and a hug and told her "Happy Birthday" and that he loved her. It was very sweet and when I asked him why he kissed her on the lips, he replied "Because I love her!" If that doesn't melt a mother's heart!! When daddy got home, we ate Costco pizza and fruit and then sang "Happy Birthday" to Taylor. She blew out three of her candles before we got started on the song so I relit them and then we sang. It took at least three blows on the candles to get them extinguished and she got a huge smile on her face when they were all blown out. We then ate the yummy cake (Taylor asked for seconds and worked her way half-way through the second small slice). I then asked her if she was ready to open gifts and I got a very loud "Yes!!!!". She, of course, enjoyed every minute of opening her gifts which was a bit rough on her big brother who wanted to celebrate his birthday today as well. He got a party favor which was a zhu zhu hamster pet (which he had told me recently he wanted so he was extremely pleased with his gift!). Taylor received a Disney Princess CD player shaped as a carriage with a microphone attached in which she sang at the top of her lungs into the microphone enjoying the kid's CD I had put in for her! She also received two more Leapfrog tag books (Tangled and Dora goes to School), a Minnie Mouse movie "Minnie Masquerade" with a Minnie Mote (remote) that can interact with the movies, two zhu zhu pets play areas (a zhu zhu pets beauty salon and a run area that is a figure 8 shape) as well as 5 zhu zhu pets (Peaches-her favorite!, Patches, Cappucino, Scootles, and Jinx). She didn't think much of the zhu zhu pets gifts at first as she didn't know anything about them, but once they were set up and she and Joshua were playing with them, they were a big hit and they played with them for about 2 hours. The little hamsters are cute as they talk and squeal, go forwards and backwards and really act like little hamsters:) We finally got the kiddos to bed (both took their hamsters to bed with them) and we plan on heading to the zoo tomorrow to continue the birthday celebration over the weekend! Taylor got phone calls from Grandma and Grandpa, and Aunt Angela and Uncle Doug and kids. She also got a card and $10 from her Great Aunt Merry and Uncle Bob. Happy Birthday, sweet girl! We love you so much!!!!!