Spoiled but not rotten

We've been having lots of fun for the past two weeks ending with Lucy's birthday celebration Monday AND Tuesday when my dad and his wife Cindy were here for a visit. What can I say, one day just isn't enough when you are turning four.

We let her open her big present from my dad early so the men folk could put it together. It didn't take them too long even with all the "help" they got.

The kids were so excited to start climbing. I think this is going to be the outside toy of the summer.

And this isn't a great picture but I love it because it shows both kid's personalities so well. Lucy climbed a bit then ran to her helmet. We tried telling her it probably wasn't necessary but she remained unconvinced. Even then, it took her a whole day before she was willing to go to the top. Jonah on the other hand, took about 30 seconds to get to the top. Craig stayed with him at first, mostly to teach him to use his arms to slowly lower himself down to the ground again and not just fling himself off. But he would say "weeeee" as he went down, then "more!" and climb right back up again. Now that Lucy's gotten comfortable on it, she's up at the top or hanging upside too, it just took her a little while to get there.

Then we needed some candles, cake and ice cream.

Lucy requested "vanilla cake with chocolate frosting that is round" so I made a Gluten Free vanilla bean cake with strawberry filling and chocolate ganache with homemade vanilla ice cream to top it off. Jonah approved!

And more presents. Four has been my favorite birthday because she knew it was coming and has been excited for a while. And it did not disappoint her. She was so excited for every single present. This was her face each time! New Book! Anna apron! Ballerina Dress! Hanger for ballerina dress!

And yes, she got lots of new dress up clothes and at one point she and Jonah both had multiple items on. I'm really glad I got two pairs of butterfly wings :-)

She also got a big set of unit blocks from Craig's parents. She and Jonah had a smaller set of wooden blocks that they used on occasion but got frustrated with if they were both trying to build a tower. This new set has tons of pieces but they are also the special unit block type. I've read great things about them but was still surprised just how quickly Lucy started building very imaginative things. She's already built an airplane, a boat, "the city" (complete with it's arch!) and used the little peg people it came with to act out billy goats gruff and cinderella. And it's only been two days. I've become a unit block believer.

Jonah likes the blocks for building towers to knock down and for throwing but he also had a lot of fun with the box they came in :-) Here he and Cindy were putting his "eebee" to sleep, saying shhhh, then opening the box to wake him up again. I think they did this probably 20+ times.

Whew, all this fun is wearing me out.