Nora: Four

This was the last night I said good night to my three year old.

She woke up FOUR! And excited.

A special thing happens on your birthday.  You're able to have a cookie for breakfast while still in your bed!

There are advantages of being the brother of
the birthday girl.  You get a cookie too.

Nora didn't ask for much for her birthday.  What she did ask for is balloons.  It's been a tradition in our house to have a room full of balloons when you wake up.  That's her favorite part.

This year she woke up early to find her balloons.  4am early.  I woke up to hear this conversation...

Nora: "Myles, are you awake?"

Myles: "Boon, Nana!"

Nora: "Yeah, there's lots of balloons because it's my birthday!"

I go into their room to find both kiddos out of bed tossing the balloons in the air.  After saying happy birthday to Nora I had to break it to them that it was still the middle of the night and they had to go back to sleep for a while before they could play with the balloons again.

Despite her birthday landing on a school day, school was canceled due to polar vortex temperatures... again. She would have to celebrate her birthday at school next time she was line leader/snack girl (which happens to fall on Valentine's Day).

Because of the polar vortex temperatures, we were stuck at home.  We spent the day relaxing and...

playing Uno Moo, of course! And drawing lots of pictures, playing puzzles, and an episode or two of Dora to name a few.

We had a special lunch - grilled cheese in the shape of a 4!

When Dad got home from work he brought her flowers.

Flowers for the birthday girl is a new tradition. It was cute to see the surprise on her face when he game them to her. This picture just makes my heart swell. 

After dinner, it was finally time for presents!!

With my kit lens' focus out of whack I wasn't able to use
the self-timer feature on my normal camera so I had to
download a timer for my iPhone and use the front camera.
Not the greatest but it's all five of us in a picture and all
five of us looking at the camera.  Self-timer for the win.

PARTY TIME!

The day before her birthday we celebrated with a small family party here at the house.

Getting excited for the guests to arrive

She wanted a chocolate cake but knew her Dad doesn't like chocolate. Her solution was to ask for her own personal cake in chocolate and a bigger cake for her guests in vanilla.  I love that she thinks of others.

Her personal chocolate cake.

The vanilla cake for her pink party.