Brooklyn's Birth-DAY

To prepare for Brooklyn's birthday,
we did a little Birthday Eve pampering...get her fingernails and toenails in perfect Birthday girl shape!

On her ACTUAL birthday, we spent the morning at VBS!  She brought cupcakes for all of her friends and they sang to her and she got to blow out candles.  After VBS, we met up with Mimi and DooDad at her favorite place, CHICKFILA, where we were actually the 100th customer!!  That's never happened before and we eat A LOT of Chickfila!  Then we went home and took naps to gear up for Chuck-E-Cheese!

Brooklyn has always been a big fan of costume and people and was smitten with Chucky.  She wanted to be close to him and follow him around, but wanted one of us to be right there with her.  Funny girl!  Thanks, DooDad, for the moral support!

She had a blast at Chuck-E-Cheese, but then we had to head home for her to open some presents!

Any guesses what she got???
A new bike!  We got video of her riding it, but somehow didn't get any still shots???
After she took her new bike for a nice long spin, we headed inside for birthday cupcakes!

After some messy cupcake eating, the girls needed baths.

Then for our final nightcap, B opened a few more presents from Mimi and DooDad

Then we read her new Cat in the Hat book and she went to sleep with her new Cat in the Hat.

It was a very happy day indeed!

And, just so I have a record, here are her 4-year-old stats:
Ht:  41 3/4 inches...75th%
Wt:  34.4 lbs...50th%

It seems like those have been pretty close to her stats her whole life!  Tall and skinny!

Brooklyn's Bumblebee Party

Brooklyn LOVES to run around and be wild and crazy so I always try to plan her parties where she do just that.  This year we did it at a bounce house and things were SO crazy that I only managed to get 1 picture of her while we were in there.

After an hour of bouncing and sliding, we went to our party room for snacks!

I wasn't sure how the kids would feel about where these bumble bee antennas, but they were all very cooperative without even being asked!  Brooklyn's had a tiara on it so that she could be the Queen B!

Brooklyn had a blast in the bounce house portion, but she definitely VERY excited about being the center of attention and getting to blow out her candles, too.  Her expression during this portion was my favorite part of the whole party!

Love this sweet 4-year-old!

Several of the guests participated in the bumblebee color scheme!

(Unfortunately I didn't get them all pictured.)

Sweet cousin Lawson, even had BUMBLEBEE earrings!!

Are you kidding me?!?  Fabulous.

 If this party was judged on how much fun the birthday girl had, it was an 11 on a scale of 1-10!

Thank you so much to everyone that came and helped to make this day so special for her!

Happy 4th Birthday, Brooklyn!!

If I had to try to summarize Brooklyn in just one word,

(and I can't remember I may have used it to describe her in a previous blog)

the word would be:  INTENSE

When she's happy, she INTENSLY happy.

She is grinning ear to ear and can't sop smiling and giggling.

Things that make her really happy:

riding in someone else's car

birthday parties

(petting zoo birthday party)

(pirate birthday party)

large crowds of people

having company at our house

sleeping on the top bunk of her new bunk bed

And when she is upset, 

she is INTENSLY upset!

Things that upset her?

#1 - a new food on her plate...major food phobia...brings her to extreme tears

Chandler

being short on sleep - this child NEEDS her rest

lack of perfection...certain things must be done EXACTLY right

And when she is concentrating,

She is concentrating INTENSLY!

She can't hear or see anything else going on around her.

Unless Chandler makes herself seen or heard by messing up Brooklyn's project...which is how Chandler got to be on the list of things that upset her =)

Because of this constant, INTENSITY, Brooklyn has always been and is still quite the sleeper.

She, for the most part, is thrilled to go to her bed and usually sleeps around 12-13 hours at night.  If she naps, it is usually 2-3 hours and even if she doesn't fall asleep, she's happy to lay in her bed and sing and talk or lay quietly for 2-3 hours.  It's INSANE, but I love this sweet quality about her!!

All of that may sound familiar, but one thing that has really changed over the past year is her hair!!

Have you noticed?  It's curly now!  Crazy!

Her favorites:

Color - pink

food - peanut butter and jelly

TV show - Little Einsteins

game - Candyland

activity - working puzzles (she's crazy good...works ones that are for ages 6 and up)

Accomplishments:

swings all by herself

knows all her letters and sounds

totally potty trained...even thru the night (haven't had an accident, day or night, since October)

can buckle herself in her car seatbelt and get herself out all by herself

can bathe herself (if you fill the tub), let water out, clean up  tub toys and get herself dressed

does a great job of brushing her teeth all by herself

Things I think make her unique:

left-handed

plays by herself for hours

she's very quiet

when she wakes up, she sits quietly in bed until we come to get her...she's never gotten out of bed on her own although she's perfectly capable  (I LOVE THIS!!)

her sleeping habits (as mentioned above)

her eating fears (as mentioned above)

completely fearless swimmer...loves big slides and diving boards

What I LOVE about her:

She's not greedy (never asks for anything when we are shopping...doesn't even see that as an option)

Doesn't understand concept of winning or losing...just happy to play

she NEVER gets bored

she can imitate noises and sounds perfectly

she's kind to everyone...there is no one that she "doesn't like"

her independence...never have any trouble dropping her off or leaving her with a new sitter

Last thing:

She's really into clothes...not in a materialistic way, but LOVES to dress up

She also loves to pick out her own bows and shoes that "match." 

And nearly every night she wants to know what she is wearing the next day.  She never argues or has a problem with it, it just gives her something to look forward to in the morning.  She gets dressed almost the second her feet hit the floor.  Funny girl!

Finally, she is super-excited about the new baby growing in my belly and coming to our family soon.  She has turned into quite the good big sister and LOVES baby Chandler!  Here are just a few pics I took of these sweet sisters last week at VBS:

Happy 4th Birthday, Brooklyn!!

Thank you for being a hilarious and sweet daughter, a helpful big sister, and a fun and kind friend!

We are loving watching you grow and learn and are SOOO PROUD of the little human you are becoming!  We LOVE YOU!!