Aria's 4th Birthday Sheep-Over

Happy birthdays to us!  As we did last year, we went to the zoo for our birthdays (on my birthday).  We went on the carousel a dozen times, and on the kiddie train enough times to ride in every different colored car.  And as we do only for birthdays, we got ice cream cones too!

We went out for dinner at Olive Garden that evening with friends.

What a beautiful plate of birthday cheesecake for me!

For her actual birthDAY we were at Nana's house and a family reunion.  I woke her up by whispering "Happy Birthday!" and her very first words were, "Cake and presents??"  We did end up running off to the store to pick up a cake to share at the reunion, and the store was super great and decorated it for free!  Aria was thrilled to see Tinkerbell on the cake.  Other than that, she spent her time playing with her cousins, which is the perfect way to spend a birthday!  

Eventually we drove back to Nana and Papa's, and came around the corner at the lake to see someone setting off fireworks!  We sat and watched Aria's special birthday fireworks for 20 minutes because just when we thought they were over they would keep going.  After we made it back to Nana's house we let her open one gift - a pack of Paw Patrol puzzles.  She was so gracious, jumping up and down saying "It's just what I always wanted!!"  Even though it was quite late in the evening she had to put several together RIGHT THEN.  

Aunt Tawnia came to visit the next week, so we waited to have the friend-party until then.  Aria loves her sheep, so we did a sheep birthday party.  I painted her a new sheepy shirt, and all her stuffed sheep were placed around the room with party hats on.  Sheep games: Hide and Go Sheep (hide a tiny sheep and let the kids find it), Don't Eat Sheep (exactly like Don't Eat Pete with marshmallows), and of course Pin the Tail on the Sheep.

And of course a sheepy cake!  Stacking the two round cakes was the most difficult part for me, but she loved it so of course it was worth it.  We had four friends to play and a bunch of balloons and food, and it was a perfect party for our new four-year-old!