ALL ABOARD birthday!

Our oldest peach pie turned four at the end of May, and I tell ya... it's hard to believe! FOUR! She's not a baby anymore. She's not a toddler anymore. She's a fun loving, kind, smart, caring, only-one-more-year-until-she-starts-school li ttle lady!

Since we are so suber uber creative (wink, wink) we did the EXACT same thing we've done for the past two years... we hung up streamers for Alia to run through as soon as she woke up!

So, we may need to break out of our box for next year... but the girls still get a big kick out of it in the mean time! :)

For breakfast we made "cake batter pancakes" (which did NOT taste quite like I had hoped!) in the shape of a big ole' 4 with "icing syrup" and an extra dose of sprinkles! Our breakfasts are not usually like this, I assure you!

And a bit of fruit for some added sugar!

Our day was pretty normal, with an afternoon "trip to the spa" (a.k.a. our kitchen!) for a mani/pedi with the birthday girl and a sister of her choice! Which just so happened to be the sister that wasn't taking an afternoon nap!

Daddy surprised Alia with her "very own" slurpee when he came home. By "very own" I mean that Jon asked for an extra cup and poured a little bit of his in there for her to enjoy! :) We spare no expense, can ya tell?!

Alia's birthday package arrived from Auntie Erin, Uncle Josh, and Gramma/Grampa Waldman just in time... and we had one VERY excited little girl to open it!!

These gummy butterflies were an instant hit... as you can tell but Alia's very full mouth! 

We had Alia's request for supper and were joined by some of our best friends, Aaron and Charm (with baby Wyatt!) as they passed through on their way home from vacation!

We ended the day with some cookies & cream cake and one smiling, happy birthday girl!

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We still wanted to celebrate with our "adopted" family (since we celebrated with our local family when we went to the farm) so we planned a little Gordon themed birthday with them! 

"What's a Gordon birthday party?" you may ask... well, essentially it's a train party. Gordon is the # 4 engine in the Thomas and Friends series... and since Alia was turning 4, and since Gordon's the strongest and fastest train, she thought it would make a wonderful backdrop for her party!

So I made a train ticket for the invites...

... painted a big Gordon poster as the focal point...

... high jacked some pieces from the girls train table to use for decor...

... and hung up some streamers and balloons to make it a little more party-ish.

It was simple, simple... but fun none the less!

See, here's Thomas... who's usually the star of the show...

... and here's Gordon... who got to have the spot light for a little while!

Alia was the train conductor, of course...

... and greeted all the "passengers" with a *toot, toot* on her train whistle and an "ALL ABOARD! Watch your step... you made it just in time!" as they entered the "train car!"

We had lasagna, salad, and garlic bread in the "dining car" and then had a train themed cake for dessert! 

Once again I did not make this cake (I know, I know... my mother of the year nomination was lost a long time ago!) but for $12 (with a coupon!!) I just couldn't even compete!

Alia was THRILLED, as I'm sure you can imagine!

Since our house has not grown (sadly enough!) we decided to just open gifts in the basement since it's the biggest "room" we have!

Once again, Alia was super duper blessed by all sorts of fun things!

And just one last pic to keep it real! All of our passengers... in the most unfinished,  least prettiest part of our house! Good thing they weren't paying first class dollar for this leg of the journey!

All in all we had such a wonderful time and the conductor said it was one of the best train rides she's had yet!

(I've never fully shared our train story from last summer... but I can attest that Alia's right!!)