Celebrating Charlotte

Charlotte turned four on Saturday & we had quite the day of celebrating.  I picked up my brother Kyle from the airport on Friday night & although it was not a surprise, Charlotte was SO excited to see him when she woke up. We told Kyle that everyday is like Christmas with our kids waking before the sun rises to start the day.  Saturday was no different & we heard a knock on our door precisely at 6am (I think that will always be painful, even on birthdays). Both girls snuggled up in our bed & we said "Happy Birthday" to our big four year old. She was very smiley. After a little bit of snuggling we headed to living room & were just about ready to open gifts when we heard babies crying. Gifts were postponed while I filled up the tanks of the little guys & then we were back to business. 

The boys had front row seats...  

Charlotte received the Hello Kitty nightgown she is wearing as a hand me down from her friends Anna & Clara.  Their Mommy later apologized to me & said that she too received it second hand, both girls LOVED it, wore it out, she tried to convince them to retire it but they insisted that Charlotte would love it.  Boy were they right! She would like to sleep in it every night : ) It definitely looks like it has been passed down through a good 6-8 girls but she would be devastated if it "disappeared" ; ) So, instead of breaking her heart, when Uncle Kyle asked if there was anything Charlotte might like for her birthday, I suggested a Tinkerbell nightgown. She opened it, dropped it on the ground & refused to say "Thank You." Long story short, we postponed gift opening once again while Charlotte & her Daddy had a little chit chat about having a thankful heart & resumed after 15 minutes when Charlotte was able to tell Kyle thank you for her gift.  Again, so funny to me how I plan out a lovely day of celebrating but our own sin gets in the way. Maybe "getting in the way" is not the right way to look at it.... a more accurate way to think about it might be God giving us the opportunity to recognize our shortcomings, repent & continue on.  Here are the girls with Charlotte's new nightgown...I think Bella wanted to wear it....

Charlotte got a new suitcase that matches her owl backpack from Gaga & Paw Paw. This will come in handy on Friday when we get Char all packed up to hop on a plane to Houston with Uncle Kyle to spend 6 days with my parents! She is really looking forward to her trip & is even more excited now that she has a stylish suitcase....on wheels!

Robby & I went on a date earlier in the week & did a little birthday shopping for Charlotte. We were all over the place on ideas considering the many things she likes.  A new favorite thing for Charlotte to do with her Daddy is watch tennis. She listens to every word he says explaining how the game is played & scored, remembers the names of the popular players & asks when she can watch again. We thought she might enjoy her own tennis racket so she could learn how to play with Daddy.  Here is her face when she realized what was inside the wrapping paper. 

Baby sister was excited too!

We also thought the addition of a soccer ball & goal would increase the fun factor of our time outside. We have already played ALOT! She has quite good aim & can dribble down the "field" really well.

After we opened gifts, Steve, Jenny & the kids joined us for breakfast. We had pink pancakes & sausage balls. We put a candle in the pancakes  & were ready to sing to Charlotte when the precious little four year old burst into tears saying she didn't want anyone to sing to her nor did she want to blow out a candle.  She does not really like being the center of attention so I removed the candle & served her breakfast. She was smiling again in no time & even participated in some silly faces with Karis & Eloise. 

Charlotte could hardly wait to put on her tennis clothes & squirrel hat as she calls it & head over to the neighborhood tennis courts for her first lesson. I stayed home with the boys while Kyle & Eloise joined the duo. I did send my camera along so I wouldn't have to miss out entirely & must give all credit to Kyle for the following photos. 

It's soooooo hard to share ; )

Robby was on the tennis team in high school & then has played for fun on & off since then. He was really impressed with how comfortable Charlotte was holding the raquet & swinging as he tossed the ball to her. She actually hit it a good 10 times. I guess some little girlie was paying attention to Wimbledon a couple weekends ago!

They came home all sweaty so I got the girls bathed & jammified (our word for putting pjs on).  Char & I hopped in my bed & took a nap together. I love snuggling with her! She was not the snuggliest of babies so I have thoroughly enjoyed any cuddle I get as she has grown older.  

One other gift Charlotte received from us was a new dress & little white sweater to wear on a special birthday date that afternoon.  It was tied to a Monsters University balloon to clue her in to the fact that we were going to the movies! This girl didn't even know a movie theater existed so she was in for a great surprise.  Heather who spent 4 out of 6 days with us last week helping with kids (God bless her) came back over to care for Eloise & the babes. 

Here she is with Uncle Kyle before we left.

We drove over to the AMC theater at Downtown Disney. Silly mommy who is usually way too good at over planning didn't take into consideration it was the Disney theater, a Saturday afternoon & a high chance of rain. We walked up 20 minutes before the movie started to find that it was sold out : ( Sweet Charlotte was as understanding as she could be as we walked back to the car & drove to another nearby theater so we wouldn't have to wait 3 hours to see it there.

We were early for the showing we purchased tickets for which happened to be a good thing because the line to get our popcorn was really long! Charlotte wanted to hold onto our tickets which made me a little nervous but then I reminded myself that she is four & much more responsible ; ) She wanted Uncle Kyle to hold her while we waited.

Her face was so cute when we walked in to see the huge screen. She was happy as a clam to have her mini popcorn, drink & fruit snacks plus the 8 M&Ms she got for 50 cents from the machine (what a rip off!) She sat between the two of us in the front row of the upper section so no one could sit in front of us & block our view. It has been a long time since I have been to a movie & I completely forgot how ridiculously long all the commercials/previews are. Charlotte kept leaning over & saying in a loud whisper voice "where is Monsters Inc?" After a good thirty minutes of all those silly previews I wanted to yell the same thing! She was still happy though : ) She ended up in my lap by the time the movie started & stayed put until the last 10 minutes when she requested to sit in Uncle Kyle's lap. 

The movie was fabulous! There were a couple parts that were a bit scary & made us a little jumpy. Over all though it was so witty & I will add it to our collection eventually. 

Our original plan was to eat at Chuy's for dinner since it is nearby Downtown Disney but since we ended up in a different area of town, we decided upon BJs brewery.  Charlotte got to eat her favorite food, macaroni & cheese as she sat by Uncle Kyle. She was getting sillier by the minute for two reasons, one, she was tired & two, she was next to Uncle Kyle. After she ate she wanted to come sit with me & do you know what she did? 

She fell right to sleep where she stayed until dessert arrived. It took me back to four years ago when this same little girl snuggled quietly on my chest & drifted off to sleep. Loved her then & love her now. 

It was a happy day celebrating with Charlotte Grace. We find it hard to believe that we have a four year old!  Happy Birthday little lady!