Analese's 4th Birthday!

Analese is celebrating her 4th birthday today with her family. When it was close enough to plan a party this year, I realized that Lee was on the schedule to work all weekend on Analese's birthday weekend. It was really too late to switch that around. The weekend before seemed too early to celebrate, and the weekend after is Mother's Day. So to make a long story short, we are not having an official birthday party on her birthday this year, although we are having a special birthday dinner at Red Robin with friends tomorrow on Lee's day off, following some play time at Pump It Up. I still tried very hard to make today a special birthday for Analese. This was waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs.



However, Lee was called out to the hospital early this morning before Analese woke up. He really wanted to be there when she got the bike, so I gave her this decoy present when she woke up.



We've had lots of fun blowing up balloons today. By the time we got dressed and even before we had breakfast, Lee came back home. She got her birthday bike. She was actually surprised about this one!



I baked this great mermaid cake!



The instructive video came from Howdini.com. This was fun to make, and pretty easy too!

We had a nice birthday lunch of homemade pizza and mermaid cake.





Overall it has been a very relaxing day. While it may have been preferable to have an actual birthday party with other kids, the family celebration was quite relaxing and laid back. When Mariele wakes from her nap, we are all going to the park to let Analese practice riding her bicycle around the sidewalk. I think she has had a great birthday so far.