Birthday Parties

Our precious little Tristan turned 4 on the 12th of November, and for 2 weeks we had 3 four-year-olds in the household. Then our beautiful Maya turned 5 on the 26th of November. It was seriously high entertainment around here to see how absolutely thrilled and over-the-top excited they were to each have their special day with cake and gifts and loads of special attention.

It was especially wonderful to have Grandma John there to celebrate Tristan's birthday.This was a little flashlight Grandma gave Tristan. He was thrilled! What a good idea!Tristan asked for brownies for his birthday cake, so I frosted them with chocolate frosting and covered the top with M&Ms and chopped up Snickers bars. They were a huge hit!After cake and ice cream, we played Pin-the-nose-on-the-clown and Bingo.Tristan definitely didn't want this day to end, and keeps hoping that his next birthday will come again very soon.

Maya's birthday actually fell on Thanksgiving Day this year, so we celebrated the day after. She spent the entire day with a huge smile on her face, and saying over and over again: "I am special!" "I am a big girl!" "I get to open presents!" "Today is my birthday!" "It is Maya's special day!"For her cake I made Pioneer Woman's strawberry shortcake cake, which we actually liked best the next day when all the strawberry juices had had a chance to permeate everything.We played Pin-the-shoe-on-Cinderella and Hide-and-Seek after cake and ice cream.We measured them on their birthdays, and they have both grown 4-5 inches taller since they came home 16 months ago! It has been an amazing year of growth for both of them in many ways.