Surprise!! Littlest One is Four!

Cora's favorite thing in the whole world is surprising people. When Daddy gets home from work, she insists that he close his eyes so she can lead him through the house to a "surprise" - anything from cookies she helped bake, or a picture she drew, or an art project she made. She just loves surprises.

So it only made sense that her fourth birthday party ought to be a surprise party. Oh, and was she surprised! It was absolutely killing me to not tell either girl as I made plans and bought decorations. A nice big group turned out, nearly thirty people in our back yard. Andrew took Cora for a hike while Chloe and I got everything ready and got the guests situated in the back yard. I made a big deal out of it - "I've got a really big surprise for you, are you ready? Okay, close your eyes..." and I led her through the house to the back door.



I'm happy to say that she didn't cry. I was afraid she would. She was certainly surprised though, and it took a few minutes to really register what was going on. The nice thing about a surprise party for a little girl turning four is that she has very little concept of time, and no idea how soon her birthday is coming if you don't tell her. It worked out so great!

We were lucky to have all of the cousins in town, plus a small handful of other friends. The kids had a blast on the slip 'n' slide, and played some fun games. I didn't do much of a "theme", but I did try for some fun old fashioned games like the clothespin drop, potato sack races, and three legged races.



And the spoon game was fun, too - passing an M&M from one end of a line to another, using spoons in their mouths and no hands. Even the grown ups got in on this one, and it was great fun to watch!


The menu was all of Cora's favorite foods: watermelon, corn on the cob, sweet potato fries, and mac 'n' cheese. We added hot dogs in to round it out, and everyone seemed pretty satisfied ,despite the rather odd conglomeration of menu items.

The cake topped it all off. My mom is amazing. Once upon a time ago she made cakes as a little home business, when all us kids were at home. Every cake was always a work of art. It's not something she does often anymore, and I'm not sure she was all that thrilled about making this one, but it was incredible, and everyone really loved it. Especially my sweet Littlest One.



And Cora had no doubts about who all those presents were for (unlike last year). She received some really great, really creative gifts.


Huge thanks to all the friends and family that made this the best birthday party ever. My sweet girl sure did enjoy herself, and I think most everyone else did, too.