Birthday girl= Eagles win!

It seems surreal to me that my little Crannie is now four years old. I have a 4-year old and a 2-year old. They're still supposed to be babies!

Maddie loves hearing about when she was born and when she was a baby, so I'd been telling her since yesterday that 4 years ago yesterday we were sitting in the hospital room and Dan was playing UNO. Ha. We were awaiting the induction process. And, I kept telling her all throughout today "4 years ago at this time.." up until 5:56pm (4:56pm Shreveport time) when I told her she'd been born 4 years ago. She loves hearing about it, and how she used to be so small. 

We've never "over" done their birthdays in the way of parties or anything like that, but we've always insisted and made it a point that both Cran and her little Beebster know how important their birthdays are to us. She had her early birthday weekend last weekend, and we let her choose what she wanted to do today. She helped me make cupcakes yesterday that she had picked out of her new cookbook. They turned out great and they called for Jell-o in the mix. Maddie remembered that the little oven that Nene had gotten them for Christmas came with its own mixer. She was in absolute heaven mixing the batter all by herself. It was too cute. She was insistent that she'd get all of the egg yolks mixed in by herself. She and Beebster then decorated them with sprinkles and a few decorative Disney figures. 

Her birthday present from us and from her Beebster was the book, "Pinkalicious." The girl LOVES that book. The other day we had been at the book store, and they only had copies of "Purplacious." She was quite devastated. She is now telling me that they should make a book called "Sparklacious" which I actually think would be a good idea. We then went to Chuck E Cheese. I personally hate that place, but they just love it. It has fast become a tradition on their birthdays! We decided to just pay for tokens this time, and they had a wonderful time as usual. 

It snowed yesterday- not much, but enough to be able to get the snow tube out again. They were out for an hour snow tubing yesterday until it got dark. That was Maddie's other request to do today on her birthday. So, once the Eagles were up 23-11 in the 4th quarter and we felt confident, we got them outside to snow tube again. I went down with them a bunch of times and they were just laughing hysterically when we'd (softly) crash into the bush. They just love that darn snow tube!

Miss Maddie requested her very favorite, spaghetti, for dinner tonight. She's always so specific too: "I would like spaghetti deeders (what she calls it for some reason), fruit salad, and garlic toast." Ironically, spaghetti was also Faith's birthday dinner. These girls and their spaghetti. She had her bubble bath that she wanted with her Beebster, and they played princess dolls for awhile, and then it was time for bed. A very nice 4th birthday.

It feels more surreal to me that Maddie is four in just knowing that little Alexa only lived 2 months past her 4th birthday. Despite never having met her or her family, she has left an enormous impact on my life. And, I'm so glad for that. I've never taken anything for granted with my little girls, but every moment seems that much more precious in just knowing how things could very well change at the drop of a hat. I can't imagine only 2 more months with our Cran. She is my helper, my confidante, my buddy, my student, and my everything. She is my old soul: so mature in ways that I can't understand considering she's only just turned four, and yet so innocent at the same time. She is so much fun and her personality never ceases to amaze me. She's developed a lot of new things that she loves this year: a fascination for wildlife, her love of all things pink and fancy, her absolute love for her beloved princess Aurora, music and dance, an even bigger fascination with cooking and baking than last year, and so much more. And yet, she has all the same loves she has always had. She loves her family, just like her Beebster. I'm quite the lucky Momma!