Birthday Girl

  

Like most birthdays, Eleanor's lasted pretty much the whole week.  Her birthday was on a Wednesday but Andrew has class on Wednesdays and Thursdays and we were going out of town over the weekend so we celebrated as a family on Tuesday.  Eleanor got to pick out a balloon (she chose a princess crown of course), she got to pick what we had for dinner (she chose pizza, my kind of girl!), we had cupcakes and opened presents.   On her birthday we went to lunch at Chick-Fil-A, and the day after her birthday we had playgroup at our house, shared cupcakes with our friends and I told her it was her birthday party :)

She's picked up my bad habit of biting nails

   

Eleanor is so much fun to have around.  She is so imaginative and moves from one idea to the next all day long.  She is such a good helper and a great big sister.  She genuinely wants to do what's right and she always helps remind Penelope what they're supposed to be doing.  She always wants everything to be perfect though, which can lead to frustrations when she's working on writing letters or doing art projects/craft type things.  She likes to do "gymnastics" and "play" soccer.  I'm hoping we can actually put her in these activities next year so she can decide if she really likes to do them.  She is also so good at playing games on the computer (she navigates websites like Disney Jr and Nick Jr like a pro).  She has gotten really good at painting and will match the colors exactly to what they are "supposed" to be.  She still loves to read books and now really likes to tell stories (like Goldilocks, 3 little pigs, and princess and the pea).  She has also become very inquisitive and loves to ask questions.  My favorite is when she comes into our room in the morning and asks, "mom, did you sleep good last night?" And speaking of mornings, she is definitely a morning person.  She wakes up so pleasant and ready to start the day.  This morning she came in telling me that it's ok if we don't get a dog right now, and that she'll be content with just a goldfish for now and she'll name it Alice in Wonderland.  She also loves to hide from dad when we hear the garage door opening and then jump out and say surprise.  She loves to "decorate" by arranging random things in random places.  She also loves to pick out her own outfits and proclaims she is "fashion fantastic".  Needless to say, she keeps us entertained.

 

She brings so much fun and laughter into our house.  We are so glad she is in our family!

So crazy to think she is 4!

She got some princess paper dolls, a Barbie camera, and little figurines from Brave)

And birthday week continues with a package from my sister Jessica.  The girls were just as excited about the box that the package came in as what was inside of it.  They used this box and stuffed it with junk and sent each other pretend packages for a good week after we got this.

In the original package was a Halloween book for Eleanor and she also included a BEAUTIFUL quilt she made for Molly. 

You can see the back of it here.  Eleanor kind of thought it was for her and insisted on sleeping with it for a couple of nights.  I was finally able to convince her it was for Molly!  I tried to get some pictures of Molly laying on it but she was getting fussy, so I'll to try again soon.       
I'm one lucky mama to have such sweet little girls.