Serena's 4th Birthday

Jordan was gone on the actual day of Serena's birthday, so we decided to hold off the big celebration for when he'll be home later this week.  But, I still wanted to make it special, so here's what we did!  :)

The night before Serena's birthday, we put the special "Happy Birthday" pillowcase on her pillow.  We also took some "last night of being 3" pictures.  :)

Our little munchkins

Birthday Girl

Birthday Girl's Brother, haha ;)

We normally have oatmeal for breakfast every morning, but we made it a special morning by having Two-Ingredient Banana Pancakes with maple syrup this morning!  It was a big hit!

I also decided to ditch Cody's morning nap and we headed out to a park we had not visited before.  We found a trail that went along the river and spent a couple hours throwing rocks and sticks and leaves into the water. And we let the Pokey Little Puppy be pokey.  He had a great time and collected many BIG STICKS.  :)

Throughout the day, Serena happily received phone calls from Grammie, Caroline, Keira, and Daddy; and Skyped with Aunt Julie.

Serena's day was made all the more special by our sweet neighbor kids who gave her some little presents and cards that they had made.  She absolutely loved that!!

After naps, we had a little mini-party and opened a few cards that had come in the mail from Serena's Great Grandma (Gram) and Great Great Grandma (Nana).  We also opened presents from the Grandmas.  Of course, she was SO excited about every little thing!  Grandma sent some little growing creatures (you know the ones that come in capsules and you put them in the water), and the kids were just FASCINATED!  And Grammie sent a matching nightie set for Serena & Olie, and Serena has proclaimed it to be the "Most Beautiful Nightie."  ;)  The Rabe cousins sent her some Littlest Pet Shop pets.  It only took Bret about 45 seconds to discover that their heads pop off, so now whenever they are playing with them I have to reattach heads about every 30 seconds.  ;)

After the present-opening festivities, we had a special snack of dark chocolate and strawberry-banana oatmeal smoothies.

Bret & I sang to Serena and she blew out a candle  ;)

For supper, we had Serena's special request, ravioli.  ;)

I wanted to get a picture of Serena & Olie in their matching nighties before bed, but Serena had already put Olie to bed and there was no convincing her to wake that baby!  So I took one in the morning.  ;)

Tenderly tucking Olie into her cradle

Matching nighties!  ;)

I was amazed how much time they spent playing with their collection of sea creatures

Four-year-old stats:  39.25" tall (37th percentile) and 36 lbs (58th percentile).