Ana turns 4

Yes, it's been over a week since Ana celebrated her birthday, but ... hmmm. I seem to be short on excuses. We were out of town for Memorial Weekend? (Post to come ... sometime.) We were busy with Bekah's final days of kindergarten? Aliens switched the bodies of Seth and me, and I had to flounder through a whole lot of Pascal and Linux at his workplace?

Anyway, here's how we celebrated Analee turning 4:

When Ana discovered that the afternoon kindergarten's end-of-the-year party (of which I was in charge) was the same day as her birthday, she was ecstatic and immediately began planning games (pin the tail on the donkey, a piñata, etc.). I informed her that we would do all sorts of fun things for her birthday as a family, but the games for the kindergarten party would be under my jurisdiction. So she got to rotate with Rebekah and play some Duck, Duck, Goose (due to inclement weather ... my original plan was to have the kids draw on the playground with sidewalk chalk), eat a homemade popcicle with a prize frozen inside, and supervise a craft that the kids made for Mrs. Campbell. (And I have no pictures of any of this. I was busy taking care of 17 kindergartners, after all.)

However, we did do her piñata the day before when the Grover clan had gathered for a family dinner.

Bekah and Ana with our homemade piñata. Ana painted it and colored the castle on it all by herself. I paper mached, duct taped and zip lined it all by myself. (Can you tell that both girls were pretending to be Pinkalicious that day?)

Seth manning the rope while Ana tries to whack the piñata. Cousin Cooper, Analee and Rebekah took turns battering the piñata; Bekah beat a fist-sized hole in it, and we let Ana finish it off so the kids could collect their prizes.

The Grover clan: Aunt Melissa taking a picture of Miriam and Uncle Justin, Analee eating her cotton candy, Grandma Susan and GRandpa Dennis watching Cousin Cooper, Bekah talking to Seth.

Then on the special day (May 24, in case you were wondering), after the class party, Seth's return from work and the arrival of grandparents, Ana got to eat dinner, open presents and eat cake.

Analee modeling the froofy tutu Aunt Jessica gave her while riding the inchworm she received from her parents.

Analee with her birthday cake. She had wanted me to make a recreation of Bekah's fourth birthday cake. But, unlike Ana, I remembered the terror that is fondant. So I looked for ideas on the Intertubes and came up with this happy compromise. I think Ana was happy with the results. In fact, Bekah has made me promise her that we make the same cake for her sixth birthday in less than two weeks.

In the end, I think her birthday turned out well. Otherwise, she wouldn't have been hopping up and down and saying, "This is the best birthday ever!", right?

To see more such photos, click here.