HAPPY 4th BIRTHDAY, ALEGRIA!!!

I woke Cameron up at 7:30 so that we could go together to the girls' room and "wake" Alegria up to us singing to her the "Happy Birthday" song.  She and Odette were actually already awake...we could hear them chit-chatting from our bedroom...but nonetheless, she LOVED it when we came in singing to her.  Apparently, though, I had my camera on a weird setting (still getting used to my new camera!) and for some reason, it recorded at hyper speed and without sound and I have no idea how to fix it, so I apologize (if anyone out there knows how to fix this, please let me know!!!):

Since we knew she'd be getting a lot of "fun" presents at her birthday party, her presents today were more practical ones.  Pretty much everything she got was blue or had some blue in it, and that's her favorite color, so she was extremely happy!

Odette also liked her Alegria's presents and tried to grab a hold of something...anything...!

All dressed and sporting her new stuff!  (It's difficult to get a genuine smile out of her sometimes!)

Cute sister!

At breakfast, Odette shared my smoothie and got a smoothie mustache!

After breakfast, we went to church.  Church was fine, as usual. 

Back home, we had lunch and then Odette took a nap.  While she napped, Alegria and Daddy read books, colored, and relaxed, and I baked and decorated Alegria's birthday cookie cake.  

In the past, I've made a huge cake for their birthday party and then another, smaller one on their actual birthday, but there's always so much cake left over and I didn't want to have us eating cake for days on end...and besides, I'd been craving a cookie cake since MY birthday, so I decided that I'd try my hand at making one myself (instead of buying one...they're so expensive!).  I must say, I am very pleased with the end result:

And that's when I decided that from now on, this will be our new tradition...cookie cake on their actual birthday, and real birthday cake for their birthday party!  :)

In the meantime, Alegria received MANY a phone call from grandparents and aunts and uncles!  She LOVED the attention and the well-wishes!  Thank you to all who called and texted with loving messages to her!!!  She loves you all!!!  :)

For dinner, Daddy made some delicious homemade pizza...Alegria's favorite meal!  And we had her favorite juice, which a few days earlier when I had asked her what her favorite flavor was, she said, "Blue!"  Alegria was a happy camper and there were no food wars to be had!  :)

Finally, it was time for cake!

Our beautiful 4-year-old, Alegria!!!

Family picture!

The cookie cake was SOOO delicious!  I was afraid it would come out crunchy (I'm notorious for crunchy chocolate chip cookies instead of chewy ones), but the cake was SOOO soft and delicious!!!  I think I may even like this cookie cake better than real cake!!!  In any case, everyone agreed that it was very yummy!

Well...except for Odette.  She barely licked the frosting and decided that this was just another sweet and that she didn't like it.  For those of you who know me and my huge sweet tooth, I KNOW!  I can't believe she's my child!  Hahaha!

No matter, she doesn't need to eat sweets...she's already sweet enough to me!!!  :)  (Trying out different camera settings...)

Once dinner was cleaned up and since tomorrow is the first day of pre-kindergarten for Alegria, Daddy gave her a father's blessing to start her off on the right foot on her very first school year:

Then I presented her with her backpack and school supplies:

I can't believe our little girl is growing up!

HAPPY 4th BIRTHDAY, ALEGRIA!!!  WE LOVE YOU SO VERY MUCH!!!

Another Fun Day!

Our friends came with us today on our walk and to the park and we had lots of fun!

After our walk, we went to the library for story time.  We got there late, so we missed the singing time and story-book reading, but the girls really enjoyed making home-made maracas (rice in a paper bag that they got to color).  :)

Then we went to the Commissary.  I wanted to make some more Chickpea Chocolate Chip Cookies and needed more chocolate chips.  The first thing we did when we arrived at the store was go to the bakery.  Heather told me that they give free cookies to children, so the girls got a treat and Mommy got peace and quiet during our short shopping trip:

Back home, we had lunch and Odette had a nap, and when Daddy got home, he set up the sprinkler underneath the trampoline and he and Alegria cooled off like that:

Odette was NOT a fan:

The rest of the day went by pretty quickly and now it's bedtime.

Have a great night everyone!!!  :)

Sisterly Love

As usual, we went on our walk and to the park this morning.  That was fun, as always:

Then we went to Walmart.  My Magic Bullet recently died and since smoothies are part of my everyday life and it had already been a few days since I'd had one and was going through withdrawals, I really needed to buy one.  This time I bought the 4-year warranty along with it.  We also bought a new bathing suit for Alegria.

Once home and after lunch and a nap for Odette, both girls decided it was too hot for clothes, stripped down, and continued playing:

Later on we enjoyed some time outside on the trampoline.  At one point, we all laid down and gazed up at the clouds.  Alegria told me this one looked like My Little Pony:

Sweet sisterly love:

And that was our Tuesday.

Good night!  :)