Fourth

I could go on and on about how I can't believe that my little girl - my BABY - is four years old already. But I fear that to those of you who regularly read what I write, I will just come off sounding like a broken record.

I don't usually post much about the kids' birthday parties, but this year for Hailey's there were a few things that I really want to remember. So she is going to get a birthday post. Maybe it will make up for the lack of scrapbooks and videos of her as a baby that we don't have. The second child gets rooked - the third child get squat.

Due to her love of all things sweet. We decided to go with a candy theme for her party this year. I tried to wrap the invitations up in cello wrap to make them look candy-ish. They turned out all right, but looked a little weird to me.

While Christmas shopping at Target, I came across these candy ornaments. I bought a couple thinking they might look cool as cake decorations or something. Then the day after Christmas, I went back and bought a ton more when they were fifty percent off.

The morning of Hailey's birthday party started off looking like this outside.

I told Hailey to come to the window and look because the sky was "Pinkalicious" land. She ran over and said, "It IS Pinkalicious land, maybe God painted it that way just for my birthday!" Seriously, how cute is she?

We found an idea for a cake online, and we tweaked it to work with the candy that we had. We filled glass jars with candy so the little girls could fill up goody bags and that could be their party favor.

The girls covered pretzels in candy coating then decorated them with sprinkles.

Hailey and the party girls. Three of her cousins and two friends from her class came over.

Trent and the boys were around at the beginning of the party and then got a phone call inviting them to go sledding. Spencer was thrilled with the idea. Evan decided he wanted to stay for his sister's party. I couldn't believe what a character he was. At one point the girls were in Hailey's room putting on crowns and jewels and some of her dress up dresses. Evan came out of his room all decked out in his fire fighter costume - complete with some Harley Davidson fringy gloves.

A bit later, he changed into his mummy costume and joined in with the filling of bags at the "candy bar".

I will never forget how cute he was with those little girls trying to explain to them how to play Candyland on the DVD. "Just stand on a mat. Any mat. It doesn't matter if it has a picture on it or not." He would call them by name and tell them where to go or help them find the next color. Seriously, he was the cutest.

I am so grateful that my mom came over to help with the party. Our plan was that when the girls first arrived they would play the Candyland DVD game. The only problem was that as the girls walked in, they were all too timid to start playing. The only ones playing the game were Evan, Spencer and Grama -who Evan dubbed "Grama Nutt" after one of the characters in the game. I started to panic a little and began to melt the candy for the next activity. Grama knew just what to do. She channeled her inner former school teacher and got all the kids acquainted with a rousing game of Duck Duck Goose. They LOVED it! Thank you Grama Nutt!

One of the other things I always want to remember was courtesy of her oldest brother. The morning after her party - her real birthday. She was laying in bed with me in the morning. Spencer came in and without being prompted said to her, "Is there a birthday girl in here? Happy Birthday Hailey!" She glanced at him with a look that was a cross between elation that her big brother remembered her day and embarrassment to be the center of his attention. He walked over and gave her a big hug (also unprompted) and she said "I love you Scence!" To which he replied "I love you too Hailey!". It was one of those moments where my mama heart just melts.

Happy Birthday Hailey Marie! We love you so much!