Fooa years old (Lydia's pronunciation)

Lydia really wanted snow for her birthday, and she got it!

I decorated a wall to correspond with her mermaid themed birthday.

This picture is so sweet. She had just opened a gift and was running to give me a hug.

The amazing mermaid pinata that Steve and Shawna made.

Travis got me a giant cupcake pan for Christmas, so I tried it out. No, not mermaid themed, but Lydia forgave me. I just love how it looks bigger than Lydia.

My dear little four year old.

We celebrated twice. On her birthday we went for a birthday breakfast at Country Doughnuts. I won't rave about them here, but the kids were pretty happy. We had to brave the snow, but it was worth it.

The kids played in the snow for a little while in the afternoon, but mostly waited until 5:00 when we left to meet Travis and Steve and Shawna at Chuck E. Cheese. Do I even need to mention that they loved that? Then back to the house for presents and ice cream. Lydia got a million Barbies. The girls are always fighting over Zoe's barbies, so Travis scored 10 or so at D.I. (is it tacky to mention amazing thrifting deals on my blog?).

Lydia has wanted a birthday party for ages (since last birthday). So, I told her I would throw her one. We don't really know any girls but we invited two little girls from her primary class. We decorated foam crowns and did face painting (obviously). Our standard birthday party includes a treasure hunt to find the pinata. We did break the pinata inside because of the snow, but it worked out great.

It was funny just having one little friend there, considering it was a party. At one point the friend asked me, "isn't anyone else coming?" We actually really enjoyed the low stress of having a small party. Also, the kids were home from school, so they got to be there.

Lydia Pearl has about as much personality you could shove into that little body of hers. She is generally a pleasure to be around (as long as you are giving her plenty of attention, and she doesn't have any competition). And she is really funny.

We are pretty crazy about her.