Julia Anne Elizabeth, My Little Princess

My sweet little princess turned 4 on April 25th!!! Has it already been 4 years since God blessed us with our precious daughter?!! How time flies! Here is a little description of Miss Julia at four years of age......

Julia has always been a very sweet and tender hearted little girl. She is very in tune with the feelings of those around her and gets genuinely upset when others are upset. She is still very much a girlie girl and adores all things pink and princess. She loves to wear dresses, especially ones that have good twirlability (is that a word?!) Julia has never really been into playing with baby dolls but does all her "mothering" for her Baby (pink bunny blanket) Baby is by far her best friend. I often catch her having little conversations with Baby and they even have spats. So funny!

She and Isaac are pretty good buddies as well.(most of the time) Usually they play so well together thinking up imaginative stories. Other times, they bicker and argue and tattle. The problems usually arise when Isaac, who ALWAYS wants to be the boss is crossed by his younger sister who has "found her voice". Julia knows how to stick up for what she wants and doesn't want, that's for sure. It may cause issues, but in a way I am happy that she doesn't always back down. She is going to be one tough little cookie sandwiched between two brothers.

Lately she has been even more smitten with Caleb. She plays with him often and he just absolutely lights up when he sees Julia coming his way. She talks sweet to him when he is upset and makes an effort to do what she can to calm him. Such a sweet sister to both of her brothers.

A few weeks ago I caught one of our many conversations on video. It started with Julia singing one of her made up praise songs - something she LOVES to do. After her songs, I started asking her some questions. One of which was, "Who do you think you will marry?" She said with a cute little giggle, "I don't know Momma. I haven't met him yet" I was expecting her answer to be Isaac because they always talk about marrying each other (it's a sibling thing) Later I asked her, "When you get married, what will you do?" Julia answered with a big smile, "I will boss him around" I laughingly told her that I was going to show that little video clip at her wedding.

The fact that my baby girl is now 4 is still sinking in. She will start her kindergarten curriculum next year. I know it is early to start kinder , but she is so ready. She has started reading and keeps asking for more to do at school. She was born to be a student. LOVES school! That is refreshing!

My absolute favorite thing about Julia right now is how she will randomly throughout the day say, "Hey Momma, I love you" She just seems to need to reassure us of her love. Gabe and I soak it in. Julia loves to cuddle up to us and is very affectionate. Love it, Love it, LOVE IT!

For her birthday, which was on a Sunday, we did our traditional family celebrations. She got her morning birthday muffin, Dr. Suess' Happy Birthday To You read to her, and a few gifts all before church. She wore her big, pink and fluffy dress to church with a ribbon announcing to all that is was her birthday. After church we went to a local park and had a picnic and some family play time. She could barely enjoy that because she was anxious to get to Rain Forest Cafe for her volcano dessert and more gifts. So that's where we headed. Rain Forest has become quite a little birthday tradition for us. It was nice to only go for dessert. I think I have mentioned the over priced food right?! Anyway, we rarely go down to the Riverwalk, so it is always fun to go downtown.

Birthday Muffin

"Happy Birthday to You" by Dr. Suess

We gave her a purse, pink sparkle shoes, princess CDs, and some bunnies

The Birthday Girl

Picnic at the park

Excited to get a Tinker Bell doll

Volcano Cake

She had to hold these cups in her mouth as a beak and flap her arms while the workers sang "Happy Birthday". Julia enjoyed every minute of it.

Simply cute

Rainforest Cafe on the Riverwalk

Last Saturday, the 1st, we had her princess birthday party. You should have seen our house. Flooded with everything pink.... tissue paper flowers, tulle, ribbons, gems, balloons, etc. It was definitely a very girlie party. (For the record, Isaac did well tolerating the influx of PINK and princess)

The little girls all arrived wearing their princess best. Darling! We started the party by giving the little girls a princess wand when they arrived. On the wand were 3 clues. They had to follow the clues to find their hidden treasure in the backyard which was a tulle packet of gems. They really enjoyed that. We played outside and danced to princess music. I cleared off the gazebo, decorated it with flowers and streamers, and played some music from Disney Princess movies. It was so precious to see Julia and a few of her friends all holding hands dancing together. Gabe even got in there and danced with a few of the girls. We did lots of twirls and then headed inside to decorate princess crowns. Little girls really dig art, so gluing on gems and using glitter glue was quite a highlight. After that we played a version of Pin the tail on the donkey called "Put Cinderella in the Castle" Most of them got it and tried their best, One little girl couldn't help but peak a little and just happened to get Cinderella in the right spot. Another little girl (2 1/2) said to heck with the blindfold, tore it off, and put her Cinderella wherever she pleased. It was really funny. From there we moved on t0 the cake. I made Julia a castle cake that came out really well. Other than the top layer falling to pieces and the towers falling off right before the party started, it really was a pretty cake. Gabe got some good pictures before it tumbled down. Julia loved it and that is all that mattered. Of course, we did gifts next and finished with a pull string castle pinata. It was a lovely party and we all had a wonderful time.

Welcome to Castle Landes

Sweet Julia

Julia's Castle Cake - see the tallest tower? The one that is leaning a bit? Yep, that's the one that came tumbling down!

Gabe's artsy pictures of the cake

Princess Wands with treasure hunt clues

Julia and Hannah - one of Julia's dearest friends.

Treasure Hunting

Maggie, Julia, and Hannah dancing together. So precious.

Isn't Gabe the best Papa ever? Dancing with his little girl.

Put Cinderella in the Castle

Opening gifts

All the little princesses and one little prince

Today we had our traditional birthday fun day (little late, but oh well) Julia chose to go to Inflatable Wonderland for the day. So that is where we have been all day.We are all exhausted, in a good way! On our way , we stopped by James Avery and let her pick out a charm for her bracelet. We get a charm for her each year at her birthday, but we usually pick it out for her. This year she got to do the honors. She is growing up! (way too fast!)

So there you have it. Our birthday celebrations for Little Miss Julia are complete. We love celebrating our children, because they are worth celebrating.