Turning Four: The Party

As we started gearing up for Josie's fourth birthday August 11th, we kind of just assumed she would want to have a pool party like we did for her second and third birthdays. After trying to convince us that a party in St. Thomas, Montreal or a Water Park would be better ideas, Josie finally settled on a pool party after all. (Ha, who knew she'd actually have her own opinions this time around?!)  This year we reserved the pool in Mt. Adams and it was our favorite of the three spots we've had so far.  (I'm not kidding Cincy folks, renting these pools costs a sliver of the price you think it would be - look into it & help out the CRC.)

Here are some photos from the party! Every year when we get everyone to celebrate a birthday, I always have this moment where I just take a deep breath and look around at everyone - the people that are a part of our family's life - and I just feel so overwhelmingly grateful. This year was special because we added Josie's new school friends to the ever-growing circle of families we know and love.

It was an absolutely beautiful day on August 6th when we had her party.  The theme she picked was "You Are My Sunshine" - the song she always refers to as her song that I've been singing to her (even off-key) since she was just a newborn.  Lots of people call her Sunshine, so this theme couldn't be more fitting.  She quickly ran with the idea - complete with all orange and yellow snacks, decorations and a sunshine cake.

Our Josie over the years...

Scenes from the pool:

  

The birthday cake:

(BIG BIG BIG BIG BIG enormous thank you to Teresa for making this super fabulous sun cake with pull-apart cupcake rays that took Josie's four year old wish from vision to reality. It was perfect and delicious and you are so generous! THANK YOU!)

It was a long, fun day of partying...and it was only the first part of what would be a week-long birthday celebration (and what will be a week of blog posts about all of them to get caught up).

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEET JOSIE! 

You are most definitely our little ray of sunshine!