Will and Hallie's page: Hallie's Birthday

Hallie's 4th birthday festivities began the weekend before her birthday, with her first official birthday party. She chose to hold the party - to which she invited nearly 30 friends - at Brazos Valley Gymnastics, where she takes gymnastics lessons.

Just before her party we gave her a new leotard (you might remember it from this post), which she loved and made her feel "dressed up" on her special day.

Big brother crashes the photo shoot.

Big smile.

Posing.

Dancing.

Tom and I threw a big party at our house for Will's third birthday. We decorated the main areas of the house and the backyard, made all of the food (Tom grilled hotdogs and hamburgers on the grill), baked and decorated the cake and cupcakes, planned games, and put together favors. Will had a good time, but the party was SO MUCH WORK; the week before, the day of, and the day after the party were completely party-focused and I didn't get a chance to really enjoy my friends who were in attendance or watch Will have fun with his friends. It didn't help that it rained the night before and we ended up having to move a bunch of cold, muddy kids and their parents inside the house for lunch and cake.

We switched gears for the next few years, having simple family parties for Hallie's 1st, Will's 4th, Hallie's 2nd, and Hallie's 3rd birthdays; a two-friend miniature golf party for Will's 5th birthday; and a one-best-friend movie and sleepover party for Will's 6th party. Hallie's 4th birthday party was her first real party and our first real party in more than three years, and because I wanted to avoid a repeat of Will's 3rd birthday party, I tried to keep things as simple as possible.

Everyone showed up at Brazos Valley Gymnastics and played on the equipment for close to an hour. Then we sang "Happy Birthday" and enjoyed cake/cupcakes and juice before heading back out onto the floor to play for 10 more minutes. As her friends left, Hallie gave each of them a "fishing under the sea" net as a party favor. We didn't do a meal, we didn't do presents, and we didn't do stress. It was fantastic.

Kennedy and Will on the trampoline.

Logan doing tricks on the rings.

Hallie, Caroline, and Jerra in "the pit".

Levi, Matt, Hallie, Will, and Kara listening to instructions.

Tom and Aaron (below) showing off their rope-climbing skills.

They work out.

And being the dutiful dads they are, they both (along with Chris on the right) helped
Coach Carlos demonstrate one of the games to the kids. These are their submarine legs.

These are their shark fins.

And this is their rowboat.

Crazy games.

More crazy games.

Lots of submarine legs.

Will and Logan in their rowboat.

I don't know what they're doing, but I'm pretty sure they're doing it wrong.

I think they got it right the next time.

Getting ready to blow out her candles. Will wanted in on the action.

Listening as her friends sing.

Blowing out her candles.

As always, Hallie was the last one at the table.

Ariel. Yes, I know she looks ape-ish. Ugh.

I also made under-the-sea cupcakes.

So easy. So fun. So not stressful (except for Ariel). So worth it.

Later that same afternoon, Tom brought Hallie flowers and we let her open a couple of presents.

The girl LOVES flowers.

ARIEL!!!

The cutest gymnastics/dance outfit I've ever seen.

The night before Hallie's actual birthday, Tom and I filled her bedroom with balloons. It looked fantastic, but I was really worried about what would happen if she woke up in the middle of the night and started accidentally popping balloons on the way to the bathroom. Traumatizing...

Tom had to go out of town on Hallie's birthday, so he unfortunately didn't get to join us for any of the festivities on April 10th. We had to make the day extra special in an attempt to make up for his absence. First up, donuts for breakfast.

Then I dropped her off at school, where she celebrated with her friends as the classroom "Star of the Week" and with Ariel cookies (from my favorite shop in Utah).