eleanor is four!

our sweet eleanor turned four yesterday

she woke up and put on her birthday dress

and ate her favorite cereal with her favorite bowl and spoon

 she wanted a doc mcstuffins birthday so i made her a dress that went with the theme

 i let her open one present early because i knew it would make her whole day

it was this sing along boom box michael's parents got her

and she is obsessed with it

she has been playing with it every time we go to target for months

 she wore her doctor's coat all afternoon

while olive was at school she helped me get ready for her party and kept saying, "don't worry"

 i got her and olive happy meals for lunch

they loved them

 i finished setting up for her party while they ate lunch

her party was from 1-3 while the big kids were at school, henry napped and michael was at work

which was great in some days

but hard not to have michael here

i had one mom stay for most of it so that was helpful but i didn't get very many pictures of the party

eleanor had 8 girlfriends come from ballet and church

when they got here they "fixed" the toys with bandaids and gauze 

and gave them check ups

then they played pin the bandaid on lambie

noah drew it for us and hazel colored it 

then they played musical chairs (eleanor melted down during it and went to her room for a bit)

and played outside

 of course eleanor was pushing her friends in the jeep

she's the nicest

 she loved opening her presents

 and they all loved the pinata

 all the girls

 i was a little wiped out after her party

so i took a tiny nap before the kids and michael got home

when they got here we let eleanor finish opening her presents from us

 for dinner we had spaghetti and meatballs

and then we sang to eleanor

 she loved being sung to

 blowing out the candles

 cuddling her dad

 some pictures outside with her balloons

this was eleanor's golden birthday

and her first party with friends

she's getting so big!

eleanor is the nicest person

she reminds me of an old woman (specifically my grandma kelly) because she's so sweet

and loves to take care of people

she is very nurturing

she loves music, loves to smother henry

is a lot like hazel and spends a lot of time with her

she loves her curly hair and prefers to keep it down and natural 

without any bows or braids or pony tails

when i ask her where she got her curly hair she tells me, "Jesus!"

she is excited to start preschool next year and already knows how to count well

and most of the letters

she makes up impressive elaborate songs

she loves to be with me, right underfoot, especially when i'm cooking

she asks her dad to fix her blankets several times per night

she wants to be a doctor and a mom when she grows up

she loves her friends, grandparents and uncle ryan

she is soft, and sweet, and loving

and way more cuddly than any of our other children

she loves touch (like her dad) 

she has started to really like money lately

she loves ballet but gets shy to see everyone every single week

she is by far our shyest child

she hides behind me a lot and covers her face, too

she loves her dad

and she's very happy to be a big 4 year old

we love our eleanor!!