Birthday Princess

Ashlyn is another year older and wiser. She is now four years old, which is not three. Hooray! We'd barely gotten out of bed before everyone was crowded around Nana and Papa's package that had been torturing them all weekend long. It may have been for Ashlyn, but it was still quite the family affair.

She loves her new clothes and I love her special ability to pose.

We figured we might as well dig into the pillow cases while we were at it.

It was a close competition with new dresses and Rapunzel, but I think her gumball machine won best gift of the year.

At her request, we had german pancakes for breakfast. She does NOT like donuts, but we still got her birthday dozen from Crispy Cremes for the rest of us to enjoy!

We sent the boys off to school then loaded up for her preschool fieldtrip to the firestation. Let the partying begin!

After the firestation, we had to hurry home. It was time to princessify! We were expecting 9 other little princesses for our royal celebration.

It took quite a bit of convincing, but I talked Ashlyn out of cake and into pink cupcakes for her party. It's hard to see, but they are royal carriages and crowns.

However, (thanks to her brothers) I could not get her to budge on the castle pinata. I think it turned out pretty well!

I knew I couldn't handle all the mayhem myself, so my friend Natalie came to the rescue. She saved the day multiple times - from decorating until 10:30 the night before, to providing party games, to having someone to cry with when the girls wanted nothing to do with the party games!

Here are all the BEAUTIFUL princesses! (And a few random handsome princes!)

I think "Kiss the Frog" was the biggest hit of the party. Any time you get to wear red lipstick, right?

Ashlyn blew all four candles out in one blow! It's going to be a lucky year!

A pinata is pretty tough to bust open with so many dainty princesses trying to do the job. We were lucky that Zachary, our neighbor, came by.

We enjoyed the rest of the day playing with new birthday toys and having dinner at Ashlyn's favorite place - Natalie's house! Happy Birthday, Princess! We love you!