Birthday Girl

Our little Kennedy is now the ripe old age of 4, and I'm very excited because I can once again claim the 2-year gap when people ask how old my kids are (because when you say you have a 2 and 3 year old, they think you're crazy...but a 2 and 4 year old? That's totally respectable.)

Kennedy had a great birthday. This was the first year she really knew what she was waiting for when she said she was excited her birthday was coming. And boy oh boy did she know what she wanted. She wanted every toy she has ever seen at any store, balloons, and a ROUND purple cake.

And can I just say that although she often drives me crazy, I absolutely love so many things about this girl. My favorite thing this year was when we sang her Happy Birthday the first few times, she hid her face so that she couldn't see us while we were singing. She so hates being the center of attention (just like her mom!) and it cracks me up because she is such a feisty little thing the rest of the time, just as long as no one is watching!

Here are the pictures of her while we were singing. The first two shots we took when we sang to her and had her blow out a candle on sticky buns for a birthday breakfast while my dad was visiting...even after the song when she finally took her hands down, she was so sheepish from us all looking at her! Hilarious! And then she did it again with her cake!

We were a little worried that when they sang to her at church in Primary that she would do the same thing, so we prepped her and told her that they'd be singing to her in front of everyone. It worked almost too well! When they accidentally skipped having the birthday kids come up when they normally do, Kennedy raised her hand and said, "Excuse me. My Daddy says you are going to sing to me today." Such a smarty girl like her big sister (yet oh so polite!). She was then sung to and she smiled the whole time -- no covering her face!

We just can't believe how old she is suddenly looking either! It seems like she stayed the same size for so long that now that she's grown a few inches, she suddenly looks like a kid instead of a toddler!

McKinley even handled Kennedy having a whole day of attention better than last year. It must be hard being a kid and seeing someone else get cool gifts, but that's life and hopefully she'll catch on eventually! At least Kennedy is pretty good at sharing (sharing gifts that is, not chocolate).

Here are the three kids, all ready for Kennedy to open her presents. What a great day!