My Joy

Today is our Eveley Joy's 4th birthday. As I have said many times before, she is certainly living up to her name. She brings us enormous joy and many laughs.

My Eveley ~

You have certainly grown up this past year and are such a sweet girl. We love you deeply and are so proud of you. You are a great helper to your mom and have already declared that you will be taking care of your baby sister when she arrives. (I think baby brother will have to fend for himself.)

You have learned many new things these past few months -- how to swing by yourself, play Twinkle Twinkle on the piano, and dress yourself.

Lately, you have been very interested in talking about Jesus and your big "brudder" Robbie. We went to the cemetery together last weekend and you wanted to go look at "Robbie's flower." As we were walking around, you asked to see "Miss Meredith's flowers," -- one of my friends. I explained to you that she didn't have any flowers there because these were for people who had already gone to heaven. You looked up at me for a second and said, "Then I want to go see God's flowers."

I cannot believe that you will be starting school this fall, but I know you are going to love it!

Your daddy and I love you with all our hearts and are excited to see how God uses you. I know He has already used you to bring us (and many others) great joy.

Mama

CELEBRATION PREPARATIONS

Eveley always enjoys helping me plan her parties. I began asking her what type of party she wanted and got a variety of answers -- pirates, princess, Strawberry Shortcake. But we decided on having a "Sweet" party which allowed mom to improvise as we went along.

Both Eveley and Caleb were huge "helps" in the kitchen.

For the cake, Eveley wanted one that was similar to last year's rainbow cake.

Remember this.



This year, though, we would use brighter colors -- pink, green, yellow, orange, aqua, and purple.

Eveley helped mix the colors, and we ended up with 6 bright layers.

Unfortunately, the green layer did not survive Caleb.

So a 5-layer cake of colorful goodness would have to do this year. I made a snow peak icing and topped it with some pink sugar.

CHANGE OF PLANS

We had hoped to celebrate her birthday on Saturday but the weather would not cooperate. Afraid she would be utterly disappointed, dad arranged for a different type of surprise on Saturday.

An entire dump truck of gravel for our massive driveway.

Eveley (and Caleb) LOVED it!

Caleb has inherited Eveley's purple crocs from last summer. =) {Only for around the house, honey. I promise!}

THE BIG DAY

We were able to have Eveley's birthday party Sunday afternoon. The weather was gorgeous and so many friends were able to join us.

Eveley thought it was a perfect day.

And it was...kinda...

Due to some "miscommunication" with dad, the birthday cake arrived at the party looking like this.

But Eveley didn't care. She was surrounded by friends and family and having a blast!

This was the replacement cake from the local grocery store. =)

Caleb wanted to blow out some candles too.

and eat some cake

Today is Eveley's "official" birthday and she has decided to spend the entire day -- beginning at 6:30 -- playing with, and wearing, as many of her birthday presents as possible.

Happy Birthday, Princess!