I am truly blown away by how rapidly time seems to be passing. Lydia turned four last month, and she is constantly surprising and delighting us with insight and questions and things she initiates. As with so many things in life, this is a "both/and" situation, because at the same time, it is so sad to see her baby and toddler moments riding off into the sunset (a preemptive horse pun for ya 😏). Even so, we all had such an enjoyable time celebrating her - both on her actual birthday and at her party the following weekend.
 |
She opened gifts first thing...
|
 |
...and they promptly put them to use.
Jacob was thrilled to gift her a pony Lego set - two of her most favorite things in one! |
 |
| As promised (and rehearsed), Jacob fixed her hair at "Jacob's Salon" on her birthday morning. |
 |
The hair was (surprisingly) maintained all day and through her requested birthday supper at Nick and Jake's.
They were showing horse races (her first time watching) - so perfect! |
 |
| This sweet girl shared her free dessert with everyone else right away. |
 |
| The next morning brought horse races for all the new (and old) ponies! |
 |
| She chose a strawberry cake for her party, and we made one from scratch. |
 |
| She wanted to help set up everything and was so excited for her guests to arrive! |
 |
She helped with decorating the cakes, too!
(This nostalgic mama was glad for an excuse to get her some miniature My Little Ponies.) |
 |
| ♥ |
Unfortunately, I didn't snag many pictures of the birthday girl participating in the party games
without others in the shot. We started with a (stick horse) Pony Express relay (our kids and the cousins had recently visited a Pony Express museum, so half the participants were familiar with the concept, at least). Stick horse riding at my parents' house is almost
always accompanied by the William Tell Overture on their player piano, so I brought out my trumpet to play this during the race. As a former trumpet major, I was
embarrassed by my practiced-it-once-and-tried-to-play-memorized-while-giving-instructions-and-encouragement performance, but thankfully, the participants were fairly focused on the task at hand and got the gist, regardless. 😉 Ha.
This race was followed by a "horse show" during which participants
introduced their tiny horses (thanks to a cousin's surplus from a different party) and took them through a series of moves and tricks the "owners" conceived of
on the spot. I was not sure how this would go over with the range of ages in attendance, but everyone seemed really
engaged! This was followed by (requested) bubbles, lunch, and cake.
 |
| This is a screenshot from a video of the "horse show" - just to give you an idea. The plastic horses were a couple inches tall, and here, Lydia is running hers over the "jump." (Our homemade balance beam came in handy!) |
Lydia is very selfless, so it was really fun to get to make sure she got exactly what she wanted for all the festivities in her honor. She is beginning to make core memories and connections, and it was really special to see (and hear) her anticipate and appreciate the various celebrations. We just love her so!
Pinkily,
Kensy
P.S. You may remember
last year's party theme was "Pink." This year: Pink Pony. Any bets on whether or not next year will add
another P to the alliteration? Pink Pony Princess, perhaps...? 😉
Favorites of the day:
alllll the bday freebies!
 |
an hour of free child care courtesy of the IKEA play place
(this was on day 11/14 of Daddy's work trip) |
 |
| these sweet siblings |
They are both on reward systems for separate things (Jacob's is in place to encourage autonomy and minimize complaints, and Lydia's is helping encourage her to play independently during rest time) and have had their eyes on the top tier prize (a trip to Chuck E. Cheese) since the program was implemented a couple months ago. Initially, they could not fathom being able to save up enough gold coins (the reward system currency) to cash in for this prize, so to help further incentivize them and foster a sense of teamwork, we told them they could pool their coins and earn the trip together (which also meant splitting the game credits while there). They were very much on board with this idea (mostly Jacob, who had been there once on his own a year or so ago and was really gunning to get Lydia there, somehow) and worked hard to achieve their goal. I was glad they earned it when they did, because it was during Bryant's long work trip and provided some great excitement and extra activity! They shared the game credits willingly and well, and Jacob was so excited to show Lydia the ropes and play the games with her.
 |
| This moment left me speechless. They got on, the ride started, and as they came around after the first rotation, I saw this. They did not let go for the duration of the ride. No one was scared or worried - they were just happy to be together, I guess. 💗 |
 |
| This was a motorcycle game Jacob remembered most from his previous visit. |
 |
| Probably not built for two...or for seven-yr.-olds, but they made it work. |
 |
| I was actually surprised by how into it all she was. |
 |
They were on a "helicopter ride over the city."
Jacob was looking for Ingredion, a downtown client of Bryant's, thinking they were "flying" over KC. ♥ |
 |
| She didn't want to drive the second truck, but was happy to watch and cheer him on. |
This all probably could have been a separate post, but it really was a favorite thing, recently, so I will just leave it here. Please know that there are countless moments between these two and with them that are less-than-favorites. They sure tend to run hot and cold. It is the sweet moments (like these, brought to you by Chuck E. Cheese), however, that I cling to and choose to dwell on ("whatever is good, whatever is lovely..."). These are the moments I pray will live on in their memories; the interactions I hope to foster and encourage; the days I cherish.
