Happy Birthday Hailey!!

Yesterday was my older daughter's birthday. She turned 4 and was VERY excited about not being 3 anymore. It was a very busy day but she had so much fun and it was encouraging to see her grateful attitude. Last night I went in to tuck her into bed and she crawled into my lap and said "mama, I had such a good day today. I've never been 4 before but now I'm 4!!" She's my most expressive child which can be a challenge at times but it's those moments that make the challenges worth all the work. I love you my big girl.

For her party she had decided that she wanted a "Lightlings" birthday. What is "Lightlings" you ask...it's a wonderful allegory tale written by R.C. Sproul. He has 4 of these allegory books all written to help children understand the attributes of God. This particular book explains why some people are afraid of the Light and prefer to live in darkness. The end of each book has a clear explanation of the allegory and 3 of the books have a parents section where there are discussion questions. My son also loves these books too. I bought them all from Amazon and got a pretty good deal on them.

So, when she said she wanted a "Lightlings" birthday I had to figure out what to do (there are no "Lightlings" themed party items :) ). The characters in the book look like woodland sprites/fairies so we went with that look for the party. I thought I would share just a couple pictures from yesterday. All the party items were purchased at the dollar store; the total for decorations, favors, and tableware came to just under $35 dollars (had to add sales tax for everything so it wasn't an exact dollar amount).

The Birthday Girl:

The Cake:

Some crocheted "oven mitts" for her play kitchen (her present from her baby sister ;) ):
Everyone waiting patiently for cake (There are 12 cousins that all live within 45 minutes of our house so birthdays are always very "kid-filled"):