Lily's 4th Birthday

It doesn't seem possible that Lily's turning 4 today. 

She is a crazy ball of energy. She isn't afraid of anything - she actually enjoys scary things - it's like it has no affect on her. She loves bugs and creepy crawlies and super heroes as much as she loves dressing up and pretending to be a princess. She is obsessed with holidays. She will watch Halloween and Christmas cartoons on Netflix all year. She is very helpful and loves her sister. Every day she wants to give Penny a "snuffle". She asked Jesus into her heart this year, participated in her first communion recently, and is always having discussions with us about what it means to be a Christian. She is a bit legalistic. She tells Clay and I what we can or can't say/do because it is too much like some other banned word/activity. But she is very loving. One of my favorite things is to hear her say how much she loves EVERYONE. She is always asking, "Can I see your hand, mommy?" And then she will hold it and give it a kiss. She started preschool choir at church, and she sings to her cd constantly in the car. She is unofficially in VPK, and is doing so well starting to learn to put letters together and read words. One of the things I love about her school is that they do reading one-on-one, so she gets to progress at her own pace. She loved watching the World Cup with her daddy. They would pick opposite teams to cheer for and root against each other. Now she makes me kick the soccer ball with her outside ;)

Saturday, the 13th, we had a party for her at our pool. It was the first party where she basically made the list of friends herself and we invited HER friends, instead of our usual family friends. It was Spider-man themed, because she has been obsessed with him for about 6 months now. She is always pretending to use her "web-shooters".

Spider-man masks:

Lots of excitement over a skirt her Aunt Jodi sent her:

Aunt Jodi also sent her Sleeping Beauty, which she loves ever since seeing Maleficent:

Finally, she owns her own web shooter!

(In other news, I accidentally shot the ceiling of our living room with it, which is cathedral type, so I'm not sure how that is ever going to get cleaned....)

Spider-man nigh light:

She got two dresses - Ariel and Frozen themed, with matching jewelry:

She took advantage of 3 different presents at bedtime - Batman pajamas, her new tent, and Sleeping Beauty.

If possible, she is even more excited about today than the day of her party. On the way to school this morning she said, "I'm having a really good birthday." She'd only been awake for 45 minutes. She got to bring cupcakes to her class, and we are going to one of her favorites, "the peanut eat store" (Texas Roadhouse) for dinner. She doesn't know she will get to sit on the saddle while they sing to her - she will be so excited. We saved the part of her cake that says "Lily" for tonight.

I love that girl so much. I waited 5 years to get her, and she is more amazing that I ever could have dreamed. I thank God for every day He lets me have with her.