I've been meaning to try art making with the salad spinner for a while and it was fun! It's always funny to see what colors the girls pick. One combination Holly chose was orange, yellow and black. The craft is super easy. I cut out a bunch of circles from cardstock the same size as the bottom of our spinner, put a circle on the bottom, and poured splats of paint in the middle and then the spinning! It was great! The girls loved it and it was easy to execute.

It's official, simple birthdays are the only way to go! Holly's original birthday party request included two things: chocolate cake and the park. Easy to pull off. Having friends come to the park just to play with you is a happy thing for a four year old and all we had to do was serve chocolate cake and ice cream. No gifts, no favors. The children played so well together and the birthday girl was completely satisfied with her party. 

One other thing Holly later requested was a princess on her cake. And while I would love to buy a disney princess figurine to use a cake topper, I choose a less tacky route. Conor printed off a 3-inch circle of Holly and I added a gold crown with glitter glue. I was a little worried Holly would be disapointed, but she totally wasn't! She was so excited! 

For Holly's birthday, we went to Gilroy Gardens and it was so much fun! The park is completely family oriented. All the rides are for kids, there's live entertainment, lots of shade, beautiful gardens everywhere with tons of plant variety, and I didn't feel bombarded by merchandise. The environment was much more laid back than other amusement parks I've been to. I'm so glad we went! I can't wait for our next trip there. 

Going mid-week was a huge plus as the park was quiet. We spent over 4.5 hours there, which is kind of a big deal because Greta still naps. Having Conor with me made the day so much better and easier to navigate. We had a hard time leaving because we wanted to keep riding and playing. I really think that Holly's birthday was a success. I think we made it special. 

I took lots and lots of photos on Holly's big day. We started the day off right with balloons, pancakes, fruit and juice (a rarity!). This was the first year that Holly was super excited for presents, and she wanted lots of them! I think she was satisfied. We gave her 3 cute books, a birthday dress made by me, and a toy camera. I felt a little weird about the toy camera because we had originally bought it for Greta's birthday, but Greta had so many gifts that we put it away in the closet and saved it for Holly's birthday. I feel like we made the right choice, but, it still feels weird! Holly's birthday dress was a surprise this year and she looooves it! Whew! 

Conor stayed home from work and we went to Gilory Gardens (pictures to follow in the next post). We played all day there, came home, ate a simple supper and then had cupcakes. Cupcakes was another thing Holly was super excited for! One of the best parts about birthdays, for me, is seeing how happy my children are (and taking the time to soak up my child myself). Birthdays are so happy! It was on Holly's second birthday in Yahk that she looked for the first time happy through to her bones. I feel like she was able to comprehend that it was a significant day for her and that we were celebrating her. I love seeing that look in my children's eyes. It's something special! 

Holly is now FOUR! I can hardly believe this has actually happened. We had a really fun day and now everyone's tired and grumpy and in denial about being tired and grumpy. Conor took the day off and just having him with us made the day extra, extra special! More blog posts to follow! For now, here's a couple of my favorite photos from the end of the day. Holly was so excited about cupcakes! (I was too!)