Eileen's Birthday Weekend

This girl just turned 4!

My sister, Beth, and her family came up from Portland to celebrate with us.  My nephew, Dylan, has a birthday the day after Eileen, and my brother-in-law's is the day after that.  A couple of years ago we decided to do a special birthday weekend every year.  I look forward to it for months.

After a pancake breakfast and lots of playing, Beth, Eileen, Robin, and I headed into Seattle to pick up cupcakes at Trophy.  As per special request, we also went to Nordstrom so Eileen could get a balloon and a new jibbitz for her crocs.  In the afternoon, the boys made presents for Eileen while she napped.  Later Beth and Dave took the big kids swimming at the YMCA while Chris and I stayed behind and napped with the babies.

Back from the pool, festivities were ready to begin.

eyeing the pile of presents

the boys were so excited for her to open their presents

a beautiful custom made piece by Linus

Beth is a crochet-master and made all the kids hats for their birthday.  I think Eileen's hat may be my favorite thing Beth has ever made.

We gave Eileen a giant fairy princess coloring book, Cinderella duplo legos, and two sets of Goldie Blox.  By far her favorite present came from my friend, Heather---a Tinkerbell lamp.

silliness with her balloon from the Nordstrom shoe department

We dined on salad, Annie's shells and white cheddar, garlic bread, and sparkling cider.  Trophy cupcakes turned out to be a wise choice since everyone wanted something different.

post-cupcake Goldie Blox with Uncle Chris

 Robin liked the Gnome hat Beth made him.  He did not like the beard that attaches to it.

Sunday morning we celebrated Dylan with more pancakes and then celebrated all the fall birthdays with a trip to the Curious Circus at Teatro Zinzanni.  It was amazing and so much fun.  Everyone had a good time.  It makes me want to splurge and go to an evening performance some time.

After the show and some lunch, the Rousseaus headed home.   We always have a good time when they visit.  I personally enjoy the chance for adult conversation, board games, and hot wine.

EILEEN AT 4
Eileen is a big bundle of silliness and unbridled energy.  It is not uncommon to see her squealing and running in circles.  She loves books, ballet, Curious George, Bo on the Go, princesses, fairies, rainbows, unicorns, legos, puzzles, french braids, quiet detailed activities like setting up scenes, building things out of cushions and pillows, crafts, and going to coffee and nails.

Eileen dislikes being excluded, timeouts, thinking she has been left behind, being called a baby or little girl or silly or really anything other than Eileen, being teased by Linus, going to bed, shirts that are plain or striped, and polka dots on dresses.

I love that she has imaginary friends.  Gilbert and Barky are spiders.   Gilbert is a boy, Barky is a girl. There is also an imaginary human girl named Kush Kush.  I get the impression that Kush Kush makes a lot of bad choices and is sometimes scary.  

I don't know how she fits in her bed due to all the toys, stuffed animals, and books she keeps with her.  Eileen loves going to school and takes all of her responsibilities very seriously.  Now that she is four, she has declared she can get herself dressed.  She is excited to finally receive an allowance and have some purchasing power.
Eileen can frequently be heard coming up with words that begin with the same letter.  I'm excited to teach her to read.

Oh Eileener-schnitzel, how has it already been four years?