Alayna turns 4!

I know a lot of my friends have the same problem, but for some reason my kids keep growing up really quickly and I do not know how to stop them! This year Alayna's birthday party was a couple weeks after her birthday. The weekend before her birthday was Mother's Day, the weekend after, she went camping with my dad, which was a very special birthday present! They camped at Pere Marquette park with the Walden's (and Kendall & Braden). They went hiking, had snacks, watched movies and she came home with a bag full of really dirty laundry to prove it. She had so much fun. I really appreciate that my dad does that by himself and I can't wait until the boys get a little bigger so they can go too, as much for their benefit as for mine:) The next Saturday was supposed to be her party, but on Thursday, she threw up! So, in a panic, we canceled. Even if she was better by Saturday (she was), what if the boys were sick by then? (They weren't) Finally, on the last Sunday of May, which was Memorial Day Weekend, we had her Outdoor Movie party! My dad bought us a projector for Christmas and we were anxious to use it, so that's what we did. We started in the afternoon and grilled for our family.

Gunner may have been the BIGGEST fan of the popcorn favors!

Then later in the evening we had more friends and neighbors come over for popcorn-themed cake and ice cream. Scott was very disappointed that we had to break our fairly new tradition of getting birthday cakes from The Cakery in St. Louis (think of that same delicious buttercream frosting from "The Cup" only on a whole cake), but with so many schedule changes, we had to go with Schnuck's. They did an awesome job with the popcorn, I must say! Party favors were popcorn buckets with glow sticks, candy, and party horns! When it finally (and I mean like 8:40p.m.) got dark enough, we hung a sheet on the house and watched Alayna's pick, "The Little Rascals". It was a beautiful night and by that point the kids were exhausted. Not very many made it all the way through, but it was fun!

Gunner's chin did actually go in the cake a little:)

The only one who still had energy!

 Delaney was still going too!