The Big 0-4

Do you remember the beginning of April?
Ally's transition from being a "Big 3" to an official "Little 4" started with a breakfast of scrambled eggs, Mickey pancakes, and the obligatory glass of chocolate milk. Then we all got dressed and went over to the mall. The girls spent 2 hours making new friends in the play area and had a Dairy Queen lunch (corn dogs and french fries) in the food court, before Ally's big photo shoot at Sears. Ally was sure to tell everyone she saw that it was her birthday. When we got home, Cora and I tried to keep Ally happy by playing games and reading books until Daddy got home from work.

Ally chose the Emerald of Siam for her birthday dinner. (If you're keeping track of our special meals, that means Greek for me, Polish/VooDoo/Indian for Chris, Indian for Cora, and Thai for Ally.) Daddy's fondness for culinary experimentation and diversity seems to have made an impact. Ally and I shared a plate of non-spicy something-or-other. I took a picture, but forgot the name. We also ate some yummy appetizers which inspired our Easter crab rangoons.

After dinner we opened presents and had some dessert. Ally had requested another castle cake but after struggling so much with it last year, I wanted to do something simpler. I thought Cinderella would be easy, but not when I didn't bother to measure her long, long legs before starting. Or when I didn't have as much batter as I had thought. Or when half the cake stuck in the pans and/or crumbled, decreasing the achievable height as well. I thought about cutting the princess' lower half off to make her fit properly, but opted to have her ballet toes sticking out of the skirt to avoid any trauma to the birthday child. At least I know the frosting was yummy. If you look closely, you'll see that Cora was trying to help herself to some sweetness while Ally was posing for the picture. That girl just can't control herself around sugar.
Thank you for all the gifts and attention paid to Ally on her big day!


When the weekend came, we finished Ally's celebration with a family mini-golf adventure. Ally and Cora each have unique ways of golfing. Here are a few videos to give you an idea of their individual techniques and how pretty much each hole was played.

At least Ally learned to hold the club like a putter instead of like a cane.


I'm pretty sure Cora was practicing for the upcoming Easter Egg Hunt.