Paprika's Big Day!

Paprika turned four today. Even though we had her party yesterday, today (Monday) was just as big a celebration. We started out the day by opening some presents.

At her birthday pary on Sunday, Paprika really wanted the other kids to get presents, too (even more than she wanted presents herself). We are going to both her friends' birthday parties in the next few weeks, so I told her we would bring presents for them then...and that made her feel a little bit better.

So today I made sure that Ginger had a present to open. Paprika insisted that Ginger open her present first. So, that's what we did. They were both so excited.



Ginger got a doll of her very own. It was a big hit! She has been loving on it all day.



Paprika was so excited for her and gave her a huge hug.



Next it was time to open Paprika's presents. You can tell Ginger wanted to help!



Paprika loves opening presents. This is the dress that her Mimi and PopPop sent her (my grandparents). They also sent her an Ariel dress and headbands- she loved them all. Thank you Mimi and PopPop!



Paprika likes to take her time opening her presents- she always has. She likes to enjoy each present before opening another. She got three books today, and she wanted to read them all cover to cover right then.

I have a habit of getting her big books gently used on Amazon for a penny plus shipping. This book is a treasury of the Strawberry Shortcake stories (six stories in one). I loved Strawberry Shortcake when I was little- so reading her the stories brings back great memories.



Paprika loves, loves, loves caterpillars and butterflies. So, she was super excited to get her own Butterfly Garden. You raise the butterflies from caterpillars, and then you release them when they're grown. The other two books she got were about butterflies, so she's learning about all the stages of metamorphosis. Fun stuff!



After presents, we had birthday cake! We lit the candles just like we did yesterday and we sang Happy Birthday. I have no idea why, but Paprika really did not want to blow out the candles again.



So daddy helped.



Then she put on her new princess dress from Mimi and PopPop. Ta-Da!



After that, we gave her the choice of what to do today. She got to pick between going to the beach, going to the park to play and feed ducks, or going to the Aquarium (the Requarium, as she calls it).

Guess what she chose?

The Requarium, of course!

Ginger fell asleep on the car ride down, so Mr. Mustard drove her around for an hour while Paprika and I explored inside. They met up with us when Ginger woke up, and we all had fun together for the rest of the afternoon.



One of her favorite parts of the Aquarium is always the divers cleaning and repairing the tanks. She thinks it's just the coolest thing ever.



She petted the sea stars, the sea cucumbers, the sting rays, and the sharks. But her favorite thing she kept going back to this time was the jellyfish. She loves to pet the tops of the jellyfish.



After that, we came home and Mr. Mustard took Ginger for a little trip around the neighborhood in the convertible. ;-) Paprika and I stayed home and read her new books cover to cover.



After that, we played in the backyard until it got dark and we were all played out.



Happy Birthday, Paprika!

I hope the fours are as beautiful, magical, and wonderful as the zeroes, ones, twos, and threes have been! We love you so, so, so, so, so very much!