Frozen Princess

The kids jumped on the Frozen bandwagon early and then they let it go, so to speak, for a while.  Then, at their birthday, Wendy gave Caroline a singing, light up Queen Elsa dress.  The next day, she insisted on putting it on and running into the living room to greet her brothers.

Max looked up at her, gasped and said, "Caroline! You are a PRINCESS!"

Then her belated birthday presents came in the mail (a package! a package! - the kids LOVE when the mailman brings packages!) and she got to add a tiara and scepter (or, in her words, a crown and wand) to the outfit.

She could not have been more excited to wear her fancy outfit, especially when it came time to go to the Frozen Sing-along with Grandma, Boppy, Uncle & Wendy (and Mommy and her brothers, of course).

Let's go!

We sat in the last row of the theater.  Everyone got goody bags with paper crowns and glow sticks, which the kids adored.

Before the movie started, they had a kids' costume parade across the stage.  There were SO MANY people dressed up that the line had to be halted at one point to give kids time to get off the stage.  And it stopped right when Wendy and Caroline were in the middle of the stage, so she got the opportunity to practice her Queen Elizabeth wave.

Max and Daniel were in their Olaf tshirts - and it'd be cruel to force them to sit in their seats while basically every other kid in the theater walked across the stage, so Uncle took them up to parade as well.

It was a long day and Max drank A LOT of soda.  And he wouldn't use the potty at the theater.  And it was a long drive home.  I'll let you fill in the gaps of how the story ends, but suffice it to say I now have waterproof pads on the car seats!

Super Salvateenies

The kids made it clear - this year they wanted a superhero birthday party.  So I rented the clubhouse at the Cabrillo playground and set about making it superhero suitable.

First, there were superhero shirts to wear, complete with capes.  Thanks to Grandma and Boppy for buying those!  We were outfitted with a full complement of heroes - Super-Daniel, Bat-Max, and Wonder Caroline.

Then, there were Batman, Spiderman, and Avengers decorations to be put up (Daniel and Max were really excited to help with this part).

I provided the tape and they decided where the decorations went.  They seemed to focus mostly on the table.  Junior's mommy, Sam, also came through, yet again, with a simply sensational birthday banner (apologies that the picture is so back lit!)

I also hired a face painter for the party - according to Sam, every four year old's birthday party she attended this year had one, but we'd only seen them at a couple of Parents of Multiples gatherings.  The woman who came was simply amazing, as evidenced by the beautiful work she did.

Caroline's crown starts to come together.

Caroline and Dagny

Junior

Quynn

Lilly

Sebastian

We also needed to address the superhero theme in the food offerings, of course.  There were Marvel Avengers Cheese Nips and Spider-Man Cheez-Its and, what I was most proud of, superhero Jell-O jigglers - Spider-Man, Iron Man, SuperMan, Batman, Captain America's Shield, and Thor's Hammer. In my entire 40 years of life, I had not made as much Jell-O as I did preparing for this party!

And Superhero cake and cupcakes, of course!

The party was at the playground, so it was sort of a free-for-all for the kids, running around with their friends from school and outside of school.

The kids were super excited that Auntie came all the way from Chicago for their party!

Daniel sitting next to the tiles we made for the playground's re-opening last August

Top of the mountain!

All in all, a VERY successful day.  Whew!

Happy birthday, four year olds!