My Paula doll turned four last month. Her first birthday gift was a fresh blanket of snow on the ground outside.
Her birthday was an exciting day for all of us. It was the same day as Mika's first grade class party (which I was in charge of) and Ramona's third grade class party. Not long after Paula woke up, I bundled her up along with her sisters and we drove to the elementary school to set up for a Polar Express-themed winter party. Wylie stayed in bed while Forest guarded him at home and promptly discovered that the furnace was no longer functioning. Unbeknownst to this, I continued to carry out Mika's class party as planned, and Paula was one of the special guests.
The kids all got a train ticket and went on their way, visiting four different stations.
At the craft station the kids made snowman ornaments,
At the game station they did jingle bell toss,
pin the nose on Rudolf,
and creative cup stacking (originally intended to be bowling).
Another station was for making jingle bell bracelets and decorating cards for nursing home residents.
And of course there was a snack station with hot chocolate and treats
Not a bad Polar Express party. But I was relieved to see it end.
After a quick stop back at home where Forest updated us on the furnace situation, Paula and I headed back to the school to attend Ramona's class party. Once again, Paula was an honored guest. She got to make a reindeer ornament,
eat a donut,
decorate a gingerbread house,
and listen to a story.
Then it was time to venture back out into the winter wonderland.
For our third party of the day, we hosted a cupcake-themed celebration with Paula's play group buddies. By then, the house was starting to feel chilly and our furnace inspection crew had arrived to begin sizing up the extent of our heating problems.
Originally, this party was supposed to happen a day earlier in order to spread out the festivities for which I was responsible, but it ended up getting crammed into the same day as everything else. It is probably the fastest I ever had to set up for a birthday party, but I never heard my little birthday girl complain. She was pleased as could be about her friends coming over, and didn't seem to mind the dropping temperatures. Thankfully, our guests didn't, either.
We made snowmen out of cupcake liners,
designed cupcake liner outfits for paper dolls,
played a memory game with matching cupcake cards,
and ate some sweets.
I don't think I could have wiped the smile off of Paula's face if I tried.
We just wiped some leftover frosting on it, instead.
Her sisters came home from school not long after the party ended. It was the start of their long winter break, and to kick it off, Ramona and Paula played some kind of game where Paula was a pianist and Ramona was an interpretive dancer.
Here is my little pianist, busily pounding her imaginary keyboard in her second outfit of the day.
Daddy came home from work with a My Little Pony balloon, and after a quick dinner, Paula finally got to open her gifts.
From the first gift bag, she pulled out a My Little Pony equestria girl doll from Jii and Baachan (amid many oohs and aahs),
she got a much-anticipated Princess Celestia from Mommy and Daddy,
unwrapped a My Little Pony Sea Pony from Grandma (we named her Rainbow Splash),
a Monster High Frankie doll from Mika,
a little lego kit from Ramona,
some Beanie Boos from Mommy and Daddy,
and a little Wonder Woman from Wylie.
Several fits were thrown in our house that evening, and there was plenty of sulking, but none of it came from my four-year-old Paula. She had waited all year for this day, and nothing was going to stop her from enjoying it.
Note the space heater in the corner of the room in the photo below. We had decided to have our furnace replaced rather than repaired, but the earliest appointment we could get for installation was the following morning. Thankfully, we were able to borrow some space heaters from the heating company for the night.
After the pile of presents were opened, Paca arrived at our house to stay with us before driving the rest of the way to Utah to visit Forest's sisters. It was unfortunate that we couldn't offer our company a warmer house, but at least we could offer a warm and cuddly Wylie.
Paca brought a gift for Paula, too: a new sparkly outfit and some light-up rain boots picked out by Teresa
Paula was also pleased to show him her other birthday gifts . . .
. . . before we handed him a small stack of Christmas gifts to open a few days early.
A couple of weeks before Paula turned four, I showed her a picture of a chocolate peppermint ice cream cake from Cold Stone Creamery and asked if that could be her birthday cake. She agreed (much to my delight), so we picked it up a few days before her birthday. (Thanks for the treat, Jii and Baachan!)
We didn't stick any candles in the ice cream cake, but we did put four in some mini cupcakes leftover from the party that afternoon.
She was a little timid about blowing out the candles, so Ramona had to help her.
The great thing about mini cupcakes is that there is plenty of room for ice cream cake after you eat one. Yum!
We let the girls play for a while up in Mika's room until it was time to start the bedtime routine. Of course all the new toys had to meet the old-timers and be initiated with some kind of tea party.
I think Paula had a great birthday. I was so glad we got to celebrate our December baby, despite additional holiday festivities and furnace failure in the same day.
Dear Paula,
A lot of kids your age started preschool this year, but I decided to keep you home with me, and I'm so glad I did. You have been a dream child in almost every way. You are happy to do workbook pages with me for "learning time," you are quick to complete your "chore time," you jump right up to the piano bench with a smile when it is time to practice your music, and you patiently find something to entertain yourself when I am doing my yoga, taking care of emails, or on the phone.
I am amazed at how well you care for your little brother. You sound the alarm when he is doing something dangerous or naughty, cheer him up when he is sad, and create little games that make both of you laugh. You love playtime with your sisters, too, and are always thinking of them, whether they are home or at school.
You are so wonderful to have in our family. Happy Birthday, Paula Doll!
Love,
Mommy
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