This birthday brought to you by the letter 'P'

Four years ago we checked into Utah Valley Regional Medical Center labor and delivery with contractions 90 seconds apart.  Within moments my water unceremoniously broke, startling me and soaking the arm chair at the registration desk.  A wheelchair ride down the hall, a clean hospital gown, and two hours of labor later little Robyn Melissa was born.  Our life has never been the same.

Here are a few of the highlights from her birthday celebration:

The Pastries. 

With two boxes of Funfetti Cake in the cupboard, Robyn decided what she really wanted was a pink strawberry cake.  Unwilling to haul three kids to the grocery store just for cake mix, I toyed with the idea of adding food coloring to the batter.  Then, fearing some sort of pink-dye-toxicity after how much we used on Valentines Day, I came up with another idea: strawberry Jell-O.  Adding the Jell-O powder in with the cake mixes, plus an extra egg for texture and then buttermilk instead of water (to help tone-down the super-sweetness Jell-O + Funfetti was doomed to create), resulted in a surprisingly good, perfectly pink, strawberry cake that even Bryan ate!

To get the shape I wanted for the cake I needed to get a little creative with cake pans.  Our all-metal sauce pan ended up being the perfect size for one of the layers.

Robyn has said for weeks that she wanted a Sleeping Beauty cake.  Sans magic wands, we made do with homemade buttercream frosting in Aurora's signature colors and a plastic figurine from a little play set we had lying around.

Sleeping Beauty cake done.  Only 48 more cakes to go until our children leave home.  :)

The Party.

When some of our earlier plans for a family get-together didn't pan out, we decided to do a little birthday party for Robyn instead.  It was pretty low-key (I planned the activities in the shower that morning), but I think everyone had a good time.

Can you draw a pumpkin?  A crown?  What about a castle or a slipper?  A rousing game of Princess Pictionary (or Pickin'-ma-cherry as Robyn calls it :) was a hit.  We also did a bouncy ball activity, since, of course, princesses love to "go to the ball."

Making princess party hats out of colored paper and long ribbon streamers.  (We didn't relegate Amber to the high chair: she begged to sit there and rather than fight it we just went with it.)

Time for cupcakes and ice cream!

Yumm!

 

The Presents. 

We had a little celebration with just the five of us in the evening, complete with pizza, cake, candles, and ice cream, followed by unwrapping an unnervingly large pile of presents.  Robyn loved all of her gifts and is grateful to be surrounded by so much love.  A big thank-you to the Grandmas and Grandpas for thinking of her on her special day!!!

Make a wish!

More sprinkles please!  The Weatherbees made this beautiful apron for Robyn, which we've already put to use making cookies for Joy School on Thursday.

Organizing all the fun art-supplies from Grandma and Dah-Dee-Doh.  This was very serious business with Robyn telling us exactly where everything was supposed to go.

PRESENTS!!

Checking out the big gift from Mom & Dad: a bed tent and flashlight. Note to self after first night with this present: don't become too anxious when you see someone stalking down the hall with a flashlight in the middle of the night. 

The Princess.

A parting glance at our newly-minted four-year-old.

The Post-Script.

Because every post is a little bit better with a baby picture in it.

Did she get to eat cake?  You betcha.