TUTU cute!

I know, silly title....but come on! Have you really seen anything cuter?! Brooke just started dance class back in January and has loved it. Her first recital is coming up in May and today they got to try on their recital outfits, man oh man you should have heard the squeals and giggles! The pictures are not the best quality because I keep a small camera in my purse, but hey you get the idea!

The tights she wears with this will be white, but me being a first time recital mom was clueless as to how serious some of these people take this stuff! She was THRILLED to see that it came with a crown and called herself a 'ballerina princess'.

Brooke is the tallest in this class, as she seems to be in all classes right now. So, she gets to go out on stage first. I feel for the little squished angel against the wall, but she loves it. Can you see all FIVE girls?!

Prancing to her position.

I know NO technical terms since I have never danced, but she was doing what she was supposed to.

More cuteness.

This is their outfit for tap. Maybe you can actually make all five girls out in this one.

Sorry for the quality, but the sun came out right in the midst of all the cuteness.

She loves this dance class. I love the teacher and the other mom's and kids too. The recital that is coming up really soon sounds like a BIG deal to a lot of people. We got details of how to sew things on this outfit, how her hair should be, her MAKEUP (yes, you read right her MAKEUP) should be, underwear, fingernails, etc.... And of course the money making ventures involved include anything from pictures, videos, bouquets, jewelry of all sorts, and even cookie bouquets! WOW!

MORE birthday fun.

I bet you are about as tired of birthday stuff as I am, BUT after a blonde moment I realized why I was missing so many pictures that I knew I took.....we downloaded every body else's camera and didn't download OURS! So, you get to see more of Brooke's birthday celebration's from last week.

This is the first picture taken of our four year old, at 8:14 that morning! A little happy to be four!

Brooke asked me to take a picture of the cookies we made and took to her class that day.....I know, I know I should have taken the wrap off the top but I wasn't worried about them the way she was.

The cute little bashful grin she had while her class sang Happy Birthday to her.

Her class nicely waiting for cookies. Cutie pies! You too Ms. B!

Ms. B very sweetly took my picture with my girl.....yes, it was windy (hence the braid)....it's West Texas people!

And my girl with her FAVORITE teacher, Ms. B!

Brooke kept telling Ms. B that her daddy was going to bring her a flower balloon for her birthday when he got off work. So, thanks to text messaging daddy knew what was expected and totally came through! She was THRILLED about the balloons more than anything!

Daddy kissing on his four year old.

The only picture I got of all four kiddoes that were at the cupcake play date. No, they aren't all looking but hey you get the idea!

I am so unbelievably proud of my family.

A better picture of Brooke with Grandad and Granny, since the last one I posted was blurry and yellow.

A closer picture of Brooke's awesome princess cake! We finally polished that off today at lunch, yummy!

And, the day AFTER all the fun. Why is it that the cheapest thing at the party (the balloons) always makes the biggest hit? We STILL have these balloons around the house and she will be devastated when they finally disappear.

Celebrating our BIG girl!

We spent an entire 5 days (or probably more actually) celebrating Brooke's 4th birthday! Talk about a birthday WEEK! It started out with cookies with her classmates at school, dinner with our small family, a cupcake party with a few friends at our house on Friday, a date night with Grandad and Granny (Fazoli's included) and we wrapped it up with a birthday party with our wonderful family (If you were here you ARE family) Saturday!!

Brooke posing with her awesome princess cake that Nana made! You should have heard the oohing and aahing coming out of her mouth when Nana walked in with it. Thank you Nana!

The Birthday Girl with Nana and Paw. I force us all to take these pictures every year. The grandparents don't even groan at me anymore. ;o)

Just the three of us!

Brooke begged us to wear these silly crowns with her, and of COURSE we obliged for her birthday!

Sadly, this is the best picture I have found of Brooke with MY parents.

Playing a little with her buddy Aiden.

I think she got partied out way too early, she sat down and watched the chaos around her!

Another one of us.

Our Princess Brooke aka Ariel.

She was SO worn out. Sunday as soon as lunch was finished she volunteered to go lay down and ended up taking the first nap she's taken in months and still went to bed early!

Look Who's FOUR!

Wow how time flies! Yes, I have said that MANY times and know I will say it many more. This young lady has changed my life in ways I could never describe! She is officially FOUR years old today, and she couldn't possibly get much sweeter. Here are just some of the pictures from her four year old photo session. I love them all, and had a hard time JUST sending these!

Happy Birthday to the most precious angel I will ever meet!

Mommy Feelings.

Oddly enough I've been on an emotional roller coaster the last week or so just thinking about how fast my BABY is growing up. It is truly bittersweet. I love every new phase she enters and would not trade this time for anything, but man it is going by so quickly! In just days my girl will be FOUR. It truly seems like yesterday that I was waddling so excited to meet her, now she is planning her own birthday party for me! I was reading the other night and came across a paragraph that sort of put my Mommy feelings in words I haven't been able to, so I thought I would share:

"From that first little touch the whole world had shifted.Where before there was just one thing I could not live without, now there were two. There was no division - my love was not split between them now; it wasn't like that. It was more like my heart had grown, swollen up to twice its size in that moment. All that space, already filled. The increase was almost dizzying."

That is a good way to describe how I felt when I found out I was expecting a bundle of joy with the man I love.

This pic is the first time I laid eyes on our sweet angel.

One cool Princess Party.

Brooke's got invited to attend a really impressive princess birthday party this morning. She knows HER birthday is the 14th, but doesn't realize just how close that is. So, she is getting even more geared up for her own birthday.

On to explain the awesome morning Brooke had. One of Brooke's favorite princesses has always been Ariel from the Little Mermaid. That just so happened to be the birthday girl's favorite too, so look who Brooke got to hug on! You will see better pictures of the beautiful Ariel on down the page. The almost bashful grin could not have been wiped off her precious face!

Then she got to dress up in whichever princess costume she chose, and of course she chose Ariel! I am VERY partial, but this is my favorite Ariel ever.....naturally.

Then she got to pick our her own jewelry to wear.

Then she had makeup applied for her.

The idea of makeup almost made me cringe because I am hanging on to the little girl while we can, but here she is with her makeup. It's perfect, she shimmers.....but wasn't too made up!

They got 'crowned' and I must say I have never seen her sit so straight up before!

THEN, they got to pick out their very own friend to take home. This place was like Build-a-Bear. She chose a purple bear (go figure). This is her with several of the other princesses waiting patiently in line to fill their animals with love.

Watching VERY carefully as they stuff her new friend.

And My Princess with Princess Ariel. I almost feel guilty that her party will only have one princess.....HER! Notice the almost.....

Brooke with her new friend which she named Purple Berry.

The whole gang. Tons of precious little princesses and one prince in the background!

They had a princess parade. This is the princess walking down the corridor waving and blowing kisses at everyone.

And on the way back she managed to blow a kiss to her biggest fan.....ME!

I have no idea what a party of this caliber would cost, nor am I going to check into it.....but, I myself am very grateful that my princess was invited to this awesome party. I had so much fun watching all of the great things she got to do. And, talk about the best party favor ever.....a new friend to take home with her, purple berry!