four years old.

On the morning Ava turned four, she woke up to find a little red wagon next to her bed.  Hip hip hooray!  And what do you know, there was even a little stash of birthday presents inside.  We have been wanting to get a wagon for the kids for a long time, and finally decided it was now or never for the little red wagon!

They were, however, a lot more expensive than I ever expected a little red wagon to be.  And since we wanted to give here something besides just a wagon, Jimmy found a used one online for $25, and with a can of red spray paint and some steel wool, fixed it up nice and shiny and new.  I love him.  And Ava loves her shiny new wagon.

After a quick breakfast, it was time for her raggedy ann party!  Oh joy!  Oh delight!  We planned the party with lots of bright white and red, and lots of little girly touches like paper doily garlands, ruffly party hats and heart sugar cookies for the little party girls to decorate.

You can customize a party so easily with lots of pretty details for just a few dollars!  (And a couple hours.)

For example, the paper doilies I bought at the dollar store (in the wedding section) and just sewed right through them to make garlands.  Took minutes to make.

The party hats (also from the dollar store) are covered with cute scrapbooking paper and have little ribbons from my ribbon stash hot glued to them.  These take a little longer, but not that long--maybe an hour to make ten, but I think they are so adorable it's totally worth it to me.

The table runner is a scrap of fabric from the IKEA miscut fabric bins.  

The placemats are cut from wrapping paper (from Christmas.)

My cute marm came to help with the party and brought along a beautiful princess gown and hat she made for Ava.  As soon as Ava opened it up--I think maybe before the wrapping paper even touched the ground--Ava had them on!  

Oh my goodness, I love this girl and I can't believe she is four!  It's so funny how with your oldest, four years old seems sooo big.  And with your youngest, four seems so small.  I just would really like a pause button for life please.  She is my joyful little girl and I love being her mother!

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