A party

We decided that the prospect of numerous 4 year olds running around our teeny 1300 sq-foot house in the middle of the winter was a bit daunting, so we bit the bullet and "contracted out" for birthday party services. Turns out we had a blast! (Even the parents :) And to top it off, there was no clean up. Can't beat that.

Here's the best shot we got of the whole group:

My sister gave me Martha Stewart's Cupcake Cookbook for my birthday this year, and Larson and I had fun flipping through looking for ideas. He was dead set on the S'mores recipe, so that's what I made! It was my first attempt at piping frosting and I was relieved that they all at least came together, if somewhat imperfectly. I discovered this little cake decorating shop in the 'hood, courtesy of my friend Annika, that is quite possibly one of the cutest little shops ever. It's been around for decades and has just about every conceivable cake/cookie/candy decorating implement that you could ever need -- all crammed floor to ceiling in this very inconspicuous-looking storefront. So glad I found it!

Making a wish for 4 years!


Quite possibly the world's most obnoxious birthday "throne" for opening presents. It's pretty hilarious.

All in all, we gave the day 2 thumbs up. I was a little perplexed about what to do with all the presents Larson got. It was a bit overwhelming. We decided to keep everything downstairs in our spare room (which has basically become the play room) and Larson got to pick 1-2 things each day or so to bring upstairs. It spread everything out over a few weeks and he actually thought it was pretty cool to go downstairs by himself and pick something new. And here's our boy with the steel-trap memory: even a couple of weeks later, he remembered exactly who each gift was from :)