4

This little bug turned 4 on Sunday.  And since I (once again) earned the worst mother of the year award by bawling my eyes out concerning the fact a few days beforehand (it was my, er, hormones.... ummm.... yeah...), I was able to enjoy Saturday.  Ever since we went to Myrtle Beach in February Lily has asked if she could go to the beach for her birthday.  So for months and months she asked if it was June yet, and I'd have to say no and try to explain how much time was left.  Finally it was June and Lily was so used to hearing that she had to keep waiting that I don't think she really believed it was her birthday until we actually arrived at the beach and she saw the ocean. 

I thought that when I had Lily 2 weeks before I turned 20, I would automatically fit into the "young hip mom" category.  Over and over again I have been proven wrong.  Cue scene of me putting sunscreen on my kids.  On Memorial Day weekend we let Skyler run around in our backyard topless for 2 hours.  The result?  A bad sunburn with dime sized blisters covering his shoulders for a week.  I learned my lesson after that.  So when we got to the beach the kiddos kept begging to run into the water but I made them stay put until they had about a gallon of sunscreen on each of their little bodies.  Ben kept giving me that, "are you serious?" look.  Even my parents looked at me like I was somewhat ridiculous.  Sure they looked like they had just been attacked by a whole pigeon brigade, but let me just say that none of us (except for Ben) came home with a sunburn.  Oh snap.

 These two had some good bonding time trying to catch the tiny fish that would roll in with every wave.  Ben got pinched by a crab in the process which made me freak out a little bit, so it didn't help when Ben was sitting behind me and tried to scare me by grabbing my hand from under the sand.  But that's what you can expect from being married to Ben.

It was the absolute perfect beach day.  One of my favorite parts was digging a hole in the sand and positioning my 34.5 week tummy inside so I could lie on my stomach for the first time in months.  Aaaaahhhh.  So relaxing.  And I may or may not have been dreaming of that moment for a loooooong time beforehand.

 We opened presents and had cake on Lily's real birthday the next day after church and naptime.  (Forgive the poor quality picture that had to be taken on my phone since I temporarily broke my camera at the beach *ahem*)  This is Lily freaking out over some big girl jewelry that Nanni and Papa gave her.  I can't believe how much Lily is growing up.

Lily had 4 requests for her birthday.  All of which we were happy to agree to.

1. Go to the beach.
2. Eat Chickel-a aka Chick-fil-a in Lily/Skyler lingo.
3. Have a rectangle chocolate cake with pink frosting, and marshmallows that she gets to put on the cake herself.  Yes, it really was that specific.
4. Go to the temple.  She really did request this as a birthday activity about a month or two in advance.  But since the temple gates are closed on Sundays we're going to be doing this one later this week, so pictures are to come.

Miss Lil, Daddy and I love you sooooo much.  We're so glad you came to our family 4 years ago.