Our little M is 4! Por fin! She has wanted to be 4 for the longest time, because as she tells me, after 4, you get to be 5 (which she probably wants to be because J is 5)! Nana, Bopa, Grandma and Grandpa Smith all came up for the celebration. The day before we did fun things like go to the Harry Potter exhibit (which wasn't quite as interactive nor as interesting to the kids as we had anticipated) and then other parts of the Pacific Science Center (Omsi equivalent). There was the little kids' play area:
the space section:
and of course, the ninety degree, splendiferous butterfly house that even Fancy Nancy would approve of:
You have to be really careful not to step on them because they land everywhere. J gets freaked out when they fly right in front of her, but loves to spot the ones at rest.
I had a little friend that landed on my head and stayed there for like 10 minutes. You're told not to remove butterflies that land on you so he just chilled with us. Buddy was a little oblivious. Butterflies would swoop by right in front of his face and then about 10 seconds later he'd turn his head to see what it was. Love the reaction time.
Then we picked Bopa up from the bus station and went to cousin Hannah's Ballroom dance competition, and to a restaurant for dinner. Then on her birthday, she was such a doll and waited until everybody was finally all there at about 5 PM to open her presents!! I can't believe she handled waiting that long! By that time she was a little worn out so she wasn't quite as excited as she would've been earlier but she was such a good little birthday girl.
Her favorite present:
I got off so easy this year! She just wanted pink cupcakes with pink frosting and pink sprinkles! Pinkalicious!
Poor buddy wanted to eat cupcakes too. Next year little man!
We're so glad M is part of our family! She gives the best hugs in the world as she "tries to squeeze your guts out." She is so good at twirling, which is her favorite part of dancing, and apart from a rather good booty shake is pretty much the only move she does. She livens things up with a crazy look when things are getting too quiet. She loves her baby brother and "helps" him roll over and read books and eat Saltine cracker crumbs when mom isn't looking. She is so cute and loves to snuggle up to you. She gets so excited for her big sister to get home so she can show her all the things she did that day. She loves fruit and is constantly asking for me to go buy her a watermelon and other such out-of-season fruit. She is obsessed with music as of late and often drags me into her room to hear her new favorite song that she has playing on her ancient CD player. She is so sweet and darling and hard to ever say no to as she bats her beautiful blue eyes up at us. We just love her to pieces! Happy Birthday!! (She just told me that this was much too long and that she was tired of listening to all that I wrote but I couldn't help but include these things we love about her even if they're too much for her attention span :) )
M has no such reservations. As you can see, he's nearly as tall as her and she just giggles away.
He, of course, needs a closer look.
She soon decided he was her pal and kept hugging him around the neck. In a rare moment of bravado, J ran over touched him at arms length when he was distracted, and booked it out of there. She kept repeating that she'd touched him until everyone acknowledged her great feat.
We brought him in briefly to see what Buddy's response would be since he's like the size of Bodie's head. We were hoping for some laughs or funny faces at least, but alas, he was more interested in the camera. Not having been around dogs before, it's like he didn't think he was real, and thus not worth bothering to look at. Bummer.
Then they were off on a walk, despite the frigid temperatures. M wanted to hold the leash but you don't need much of an imagination to foresee what would've happened if she had and Bodie had decided to run. Oh boy. 
