Me, Kate, and Matthew all headed to As You Wish and she chose a butterfly to paint. Matthew chose a dolphin. They both LOVED it.
When we got home she headed out with Michael for a daddy/daughter date to see Moana. He let her pick out candy at Target (which is right next to the movie theater) and she was in heaven getting to see it again.
showing off their movie stubs
On Monday, her actual birthday, she woke up to balloons in her room. She chose cereal for breakfast (ha!) and then got to open a present.
Kate has play group with two friends on Mondays (Tori Bagley and Audrey Allen) so I had it at our house so that she could have friends over without having an actual party. (In our family, friend parties start when you're five). I asked them not to bring gifts, but I tried to make the play group extra fun that day. They played lots of games, decorated cupcakes, and dressed up in princess dresses.
When they left Kate got to open another present - a Sleeping Beauty doll from Grandma and Papa.
After lunch and Josh's nap we played games and hung out until Michael got home from work, and then we headed to Chick-fil-A for dinner. Yum!
After they ate and played in the play place for a bit, we headed home for cake and presents! Kate was excited to tear into her presents and then eat lots of cake! She requested a "yellow butterfly cake," so that's exactly what she got. It wasn't anything terribly special, but she seemed happy with it.
We love this girl so much. She has always been and continues to be a huge ray of sunshine in our family. In the past year she has gone from super shy to SUPER outgoing and chatty. She is one of the friendliest people I know! If we are at the park and another little girl shows up, she'll immediately run over to her and introduce herself and ask the girl to play. :-) She loves friends!
Kate is so smart. She knows (and can mostly write) all of the letters - uppercase and lowercase. She knows the sounds most of them make. She likes learning about the world and is very curious. She has a lot of empathy and gets upset when she hears about someone being treated unkindly.
Kate is almost always moving. She has a hard time sitting still, even for a 4-year old. I think this is part of the reason she is such an insomniac. She has a hard time shutting her brain off and holding still long enough to fall asleep, even when she's exhausted. Getting Kate to sleep every night is difficult, but at least she usually sleeps in. Matthew likes to call her nocturnal, and I'd say that's pretty accurate. Haha!
Kate loves dance class. I know this because she's always excited to go and is so giddy when I pick her up, although she's not a huge fan of showing us what she did in class that day. She'll usually say, "You can see at the recital." Kate also loves swimming and riding her bike. She is always down to go to the park and enjoys Primary. She loves games and will play several throughout the day with Matthew. She also loves playing pretend. She has a lot of friends, but Matthew is her very best friend. They play together all the time and I'm so glad that they have each other.
Kate knows tons of songs word for word and is often singing. She is a big time snacker and no matter how big her last meal was, she is always asking for snacks. Her favorite foods include sugar cereals, fruit, yogurt, fruit snacks, Fun Dip, chocolate, and macaroni and cheese. As unhealthy as most of these foods are, she's actually pretty good about eating the healthy foods too... though they're not what she'll ask for. ;-)
Kate is girly and FUN. She is amazing in so many ways and I know she'll do great things in the world. Love her SO MUCH!
