Eliza's 4th Birthday

This beautiful girl on her 4th birthday.

All things princesses. All things puzzles. All things books. She asked me the other day if I would teach her how to read.

All things puppy. Maisy fits in her arms so perfectly, and Eliza doesn't take that for granted. I think Eliza likes to have someone to carry around and to mother. 

She asked to go boating for her birthday. And we are so grateful that we did because even though it was the first time we'd been out on the lake for the year, it would also end up being one of the last because of the low, low water levels.

Carson dropped a ski and stayed up on that slalom like a boss!

And Miles tried.

And tried.

And tried.

He came up out of the water laughing after every crash and asking to try again. Sometimes that kid is impressively resolute and confident in himself.

Eliza went out on the tube along with everyone else in the family (including Maisy (and excluding McKenzie who was staying overnight at Kaylee's cabin for Kaylee's birthday)).

Unfortunately she sub-marined, and while she didn't want to tube anymore after that, she bounced back to smiles impressively fast. Birthday feelings are powerful that way.

Boating is always a stress relief for me, and having Maisy aboard only made it more fun.

The boys are currently into 'trick-tubing', where we pull the tubes at a slow speed and let them try all sorts of tricks. Here's Carson trying to jump from tube A to tube B:

After a long, fun afternoon, we were halfway to the docks on our way back home when we got an SOS call from a friend we'd bumped into on the lake previously. They had hit a rock (low lake levels) and were dead as dead in the water. We were haaaaaaaaaaaapy to be on the helper side of this situation this time.

Our rescue mission pulled us into the night a little later than we were anticipating, so we didn't get to cake until after dark. But Eliza didn't seem to mind one bit. 

She lights our life, this one. Glues us together. She brings a softness and a sweetness which she mixes with humor and intelligence. Her smile will light a room every time, and when she has excitement in her eyes you can't help but feel excitement, too. Her hugs are the tightest, and her voice is so musical and beautiful that strangers comment on it when they hear it ringing through the air. She sits and composes melodies on the piano, and harmonizes with us when we're singing. 

She is magical.

But she didn't like the piñata. I thought it would be a fun way to end the evening, but it turned out to be a little bit traumatizing instead. 

Which, upon reflection, makes a little sense.

A lot of sense, actually.

Happy birthday, Eliza! Sorry for traumatizing you with the decapitated flamingo.