Marion turned 4!

And I didn't even blog about it.

*hanging my head in shame*

So here is her post.

Our original plan was to barbeque at a local park. But it ended up raining and didn't stop for weeks. So last minute we were able to rent a party house on the lake in our town. It is a fantastic place- has a kitchen, a yard, and plenty of space for Marion and all of her friends.

Brian managed to get a pinata for Marion's birthday and it was a huge hit. And when I say huge, I mean literally, this thing was huge.

Everyone got a turn beating the crap out of this dog. Some were more enthusiastic than others.

But that dog was well built and was not budging. So some of the dad's helped it along. The placement of the hole was rather unfortunate...

but it didn't stop the candy grabbing madness.

I bought candy for the size of the pinata and not for amount of kids so everyone ended up with a very large bag of candy. Sorry parents!

Afterwards, the beating on the dog didn't stop.

Poor thing. The dogs pieces quickly became costume pieces.


Ahh well, money well spent, right? A pinata and dress up wear!

Then it was cupcake time. As you can see, Marion was waiting very patiently to blow out her candles.

Finally! Look at that huge grin on her face!


And then she dug right in.


Amazingly enough, my 13 month old finished her cupcake before my 4 year old.

This girl loves to eat.

Before the celebration was over, we attempted to get a family picture. All I wanted was four people looking at the camera at the same time.







Maybe we should have attempted this before the sugar high set in.

Now, my four year old. Four sucks. Two was manageable- distraction worked really well for Marion and she never had huge tantrums. Three was a little harder but bribery worked wonders. Four. Wow. Well, Marion has always been confident, independant, and social. She is an outgoing person and knows what she wants and isn't afraid to say so. But it was manageable until a couple of days after her fourth birthday. Then a switch went off and from that point on, it's been difficult. Imagine Brian or I asking her to do something and one of two things happening:

1- She will ignore you.
2- She will tell you no, I don't want to.

It makes me want to tear my hair out.

However, aside from her asserting her independance, she continues to be super sweet. She enjoys talking to people, says hi to everyone, and is kind to others (she told me she liked my jacket the other day). Half the time I wonder where she comes up with the things she says; the other half I wish she would just settle down for a second!

Sooner or later, we will figure out a way to handle her asserting her independance. Or we won't and she will walk all over us for the rest of her life. I hope it is the former :)

So here's to you, my four year old with a mind of her own! We love you!