Four years for Lauren

Today, my baby girl celebrated her fourth birthday. Four years have gone by in a flash. She brought ice cream to share with her classmates at preschool today for a special treat.

Lauren requested strawberry cupcakes. The girls were super excited to break out their aprons and get busy baking. (We cheated and used a boxed cake mix for the cupcakes, but we made the Vanilla Butter Cream Frosting from scratch and it was totally legit.)

 

Olivia was concerned that Lauren was going to pour the whole bag into the bowl and she wouldn’t get a turn…

 

Pink Kitchen Aid busy at work making pink vanilla butter cream frosting. This was so easy, I don’t think I will ever use a store bought frosting again.

Ready to go in the oven!

Fresh out of the oven, time to head to McDonald’s for Happy Meals, per Lauren’s request.

Freshly frosted cupcakes… ready to be devoured.

Gramma and Paw Paw arrived for cupcakes.

Olivia ate the entire cupcake, almost in one bite. Lauren, true to form, ate the frosting and left the cupcake. Daddy ate his, then grabbed Lauren’s, refrosted it, and ate that too. Problem solved.

How many Hamiltons does it take to figure out how to play a simple game?

Poor Gramma, Lauren was digging her long, sharp toenails into Gramma’s leg when this picture was taken…

A less than stellar shuffling of the cards by Paw Paw, left the game slightly skewed at the beginning, much to Olivia’s frustration as Lauren was winning every single time. However, some creative card switching, a sweet and gracious move by Paw Paw, saved the day and the game was a success.

Thank Gramma and Paw Paw for such a fun, new game! The girls love it and can’t wait to play it again tomorrow.

Sweet Lauren, you light up our lives and make us laugh every day with your silly antics and your crazy expressions. We love you so much and hope you had a wonderful birthday.