Presents For A Superhero And For Princess Sofia

After the guests had left, Chris took the kids in Cassie's room to play a game, so that I had a few minutes to bring out our presents without them noticing. I wanted them to have a surprise coming out to see them, and it truly was. I don't think that they even had thought that they were going to get more presents as there had been so much going on during the day. Normally we would give them presents early, or have the party on an other day, but this time it happened to be that their actual birthday was on a Saturday and therefore the best day for the party. Not to cause to much distraction with the new toys, we decided to wait for them to get their presents until after everyone had gone home.

So happy faces, and so surprised!! Isabella couldn't believe how big and fluffy her pink unicorn was! Actually, it was meant to be a Christmas gift, but after shopping early, hiding the huge unicorn inside our walk in closet, it was so well hidden that I didn't remember to bring him out for Christmas. Not until a couple of weeks after Christmas, but then we decided to just wait for her birthday instead. Ben was so excited about his presents, and that they were wrapped in Avenger paper, and he couldn't wait to start unwrapping!

Jewelry box

Total happiness when seeing that the got his highly wished for Captain America Shield that shoots Nerf ammo. He's been talking about this toy for months and every time we've been in the store and seeing it, he has always said that THIS is what he wishes for for his birthday. That his friend C, had one that he played with often didn't help either! He was so happy, and it was great to see how excited he was!!

Isabella was pretty excited to get the backpack that she had been looking at in the store. The backpack will come in handy now when we are traveling to Sweden, and not to mention when we come back in August, when Preschool hopefully will start! More about that in another post!

Princess Sofia soft doll and blanket

A play castle with knights

Another dear present! The Captain America doll.

Isabella got a Sofia "lovey" and Ben a Spiderman "lovey",

 as they call the ones they have in bed at night.

Ben got his backpack for Sweden and for Preschool- with Avengers on it. What else?!

Cassie got them really nice posters for their rooms, which we still have to get up on the walls.

After all the present opening and some late dinner, the kids were happy playing with their new toys before bedtime. Ben had a really good time playing with his castle, setting up all the knights and letting them walking up the ladders to the look out spots on the top floors. He was so involved and it was great watching him from the distance or just listening in on his game.

Isabella played with her little princesses and her "Princess Pet". After putting the toys to the side, after some convincing that they can continue to play tomorrow, they finally settled down with their new "loveys" on the sofa for a story before bedtime.

After what they told us, they "had had a really nice day", or as they also mentioned: "the best birthday ever!" which of course made my day, as birthdays are so special, and should be celebrated as big as possible, maybe even more so when you can count your birthdays on two hands...

Good night my big/little 4. year olds!

Birthday Party

It didn't take many minutes until the kids were spread out everywhere throughout the house playing! It had been awhile since we had their friends over, so it was very exciting to check out the toys and everything. When everyone had arrived, we got a fruit platter out with some drinks to cool off, and to get something else into the tummies, before the cake!

The girls.

When Ben's friend K came over, we didn't see much of them, they were playing Superhero and Ben was Thor with his hammer. K couldn't stay very long, but as his daddy was going away on out of state duty for several weeks the following day, we understood that they had other things going on.

Something that was suitable for all these ages, was to decorate party hats with stickers and/or with crayons if they wanted. They had lots of fun with it, and the girls especially sat for a long time, choosing the perfect stickers....

So hard to decide...

 Ben didn't have the same problem, he just put on every Superhero from the sticker sheet!

 The two youngest of my friend H's four girls.

We had planned to let the kids jump in the bouncer and then play in the pool outside, but with really high temperatures, around 110F, we decided to not do any outside activities. With lots of jumping, the kids would get overheated right away. So, after some more play inside, it was time for the cakes. Not knowing if I would have the chance at the table to get some pictures of them, I quickly got the pictures out in the kitchen before serving them.

Happy 4th Birthday Isabella!

Happy 4th Birthday Benjamin!

I wanted the cakes to be a surprise, and they had not seen the cakes before, and they were so excited and surprised when we brought them in!! They were both a little embarrassed, but still so happy about the attention and the pretty cakes in their special themes!

This year we started to sing Happy Birthday to Isabella, lightening her candles and singing the whole song and then letting her blow out her candles.

 Make a wish! All four in one go! 

Isabella said that's easy to blow out candles in one go mamma! (Trust me sweetie, add a zero to your age, and it wont be that easy anymore..)

 

Then it was finally Ben's turn to get his candles lit. We sang Happy Birthday to Benjamin and let him blow out his candles, which he tried to do throughout the whole song, but managed just in time when we finished singing!

This last deep breath made him blow them out!

 Cake time!

Tried to get some cute pictures of us with the kids eating their cakes, but as you see from the results below, it didn't work out very well. They were more into eating the cake or checking out their friends than to smile with their parents. Still, it's nice to have!

After cake, it was time for presents! they were so patient and opened one after the other so the guests could see.

 Stamps and Planes Puzzles

 Lots of thoughtful coloring and activity books. Perfect for the coming flight!

Lots of hugs and thank you for their friends!

Adventure Force set from his friend K.

The kids wanted to play the game putting the tail on the donkey, but they still haven't totally understood that the point is that you aren't supposed to see where you put it. They try to sneak peak under the mask and are getting upset if they are too far away from the real tail..

 Aren't they just adorable!?

After this, it was already getting late and it was time for the guests to leave, but before doing so, Benjamin and Isabella gave out their little goodie bags as a thank you for coming. Last year we did the Swedish "Fishing Game", but we skipped that this year. They didn't understand the fun of it, and this worked just fine too. They were so happy about the party, but had no idea of what still was to come...