Happy 4th Birthday, Nora!

I didn't get this post up yesterday on her actual birthday, but our sweet Nora turned 4 nonetheless.  Here are pictures from all 3 of her birthday celebrations:

We first celebrated with the Rassis on August 4th with the other August birthdays.  She even got a '4' candle!

Closing her eyes to make her wish, I guess!

There is a story behind this present...when we first walked through the house we are moving to, we asked the kids what they liked best about it.  Nora's answer was, "The horse in the toy room upstairs with the red furry mane!"  Once we broke the news to her that the things IN the house weren't going to be there when we moved in, she found something else to like.  But she was definitely smitten with that old hobby horse with the red yarn mane!  I had this horse head from a Christmas present Mom Rassi gave the kids a few years ago (the horse body just didn't last!), so I asked Laurie if she thought she could turn it into a hobby horse.  She did an awesome job!  Nora was so excited to get her own horse!  She also got a cute nightgown from Grandma Rassi that she loves!

The next Sunday, August 11th, we had Nora's own birthday party at the cabin.  I made the Belle decoration out of royal icing and have a much better picture of her on my phone...I made the icing much too thin and she totally crumbled/cracked when Greg and I tried to peel her off the wax paper and put her on the cake.  Oh, well.  Nora is very sweet and laid back and still liked her Belle cake!  (At least, that's what she told me!)

Still our shy girl, but at least she's smiling when she gets sung to!

The candles were pretty far apart...I think she had to blow them out each separately!

A Belle cake and rose cupcakes, per the birthday girl's request.  (Well, the cake, anyway)

Anni and Tirzah were playing the piano and singing 'Jesus Loves Me'...it was adorable!  Love those curly tops!

Nora was very excited to get her sparkly jewelry box!

On her actual birthday, I was trying to recover the house from the weekend and continue packing, so she didn't get a very exciting day.  She did get to go to Sharon's house to play while Greg and I signed a few papers at the bank.  That afternoon/evening, Greg was helping bale hay, so I took supper over to Dad and Mom Beutel's so he could eat with/see Nora on her birthday.  Nora's supper request was homemade pizza ("You make it gooder, Mom!"), applesauce, cottage cheese, and corn.  Bless her heart for being so easy to please! :)

Her first present from us:  a Scholastic movie!  It's super cute...five or six different kids' books are narrated and brought to life in a movie.  The animation illustrations are completely true to the books, though.  We have another one that the kids love, so they were excited to see this one.

Our last present:  A nightgown with a matching one for a doll!  I realized too late that I already packed up all of the dolls...oops!  Guess we'll use this one sometime next week. :)

Our big girl in her new nightgown!  Four years old already!

For dessert, Nora wanted fresh chocolate chip cookies dipped in milk!  Daddy took a break from unloading hay to come in and eat one with her. :)

Nora doll, we love you so much!  Your gentle spirit and loving manner are a delight to us!  And even though sometimes you fuss when you have to wear pants to something, you will always be our little princess!  Happy 4th birthday!