Mallory's 4th

Mallory was lucky to have her birthday fall on a weekend this year, which meant we could spend the whole day together and spoil her with some fun. First up: when she came downstairs for breakfast, she found some presents waiting for her. Chad and I got her a little Rapunzel's tower (modeled after the one in 'Tangled'). This is not the three-foot-tall version they were hawking before Christmas... but having said that, it's still about two feet tall. She loves it. The stupid thing is that there are pictures of a little girl playing with both Rapunzel and Flynn all over the box, and in very fine print it says that Flynn is not included. So Liam gave her this other Rapunzel playset that does include a Flynn, so that she can re-enact the movie. There was a LOT of re-enacting happening, all day long. Chad assembled the tower while I got started on breakfast.Mallory requested pancakes for breakfast. What she didn't know was that I'd already found a new recipe to try... Cake Batter Pancakes... with a secret ingredient:They were a big hit with the kids. The pancakes themselves are not overly sweet. They are served with a vanilla-sugar glaze in lieu of maple syrup. Not the healthiest breakfast going, but probably not a far cry from the nutritional value of regular pancakes, either.After breakfast there was more re-enacting and it took us a long time to get out of our pajamas because of it. There was no rushing the birthday girl! Finally: clothes! We suggested going out for lunch - nothing fancy, just something like Subway. But Mallory wanted a grilled cheese sandwich, so we stayed home and granted her wish. (If only all wishes were so easy!) After that, we took her out to see the new Easter movie, Hop. Of course, Liam came too. We tried to hype up that it was a birthday movie for both of them. (Poor Liam has school on his birthday again this year. It's going to be a lot harder to make his day special, too.) That was enough excitement for a while - Mallory came home from the movie and crashed on the couch. I'd thought she would help me with her birthday cupcakes, but instead I had to make those on my own! Dinner was at her request: chicken nuggets, rice, and broccoli. Of course, she didn't request the broccoli, and because it was her birthday, I decided not to fight to get her to eat some. I gave her a bowl of strawberries instead and called it good!Gramma and Grampa joined us after dinner for cupcakes. I love, love, love pictures of the kids with birthday candles aglow. That scene makes even spirited little kids like Mal calm down with wonderment, if only for a few seconds. I think this is the first year that we have put multiple candles on her cake, rather than a single big 'number' candle. It took some work for her to get them all blown out. In the end, big brother stepped in to wrap up the job! Then she opened her presents from Gramma and Grampa: a princess suitcase (for overnight trips to their place!) and a new pair of Crocs for summer. They are pretty little yellow Crocs with pink flowers, and they are perfect - I have been buying Mal a lot of yellow clothes for spring and summer. Happy, happy birthday to my dear little girl. We love you more with every passing year.