Wishful thinking.

This past Saturday, Lauren turned four. I couldn't help but thinking back to last year at this time. I had a "big thing" going on at work, so I had to work the weekend of her birthday party. I was very stressed, and on top of that, we had gloomy, rainy weather that made getting a decent photo practically impossible. Thankfully, this year was much, much different. I was relaxed (Sort of - entertaining in and of itself can be a little stressful) and the lighting was great. I took a bazillion photos which more than made up for last year.

I've gone through and edited my favorites, but it's going to take multiple posts to get through them all. I'll try to get as many as I can posted tomorrow.

In the meantime, let it be known that this was the first year that Lauren blew out the candles all by herself. And don't fret - while it appears that her hair is on fire in this photo, she experienced nary a singe. That is because you can't hear everyone in the background yelling "WATCH YOUR HAIR! WATCH YOUR HAIR!" I was too busy snapping away to notice that my daughter was about to pull a Michael Jackson.



I'd also like to report that, as requested, she got to eat the part of the cake with the elephant on it. Unlike my fourth birthday, when I was refused Raggedy Ann's head.

More to come tomorrow!