Halle is 4!

This is one girls who's been looking forward eagerly to her birthday for weeks!  And it finally came!

Halle's birthday was on a Saturday this year, so we got to enjoy a semi-slow morning together with cinnamon rolls for breakfast!  

We put a candle in hers....

then everyone wanted one!

She chose a family activity over a friends party (whew!) so we all got ready to go!

To the corn maze/pumpkin patch!  Eve's kindergarten had gone to this place the week before, so Eve kept calling it "her" farm and bossing everyone around :).

The weather was quite cool, but that didn't stop the fun!  First up was the cow train:

Then the corn maze.  We started with the kiddie one, which was basically just a path, but the girls wanted to brave the big one after.  We stopped at the halfway point after probably 30 minutes?  It's hard to accurately judge time in a corn maze when you're trying to keep your 2 year old from getting permanently separated from the group.

They had these little maps at the beginning and the girls took turns 'directing' us.  (I think only Andrew was actually able to decipher our position from the map, but that didn't stop the girls from confidently saying, "The map says to go right", etc.)

Getting our bearings....

We made it out!

On to the petting zoo, which we admired from the outside.  Apparently this is the only petting zoo in Lubbock, cause we've run into it at several different events around town (the library, the science museum, the fair) so we didn't pay to go in this time, just fed the animals from the outside.  

Then on to horseback riding!  Halle has no fear, while Eve was more cautious, but still went.  

Abigail said she wanted to go, then freaked out when the strange man tried to put her on the horse, so this is as close as she got.  

Admiring the view.  

Our final event - hay ride!  And we had it all to ourselves!  

I'm biased (obviously), but like all our girls, Halle is so adorable!

Apparently the hay ride was not our last event - I had forgotten about the corn guns!  

And that finished our great morning!

After scrapping as much mud from our shoes as we could, we went to Chick-fil-A for lunch because Halle had requested a place with a play area.  

Yum!

We had a quite afternoon while Daddy went to school, so I took some pictures of our four year old!

Here are some things about Halle at age 4:

-Is our best sleeper; falls asleep right at 8pm and doesn't get up until 7am

-Loves to be read to

-Is doing great in preschool and can write all her letters!

-Is friendly and outgoing - no shyness here!

-Is very sweet (the good side to being very emotional), but can also be very whiny 

-When I asked Halle what I should include about her, she said, "I love Heavenly Father and Jesus.  And Santa Clause."

-Weighs 35 lbs 10 oz (52nd percentile)

-41" tall (80th percentile)

-Her favorite shows are "all of them"

-Her favorite food: "all of them"

-Her favorite color is purple

-She's a great big sister!

Halle helped decorate her cake that afternoon:

Then after dinner it was time for presents!

Her sisters were happy to help:

Don't judge the cake.  

Happy birthday sweet Halle!  We love you!