Lia's 10th Birthday!

We started off Lia's birthday morning with a total surprise...five inches of snow on the ground and school cancelled!  I told Lia that this was Heavenly Father's birthday gift to her and probably the only time in her childhood that this would happen.  It was so fun to have Lia and Logan home for her birthday along with Ron who was off for the entire week for his school district's Midwinter Break.  We started off the morning eating Lia's birthday breakfast before the kids went out to play in the snow.  After lunch, the children enjoyed a movie before heading back outside for a second round of playing in the snow with Ron while I stayed inside and finished preparing Lia's birthday dinner.  We were then treated to a visit from grandma and grandpa who had come down to join us for Lia's, family birthday party.  We enjoyed a fancy version of "breakfast for dinner," (Lia's request) before opening gifts and eating a banana cream pie for dessert.  It was the perfect way to spend the day celebrating the ten years of life our darling daughter has shared with us!

This is the screen shot I took from weather.com on the evening of February 21st--the night before Lia's birthday.  It was already snowing outside when Ron and I went to bed and I just thought it was so fun to have a current, weather forecast like this hours before Lia's birthday!

Lia standing in the five inches of fresh snow in our backyard this morning.

A shot of our pristine yard before the snow was played in that day.

A shot of a ruler on our bench on the deck showing off our five inches of snow.

Singing "Happy Birthday" to Lia before she enjoyed her birthday breakfast of waffles, whipped cream, and strawberries.

Blowing out her candles with Ella at her side.

Logan running out to enjoy the fresh snow in the backyard at 8:45 in the morning!

All three kiddos dressed and ready to play.

Logan and Lia making snow angels on our sport court.

A close-up of the birthday girl working hard to shape her angel wings in the snow.

Ella being one of the first to go down the slide and push off the snow.  All three of our children love doing this whenever it snows.

Our sweet pea at the bottom of the slide giving me a smile.

Lia and Ella going down the slide on their sled.

Our big, 10-year old girl flashing me a birthday smile.

A shot of the family, plus grandma and grandpa, as we began our birthday dinner in honor of Lia.

Lia opening up her first present after finishing dinner.

Lia trying on her new Hogwarts robe and proudly showing off the last and final Harry Potter DVD she needed to complete our movie collection.

Lia showing off the gift card she received in her card from Lola.

Lia opening up her special gift from grandma and grandpa--a beautiful, handmade quilt from my mom.  In addition to quilting a baby quilt, my mom makes all of her grandchildren a larger quilt for their 10th birthday.  She spends hours and hours piecing together and quilting by hand these beautiful quilts.  It is truly a labor of love and an heirloom for every grandchild to have for the rest of their lives.  Lia was so excited to finally get hers.

Grandma, Lia, Ella, and me holding up Lia's butterfly quilt.

Lia opening up an American Girl school desk for her dollhouse from Aunt Austin and Uncle Robbie.

Lia happily showing off her latest Lego set--the castle from the Disney short film, Frozen Fever.

Ella has recently fallen in love with all of Lia's Lego sets and asks on a regular basis if I can take one from Lia's room and bring it down to the kitchen table for her to play with for the next several days.  As a result, she was absolutely fascinated with Lia's latest Lego gift. I just had to get a picture of their two, cute heads together as Ella examined Lia's Lego set.

Another shot of the girls and the Lego set.  Ella was so interested in all of the different pieces of this castle.  I just thought this was the cutest thing.

Lia and her ten candles all lit and ready to go.

Lia holding back her long locks while blowing out her candles.

The kids and grandma cuddling under the new quilt before grandma said goodbye.

After the grandparents left, I quickly set up one more gift for all three of the children to open.  While Ron got the kids ready for bed upstairs, laid out a trail of shells that led from the top of our third floor stairs all the way down to the family room. 

At the end of the trail of shells stood Lia's newest American Girl Doll, Kanani, (whose story takes place in Hawaii) in her hula outfit with three large, conch shells.  Inside each shells was a tiny scroll of paper wrapped up with a ribbon.

Once the children were ready for bed, I told them that they had one more birthday surprise.  They got so excited and quickly followed the shells down the stairs and into the family room.

Once they got to the family room, they each grabbed a little scroll of paper and opened them up in order.  On each scroll, they found a picture of a few, brightly colored hibiscus flowers with the words "You Are" "Going To" "Hawaii."

After they read the messages, much freaking out took place.  Even Ella understood what was going on and had a fun time jumping and screaming with Lia.  Unfortunately, Logan's reaction was a little different than his sisters after he learned that we would be going to a different hotel with a different pool than our last trip.  He was so upset about this that he burst into tears and declared that he just wanted to go to bed.  The poor guy was just worn out from a long and exciting day.  And so we promptly put him to bed along with his two very happy sisters.  It was a very fun and funny way to end a special day!