Michel and Julie: Karys's 4th Birthday!

July 30, 2012 my sweet niece turned the big 4 years old! It still amazes me that this big girl has been such a special part of my life for the last four years. My sister invited my parents, Michel and me, and Ryan's sister (the one who lives locally) and her family for dinner on Monday night. So my parents were nice enough to let Michel and me drive to Longview with them in the early afternoon so that we could spend a couple of extra hours with the kids before dinner since we were going to have to leave not too long after dinner to make the couple hours drive back.

When we got to Longview Zane was still asleep, but Karys was awake. Janette and the kids had gone to Chick-Fil-A at lunchtime to celebrate Karys's birthday with friends, so she was wearing her "Birthday Girl" ribbon when we got there.

Eventually Zane woke up

Zane really likes watching the Olympics on TV (which is what he's pointing at). He was so cute when gymnastics came on and the gymnast did any kind of flip, twist, or somersault and he would say "uh-oh", "whoa", or just "ohhh!" His commentary of the Olympics made the show that much more enjoyable! He even got down in the floor and tried copying the gymnasts...it was super cute!

I tried taking pictures with Michel, but you can see his maturity came out :)

This one's much better!

Then Zane wanted to be in our picture as well!

Karys got some new dress-up clothes and one is an Ariel dress that she wanted to wear. Big smile from the princess!

Mmmm...birthday cupcakes!

Silly Uncle Michel!

Blow out the candles!

Yummy!!

He started with little bites to make sure he liked this chocolatey goodness placed on his tray

It's a hit!

Michel put his face down next to Zane and opened his mouth to see if Zane would feed him. Zane never gave up the cupcake but he pretended a couple of times and thought that it was a really funny game!

"Uncle Michel why did you go away?"

Ryan's sister, Amber, and two of his nephews

Ryan's other nephew, and niece

Michel used a 4-year-old's birthday party to ponder the meaning of life

Grandaddy and Nana

Zane gave me a wonderful big boy "cheese!" and a great smile!

Karys's cousin, Hunter, and Uncle Jason - with Michel adding in the princess plate behind them

Next year Michel may get princess plates at his birthday - he seems to love them!

Me and my sister!!

The pretty princess

She finally got to open presents!

Zane found some glasses that he loved

He's going to be such a goofy boy...correction, he already is a goofy boy

Hunter likes the pretty bow!

Karys's favorite movie is Mary Poppins, so my parents found a shirt that says "Practically Perfect in Every Way" - she loved it! She pulled the shirt out and said "oooh! Mary Poppins!"

Apparently Ryan wants to be a princess!

I can't decide if she's standing with her hands on her hips or pulling up her pants, or what, but it looks sassy and I love it!

The rest of these are more pics of Karys opening her presents. She was so fun to watch as she pulled presents out and said "Oooh!" I've also learned that I can probably stop buying cards for her until she gets older as they only seemed to slow down her present-opening process rather than be a cool thing for her to look at :)