Madison's Fourth Birthday

Today was our daughter's birthday, and we so hoped it would be a wonderful day for her. Here it is, late at night, and as Daddy sits here typing... I think it was! Here is one picture that best describes Madison's fourth birthday, easily one of the most fun days of the year - and that includes the times were spending at Disney World! Just look at her face: you can see how much of a good time she was having on this day that was all about Madison.

It all began with excitement: she knew what today was, and woke up knowing. It helped that we kept on telling her last night, "Tomorrow is your birthday!"

She couldn't contain herself, especially when we showed her the birthday presents and the cupcakes we stayed up late last night making. Mommy and Daddy wrapped presents, made cupcakes and put together goodie bags for today's birthday party - all after Madison went to sleep last night. It was a little bit of work, but we didn't need to do much more than that, because the place we were taking Madison had everything she needed for a great birthday.

We left for Monkey Joe's at about 11:30, so that we could get there early and set up the birthday room they had set aside for us. Monkey Joe's is a place that has plenty of inflatables for everyone to bounce around on.

We set up things early, and Daddy even had time to go jump around with Madison in some of the inflatables. Adults can only "help" those in inflatables if they are four years old or younger, and that was Madison today. So we jumped in and had a great time!

Soon, the guests started to arrive. Madison's cousins David, Jonathan and Hannah arrived, as well as Abbie and Rachel. Also coming in were Jordan and Shaun Smith, plus Sammy Conard, followed by Alex, Danny and Samantha Pereira. Oh, and Smith and Dahlia Canada came too! There were a lot of folks there - and these were just the younger ones.

The pizza came later, so we all had time to jump around for a bit. Madison hung out with her friends, who all had a totally awesome time jumping from one massive slide to another obstacle course to another ginormous maze.

She screamed and shouted and climbed great heights, sliding all the way down with the biggest of smiles on her face. Some of these slides were really, really big! One in particular, Madison would always make sure someone else went down with her on. On many occasions, that person would be Daddy - which was nice. Daddy likes feeling needed! She would grab me by the hand and pull me into position, and then climb up on my lap and start the countdown: "One... two... three!" Then we'd slide down together to the bottom. On a few occasions, Hannah would be sliding right alongside us, so there were three of us plummeting downward. Madison loved it!

Soon it was announced over the intercom in the building that it was Madison's birthday party time! We all slide down slides one last time and ran to the birthday party room and got to our places at the long table. It was covered in blue table cloth, with Disney princess plates and cups at each spot. Colorful matching balloons lined the center of the table, and all the way at one end, there was a big, inflatable chair. What a great chair Madison had: it was inflatable and looked like a large, wooden throne. She sat at the head of the table like royalty, and wore proudly the birthday crown that Mommy bought for her yesterday. She was princess for a day!

For food, it was pizza all around, and this week the pizza wasn't so bad. This time it was birthday pizza, which is special pizza!

The kids talked and laughed and scarfed down slices of pizza - and soon it was time for Madison to blow out the candles.

We had a special guest for that task: it was Monkey Joe. Yes, Monkey Joe himself came into the room. Madison is so accustomed to costumed characters walking by now that she immediately ran up to him to greet him. Who cares if she's never seen him before? He's a big purple monkey like Magilla Gorilla, and Madison welcomed him to the room properly by giving him a big hug and a kiss. Monkey Joe picked her up for an even bigger hug and by that point Mommy had the candles lit on the cupcake tower.

Just last night, Mommy and Daddy were making these cupcakes - and don't they look delicious! They had pink and purple sprinkles, and little crowns around each one, as well as a castle on top. Madison's had five princess candles to blow out, but first we all had to sing happy birthday. It was wonderful. She sat there with such a large smile and listened to us serenade her with the birthday song, silently waiting to pounce on those candles and blow them out!

It took several tries, but she got them all blown out. Look at how happy she is on her birthday! This picture was taken just as we were finishing our Happy Birthday song, where Madison was really having a happy birthday. It wasn't like we were taking her to Disney World or anything, but one look at this photo and we realized that we did well with our birthday plans for Madison this year. Anyway, next it was time to eat the cupcakes! Everyone had a cupcake - they were really delicious!

Next, the presents. One by one, Madison was presented with gifts in bags and wrapping and opened each one with such intensity! She couldn't wait to see all the things people had given her. There were such thoughtful gifts, too. The Pereiras got her a beautiful dress, knowing that Madison likes to dress up. The Conards got her another Mickey lightsaber, plus many, many other gifts. The Hitchcocks got her Kai-Lan toys, and the Canadas got her a lot of things too, including a book for her new Leapfrog system.

Mommy and Daddy got her some special Disney dolls: Belle, Cinderella and Mulan. We also got her a Disney World version of Candyland that Daddy is anxious to try out!

After the gifts were given, Madison said thank you to everyone, and you could see how happy she was. It was her very special day! She ran around with all the other kids again - straight out and into more inflatables. A new one was just inflated, and everyone was climbing in to try it out.

The blessing of coming in on her birthday - a Tuesday - and in the early afternoon too, was this: there wasn't anyone else there. There were only a few others, so it was like we had the whole place to ourselves. That was important to Daddy, who didn't want anyone else bumping into Madison and hurting her. She's so tiny, and everyone was really careful bouncing about with her on all the inflatables. Her cousins David and Jonathan were especially kind, watching over her and escorting her to the tops of slides and such.

Here are some of Madison's personal bodyguards today. Nobody messes with these tough guys! We never needed them to watch out for Madison though - the place was uncrowded and everyone was having a great time. Soon, however, it was time to go home. Everyone parted ways, pretty happy with all the fun they'd had jumping and sliding. We packed up the car with all the loot - and the balloons too. Outside, it was 97 degrees, so we quickly slipped into our cars and rode home with smiles on our faces at the good time we had.

Madison couldn't wait to see her toys. In fact, Mommy set them up so we could take a picture. This is just some of the loot:

Lots of toys! Madison immediately put on the outfit that she got and did a twirl for us. It had a flower that you put in your hair, so she dressed herself up for the afternoon, and pulled out the Kai-Lan building blocks so that she could start making things in the kitchen.

Soon, though, we had another visitor! It was Nana! She had come with another birthday gift, which Madison was quite happy to receive. She opened it, and got another Kai-Lan building block playset - a different one! She wanted to play with this one immediately, and Daddy got the package open for her so she could build an even greater empire in the kitchen.

Soon afterwards, we were all quite exhausted. The three of us hopped into the big bed and took a little nap until about 5:30 or so. Before we could rest though - Nana and Ba-Ba called from Florida! Madison was excited to talk to them - and listen to them sing Happy Birthday. What a wonderful day it was!

We slept for a while, and heard the thunder rumble in the distance. Just in time, we raced over next door to Ye-Ye and Nana's house so that we could enjoy the last of the cupcakes. Madison wore her new dress so that she could show off how pretty she was - and we continued the birthday celebration over at their house, lighting the candles once more so that Madison could blow them out. Hail began to fall from the darkening skies: the storm outside grew fierce and the power went out a few times, but Madison felt quite safe with us, and quite happy too. She licked the icing off her cupcake, and sat down in the living room to watch "Mulan" with us. She was really focused on that movie again, and we became focused on it too: the whole family sat in the living room watching, and reflecting occasionally on what Madison's birthday was like just two short years ago in China.

Soon, it was time for sleep. Daddy carried her home and we gave her milk and tucked her in for a good night's rest. This was a great day for Madison, just about everything we'd hope it would be. Sometimes you think you need the elaborate plans and expensive alternative ideas or the creative masterpieces. But really, when we began to think what it is that Madison would want, it became something simple - and therefore more special. It was a really wonderful birthday!

Happy fourth birthday, Madison!