Quatre, Quatro, Vier--Yup, Talia's Four!

Celebrating with homemade birthday pretzels. Yum! Cannibalism Wheeler-style. Here we all are, eating "Talia." Our lucky Tally Wally Doodle got to stretch out her birthday celebration for three days. On Saturday morning we went hiking as a family in a gorgeous little canyon near Zion National Park. There were all sorts of fun nooks and crannies to explore. Here's Talia going in... ...and Brooklyn coming out! The rock formations were stunning,.. the girls enjoyed some extra bonding time with Dad,.. ...and best of all, there were lollipops to sweeten the trip. Candy is Talia's absolute favorite thing in the world right now. If you ask her what her favorite food is, she'll most likely tell you, "Sugar." The only downside is that Talia tripped over her feet in the parking lot on the way back, tearing up her hands and knees pretty good. We were so busy doctoring these cuts that we didn't even notice that she'd scraped her face until we got home. I'm afraid that our beautiful princess looked more like a battered princess at her party in the afternoon. Still, there was plenty of sugar in the castle cake to boost her mood. Talia and I had lots of fun decorating this cake together. Last year I kind of over-programmed the girls' birthday parties. This year I tried to keep things simpler--cake, ice cream, a few presents, a couple of games, and plenty of time to play. Here we have Brooklyn coaching Talia: will she pin the tail on the donkey? No, she'll plant a kiss on the Frog Prince! As part of this year's laissez faire party planning, I turned the game creation over to the girls. Brooklyn must have written "Kiss me" on her poster at least a dozen times. Princess Aby gets blind-folded while Princess Zoe stands by and watches intently. All the royalty had a chance to dress-up. However, Prince Jason looked particularly stunning in his glass slippers. Happy Birthday, Talia! Darling Talia, you are energetic, perceptive, intelligent, passionate, and beautiful, both inside and out. You are remarkably generous, setting a great example for us all in your willingness to share. I've learned so much from you over these past four years--thanks for sharing your light and love.