The last of our spring birthdays. But most definitely not the least.
Our sweet Clementine celebrated her fourth birthday last month, her third with us. And we’re pretty sure we’re the luckiest family on the planet to get to be the ones surrounding this girl on her special day – and every day.
As I was collecting suggestions and shopping for Magnolia’s birthday, I was doing the same for Clementine because – developmentally – they really are so similar. Not to say they’re actually similar. In fact, in many ways they couldn’t be more different.
But back to Clementine and her birthday.
Several gifts we bought based on what y’all suggested… and some we just chose because we thought she’d love them.
And, since it’s been a little while since we actually celebrated, I can share what she (and I) actually thought of each gift.
(All links are just links – I am not an Amazon affiliate, just a crazy Prime shopper. The end.)
Fridge Phonics. Because Clementine is *all* about the alphabet lately.
She loves these and so does Magnolia, more for the letters and their stick-to-the fridge factor than anything. Good pick for us.
And some Tsum Tsums. Because her big sisters said so.
Clementine loves this tiny dog and his little bed. She thinks the bed is a water bowl which makes me love this even more. We ended up buying her a few more ($2 at WalMart) because she loved this one so much. 
Some toys to boost the functionality and fun factor in her feeding-therapy sensory bins.
These have been a hit with the girls in their beans and rice bins, but one of the tools broke (thanks to an unnamed brother) so I’m not sure I’d buy them again given the chance.
A color and number based learning game.
Clementine does not like this game as the bugs gross her out. But Magnolia loves it and is learning to identify colors, too.
A family of cutie-patootie finger puppets (her current favorite song is the Finger Family Song, so this gift was a no brainer).
These are adorable. Clementine loves these but doesn’t really put them on her fingers to play – they are more like tiny stuffed animals that get lost all over the house. But they sure are cute.
An orange bouncy horse.
Everyone loves this. And it comes with a pump which is great because after her much-bigger siblings take turns on this, a little air is required. Super cute and no regrets getting the less-expensive version… this one is wonderfully sturdy.
And a pink princess castle. Because this girl kinda thinks she’s a princess.
This is so cute and got a bunch of good reviews on Amazon… but it didn’t work out for us. It got a hole in it almost immediately (wah!). So we sent it back and got her the cutest little backpack instead. Vivienne and Lula have the owl and panda, but Clementine’s ladybug just might be my favorite.
Then it was time for the cake. When trying to pick a theme we decided to simply go with the obvious.
Clementines.
A sweet Matilda Jane-loving friend had recently gifted our girl with the Sweet Clementine dress (thank you, Brooke!) and, every time she wears it, she spins and smiles.
So why not make a cake to go with her favorite dress?
We gave the chocolate sails another go, this time making a few tweaks, and the leaves to top her clementine-shaped cake turned out perfectly.
A rolled-out Tootsie Roll for the stem, and another of Victoria’s made-with-love creations was in the books.
Just for extra fun, we made a few clementine-shaped cake pops – knowing how much Clementine loves lollipop-shaped goodies. But we’re novices and Pinterest makes things look deceivingly easy. We added too much frosting to the crumbled cake and the cake-pop dream faltered – if not completely failed.
We did manage to make a few that didn’t crumble or melt and, with the drawn-on faces and pink cheeks, I think they actually turned out kinda sweet.
Clementine was fond of them, that’s for sure.
Which is really all that matters.
Her favorite noodle restaurant for dinner, a stack of gifts, four perfectly-blown-out candles and a cake pop or two later, and the new four-year-old’s big day was done.
And we were all the better for it.
Celebrating this girl is just about the easiest thing we’ve ever done. So very, very grateful the Lord chose us to be the ones who get to love her forever.
Happy Birthday, my little-bitty love. You make this world a much sweeter place.