Sweet Little Lena celebrated her 4th birthday on Thursday. This is her 4th birthday, but only her second one since we’ve known her and her first at home with her family!

This is our sweet girl on her 3rd birthday, a year ago. We had passed court two days before, but the court decree was not yet in effect (10 day wait).

Here were my two 4 year olds in the morning! Lena was just not a happy camper– she hadn’t been feeling too great for days and while she was very excited to be a princess, it was just not a good morning.

For her birthday dinner, L requested french fries. I was going to make her some yummy oven fries, but the day got ahead of us and I didn’t have an hour left to make them in the evening. So, Wendy’s it was. We also heated up some potato soup for a couple of nights before. This was heaven for her. Here she is dipping her fries into her soup.

L didn’t want a cake (more on that below), but I knew she’d love blowing out candles. We sang happy birthday to her and she blew out some tealights.

L is not a big fan of sweets. Well, of cakes, cookies, donuts, ice cream, etc. She does like some good candy and she loves her fruit. I let her pick her sweet thing. She wanted chocolate. Since strawberries are out of season (ie. super expensive!), we haven’t had them in months, so I grabbed some strawberries and we melted some chocolate. Yum, she was so happy.

Lena, with her gift. And her chocolate covered face. (Thanks Lola, for taking care of the gift for us!)

The next day, playing with her gift… a ukulele. In her pajamas. At 3pm. That’s been our week.

To be honest, this week has been rough. Reed and Lena have both been sick and miserable. It’s hardly been the kind of week that I want to remember with them. But, here are some of my favorite Lena moments over the last year…

Dressed up like Jessie for Halloween.

Her first trike in September.

Cautiously enjoying our wedding cake in August… it was two years old, afterall!

Modeling for family photos in July.

Reunited with an old friend in June.

Her first trip to the pool in May.

Long enough for real pigtails in April!

Making a birthday surprise for Lola in March.

Modeling for her brother in February.

Seeing how big(or rather…little!) she is in January.

Dear Lena,

Happy Birthday! We are so happy to have you in our family. You have been through so much in your four years. I know you’ve said goodbye to far too many people– some forever and some just temporarily. I know that’s probably one of the hardest things you do, saying goodbye to someone you love. You fall in love fast and hard– just like others fall in love with you. It’s not hard to see why– you are funny, sweet and loving. I love how sometimes you simply MUST say goodnight to the doggies before you go to bed. I love how you always have to grab our necks when we tuck you in, and you tell us to go to sleep.

You’ve learned a lot this year. You learned English. You learned how to be a part of a family. You learned to love dogs. You learned your ABCs and what sound certain letters make. You are working really hard on your speech. You learned how to count to about 12. You know your colors. You also know most shapes, including octagon, which is really cute when you say it, “oc a ga”. You’ve learned how to ride a tricycle. You used to walk really slowly and now you can run quite a long way without stopping. You’ve grown about 3 inches and gained about 4lbs.

We love you, Lena!