afton's birthday

afton turned 4 last week! it was a very exciting day, and i'm pretty sure we all had a blast :)
here's a ba-gillion pictures :)

first, she picked out her own outfit

(three days in advance, with the accessories and everything planned ahead, she completed her ensemble with a straw hat with purple flowers and birght pink jelliy-shoes):

she really wanted to go to the arboretum, which is something we frequently like to do, so we gave in and bought a pass. she invited dozens of friends, and everyone who could come had fun.

rolling down hills:

observing the local "wild"life:

riding on the tamer "life":

visiting mr. megregor (from peter rabbit), though evidentally he wasn't home:

and of course, playing in the toad fountian:

and playing:

(did i mention that afton was the only kid rolling in the water? i think it's safe to say, based on the look on her face, that she liked it)

and then, by necessity, dancing across the meadow to "dry off":

like i said, i think it was a very successful outing. she also had a great evening with grandma, grandpa, aunties and a couple friends coming over for a pork chop dinner and chocolate cake! she got a lot of presents, which i think she thoroughly enjoys, but my favorite was ballet classes, i'm very excited for her to be able to do this!

(unfortunately, i only got one picture of her first day, and it's not a great pic, through a window and blurry, oh well)