Birthday Girl

After weeks of counting down the days and looking forward to the house being filled with a whole bunch of family for the Holidays, the day finally arrived and we were all greeted with very big smiles! 

Allen Jess met his Cousins for the first time...

and then went right back to his episode of Chuggington!

Christmas may have been only a week away, but there was another special event we were celebrating on this day...

Anabella's 4th Birthday!!!

There were lots of presents and of course a big chocolate cake courtesy of Aunt Jei! Her Cousin Nykol obviously didn't think the Birthday Girl could handle such a big cake all by herself... so she was more than willing to help out.

Meanwhile, the boys kept busy playing pool...

...and playing with a few of Uncle Alec's motorized toys!

The Birthday Girl was more than ready to dive in to her cake & presents, but first she had to suffer through a ton of picture taking!

Finally, after making the poor thing wait all day, the candles were lit, the gang gathered round, and the singing started... wishing Anabella a Happy Birthday! 

After successfully blowing out the candles and making her birthday wish, Anabella posed for yet another family photo... and then Dad helped with the cutting of the cake and everyone stuffed their faces with delicious chocolate cake!

Joanna had enough of all the waiting around and eating cake... she was ready to see some presents being opened!

With all of her gifts laid out on the table, Anabella waited patiently as the grownups argued over which one she had to open up first!

But Anabella wasn't the only one who was patiently waiting... Oscar, Nykol and Rocio had front row seats to the gift opening extravaganza!

It may have only been Anabella's birthday...

but a certain little somebody thought it was theirs too!

Although all the focus and attention was on the birthday celebration that evening... there was plenty of love to go around for the smaller kids as well!

There were a lot of new faces & voices and a ton of attention... but Allen Jess seemed unphased by it all and was such a good baby the entire night! He especially enjoyed when his Uncle Oscar held and played with him!

At the end of the night, our little Princess Anabella turned four with a family birthday bash any four-year-old would be jealous of! Sure, we were missing a few... but that didn't stop us from having a great time and enjoying each other's company... for the only "Gringo" in the group can attest, it sure did feel like one big happy family to me!