Celebrating our Evangeline

Evangeline's birthday was on a Saturday this year, so we took advantage of the day!  We began with birthday bagels, an extra special treat here as bagels are usually a bit more difficult to find.

Eva loved being sung to and said her own little version of "happy birthday" throughout the day.

She had fun ripping open cards from dear friends, family, and even the Sunday School class at Hope Fellowship in Boston!  And then came the birthday greetings via phone and video and cards from the computer, which of course are greatly appreciated to this technologically savy child. ;) (The horse in these photos was Nathanael's gift to Eva, and they were so sweet giving and receiving this year!)

Of course, this was the big one.

She has tried to climb on Nathanael's balance bike and bike almost every time we've gone out.  We knew it was time, and her face lit up so brightly when she realized this is hers now!

About two minutes later though, she had had enough attention for the morning, and we had about an hour of cuddles and tears for this sensitive, overwhelmed sweetheart.

Ice cream made an afternoon appearance.

And somehow these sweet Saturday moments still occurred in the midst of all the excitement.

Two days later, she was celebrated at Kindergarten and apparently greatly loved the attention, wearing her birthday crown, having Nathanael in the classroom with her for the party, and passing out party favors to each of her new little friends.  (I'm hoping to have those pictures soon to post!)

A week later, the day Grandpa and Grandma arrived, we had her birthday cake (a sunshine cake), and she loved being sung to again, this time with Grandpa and Grandma included!