Four at the beach!

Months back, Calista announced what she wanted for her birthday:

1. A purple cake (this later became amended to a purple strawberry cake)
2. Candles
3. Balloons

That's it. That was her list. When she had started speaking, I filled with dread, thinking her list was going to be long and demanding (and not going to happen). Instead, I told her, "I think we can do that."
So we did.
First up, the cake. Since we were at the beach, we just did a box cake mix (but homemade frosting!).

 Calista begged to help mix it up.

She did a really good job, although we (not the 4-year-old, but the adults) mixed the batter too long... and we were a little worried our food coloring additions to the strawberry cake looked grey instead of purple...

Calista's cake on the left, Ivy's cake on the right

But we knew at least the outside would be gorgeous! The inside would wait until the next day to discover...

When Calista woke up on the morning of her birthday, she came downstairs

To discover balloons for her and Ivy!

She was thrilled!
Even though she didn't ask for them, she got some presents anyway.

 I don't think she minded...

I think her favorite of the day was Princess in Black, although the dancing game and dinosaur rank pretty high, too...
And, of course since her birthday was while we were at the beach with the whole family (including her almost birthday-twin, Ivy)...

Calista got to go the the beach and spend some time in the sand and water before coming back to the beach house, changing into pajamas and...

Playing with her cousins!
And then finally, to top it all off, we had cake after dinner.

These goofballs absolutely loved the attention.

And, best of all (for Loradona and me, at least!)...

The cake turned out recognizable as purple (with to-die-for frosting)!
Before bed, we let the kiddos play around with one of Calista's birthday presents: a dancing Wii game.

The boys (and Ivy) just stared, mesmerized, Lilia tried, and Calista's actually pretty good! It was hilarious to watch them, that's for sure.

So, Calista is now four, and she got everything she asked for, and much more. In her words, this was the "best birthday ever!"