big city girls

7:47 PM

so...ryan had a birthday. did you hear that? she did. she went and turned 4 on us even after i pleaded with her to stay 3 for just a little longer. "mommmmmy" (all silly-like) "i need to grow up so i can be a mommy like you." man, does that girl know how to tug at the ol' heartstrings or what?

so we have been celebrating ryan's birthday for almost 2 full weeks now. i think it's safe to say the month of february belongs to this girl. at least in her mind it does and who am i to argue? for her 4th birthday we decided to go big. dan and i talk often about how we always want to make wonderful memories for our girls. i am not sure how much i remember from when i was 4 but since her mother has turned into the paparazzi, ryan will have plenty of pictures to help jog her memory.

the trip started on a train. headed east to chicago...

we could not find 4 seats together so dan, being the wonderful husband/father that he is, upgraded us to a sleeper. totally worth every penny. the girls loved it..especially the top bunk!

warning...i am not exaggerating the next part in the slightest bit. the entire train ride went so well. they watched mary poppins, they colored, had lunch, played with their innotab. really, it went as smooth as it could go. that is up until the last 10 minutes. i kid you not, the conductor announced "next stop, chicago union station" and lilly looked at me and announced "my tummys ache." she then proceeded to get sick in the bathroom of our sleeper...

then again in the cab on the way to the hotel...

then again in the elevator on the way up to our room...

and then several more times in the room that evening.

my poor tiger lilly. her and i got right into our jammies and into bed as ryan and dan headed out into the picturesque winter scene that played outside our window.

they left with just each other..

but returned with a new best friend...meet kaylen. ryan's very first american girl doll. dan said the look on her face when they walked through the door of that store was priceless. i cried a little knowing i had missed it...but smiled at the same time knowing that i was there for my other baby who only wanted mommy to lay with her while she wasn't feeling good. that's the thing about being a mom. even when you have to miss the really fun stuff...you're always surrounded by things that make you happy.

being the great big sister that she is. ryan picked out a friend for her little sis to cheer her up. meet baby natalie. (the girls both named their dolls themselves. no clue where kaylen came from, but i do know there is a natalie in lil's class so that's where i assume she got that!)

"enough with the pictures mom. just let me go back to sleep"

the next morning we awoke to lots of snow on the ground and frost on our windows. as you can see, ryan is getting really good at writing her name...

lil woke up feeling a little better. she did get sick one last time in the morning so her and i spent most of the morning lounging around the hotel while ryan and dan headed to see a production of snow white. you know how much this gal loves the theatre! it didn't hurt that her daddy got her front row seats! anything for his four year old :)

once they came back lil was feeling much better and wanted to see the american girl store so we headed out. apparently they have a "doll of the year" and mckenna is it this year. the girls had to get a pic with her.

dan being goofy taking lilly for a ride in one of the store's bags. notice how big they are...because you can buy just about anything for these dolls.

after our visit to american girl we headed to shedd aquarium. this was my first visit as well as my girls. i think i was honestly more excited than them.