If there was one thing that Stella’s 4th birthday made clear, it was that this girl will not be pigeon-holed. When you see the pictures of her dressed in her princess gear playing veterinarian you’ll understand why. Label her as tomboy or girly at your own risk.

It’s almost ridiculous how amazingly wonderful the weather is for this girl’s birthday each year. It was chilly but sunny, and we had such an amazing turnout that Steve had to do last-minute triage on the party favors so we would have enough to go around. I know that in reality everyone just wanted to see, up-close, this property after all the dire and freakish descriptions I have given on this website.

After last year’s cake debacle, we had to think long and hard how we were going to get this girl a cake that was actually edible and worth looking at. So we did what any red-blooded American would do, and we bought one at Costco. And can I just say that this cake was like taking a new pair of shoes and wrapping them in diamonds, then dipping that in chocolate. YES, THAT GOOD. 6 pound chocolate cake, indeed. Once I picked it out, I begged the lady at the pastry counter to write on it for me, then gave Stella an entire bottle of multi-colored sprinkles, and handful of maraschino cherries and told her to accessorize to her heart’s content. This is what I call win-win.

As always, everyone was amazingly generous, and Stella got no end of cool things from all of her adoring fans. I can think of no better inaugural party for the new house.