Happy 4th Birthday Evie

Happy 4th Birthday Evie. We decorated the house when the kids went to bed so that when Evie woke up she would find her presents, balloons, a vase of pink daisy's and a big happy birthday sign waiting for her. We all enjoyed her birthday as much as she did.

Usually Ethan sleeps in but this morning he and Evie woke up at the same time. It was cute to see the two of them so excited, running around the apartment chasing balloons.

We had breakfast at Evie's favorite place, FM Station. We didn't mind, it's our favorite place too. Ethan and Evie know exactly what to do when we walk into the bakery. Check out the video at the end of this post.

The birthday girl enjoying a cupcake...for breakfast

Well, it's just Ethan's lucky day. He got a cupcake too.

In the afternoon we went to what we call 'Isabella's park'. Evie's friend Isabella used to live near this park before she and her family moved back to the US. They are who we bought the car from. I wish they were here this year. They are a wonderful family and their two kids are just about the ages of Ethan and Evie.

The kids always have fun throwing and chasing tennis balls around the tennis court.

Evie was busy taking flowers from a bush nearby to decorate this pine tree

After we left the park it was time to pick up Evie's cake from FM Station. On our way home we randomly saw Joel dropping the car off at the mechanic near our apartment. We stopped by to see him and Evie jumped out of the stroller and opened her cake to show him. It was so cute.

Well the kids were just too excited about eating cake so we decided not to wait until tonight. The kids got to lick the icing from the top of the box (from Evie jumping out of the stroller so quickly) while I got the cake ready.

Joel got caught licking icing too...

Usually the cakes in Taiwan don't taste as good as they look but this one was actually quite good

Make a wish

Evie Elizabeth Smith - what a fast four years!!

The family is in the Matiz and on our way to YuKid Island. Evie has been asking to go there since we arrived in Taiwan.

YuKid Island. Joel doing his best posing

Evie and Joel going all the way around

And of course the kids' favorite part...the balloons.

I was standing just outside the balloons and Ethan stepped through the door and reached his hand out for me to come in...it's moments like this that melt my heart as a parent.

And it's Chili's for dinner. Joel and I are super excited. After so many days of rice or noodles a good burger and salad just sounds fantastic. If you can believe it, the food is actually better in Taiwan than in the US. The only thing is it's a lot more expensive than the US so we use it as our splurge

It has been a long day for all of us. Evie is barely hanging in there. We are waiting for the waiters to sing happy birthday to Evie. You'll have to check out the video at the bottom of the post. The whole restaurant was singing. It was cool to see Evie so happy.

Ethan is now saying 'night-night'

We all made room for desert. It was cheesecake which happens to be my favorite desert (besides cookies) and it was delicious!

VIDEO: The restaurant singing Happy Birthday to Evie.

VIDEO: On the drive home Ethan was making us laugh with his chattering so I tried to catch it on video. It was too dark so Joel pulled out the flashlight that my parents gave the kids in their travel gift bag. They have so much fun playing with their flashlights. Thanks again grandma and grandpa Potter.

VIDEO: The kids at FM Station for Evie's birthday breakfast