a day of birthday suprises

today is maria's birthday, and boy, did she have a good one.  i can't believe my little girl is four years old!  the day held many surprises for maria.  she woke to find the dinning room had been decorated with balloons, crepe paper and a big banner that says "happy birthday maria".  she just stood there staring at it all and said, "what the heck is that?"  it was quite funny.  

she loved her gifts and was so grateful for everything!  she was all smiles and hugged every present she opened and thanked us all profusely.  she definitely knows how to play the part of birthday girl.

the best (and worst) part of the night was the last present.  ethan bought her a bike but we decided not to tell her we got it.  she opened the "last" present: a helmet.  we said, "what is a helmet for?"  she said, "for riding a bike."  we said, "but do you have a bike?"  she was really sad and said, "no."  we said, "well, let's go outside and maybe you could ride your tricycle with the helmet."  she started crying, "i don't want to ride my tricycle with a helmet."  we couldn't get her to walk outside where we were hiding the bike because she was so upset.  finally joseph just picked her up and we went outside.  ethan opened the back of the van to reveal the brand new bike.  she just kind of stared at it for a minute - probably thinking about how mean her parents are to play a joke like that.  it didn't take long before she wanted to get on it.  she loves it!  here are a couple of pictures:

maria has been into cowgirls ever since she saw the episode of strawberry shortcake where strawberry and her friends go to a dude ranch.  i knew this was the right present for her when we saw "cowhats", as she calls them, at the store and she exclaimed, "oh, this is just what i wanted for years!"
this is maria's expression when she opened the present from grandma and grandpa hawkins.  it's a playmobile doll house.  needless to say she loves it.
shannon