celebrating braylen, zoo style

We had a big weekend celebrating BK’s fourth birthday. When I looked ahead to her birthday, I saw that I had penciled in a “37” on the Thursday before. Meaning, I would be 37 weeks and 3 days pregnant on the day she would turn 4. I wasn’t sure what we would do, but I was sure that I didn’t want to take on a huge party at the house, even though parties at our house will always be my favorite kind.

In January, we decided on a zoo party and she changed her mind a million times. But, when you’ve already paid a big fat deposit there is no going back. Luckily, she was just fine with that and when things started to come together, and she saw her adorable invitations, she was ecstatic about the zoo party.

Here we are before leaving. I didn’t think we would get a picture of the three of us together (and we didn’t), and this is the best I could do before the party.

This birthday girl proudly held up four fingers for the photos.

We started off inside a party room at the zoo, and they didn’t waste any time pulling out the animals. BK wasn’t so sure about the snake, but after she saw all of her friends touch him, she was on board. They also brought out a feret and let’s just say, I don’t think she’ll be asking for one anytime soon.

We loved celebrating with so many of her sweet friends.

The best part about the zoo party is that they literally do everything. I only brought safari hats as party favors and the zoo did the rest, from cake to clean up. After cake and ice cream we were first in line for the carousel and the train ride, and then everyone could enjoy the zoo for the rest of the day. She and her friends had the best time, but she was still up for stopping by Chick-fil-a with Brayden on the way back home.

On Sunday, she woke up to a room full of balloons and a cinnamon roll with four candles and we sang Happy Birthday to the new four year old. She was smiling all morning, and her smile only grew when she saw her net trampoline (she’s been asking for one for months) in the back yard.

We quickly got dressed for church where she was sure to tell everyone that it was her birthday.

After church, we had a little party at our house with family and a few friends. It was small, I didn’t have to do much at all and I fed everyone pizza. Remember how I’m 37 weeks pregnant? Plus, they didn’t seem to mind the pizza. We stayed true to the zoo theme at our little party. I’ll let the pictures do the talking.

BK was elated to be sung to a third time.

And she spent a good bit of time serenading us with the Frozen soundtrack on her new karaoke machine.

We seriously had the best weekend, my feet were so swollen by the end of both days, but it was all worth it. Now, the real countdown to baby begins, we have less than two weeks until we meet our baby boy. His big sister could not be more excited about his upcoming arrival!

A big thank to for the adorable printables.