Happy Birthday Princess Rylee! (a little late)

There were a lot of goings-on over the Thanksgiving Holiday that I have not yet addressed, much to the chagrin of my sister, Hillary. She wants to know how I could possibly neglect blogging about our fantastic Black Friday shopping adventure, where we ended up on the news at 5 am, shopping at Toys R Us. I always knew my amazing shopping abilities would be the source of my eventual fame. My fifteen seconds have come and gone!

Most importantly, the weekend marked the celebration of my darling niece Rylee's fourth birthday. Her actual birthday was on Sunday, but the princess party of the year was Saturday at Hillary's "castle." All the pretty ladies came dressed as their favorite princess, and as for Andrew, the only boy favored with an invitation, he was their knight in shining armor. Hillary bought him this cute little knight costume so he wouldn't feel left out, and more importantly, wouldn't have to some dressed as his favorite princess. Should I be worried that he would have enjoyed dressing as a princess?

Andrew was so fully into his knight character, that at one point he laid down his sword and proclaimed, "I have lost my knight skills!" He loved being the hero and the party was a great success. Hillary had planned all sorts of cute activities around the princess theme, including pin the kiss on the frog and a castle shaped pinata. That night, Rylee chose Garcia's for her birthday dinner because she wanted to wear the birthday sombrero and be serenaded with Happy Birthday, Mexican style. She was all about it until the staff actually came out and laid the sombrero on her-then she got a little freaked out.
Little Princess Rylee was definitely in her element as the center of attention. I love my niece to death and can't imagine our family without her. She is a very smart, precocious and fun-loving little girl, with a huge heart and love of snuggling. Happy Birthday Rylee, Aunt Tole loves you!