the bar keeps going up...

We have had four 4 year-old birthday parties already in 2008, and with each one, the bar keeps getting raised. By the time Charlie turns 4 in September, we're going to have to rent a hall and hire a band. So far we've had a pajama party, a pinata, and today...a MAGICIAN. Everyone had a blast, and Charlie even got to be one of the kids called up to help with a trick.

Charlie as magician's assistant--the magician pulled a month's worth of preschool tuition out of Charlie's ears...that's a trick I'd like to learn!
Pictures of some of Charlie's friends:

Alice. Alice has become one of Charlie's closest friends. Alice is the oldest in the class -- she turned 4 on January 1. She's also the tallest and biggest -- she's at least 6 inches taller than Charlie, and she weighs nearly twenty pounds more. Alice thinks it's fun to carry Charlie around the classroom, and Charlie good-naturedly obliges.
Liam. Liam is the son of our new friends Crate and Ian. Charlie and Liam have the same color hair, a similar build and are almost exactly the same height. We six went to dinner last weekend and both sets of parents remarked that Charlie and Liam could pass for twins.
Mark E. It wasn't until the invitation for Mark E.'s 4th birthday party that we realized that his name is Mark E. not Markie or Markey. Just goes to show the names that occur when you have two kids in a class with the same name (thus, Charlie is Charlotte at school and a little boy named Charlie is just Charlie).
Sue presents the cake to the birthday girl (Esther in light blue) and Kali.
Sue dissects Dora while the kids call out parts of the body that they want to eat.
Charlie did not request a body party - she merely wanted frosting. And, I can report, that's all she ate of the cake.