4 years ago today, at 5:55 a.m.

my world was changed.
the edges of my heart widened to let in more love, something i didn't know was possible.

today was a whirlwind, and i'm worn out.  but i was lucky to spend the day celebrating the life of an intelligent, beautiful, imaginative and silly little girl.  here's the day in pictures.

traditional door decorations:

a preschool field trip to the dairy farm,

where her teacher {my hilarious & awesome friend chelsea}

and her class sang to her:

and she found out that she and farmer joe share the same birthday

she made friends with the sheep,

fed and held some new friends,

let her baby sister come along for the ride,

and posed for pictures.

then she and i came home to play with her new ponies,

and get ready to go to the aquarium.

we picked up her brother and a couple of princess friends along the way,

met her dad there,

and spent a couple of hours admiring the wonders of ocean life.

after the aquarium, 

we had dinner 

and a carousel ride.

the friends were dropped off,

and we came home to open gifts and blow out candles.

in true leah fashion, she went to bed looking like this:

happy 4th birthday, 

leah layne,

the world is a brighter place because you're in it.

your family loves you more than you could know!  

can't wait to see what this year holds for you.