Natalee's Birthday - THE DAY

How many posts will it take to get through Natalee's birthday? :)

We had her friend party during a daycare day because of the busy-ness of December.  It's so hard to ask folks to give up a Saturday so I just decided to do it on her actual birthday at daycare.  Our activity was sand art, we had breakfast & lunch and cupcakes and presents and fun!

Someone please be impressed with my digitally created invitations.  They shouldn't have taken me a long time with my photo software but they did! We printed them as 4x6 pictures to give her friends.

 New birthday outfit from mom and dad.  Comfy pants and a sparkly Ariel shirt!

 Her silly faces....ahhhh!

Birthday breakfast.  Pancakes!!

Sand art bottles...no pics of the children doing them because I was VERY involved during this craft!

Xavier's is the tallest with all the yellow.  Natalee's is the middle one.  God bless the friend who chose the round wide mouthed bottle...it was the easiest to fill!!

Gifts from friends:

 Haba Animals Upon Animals

 Sophia the First Set

 Flower and balloon from our favorite twins - Zoey & Landyn!

 Birthday lunch (pizza, apples, cucumbers, chips...yay for party leftovers!)

 A candle for everyone, 5 for the birthday girl!

Naps for all followed lunch.  I didn't take one but I sure wanted to!  Parties wear a pregnant mama out!

Daddy got off work a little early and came home to celebrate the rest of the evening with us.  The birthday girl requested spaghetti and salads (yes, she LOVES lettuce) and garlic toast...easy enough for mom to honor those requests.  

We took a break from the table and opened presents.  The easel and blanket were really the bulk of her gifts, however, a couple of weeks ago the zipper on her coat started splitting from the bottom when we zipped it.  We've babied it along but I looked hard for one on sale to replace it with and gift to her.  In all my 5 years of parenting, putting winter coats on two (last year three) children, I've never had to buy a new one!  We've always gotten yard sale, second hand, gifted, etc., but this year I simply could not find one.  The coat she had was what she wore last year and it still fit great but I don't know how to repair zippers so I knew we'd have to do something (preferably before it became an emergency on the way out the door in sub zero weather!).

I've also been wanting this game for our family and this was a perfect opportunity!

 And lastly, Hello Kitty slippers - for fun and for practicality.  Our floors are cold and her feet have grown so much that none of the other slippers we own (of which we have plenty) fit her.

So darling!

Then we played 1/2 a round of Trouble.  We didn't make it through a whole game but we will before long.  It was fun.  We LOVE family games...we're nerdy and tight-knit like that!

 The boys are faux pouting because they got kicked back to home..

Then we came back to the table one more time for cake and ice cream.  Because, after all, it IS her birthday.  (I'm over cake for a few days by the way!).

Tired as I was (am!) I ran through the shower while Daddy and the kids played a round of Animal Upon Animal.  

And that, my friends, is it.  The lid is on my firstborn's 5th birthday.  We finished the night with some snuggles and Christmas stories, and I gave her a hand massage with some coconut oil to try to heal her chapped, reddened, little hands.

At age 5 Natalee wants to be a mama when she grows up and she asked tonight if we could name our baby Hello Kitty.  She's full of wit and humor and craziness and also loves routine, things done "right", and could be described as a little uptight sometimes.  She loves bedtime, her best friend is her brother with her mommy in close second (I'm honored).  Her daddy is her prince and she looks to him for guidance and approval in how she acts, how she's dressed, and right vs. wrong.

Love you always, Natalee.

We're so proud to be your parents.

~ Mommy & Daddy