Jane turned five!-(43 days ago)

Hello blogosphere. My daughter had a birthday. To kick start the festivities we had a small celebration for Jane with some family the weekend before. Jane requested a vanilla cake with strawberry frosting. When we sang Happy Birthday to her she proceeded to laugh like a maniac through the entire thing. I guess it was her way of dealing with the spotlight.





Finally, the madness ended.


Jane appreciated the kindness of everyone.




Jane had pretty much planned out every food she wanted to eat on her birthday months before. So the morning of the big day we headed to Krispy Kreme and Jane got her fill of her favorite glazed doughnuts. The kids were fascinated with the doughnut making process.



For her friend party, after much deliberation she finally decided on a cowgirl themed birthday party. I was excited because the plan was that I wouldn't have to do much-just take the kids to Farm Country at Thanksgiving Point. But, as luck would have it, just about the only horrible weather day we experienced in October happened to fall right on her birthday. So Jane had a cowgirl party at the dinosaur museum. I was the only one who seemed to care. The kids were just as excited as could be.








After the museum we headed over to another indoor spot and had cupcakes, opened presents and enjoyed fifty cent ice cream cones. Here, Jane went with a different approach during the singing of Happy Birthday.




I need to give a big thank-you shout-out to my talented friend Candis for the adorable party printables. I only wish we could have used everything if it hadn't been for the bad weather.



And another big thank you to Grandma and Grandpa G for spending the week with us and beating me to the cash register many times.

And the biggest thank you of all to my sweet Jane for making the last five years such a blast.

Dear Jane,
I am so happy that you are in our family! You bring such a fun spirit to our home. Life is so exciting for you and it's wonderful to be able to experience it with you. You have become quite the social butterfly and beg everyday to be able to play with friends. You are getting more confident in approaching new friends and usually always have a new friend at the end of an outing. You are very creative and have a great eye for beauty. Your drawings and songs brighten our home. You are such a wonderful big sister to Jack. You are patient in teaching him lots of things and you endlessly share your time and toys with him. You love to have fun and can get quite crazy around the house. But you try so hard to be a good girl. You are quick to remind us to speak more kindly to one another, and so forgiving when we make mistakes. You do a great job at conveying just how much you love all of us. I hope that you will always know how much I love you. Thanks for bringing such a wonderful spirit to our home.
I love you!
Mom