Number 5 is Alive

Yesterday Emily turned 5. I still can't believe it. My preschooler has been replaced by a ready-for-kindergarten five year old kid. In just a year, she's become big enough to buckle herself in the car, pay attention while I read her a whole chapter of a book, order for herself at a restaurant, read a book and (most importantly) ride most of the roller coasters at Disneyland. As hard as it is to say goodbye to all the cute baby characteristics, I must admit that I love all the things that Emily is adding to her resume.

You can't turn 5 without a little recognition. There's nothing Emily loves like a blowout party. Unfortunately for Emily, she has a mom who is not a big fan of party planning or large groups of children. So after a lot of negotiation, we pared the guest list down to a few kids and threw a simple party the Saturday before her birthday. Her chosen theme was Toy Story (changed from Princess so she could invite boys)

This cake was my first foray into fondant. Thanks to Chris' help, it turned out pretty well... for an amateur.

Here is Emily sitting and waiting impatiently for her friends to arrive.

Once they did arrive, we had a rousing game of pin the badge on Sheriff Woody.

*Note: The one on Woody's nose is Jane's. We didn't even blindfold her.
 
And then some pizza, from none other than...

Pizza Planet!

The pinata took quite awhile to crack.

In this shot it looks like Emily had just given the star its deathblow, but let me assure you that the pinata had been wounded for a good 10 minutes and was still a good 10 minutes away from meeting its demise. Oh, and just in case you're wondering... A mid-May birthday in these parts means you have to hit the pinata in the garage rather than the backyard. A tragedy... I know.

The party was actually a relatively mellow success, and none of my worst fears realized themselves.

The celebration continued on Emily's real birthday with presents galore.

I told Emily she could have whatever she wanted for dinner. Her menu: blueberry pancakes and bacon with beignets for dessert. She must have been carbo-loading for something, but I'm still not sure what.

Happy Birthday, five-year-old girl!