Take Five

Last week I woke up one day and realized that she's no longer a baby, she's no longer a toddler and she's hardly even a preschooler anymore. Jane is 5. As difficult as that is to believe, it is the truth. 

We had a small family celebration on her real birthday which included presents:

One of her faves is this beanbag. Her butt has seldom left it since last Tuesday. Notice how it's personalized? we thought that would prevent thievery. It kind of worked.

She also really loved the leap pad. She played with it nonstop for two days but now I think we need to feed it more apps. Well played leapfrog, well played. 

When I asked Jane what kind of cake she wanted, she didn't say the name of a character (hurrah! I HATE decorating cakes) but instead requested pink cake with chocolate frosting and red sprinkles. I can do that. No problem.

For Jane's "party" she requested a trip to Build-A-Bear with her cousins. (Notice how accommodating this kid is? No crazy character cakes and no inviting her entire preschool class to play pin the tail on the donkey in my living room. No wonder I love her so much.) So yesterday, we headed south and her cousins headed north. We met in the middle and made some serious bear magic.

Jane selected a pink bear which she then dressed as a princess:

                                      

Lucy created a ballerina pug:

Simon's golden retriever sings the Star Wars theme.

And Emily came home with Rudolph's girlfriend (who required 4 high heeled shoes instead of 2 because she has 4 feet and bears apparently have 2?)

Here are the girls' creations:

It was a delightful, low-key party, which is exactly the kind of party I dig. And everyone came away with a well dressed stuffed animal in a delightful cardboard gingerbread house. Bonus.

We followed up with a lunch of Jane's choosing at Nordy's BBQ (the subject of McDonalds or Chuck-E-Cheese never even came up). I really like this kid. She can plan my Saturday anytime. 

Happy Birthday Jane!