Can You Believe My Baby is 5?!?

Oh, heavens!!  I can't!!

This year I wanted to start making birthdays really special for our kids.  I just wanted to create a few traditions to make it a magical day, one that they will remember for EVER and always know that they are special to us.  I spent hours the day before making a "happy birthday" banner to hang from the bay window over the kitchen table, and decorated the table with a Tangled table cloth, her present {wrapped in princess paper and topped with a huge bow}, curled ribbons and had the table set with pink dishes for the girls.  She told me she wanted omlettes for breakfast {her fave} so I cut everything up the night before they would come together quickly and smoothly in the morning.

I woke up at 5:20, SO excited for her birthday.  I knew it was going to be a crazy day, so I decided to relish the quiet for a little longer...  That is, of course, until Madi came in at 5:30!  She usually snuggles up next to me and goes right back to sleep if she comes in that early, but not that day!  It was her birthday and she was TOO excited to go back to sleep!  So we got up at 5:40 and started working on breakfast.  Madison was SO CUTE when she saw all the decorations that were just for HER.  She was totally giddy!  Maelee joined us around 6 and was just as ecstatic about all the hullabaloo.

After breakfast, we let her open her present from us - a lady bug tent and tunnel.  She and Maelee were pretty funny to watch as they exercised their imaginations and discovered new uses for a tunnel with a lady bug face on it!  :O)

After Clint went to work, we got ready for Madi's party.  I have to confess here, Madi and I made invitations, and they were super cute...

"Yay!  Yipee!  Yeehaw!  Hurray!

Summertime is here to stay!

Let's slip-n-slide with Madi-May!

A birthday bash

Is worth the splash

So come on down and play!"

BUT...  Well...  Let's just say they ended up making my counter look VERY pretty... and leave it at that!  {Loser Mom, I know!  Thank heavens for texting!!  LOL}

We transferred the banner and table cloth outside, frosted and sprinkled the cupcakes, donned swimsuits and were ready to let the fun begin! 

The kids had a blast with our wiggle worm sprinkler, then our slip-n-slide, then our flower sprinkler!  At one point, the wind picked up Madi's new tent and tunnel - luckily her friend Eliana grabbed the tent...  But Mads wasn't QUITE as lucky in her attempts to grab the tunnel...  I hear this horrific scream and think that someone has just died.  When I finally get her to calm down enough to tell me what had happened, I look out to the ditch that runs in front of our property and see the top of a red lady bug tunnel floating in the shallow water.  Suffice it to say that ditch mud is SQUISHY!!!  :O)

Madi helped me make little goody bags for all the kids, and she was cute handing them all out - very determined to make sure everyone got the RIGHT one.  LOL  Her friends spoiled her with lots of great toys, books, puzzles, games...  Too much fun!

After the party wrapped up, we cleaned up and headed to town to meet my dad for lunch.  He took a day trip to our neck of the woods and treated the girls and I to Madison's restaurant of choice for her birthday {Yes, the golden arches.  Surprised?  I wasn't!}.  He got her a beautifully illustrated book of Disney Princess Bedtime Stories, a Tangled card that sings when you open it and a happy meal {a VERY rare treat for her so she was pretty stoked!!}.  The girls were beyond adorable flirting with and showing off for their Papa Rowan.  Made me happy that he got to see that side of them and that they warmed up to him so much.  In fact, as we were pulling away, Madi asked if we could see him everyday.  I explained that he lived far away and she informed me that we could meet him halfway...  how do you argue with THAT kind of logic?  :O) 

He also brought me a first edition copy of Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm that is over 108 years old!  It's in amazing shape and I'm excited to have a copy to share with my girls... after I read it myself of course!  LOL

Madi played with her new toys while Maelee napped and when Clint got home we let the Birthday Girl choose where we went for dinner, and it again was no surprise when she picked the local hamburger shop Clint's aunt owns.  We ended the day with cupcakes and ice cream with Clint's parents and a bedtime story from her new book.  It was a fabulous day.  She told me at LEAST a dozen times that it was the best birthday EVER!  :O)  It was pretty funny, if she started to get upset over something, I would remind her that she was 5 now and she would pause and then smile and move on.  AMAZING!  I am LOVING 5 so far!!

Happy Birthday Baby... 

I can't believe you changed our lives by making us parents FIVE YEARS AGO!  You were amazing to us then and you still amaze us every single day.  I am SO proud of the beautiful, wonderful little girl you've become, the kind and sensitive big sister, the smarty-smarty preschool graduate, big helper and world's greatest snuggler.  Madison, I LOVE being your Mom.  Thank you for being my daughter and teaching me what it means to love unconditionally.  I hope the next 5 years go a LOT slower!!!!!!!  :O)