Happy 5th Birthday Anabelle!

Anabelle woke up on her 5th birthday to streamers hanging from her bedroom door, and a birthday surprise on the dining room table.  

Special cinnamon roll and strawberry milk breakfast- yum! Then it was off to preschool for a fun morning where she got to be the classroom helper, her classmates sang to her, and she had a fun time playing with friends.

After preschool Anabelle chose to go to McDonald's for lunch with Grandma and Charlotte joining too. She loves playing in the play area!

After lunch we went to the pet store where Anabelle picked out her very 1st pet- a goldfish named Nemo. She had been asking for a "Nemo" fish for many weeks and we told her she could get one for her birthday. She was extremely excited :)

Here's Nemo all set up in his new home!

We had some playtime and then all of the sudden we heard the ice cream truck! What luck, we had to run out and get a special treat :)

Soon it was time to pick up Daddy from the train and head to dinner. The birthday girl chose White Fence Farm for her birthday dinner, one of our family's favorite places to go.

 It was a great day celebrating Anabelle's birthday, she had so much fun all day!

The weekend following Anabelle's birthday, we had a big party to celebrate with friends and family. We invited her preschool classmates, our family, and lots of friends. We are lucky to have a large backyard to host events like this. As the date grew closer the forecast called for rain that day. We tried to stay positive and hoped it would miss us. Unfortunately, this was not the case, and it did rain a little. But on the upside we got about 40 minutes before the rain started and then we got a nice break after a rain shower where the kids could go back outside to bounce in the bounce house and play. Everyone was very flexible and helpful moving things inside and making the best of it in our small house. We had a great time, and Anabelle thought it was a wonderful birthday party and that's what matters. Thank you to my mom who took all of these photos, I uncharacteristically didn't take any. My mom had some trouble with her camera, but I am so thankful she took what she did. We have less than we usually would- but some may say that's a good thing ;)


The theme this year was a mixture of Fairy/Tinkerbell/Pirate/Peter Pan.

Our little fairy.

Love this picture of Charlotte with my Dad, the color was so off it looked best as a black and white.

It's bounce house time!!

On the menu: Pirate cannon balls (meatballs), fairy garden veggies, fairy berry salad, nuts, polly's crackers & cheese, lost boys trail mix, meat, cheese, and olive wands, fairy wands, and of course cupcakes!

We had several games and crafts to entertain the kids:

During a rainy spell we hustled inside for singing, blowing out the candles, and some yummy cupcakes!

Thanks to all who lent a hand to make the party day fun, we had a great time!