5!!!!!

Chloe turned 5 today!

I have told you before that 5 is my least favorite birthday and when it is your BABY turning 5, well that is even worse than when the previous ones hit that milestone. I officially have no more toddler aged children. They are all kids, and none of them babies. We are long past the days of fruit snacks and sippy cups and it breaks my heart.

It is not so much the fruit snacks that I miss, it is my babies. They have grown up way too quickly, but they have brought me joy every day and so even though these years have been nothing more than the twinkling of an eye, they were the most amazing twinkling of an eye and I am so grateful to be their mommy.

And especially grateful that I still have a few more months of mommy and Chloe time before she goes off into the big world with the other two. She tells me almost every day how happy she is that she is the last one because she gets to spend the most time with me. She loves her uninterrupted time with mommy and I love spending my days with her. I have always loved being a mom but I have a calm now that you do not have when you have 3 little ones. I have the ability now to see that even though the days may be long, the years are short and so I relish the moments a little more. Thank goodness she came after I acquired this increased wisdom and patience, because Chloe has never been my easiest child. She tests me every day with her headstrong, do it myself, never wrong ways but I also love all of those things about her. She has no fear and she jumps in and lives life to the fullest while the rest of us sit on the sidelines and try to muster up the courage to join her. She is funny, and strong and I believe others will always look to Chloe for leadership.  And while she can be moody and sour at times, she can just as easily swing the other way and be incredibly sweet. She fully embraces every emotion inside of her and throws 100% of herself in to everything she does and everything she feels. I learn so much from her and I love her. So, so much!

Since it is an odd year that means a family only party. However, Chloe did not get a friend party last year since we were in TN so I think she will get one this year, in a few weeks after school starts and the holiday madness has receded but we also had a small family celebration with her today.

For her birthday she asked for a Build-a-Bear so that is where we started our day. Watching her choose and create her new friend proved to be too much for the other two who asked if they could use some of their saved money to buy stuffies too. We granted them permission to play along, but most of the pics are of the birthday girl.

 
Warming the bear's heart
 
And putting it in the bear.
 
Baby's first bath
 
Dressing the stuffies. Of course she needed all girly clothes, sparkly shoes and even pink undies and a tiara and wand. Chloe is so tough but so glittery at the same time.
 
Meet Bluey the bunny, who joins her pink build-a-bear named Pink.
 
Alyssa got a bunny in silk jammies and sleeping mask and Alex got the camo bear he has had his eye on for years and even though he always said that if he ever got him he would dress him like Batman, I was happy to see that he found an even cooler outfit for him. This outfit came with every color of TKD belt so when we got home he switched him to a purple belt, like his own.



For her birthday lunch/dinner she chose "Pizza Cafe". It is actually called Tazino's, and is a pizza buffet, but she thought I said cafe not buffet the first time we went there so to her it is always Pizza Cafe. Not my favorite, but that is what she chose so that is where she went.

We came home and opened presents from grandparents and had cake.

A Merida dress from Ann and Tony

A Dreamlite from my mom and Glenn.

A Polly Pocket Theme Park from my dad and Linda.

And money from Grandpa Bob.

We are usually with Seth's sister Sarah's fam on Chloe's birthday (they just had a baby yesterday so we took a break from our usual post Christmas visits) so an ice cream cake has always been an easy solution for a full house, so we thought we'd continue the tradition this year.





Happy Birthday Baby Girl! I loveity-love-love-love you and promise me that no matter how old you get, that if you wake up in the night you will always climb into my bed and say...Mama...let's hug bechudder and sleep. (bechudder is "each other" for those who don't speak Chloe). Maybe not EVERY night like you do now, but at least sometimes, okay?