My baby is 5!

My little baby girl turned 5 years old today. I can't believe it. I can't believe how big she is, and I also can't believe that I have a five year old. Crazier yet is that that five year old will start school in just a little over two months. But that is a post for another time...

Natalie was, of course, very excited about her birthday. My sister-in-law had made this cake (but in pink) for her daughter and I knew Natalie would love this princess castle cake. So while I can take credit for actually making this cake, I can't take credit for coming up with the idea for the cake itself. (My sister-in-law is amazing and I'm pretty sure she can make anything in cake form.) And in case you are wondering... yes, this cake took a rediculous amount of time to make. Natalie is funny though because I asked her a few days before making the cake what flavor she was wanting the cake to be. I asked her if she wanted it to be white or chocolate. She knew what I meant, but she answered, "mom, I want it to be blue." Blue is her very favorite color and she wanted to make sure I knew that her cake had to be blue. Like I would have dared make it any other color.

For the very first time, we did a birthday party with friends. We had the party this past Saturday. Here is Natalie with her cake at the park where we had the party. She had eight (plus one more very late comer) friends come to the party. She had so much fun playing games, eating hot dogs, and opening presents from her friends.

Natalie got to open her presents from us this morning, on her actual birthday. We woke her up (she was already awake and just waiting for us) singing happy birthday and then she got her presents. I put this first picture on because I don't think I have ever seen her hair this crazy in the morning.

The next series of pictures have a funny story. Due to the odd shape of the present, I wrapped it in a box. A diaper box to be exact. When Natalie tore off the wrapping paper and saw the box, she started making all kinds of faces. Then she said, "I didn't want this." It took us a little while to convince her that we weren't giving her diapers and to just look inside the box. It was pretty funny.

You can see in this picture that she can't quite figure out what to do or think. She wouldn't even finish unwrapping it.

Now she finally sees that we did not give her diapers and is very excited by her present. (It is a bubble bucket--one of those that is spill proof, so she can blow bubbles without making a mess. Just in case you were wondering. It would be driving me crazy if I didn't know what was actually in the box.)

Here is Natalie's fun present. She got a new bike from all of her grandparents. She had very much outgrown her old one. She loves this one and had fun riding it around the "inch" (aka, block. Don't ask. I have no idea.) Happy birthday Natalie!