FIVE

that she could grow up into this girl

We don’t do a birthday party every year, which is a story in itself, but we do go all out to celebrate milestone birthdays. FIVE is a milestone. It’s half a decade. It’s the year you go to Kindergarten. Besides, it has a nice ring to it… fiiiiive! So we celebrated for, you guessed it, 5 days.

Day 1 – This was supposed to be her “walk around the sun celebration” at school but she got a snow day instead. This was also the day my mom arrived from out of town. It’s always fun to have grandparents around. Just ask tLG who was literally counting down the minutes until they arrived.

Day 2 – This was the biggest celebration day. We started with a party for her closest friends at one of her favorite places, Art Life. It was an All Art, All Animal party. They did a printmaking project followed by clay sculptures.

It was so much fun and we finished up with cake and presents! I’m not gonna lie, I was totally choked up with a lump in my throat as her sweet friends sang happy birthday. I think I had gotten distracted with all the planning and was in complete denial about this turning 5 business.

That night we had a family party with all of her cousins and Mike’s family. I served baked spaghetti at the tLG’s request and I don’t even think she touched her plate. Imagine that! The kids played, the adults chatted and sipped wine, and my mom did the dishes (bless her). At the end we all sat and watched the year 4 video that I had been working on.

Day 3 – Exhausted doesn’t even begin to explain how we felt after day 2. Skylar slept until 9:30, a new and very impressive personal best for my non-sleeper. We didn’t quite make it to church but saw Yah Yah and Paw Paw off and played puzzles and LeapPad for the rest of the day. Sunday night, the celebration continued with leftover wine, birthday cake, and the Golden Globes. Okay, so maybe that was my own little party. 🙂

Day 4 – The ACTUAL birthday. Skylar woke up saying “I’m five, I’m five, I’m really five!” Very sweet. School was out due to MLK day so we celebrated by going to see Beauty & the Beast in 3D.

We ended January 16th with dinner at Sakura. The birthday girl was not impressed with the “fire” nor was she amused by the loud drum they played to sing the birthday song. However, she cherished the little paper umbrella they gave her as a souvenir so all was not lost.

Day 5 – We finally were able to make up her “walk around the sun” ceremony at school, which is a Montessori style birthday celebration. Basically, the child holds a globe and walks around a sun figure placed on a mat. The parents get to tell interesting facts about the child at each age and show pictures. Then, they sing a little song for each year and the child completes their rotation. So, this year, Skylar was able to “walk around the sun” five times. She had been looking forward to this for weeks and it actually turned out perfect that this was the final stop on the birthday train express.

I still can’t believe this kid is five. We have been so blessed to nurture her and watch her grow for half a decade. Lord only knows what the next five years will hold.