Happy Birthday Amy!

Can anyone else believe that our sweet Amy is FIVE?? Wow- time does fly by! Lee and I were reminiscing last night about that day 5 years ago...... the last night Lee ever worked night shift. I remember him saying, "Now, have that baby so I don't have to work all night!" Amy heard him, and around midnight we were journeying to the hospital... soon to be joined by my parents, my mother in law and my grandmother (who happened to be in town from NY). Such a fun day! And now she's FIVE. WOW.

We debated back and forth on whether to throw a party or take the family to Chuck E. Cheese. The good ol' mouse won out. I'm glad too- although I've always been a 'party' girl, I'm just too tired this year to mess with it. I told her we'd have a big party next year. She was fine with it.... honestly she just loves Chuck E. Cheese. It kind of makes me laugh.... growing up we could have friend parties every other year (on our even numbered birthdays) On the odd years we got to pick a place where the family could go to dinner..... and we always chose Chuck E. Cheese! That place has been around for a long time! (until we got older, then we chose the all-you-can-eat Sizzler) I think I'm going to establish that tradition with my kids as well.

Amy was very specific about her cake request. "A barbie cake with a white dress and pink flowers." I tried to comply, but that exhaustion creeps up on me every day and I just don't have the stamina that I used to. I can't decide if it's pregnancy, or if I'm catching a cold. Maybe both? Anyhow, this is all I came up with.....

I think it's rather ugly, but Amy loved it. She declared she was beautiful and told Mom and Grandma (who called to sing to her) all about it.

This morning I made a "birthday pancake" for her. A cake with 5 candles on it. It took me 3 tries. Will got the first 2 rejects.

Around 11am she said, "Mom do you know what I really like on birthdays?" "What Amy?" "Opening presents." "Well, we have to wait until Daddy gets home. He wants to see you open them too." "Ok. Do you know what else I really like? Eating cake." "I do too, let's sneak a piece." So we did, off her back.....

I saw online a great idea for naked Barbie's- throw some nail polish on them! I bought this set of 2 cheapo dolls for $3 from Target. Broke the blondie's poor legs off and nail polished away. If toys really are real (like in Toy Story) then I'm really sorry fake Barbie!

By afternoon time the kids were crazy. Will was driving us all insane. I don't know if he hasn't been feeling well, but lately he just won't eat. So he's starving and grumpy and no matter what you put in front of him, he won't eat. Amy was also getting restless. So I decided to take them to the Discovery Center for a little while.

That helped them burn a little energy. Amy even got to pet a Screech Owl. She was really excited about that one! Will threw a few fits and spent most of his time on the floor....

This adorable little girl (maybe around 5 or 6 yrs old) saw me and she said, "Are you having a baby?!" I said, "Yes I am!" "Is it a girl or a boy?" "It's a boy!" And then she said, "Oh, I don't like them...." and then sauntered off. hahahaha! I died laughing at her.

When we got home it was present time! Here's Amy with all of her gifts. Granny- she LOVES that horse! She keeps calling it a unicorn.

Then we headed to Chuck E. Cheese for dinner/games/fun.

Will drove us nuts the whole time. He was also getting really tired. I did manage to get him to eat an apple before we went, so at least he had something in his tummy. He hadn't eaten since 9am!! And he didn't really eat any pizza once we got there. But Amy had fun, and that's the main thing. Lee racked up a lot of tickets for her, and what is Chuck E Cheese without tickets and prizes?

And yet, when we got home from that... we still had one more thing to do- the cake! I stuck the candles in (Amy counted to make sure I had five) and we sang. Afterwards, Amy declared she really didn't want any. Will ate a piece and spit it out. And Lee never eats cake. What the heck is wrong with my family?? I'll give some to my craft group tomorrow and the rest will go into the deep freeze. Want to come visit? We have cake!

All day long Amy has been saying, "Mom, when I get to blow out my candles... I can wish for ANYthing that I want??!" "Yes, Amy, anything." "Even like a unicorn or a dog or something?" "Yes, Amy." So after she blew out her candles she said, "Do you know what I wished for? I wished for UNICORN!!! " Thank heavens Granny got her that horse- Amy named it "Uni" and decided its really a unicorn instead.

After THAT was done (whew!) it was time for bed. We let Amy play with her new toys for awhile and Will fell right asleep. Thankfully the early part of our day was spent lazily on the couch! Neither kid slept well last night, which meant mommy didn't sleep well either. Although- to be honest, it was hard for me to fall asleep. I think I've developed restless leg syndrome or something. My legs kept bugging me and I could not get comfortable. So we were ALL tired today!

(We would have had Amy open her presents earlier (so we wouldn't have so much to do tonight), but since everyone was up all night, we all slept in. Except for poor Lee who had to teach an 8am class)

So that was Amy's birthday! She's such a sweet girl and we are so lucky to have her! She's a great sharer and as smart as a whip. You can't get anything past her. She makes us laugh constantly with all the things she says, and yes, even wears us out with all of her questions. I've been telling her for awhile that when she turned 5, she had to start putting her own seat belt on. Well today, I asked if she needed help with her seat belt and she said, "No Mom. I'm 5 now. I did it all by myself." She was also proud of herself when she sliced her own pizza and several other things. She's so big and independent now! We certainly L.O.V.E our beautiful little 5 year old!!!