And Then She Was Five

This year Lane's birthday celebrations spanned three days. She requested spaghetti for lunch and pizza for dinner. We invited a couple of local friends over to eat birthday pizza with us and they couldn't come on Lane's actual birthday, so they came the night before. We chatted and ate pizza and Lane got a few gifts from them.


Noel "bought" Lane this bunny. They were constantly fighting over Raye's little stuffed bunny, and Lane was always complaining about how she didn't have a bunny but both Noel and Raye did, so I bit the bullet and bought her yet another stuffed animal. And she loves the thing.


Showing off the goods via FaceTime.

On her actual birthday she woke up to a tableful of presents. We FaceTimed with my mom while Lane opened gifts. I made birthday pancakes and ran out the door for my study time. I came home early and made spaghetti for lunch, and our nanny joined us. Shannon was gone working for most of the day. I was home with the kiddos, we didn't have hot water, and we had a Skype call around 5 p.m. So I called Shannon and asked him if we could go out for dinner instead, since I was also trying to frost a cake for Lane's party the next day. So when he came on we all suited up and walked over to the shopping mall where we ate chicken and french fries and I didn't have to wash any dishes.


We got Lane some Inchimals and a Read With Me Bible...it's got pictures on every page but NIrV print. Hopefully within a couple of years she'll be able to read some of it herself!

That night I stayed up until 11:30 or so decorating her cake. She wanted a chocolate cake with vanilla frosting that was a princess cake. I decided to take it easy this year and do something really simple. So she got a pale pink cake with a princess crown on top. And she loved it.



The day after Lane's birthday I went to class in the morning and then came home and began preparing for a birthday party. We hung balloons and streamers while Noel napped. I chopped veggies and made chicken noodle soup for 20. And that evening our fellow expats came over and we all celebrated five years of Lane.



I still am a little in shock that I have a five-year old. Who is already planning what kind of cake she wants for her 6th birthday (so far it's a dinosaur cake). Crazy kid.


Here are the questions that we ask each year on our kids' birthdays. It's fun to see how the answers change each year.

1. Your favorite color is pink.
2. Your favorite toy is your rabbit (that you got on your birthday).
3. Your favorite fruit is strawberries.
4. Your favorite TV show is Care Bears (which is funny since you rarely watch it).
5. Your favorite movie is Beauty and the Beast.
6. Your favorite thing to wear is your flowered dress.
7. Your favorite animal is elephants.
8. Your favorite song is, "I Love You, Lord."
9. Your favorite book is The Kissing Hand.
10. Your best friend is Noel.
11. Your favorite snack is pomegranates.
12. Your favorite drink is juice.
13. Your favorite breakfast is cereal (puffs).
14. Your favorite lunch is spaghetti.
15. Your favorite dinner is tomato soup.
16. Your favorite game is Sneaky Snacky Squirrel.
17. Your favorite thing to play outside is going down a slide.
18. Your favorite holiday is Christmas.
19. At night you sleep with: blankie.
20. You want to be a dentist when you grow up.
And for anyone who's curious, here's the link to last year's answers.