The Happiest Child Alive

I’m the happiest child alive,

I had a birthday and now I’m five,

So to the big school I can go,

to learn all the things I want to know.

It’s hard for me to believe that Naomi is already 5 years old.  I’m in denial.  I still want her to be my baby!  She is growing so quickly, though, and is turning into such a beautiful, grown-up girl.   Here are some things that Naomi told be about herself:

My name is Naomi.

I am 5.

I like to play games.

My favorite book is Curious George and the Puppies.

My favorite color is red.  Pink is my second best color.  Red is my really favorite color.

My favorite food is soup and grilled cheese. (This is what she requested for her birthday dinner, which surprised me because we usually have to force feed her soup.  She’s really not much of a soup eater.)

My favorite movie is Mary Poppins. (Side note – I think her favorite movie is whichever one she happens to be watching.)

My favorite animal is my horse Spot (the one that I’m holding.)

I live in Germany.

My favorite place is London.

Someday I want to go to London again.  It’s fun going to London.

I am good at practicing.  (So completely true!)

I love my pipe cleaners.

Naomi isn’t writing a lot yet, so she dictated the answers to me.  

We celebrated Naomi’s birthday with another super fabulous princess party.  Something that I love about 5 year olds is that they’re happy with repetition.  We recycled princess/birthday bingo, pin the horn on the unicorn and I even (and this is big) made another castle cake.

                                 

I think it turned out much better this year.  For one thing, it was structurally sound.  No tilting towers.  For another thing, the finish is much more smooth.  I used fondant instead of frosting, and although it didn’t taste as good, it was so, so, so much easier to make even.   Next year my goal is to start the piping (vines, dots etc.) more than an hour before the party starts.  I really, really, rushed it this year (like I did last year) and it is really sloppy.  I’d love to get the details right sometime.  I need to work on those advance planning skills.

This year the party was about double the size.  We had 11 kids…

8 princesses and 3 princes.  (Note that one prince was a girl.  She wanted to come as a horse (she was the donkey in our Nativity play) but her mom talked her into being a knight instead.  So fantastic!)

Naomi had a wonderful time.  Birthday parties are a lot of work and a lot of stress, but in the end, I think they are worth it.  I want to enjoy this age and time.  Because Naomi will eventually stop wanting to dress up as a princess and having a castle cake at her parties (most likely preferring a movie and pizza with friends) I’m happy to create a princess birthday party with a castle cake.  Besides, what is cuter than a bunch of 5 year olds in princess dresses?  Not much.

A few more pictures from the party…

                     

           

***Note – this party was held in our stairwell community room.  My apartment is not nearly large enough to host a birthday party.  I do NOT have raw cement floors and parrot decor in my living room.  Just so we’re clear.***

                                        

Happy Birthday Naomi!   You are a sweet, smart, precocious, creative, wonderful girl.  We are so grateful you are part of our family and we love you!