Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Catch-up/Girl-chick: Birthday!

*I'm sorry to readers hoping to see pictures. No one remembered to take any. I do have a video of the cake/singing/blowing of candles but I have to figure out which camera it is on (mine, MIL's or Da Man's BlackBerry. As soon as I find more, I'll update. Promise*

Five.

My Girl-chick is Five. How is it possible that it has been five whole years since she was a teeny tiny mewling infant in my arms?

When I was growing up, we were not ones to fuss too much about a birthday, prefering to keep it within the family. Once our own kiddos arrived, I found myself planning birthday parties and activities and gathering supplies for the loot bag tub which has now swelled from one small box to two Rubbermaid tubs and a large-ish cardboard box mysteriously labeled "Misc. Impromptu Gifts".

I really don't like having to dig through my kids' loot bags when they go to others' birthday parties and toss out all the stuff that they can't have such as candies and cookies which may have allergens in them and little toys that are choking hazards or have dubious "non-toxic" claims. So, I aim for quality rather than quantity and I generally also go homemade inasmuch as possible.

That's a rather large commitment. I find myself calculating the overall monetary worth of a loot bag (can't be seen as being competitive to the other moms out there!) and the time it has taken to put one together. One year I made little Japanese-inspired purses and filled it with a flower clippie and a ribbon hairband. The boys received a small car play-mat with a Matchbox car tucked into the garage. But then I wonder: is that enough? Does it stack up to what the other parents are doing, tossing in random dollar store items into a plastic bag? Or is it too much?

Anyway, I have no idea why I went there and that is not the purpose of this catch-up post.

'Twas the Girl-chick's birthday some time last week.

I woke her up by singing Happy Birthday to her to which she squealed: "Five? FIVE?! Am I five now??" (No, b'y, you're like 16!).
The rest of the day was a normal day for us. Normally we take the day off and the birthday kid gets to do something special AFTER a visit to the doctor for a yearly check-up. Unfortunately, our doctor is not available on certain days of the week, reserving those times for the sickest kids. So, we opted to keep the day normal and make the next day the fun day!

When they got home for supper, it was pre-arranged that we would have pizza for supper and then cake! We had some friends over for this small family birthday - Tater's god-parents and also YoungMasterG and MrG as they are the neighbours we hang out with the most. We specifically requested no gifts from invitees. She was already getting quite a fair bit from us.

The cake was a simple affair - she wanted chocolate, in the shape of a heart. I iced it with Vanilla buttercream and covered it with pink marshmallow fondant. Mmmm... It didn't last long!

The next day we went to the Museum of Nature!


Yes ma-hunny. You are now five. No longer a baby, but still a little girl.

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