When your baby turns five there are very few things one can do about it. Since I am ever the lover of fun, we had a party! Actually we had a few parties.  Party! Party! Party!

Party #1 was on KB’s actual birthday and at school with the dozen other children in her PreK class.  KB wanted cupcakes and I wanted to do something different, so we compromised and had cupcake push-pops.  These are all over Pinterest and I wanted to try my hand at it.  They were simple to make but messy to eat! It was fun to share snack time with this sweet little one and her class.

Later that evening we had hotdogs for dinner (her request), a little cake made from the push-pop leftovers, and presents to open.  Not a bad day for our little five-year old!

The second party was the five-year old festivities at home.  KB was allowed to invite five friends and the invitations were sent.

Honey took the older siblings out for some fun and I stayed home to place tiaras on the heads of five little princesses arriving in their pajamas.  When they arrived they made bracelets out of Fruit Loops.

Once everyone arrived we had breakfast.  There was a yogurt buffet of sorts, donuts, grapes, and bacon.  It was simple and pretty and yummy.  My favorite decoration was the 3 foot balloon in the center of the table! 

When everyone had eaten their fill we went to the den for games.  There was “on the blanket/off the blanket”, a game we played when I was little

and pillowcase races.

Once the girls had tired of racing (it took longer than you think) they grabbed their pillow and doll (favors) and snuggled up on the couch for a story, Polly’s Pink Pajamas, by Vivian French: 

There was a birthday shaped like a stack of pancakes

and presents to unwrap.

It was super fun and everything can be found on my KB2012 Pinterest Board!!

And just to guarantee this is the longest post of 2012, I will now tell you about party 3!! Here’s the thing: for every child’s first birthday we went to ride a carousel.  It rained on KB’s first birthday and so we took the planned picnic indoors to a local mall and rode the carousel there.  

Every year since then, on the first of October, we have received a postcard in the mail inviting KB and up to nine of her friends to come out and ride again for free.  We have never taken them up on it, but since we are doing these weekly playdate swaps this year, I decided to take my turn on Halloween and take the crowd out for some fun.

There were the four “usuals” and another little guy whose mom had a Dr. appointment and he just had to go with us! This picture shows them all in the van pretending to be on a roller coaster! Yes, all arms were in the air and everyone was “screaming” as I crested a “hill” on the road.  Good times.

We had pizza at Sbarros (messy) and played on the play land for a while before heading to the carousel for our ride.  They are a cute group, eh? 

Needless to say I was exhausted at October’s end and had never been so glad to see November! KB felt ultra special . . . feels ultra special and that’s what I would want.  I take solace in knowing that this won’t happen again for five more years!