Pearl's Birthday - Part 1

Oops. Somehow I haven't gotten Pearl's birthday on here. It hasn't been a month, so I don't need the cone of shame yet, but it is getting close.

Pearl is a fabulous five now. My baby is five. She will be going to kindergarten in the fall. How did this happen so quickly? (Well, trust me...at times it did not seem speedy in the least.) I feel like I should miss the baby stage, but I don't. I like sleeping too much to miss midnight feedings.  I am saving a bundle now that we are diaper free in this household. And my children act like three year olds often enough that I it brings back enough nostalgia to tide me over.

Pearl had school on her birthday. There had been a light snow so she went out early to play.

Well, I thought she was playing, but she was getting snow to clean my front door. How thoughtful.

It was a low-key day. We went out and got balloons after school. Pearl picked a large butterfly.

Kids came home, we eventually had dinner and finally it was time for presents and cake. Pearl was so patient waiting the whole day. Never thought to put NERDS on a cake before, but they give it a nice zing.

Would you like a little cheese with your cake? This guy is pri-tty cheesy.

We sang and Pearl blew those candles out before I even had the camera in focus. Oh well. There's always next year.

Then it was time for gifts. Pearl was very excited about everything.

She would jump out of her chair and point at the next gift she wanted to open.

We'll have to work on her money identification. She pulled out the fiver and said, "Look, a dollar."

Usually I buy all the gifts and the distribute them for kids to wrap and give to the birthday girl. This year, Ivory already had a present ready for Pearl. She had made her a little bag and filled it with trinkets and treats for Pearl. It was very thoughtful of Ives.

Grandma Dargan sent along several puzzles. Pearl loved them all. And has put them all together multiple times. She is a puzzle fiend.

Robyn wanted to get her a pillow specifically, so we went shopping. She found this funny monster pillow whose mouth can hold items. We put some candy inside for Pearl. She loves that silly monster so much. She named him Cheeseburger and he sleeps with her at night. This is the best picture we had of him.

Pearl had a great birthday, but it happened to fall on Mutual night, so Tyler and June were quickly out the door that evening. So, we planned to go to Kangaroo Zoo the next night. Stay tuned for Pearl's Birthday - Part 2.