Half a Decade = HUGE Celebration

Today we celebrated five crazy and wonderful years of G. G had requested a pink puppy dog theme for her birthday. While I am not particularly artistic (i.e., I can barely draw a stick figure) I tried my best to create a few pink puppies for her special day. When she awoke this morning, here's what greeted her in our living room:

The pink puppies were climbing the walls last night! (Kind of like Elf on the Shelf, but far less creepy.)

And the puppies brought presents!

She was allowed to open her presents before preschool and was absolutely thrilled with her mostly practical, but still exciting gifts.

This beautiful dinosaur book actually arrived yesterday from Nana and Grandpa and it was a hit!

A keyboard from a kids' consignment sale?! Thank you Mama and Daddy! (She also received glue sticks, crayons,  a backpack and lunch box, clothes, stickers, a scarf...wow, we really overdid it this year.)

Then it was time to head to preschool. She was kind enough to pose with her Daddy in one of the new dresses that Nana and Grandpa sent for her birthday.

While G was in school, I worked for a bit while Randy and the boys stayed busy playing some sort of violent wrestling games.

They obviously loved it.

We all went to pick up G from school (usually it's just one of us since the other is working or sleeping). She was beaming from ear to ear because not only was it her birthday, but she was also the special helper at school and got to spend most of the morning talking about herself, which is probably her favorite hobby.

We took the crew to the "Fry House" as a surprise lunch and allowed G to get an actual kid's meal that came with a toy and everything. S chose his usual pancakes and even shared some with C.

When we arrived home, we got out her pink puppy dog cupcakes and sang "Happy Birthday!" loudly and off-key as only the Adkins family can.

Thanks Ms. Merleen for the frosting recipe!

The baby napped and I worked some more while the kids chilled and watched PBS for a little while. Then we all headed to Fun Unleashed* (basically Chuck E. Cheese, but not a chain). We'd never been there before, but the kids had a blast! Fun Unleashed doesn't charge for grown-ups to enter, and they're allowed in the massive play area. In other words, I spent a ton of time chasing the kids around and I am going to be so sore tomorrow.

In her words, she's having the "best birthday ever!"

Yup, he's sweating and bright red. We ALL got a work out.

We traded off baby duty which wasn't easy because C thought he was big enough to play and was kind of ticked that we wouldn't let him on the equipment.

This slide is fun even if you're a grown-up.

"Daddy! That is a really big slide!"

Taking a break on the carousel. G used some birthday money to ride this and to play some games too - thanks Aunt Cindy!

Three guesses how old she is today

Something he was allowed to do. And don't blame us for his boring afternoon. They had a toddler play area which he refused to even acknowledge because it was, after all, for babies.

"See? I am too big enough!"

Shooting hoops! Surprisingly, they both made several baskets.

We pried the kids away when it got close to dinner time and came home to feed the troops.

Pepperoni pizza and watermelon = perfect 5th birthday dinner

In the middle of a bed time story, S crawled out of my lap and over to his spot on the bed and closed his eyes. Baby C went down to bed without so much as a peep. Randy fell asleep on the sofa. Only G remained awake, spinning in circles in our living room chattering on and on trying to keep her special day from ending. I know we went all out for her this year, but to paraphrase a line from a favorite movie "It's not every day a young lady turns five, now is it?" What a special day. What a special girl.

*Disclaimer: I have not been compensated to write about any companies or products. I am just a mom, talking about what we did for my kid's birthday.
**Disclaimer v. 2.0: Forgive any typos or grammar issues this evening. I. am. beat.