Celebrating Our 5-Year-Old

Jade’s 5th birthday started out with Ridge and me visiting her class for a little celebration at school.  She got to wear a birthday crown all day.  Then during circle time, Jade put the day of the month on the calendar and her teacher presented her special birthday poster to the class. 

 

 

After that, the class sang their special birthday song, “The Earth Goes ‘Round the Sun.”  Jade of course chose her favorite school friend, Luvella, to be the sun. 

Meanwhile, Ridge kept himself (and Mom) busy—and the rest of the children entertained—by making a mess of exploring all the class activities.

 

Then it was cupcake time!  Jade chose vanilla cupcakes with chocolate frosting, as well as the most girly cupcake wrappers she could spot.

Ridge loved sitting at the table with the big kids; he actually sat still for awhile.  Jade loved having him there to share in her birthday fun at school! 

Jade passed out the plates and forks to her classmates. 

 

 

Before the kids could have their cupcakes, we continued to test their patience by first taking more pictures, then singing to the birthday girl! 

 

 

Finally, Jade got to pass out the cupcakes… 

 

Aaaand time to eat and enjoy! 

 

At home we had Jade’s choice for dinner:  pepperoni pizza.  She was so anxious to open presents, she requested they come before cake and ice cream. 

Ridge had fun helping. 

 

Jade was delighted with the dress up Cody had picked out for her while he was in the States.  Oh how we are excited for regular Target and even Wal-Mart shopping! 

I decided cupcakes for class, with a few leftover for the family, is the perfect way to go.  Then we don’t have an overabundant amount of cake leftover for us to eat!   

Here’s a little birthday interview I conducted with the newly turned 5-year-old. 

In the weeks leading up to Jade’s birthday, I kept going back and forth about whether to throw her a party.  Jade’s been talking about her 5-year-old party ever since her last one.  It is a lot of work though!  We knew Cody’s job offer might be coming through and then a major move would be imminent.  I calculated out the cost and talked to Cody about the planning time a party entails, and we both concluded a trip to Disneyland would be a much better option.  At this point, I can’t even imagine having to throw a party.  We made a wise decision.  I’ve been stressed enough as it is! 

All ready for the big day at Disneyland!

 

On the Disney train.

 

Our last time at Hong Kong Disneyland (at least for awhile…).

We started our day in Toy Story Land until…

 

 

…we met up with some of Jade’s BFFs! 

 

To make the day more special, we invited a couple of our good family friends to join us for the day.  The Hawkins and the Julians both have girls Jade’s age and our seconds are all boys, ages 3, 2, and 1 1/2!  We were so thrilled they could make it.  It made the day that much more fun!

 

The kids planning out where to go next.

Our crowd of kids waiting in line.

 

Ridge sure loved hanging out with the big boys. 

 

More fun pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

The girls really, really wanted to go by themselves on the rides.  Whenever the ride allowed it, so did we.  It was the cutest. 

 

As soon as the day started, Nora was asking to go on Space Mountain.  Somehow she convinced Jade to try it as well.  The dads took the girls for a ride while the two pregnant moms and Cassie with her newborn stayed with the boys.  Apparently Jade had her head down the whole time as she got whipped around for a couple minutes.  It was loud, so Cody couldn’t tell but he thought for sure Jade would be crying when they got off.  She wasn’t.  All she said was (very sternly), “I did NOT like that.”

Actually, while all that was going on, I was in the mother’s lounge puking up my lunch.  I’ve felt really good this pregnancy; a little unsettled stomach, food aversion, and fatigue, but nothing major.  I think the week leading up to Disneyland did me in.  We had been up late pretty much every night doing move stuff.  That coupled with an upset stomach to start with, a late lunch, and rides, it put me over the edge.  Once I took care of business, I was feeling much better and made it just in time to meet up with everyone for the parade. 

 

After the parade, we bought everyone a special treat for the birthday girl’s day.  It really was so fun to have our good friends there to celebrate with us. 

 

I really couldn’t get enough of these three girls palling around together.  They are too cute.  Of course, it made the upcoming move a little harder, knowing we’ll be leaving such good friends. 

 

I still wasn’t feeling top notch, so we ended our fun day a little earlier than usual with a ride on It’s A Small World. 

My favorite part of the ride is this little Hong Kong skyline display.  We’re going to miss you, Hong Kong!!