Happy Birthday Callie!

Callie turned 5 this year.  FIVE.  FIVE?  Yes, FIVE.  It's so strange to me.  How does time go that quickly?  Last year we hung balloons on the ceiling so she woke up to a balloon jungle and, in the kitchen, I had 4 balloons with messages inside -- each balloon had a reason we love her.  I'm no genius.  This was all totally Pinterest-inspired.  But this year, the day before her birthday, Callie said to me, "Remember last year all the balloons?  And you had balloons that said why you loved me?"  Oh my goodness.  I was very surprised that she remembered that.  That's when Marcus turned to me and said, "You know, you've officially started a tradition."  And, I was happy with that.  She was so excited.  So, we did it again this year.  Balloons in her room.

Five balloons...filled with reasons we love her.  I'm truly surprised how much she looked forward to this part.   In fact, she was more excited about finding out the messages inside than she was for her presents.  Well, maybe that's not fully true...but she wanted to read the messages before opening her presents.  We didn't though.  I wanted to end the day on oodles of love -- not just fun presents.

I love this picture of Callie and her friend, Lily.  They are best buds.  We sometimes refer to them as ebony and ivory.  Seriously, Lily is so fair, and in summer, Callie gets so dark.  And before Lily moved, I loved seeing them walk hand in hand to Primary.  They are the cutest little girls.

This year, we told Callie she could invite a friend to do something special.  I gave her a few options and Callie decided on this jump-house/inflatable-fun-jump-around-place.  The girls had a lot of fun.  After, we got some frozen yogurt.

When Marcus and I were at BYU, we actually were in the same ward as Mary and Kevin.  Mary was the Relief Society President and I was her visiting teaching coordinator.  Who would have thought that years later, we'd be in the same ward in California, and our kids would be best of friends?  They have moved, but they are still relatively close so Callie and Lily still go to preschool together and have fun play dates.  It's so much fun.  

That night, we had a family dinner.  Callie chose the meal.  On the menu: chicken nuggets, french fries, carrots, apples, and noodles.  mmmm

Oh this picture makes me laugh.  She was eager to blow out the candles and was warming up, I suppose, as she directs me.  hahaha  Ah, I love this one.

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa in Michigan.  She looooooves her rain boots!

That's my birthday girl.  What a sweetheart.

Lindsey and Steve (Bud) were driving through San Jose coming up from Los Angeles, so they called to see if we were home.  It was kind of perfect that they could be there for Callie's birthday.  She was also excited to have Megan there.  Fun time.

The next Monday, they celebrated Callie's birthday in school.  They each wrote her a birthday card.  It was really sweet to see her reaction as I read every card to her.

I just love my little girl.  Here's to being five!