Bethany is FIVE!

Bethany has been counting down to her birthday since we hung her new calendar on January 1, and she had big plans for her special day! She requested that we surprise her in the morning by jumping out and yelling 'Surprise! Happy Birthday!', and was kind enough to yell from the top of the stairs that she was awake before heading down to the kitchen. She was thrilled when we jumped out from behind the pantry doors, and acted so surprised-silly girl!

While Bo was taking his morning nap, we made the birthday cake. Bethany picked out a funfetti cake with pink icing, because they are so fancy. A fancy girl definitely needs a fancy cake!
Brooke helped us add the ingredients, and was disappointed that box cake mixes don't have as many ingredients as homemade cakes. All we needed was water, oil and eggs-not nearly as exciting as the birthday cake we made for Bo last week!

Once the cake was cooled, we added the icing and decorations. Bethany found some Little Mermaid sugar candies at the store, and decided they needed to go on her cake. It was getting fancier by the minute!
Rob had to work, but decided to come home around 1:00 so we could open presents and get started on the other activities. Bethany was standing at the door waiting for him, and requested a picture under the birthday wreath. Rob went upstairs to change out of his uniform, and Brooke passed out presents to Bethany.
Finally time to open her gifts! Bethany loved the blue velour bag that was holding one of her gifts, so that was the first one she opened.
While she was busy, Bo decided to take off with one of her gifts. He wasn't too interested in his presents last week, but was totally into them today! The ribbon on this gift box was perfect for his little fingers, and he drug it all over the living room.
Bethany had fun opening her gifts, and got lots of fun stuff to play with!






She also got some cute new clothes!

Next was time for cake. "Happy Birthday, to you!".

Make a wish!
We were in Target last week, and Bethany saw Paul Frank party decorations...her Aunt Ashley would be proud! So we had a Little Mermaid cake, with monkey plates and napkins-she thought it was fabulous!
Brooke made a huge mess of her piece, getting icing all in her hair.
She ate every last crumb.Bo was excited to eat cake again-this is his face in between bites.And this was his face when he realized his piece was finished. He wanted seconds!
Next on our list of activities was Build-a-Bear. The girls each picked out an animal to have stuffed, Bethany chose a bear and Brooke chose a puppy.
Rubbing the hearts to warm them up before putting them inside the animals.
All stuffed and ready to be fluffed.
Grooming station, making sure they were well fluffed before picking out clothes.
Bethany searched the store for a fancy outfit, and settled on a teal dress with matching high-heel shoes. Brooke picked out a winter sweater and ice skates for her puppy.
She loves her new bear! Our next stop was Chuck E. Cheese for dinner, as requested by the Birthday Girl.
We ordered a large pizza, and had two pieces left over-not the best food we've ever eaten. The girls (and Rob) were ready to play games, and it took us 2 hours to use all of our tokens.


There was a photo booth that printed off little i.d. cards...Bethany loved them.

She loved them so much, that she made several!
Brooke and Rob spent a good portion of the evening playing this shooting game.
And then they hit the jackpot on the balloon game!
The girls raced on snow mobiles, and then we were (finally!) out of tokens.
They traded their tickets for prizes, and we were ready to go home!
It was about 8:00 when we got home, so the girls watched a few minutes of Winter Wipe-Out before heading to bed. Their normal bedtime is 7:30, so this was a special treat to be up late enough to watch one of their favorite shows!

Bethany said this was her favorite birthday ever, and she can't believe she is finally five years old! She is already asking for a backpack and lunchbox for kindergarten...guess we are starting a new countdown on the calendar!