Happy Birthday Apple!

We celebrated Apple's 5th yesterday.  Wahoo!  When she woke up, I asked her if she felt any different and she said, "Yes, my leg is bigger.  Just this leg.  And I think my feet are bigger, and definitely my toes look a lot bigger.  But that's all."  She was positive she hadn't grown since we last measured her in August, but she'd already put on another inch.  That probably explains why she's been falling down so much lately.  She's been very excited for this birthday to happen.  Most of her friends had already turned five, especially at school.  It's funny how much that matters in Kindergarten.  It was the same with Strawberry.  There were kids who wouldn't play with her until she turned 5.  Silly.

We had a birthday party for her the Saturday before.  It was wild.  It was, of course, the first rainy day after weeks and weeks of sunshine, so we just stayed inside.  I think it ended up being 14 kids, including Strawberry and Apple.  That's a lot of chaos to contain indoors, especially with the birthday party crazies.  But they had a blast.  Apple had wanted a Princess/Ladybug birthday party (that was a little easier to work out than the Ladybug/Star Wars birthday party that Strawberry requested last year). We played Pin the Crown on the Princess and animal charades.  I really love our girls' friends.  They're so fun.

 Apple got lots of awesome toys.  She and her sisters have been fully occupied trying to play with them all at the same time.  :)  She said that her favorite toy was the Jessie doll (from Toy Story) that Strawberry got for her.  She said that was what she wished for when she blew out her candles.  :)

The cake was my first experience with fondant.  I made the cake as simple as I possible could--just a white two layer with ribbon around it, but it was still hard!  I need more practice.  My friend Jeana had a fabulous recipe and gave me step-by-step instructions and I don't think it turned out too bad.  The top was a little lopsided.  I honestly don't know why I get it into my head that I have to try things like this instead of just buying a cake, but it was fun.  And Apple loved it.  And it was super delicioso.  Thank you Jeana!

On Apple's actual birthday, we went to Smokey's BBQ where Tuesday is Family Night.  They have a couple there who do free face-painting and balloon-tying.  They were amazing.  The girls both asked for butterfly masks and then dolphins.  He made these adorable little balloon hats.  While we were there, he also made this lion for a little boy that blew me away.  And the facepaint artist also had some amazing skills.  I'm really glad it worked out that we could do that on her birthday.

We came home and blew out candles again.  One bonus of a two-layer cake:  reusing the top layer on the actual birthday.  :)  She loved her new presents, but it was the best when she opened the last one.  She tore it from the bottom and saw the American Girl logo and totally flipped out.  It was so cute.  She adores Strawberry's American Girl doll and has been wishing for one of her own.  But, she's still not quite old enough so we got her the Bitty Twins instead.  It wasn't quite what she hoped, but she still though they were pretty awesome.  Last night she slept with the twins, Jessie and Rapunzel in her bed.  The problem with birthday parties, though, is they end up with too many new toys.  Especially since we are so close to Christmas.  Oh well.  She's not complaining any. 

Happy birthday beautiful girl!  I can't believe how big my baby is.