Our Little Sunshine is 5!

Charlotte is our little sunshine.  Not only is her hair the color of sunbeams, but her personality is sunshine personified.  She was SO excited to turn 5 this year because she can't wait to start Kindergarten in the Fall.

We surprised her on the morning of her birthday with a Barbie Dream House.  She was so excited as she is very interested in Barbies right now.  

Told you she was sunshine.  Look at that halo.

 (Mom may have remembered at midnight the night before her birthday that that thing needed to be assembled and spent until 2 a.m. putting the @#$! together.)

She initially wanted a castle cake and we went shopping for all of the supplies.  She picked out some pink sparkly frosting and when she got it off the shelf noticed that it had a cake idea on the can for this cake.  The tiara sold her and she changed her mind.

Which was just fine by me as this was 1,000,000x easier to create.

We decided to add a little raspberry filling to her cake to try and fancy it up a bit.

For her family activity, Charlotte chose to go to a family fun center near our home.  We got to eat pizza, ride on some quarter rides, play in the playground, and spend some money in the arcade.

Everyone had a great time.

Then it was time to head home for a rousing game of Heavy Heavy Hangover (which coincidentally, was what I felt like I had after staying up until 2 a.m. and working hard all day to make sure Charlotte's day was perfect.)

Charlotte got some very thoughtful presents from her brother's and sisters including a Ken doll (which she didn't have), some clothes for the Ken doll, some bubbles, sidewalk chalk, puzzles, and a magic mermaid.  It was a great day.

Later in the week, Char's cousin Alyza was able to come visit.  Alyza has a birthday four days before Charlotte and they are the same age.  Whitlee has a birthday seven days after Charlotte and we thought it would be fun to have a family bar-b-que with Grandma, Grandpa, and all the aunts, uncles, and cousins.  We made some cupcakes for all the girls to share.

These are cute little friends and I can't wait to see these girls enter school this year and watch them learn and grow together.

Ten Things You Should Know About Charlotte:

1.  She LOVES to dance.  Her greatest ambition is to take dance lessons.  Every time we watch a movie, we have to watch all the credits so that Charlotte can dance.

2.  She wears dresses and skirts every day.  Even her pajamas have to be night gowns.  She loves to dress up and is often seen with a crown, earrings (clip on), scarves, gloves, high heels, and purses.

3.  She is taking gymnastics and is doing very well.  She loves to teach every thing she learns to her brothers and sisters.

4.  Her favorite food is chicken nuggets from McDonald's.  She can take down a 10-piece nugget meal by herself and could probably do more, but I stop her, because she has overloaded on chicken before and puked it all over my bed.

5.  She really likes Barbies and has watched every Barbie movie the library has, which is a lot.  Unfortunately, her sister does not like Barbies, so she has to recruit Bronson to play them with her.

6.  She does preschool at home with mom and is doing amazing.  She can read simple words and can count to 20 and beyond.  She is very smart and very quick to learn.  I hope she won't be bored in Kindergarten because she already knows most of what she will learn in Kindergarten next year.

7.  She is still a Daddy's girl and prefers her dad to tuck her into bed.  If she has a problem in the middle of the night she is one of the few kids who goes to Daddy first.

8.  She loves to sing and is constantly making up songs and singing Disney Princess songs everywhere she goes.  She also loves to quote lines from her favorite movies..

9.  She is a very friendly girl.  I challenged the kids at the beginning of the school year to make as many new friends as possible.  Each time they make a new friend, they can come home from school and tell me their new friend's name and some things they have learned about them.  Charlotte has taken that challenge to heart and everywhere we go from McDonald's to basketball games, she is making friends.  She loves to have friends over to our house to play.  Her best friends are Yellow Emma and Brown Emma (both are named Emma and she distinguishes them by their hair color).

10.  Charlotte is a very loving girl.  She loves her brothers and sisters and tries very hard to keep up with the big kids.  She loves sleeping over with them in their rooms.  She is also best buddies with her little brother Bronson and they love to play Octonauts together.  They go on adventures and picnics outside.  They ride bikes and draw chalk on the sidewalk.  She also adores Whitlee and loves to make her laugh.  She sings her songs and brings her toys.  She still snuggles in with Mom and Dad in bed and when we are watching movies.  She is our sunshine and our Charlie Bear.

We love you Charlotte!  Happy Birthday!