Sophie's Five!

On September 30th, my Sophie Anne-kins turned five!  As I mentioned in my post about Megan's farewell, Sophie was happy to spend her birthday in the car driving home from Denver if it meant we could go to Jeff and Jami's.  She's such a sweetie!  Jami and the kids made sure that her birthday morning was worthy of her sacrifice.  She got to wear the special birthday crown, and had waffles for breakfast!

Then Jami and the kids pulled together some gifts for Sophie.  Every time one of my children have a birthday, I am always in awe of how much they are loved.  I have to say thanks to my awesome sister and nieces and nephews for making Sophie's actual birthday a special one.

Lily and Bowen raided their collection of stuffed animals, and chose one each from among their favorites.  Sophie named her tiger "Stripes", and the little poodle that Bowen gave her was affectionately named "Cocoa Bear", after Jeff and Jami's poodle.  

Then Jami played the aunt and gave Sophie three lip glosses!  I would never have done that. :)  Sophie loves lip gloss, and usually applies and re-applies in copious amounts during the day.  And it usually ends up on the walls, windows, and furniture somehow.  BUT...that's what aunts are for!  Jami made Sophie a very happy...and very pretty...girl.

And Megan gave Sophie a gift from the heart.  Megan is quite a fan of the Disney princesses.  She kind of went nuts when we went to Fantasyland while we were at Disneyland!  She bought this beautiful Jasmine piggy bank as a souvenir of our trip.  But nothing means more than family, so Megan gave Sophie her Jasmine piggy bank.  I think this may have been her favorite gift!

While there wasn't much we could do to celebrate Sophie's birthday in the car, she did get the privilege of picking the movies the kids watched.  Which was a pretty big deal if you ask Claire and Johnny!  We also let her pick a treat at Little America when we stopped for gas, and she picked a bag of rocks. :)  I love this girl!

For her birthday dinner, Sophie only wanted one thing...a Happy Meal!  Her two tired parents who had been in the car for almost nine hours were happy to oblige. :)

The next day we celebrated Sophie's birthday as a family.  Her day started with her well-child checkup and kindergarten shots.  She is tall and skinny, like always, and was so brave for her shots!  Afterwards, we met Dad for her birthday lunch, and she picked Cafe Rio.  She wanted a quesadilla. :)  She even let Luke come, and she shared her black beans with him.  Then she went next door with her Daddy and picked a birthday treat from The Sweet Tooth Fairy.  She was pretty happy with her outing!

When Danny got home from work, we opened the presents.  We were going to have grandparents and cousins over for cake and presents on Sunday, so this was just us.  It was kind of nice!

The kids got Sophie a new Ariel doll...that actually sang!  She could also be in mermaid form or princess form.  It went perfectly with one of the gifts her Dad and I got her...which was The Little Mermaid on Blu-Ray! 

Another gift we got for our sweet baby girl was a fish bowl!  Just the bowl, though. :)  Sophie was a little confused at first, until we told her that she was going to get to go shopping for her fish.  She was much more excited then!

And the grandest gift of them all was tumbling and dance classes at Bravo Arts Academy!  She was totally excited!

Our Sophie was a happy birthday girl.  Which is just how we like it.  Now, we were planning on cake and ice cream with the rest of the family.  But I have too much of my mother in me to let any sort of birthday celebration pass without a treat!  With a freezer full of delicious peaches, it was peach milkshakes for us!  

Well, Sophie's birthDAY turned into Sophie's birthWEEK!  We celebrated as a family on Tuesday, October 1st.  Just a couple of days later, on the 3rd, we took Sophie shopping for her fish.  She picked out a big, beautiful goldfish and named her "Princess Buttercup".  She also got all she needed to make Princess Buttercup comfortable in her new home.

The fishbowl looked beautiful, and Princess Buttercup was very happy in her new home!  The kids thought it was so cool to have a fish in the family. :)

You'd think that was enough birthday celebration, right?  Wrong!  We still had a family party to have! :)  It was conference weekend, so while Danny and I enjoyed the spiritual feast, the kids worked on Halloween decorations for the window.  I remember doing the exact same thing growing up.  The kids made some pretty awesome pumpkins, bats, and ghosts.

Between Conference sessions, Sophie and I worked on decorating her cake.  Sophie wanted an Ariel birthday this year, so we picked out a cake in the Walmart catalog, bought the toys to decorate the top, and then baked our own cake!  Way less expensive...and way more fun.  And I love the time I got to spend with my very creative birthday girl.

After the second session ended, we ate a quick dinner and got ready for the party.  All our family came, and Sophie was the star of the show!  She got lots of very awesome presents.  Ruby and Lucy gave her a Princess sticker book...which Sophie carried with her everywhere for weeks!

Danny decided to resurrect "Heavy, Heavy Hangover...".  It's something they do in his family where they sing this little song and then pump the birthday person on the head with the gift before they get it.  Barbaric, right? :)  It's actually pretty fun, and believe or not Sophie was totally game.  We did have to remind the cousins that it was only a light bump on the head...not a bashing. :)

From Isabelle, Eli, and Ava...a giant pony with all you needed to style it's beautifully long hair.  Right up Sophie's alley!

Grandma Call and Papa gave Sophie "Belle"...the interactive, talking puppy that would respond as you read her story.  Sophie was in love.  The Grandparents did pretty good with their gifts, like they always do.  Grandma Candy got creative, and instead of bringing a gift to the party, she set up a date to take Sophie shoe shopping!  What a fun gift!

Sophie loves her Great Grandmas.  Great Grandma Call always gives the kids a birthday card, and they are treasures.

With gifts opened, it was time to blow out the candle!  Sophie made a wish, and blew out her candle.  I can only imagine what she wished for! :)

And with that, Sophie's birthday celebrations came to a close.  What a special girl my Sophie is.  I marvel at her happiness, her enthusiasm, and her unmitigated joy for life.  She is a gift to us, and we cherish her.  We love you, Sophie Annie Anne-kins!  Happy Birthday!