five years old

Here's Shboogoo in September, two months before the birthday. She had decided in June that she wanted a unicorn cake we had looked at online, and she thought I should start making it then so it would be ready in time. She kept asking me to point to her birthday on the calendar, and excitedly saying things like, "I can't wait until my birthday!" and "Can you believe I'm going to be five?"

 

And in November, before her birthday:

(The day of the Primary program at church -- this is her second year in Primary)

Some of the things she enjoys at this age:

• drawing
• singing and making up little songs; she has a beautiful singing voice
• pretending, almost always with her sister, and this often involves dancing or singing on an imaginary stage, or her being her sister's mother, or they are characters from TV shows
• books
• copying down words that she sees, and she can read some
• saying the prayer at pretty much every meal
• taking pictures with our camera
• Curious George -- currently almost the only show she wants to watch
• the color pink (her favorites used to be purple and blue and white and green and pink)

I had to get a picture of Shboogoo on her birthday close to the minute she was born. The shirt was one of our gifts to her, and she absolutely loves it.

She had fun playing with Play-Doh that morning.

Here are the pictures from her unicorn birthday party. By the way, I ended up procrastinating the cake idea, so instead I made cupcakes with unicorn toppers. We ate lunch; played Musical Chairs, Unicorn Unicorn Horse (just like Duck Duck Goose -- my friend's idea) and Pin the Horn on the Unicorn; and the birthday girl opened presents. By the way, the big soft pink unicorn I found at a grocery store is better than a Pillow Pet and cost half as much!

One friend who came and played is not pictured. I wrote "noon to 2" on the invitation and her parents, who only speak Spanish, thought the party began at 2. When her mom brought her over everyone else had already left. :( We missed the girls from our previous two neighborhoods; they were not able to come.

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These are the pictures of her family birthday celebrations:

 

 

 

Thankgivings and 50th anniversary dinner

We had a bunch of fun gatherings on five consecutive days including Thanksgiving Day. There were four separate Thanksgiving dinners, our daughter's birthday party (there will be another blog post for that), AND my mother-in-law's foster parents' 50th wedding anniversary dinner. We have many many people in our lives that we are grateful for.

Thanksgiving #1 was with my mother-in-law's roommate's family. My husband and the girls went to it while I was at Hypnobabies class (my husband came to the first half-hour of class). We have no photos of it, but he said there were about 60 people, and our children had a blast playing with all of the other children and the toys set up in the basement.

Thanksgiving #2, my mom's house -- So nice and relaxing with just Mom, my brother, and my little family. I made the same side dish for this and Thanksgiving #3 -- Spiced Sweet Potatoes with Apple and Kale -- and I am in love with it. The food my mom made tasted really good, too, of course.

The spiced sweet potatoes bake while all the other ingredients cook, and then you combine everything in a bowl. It's amazing how much the kale shrinks down. First it overfilled the pan, then it was small like in the top right photo.

 

 

Thanksgiving #3, my dad's house -- Dad, step-mom, 6 siblings including me, three spouses (the husbands of the pregnant mamas), five kids, two friends, and three dogs. It was the first Thanksgiving since my step-mom's mom passed away.

Everyone but the friends Megan and Tyler.

 

 

Yummy pumpkin soup!

 

My step-sister (same age as me) is expecting her first baby the end of April, my sister's second is due the beginning of April, and my third is due Jan. 2nd! We're going to take another picture together on Christmas if I'm still pregnant.

 

50th wedding anniversary dinner:

L was very mellow because she had just woken up from a short nap.

It was neat to watch my mother-in-law, especially during the slideshow of the couple's life together. They are wonderful examples of living the gospel.

 

Thanksgiving #4, my father-in-law's house -- We didn't get a group shot, but everyone was there including "Uncle" Jack and my brother-in-law's new girlfriend. The one missing person was my other brother-in-law, who had to work.  I think my husband took this first picture.

 

 

 

this autumn

Autumn, coming-to-a-close autumn, is probably my favorite season. Enjoy some photos of the great outdoors!

The beginning of the season: Our family photo shoot.

October 4: A walk -- just us girls.

Oct 15: Family walk/hike in a canyon -- we had hoped to see more vibrant fall colors, but it was fun anyway.

November 5: Our kids loved just walking -- and hugging -- in the snow.

And here are beautiful leaves I was able to capture mid-November. I hope you enjoyed autumn, too!