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: