Missy Banana

I find it surreal that my youngest child is now officially 5 years old. I still truly think of myself as a young mother. I've had so many years of carting around toddlers , that it's strange to believe that stage of my life is behind me now. But it's true. Anna officially became a "big girl" on Wednesday. She had a magical day, and said to me as we were getting ready for bed that night, "Birthdays are fun because you just are happy and no one is mean."

In the morning we made chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast. Then she went to play at a friend's house while I did the birthday shopping. (Procastinate? Who me?) Then I picked her up and took her out to lunch at the Burger King with the big playground. We came home and made cupcakes. She had performed her ballet recital the night before as a "worry bird" and wanted a worry bird cake. This is what I came up with:

And this is the actual costume:

The resemblance is uncanny isn't it?

We went out for "cheese pizza" with the boys, and met up with Daddy at the pool. She really wanted to go to our neighborhood pool, but it was raining, so we went to an indoor one instead. Frankly, I think we made a good trade...this pool was way more fun, with slides and sprayers and the works.

We came home and ate cupcakes and ice cream, opened presents, and Anna as a "surprise" put her worry bird costume on again. She's been wearing it pretty much non-stop for the past 72 hours. I thought this was cute at first until I started picking up feathers and glitter. Apparently it's molting season. I would estimate I've picked up 7,239 feather in the past two days...on the conservative side.

And though I feel a little melancholy about losing my baby to school in the fall, I really am looking forward to this new stage. She is such a joy at home with me. She is so affectionate and interested, but she is ready to go to school now. She is getting old enough to stick with me on the side of estrogen. It's nice to know she's getting old enough to "get my back."

Happy birthday, girlfriend!