Birthday Week

Five years ago, a sweet little girl came into our lives and nothing has ever been the same for the Molloy family! We celebrated our little darling turning five with multiple celebrations - each one involving cake, presents, people we love, and a whole lotta fun.

Elise obviously really wanted to have a birthday party with her friends, but it seemed completely overwhelming to me to plan and throw a birthday party in the middle of a move in a month already jam-packed with other birthday parties, holidays and school festivities. Where could we even have it (our new house and our old house were not options) without spending a small fortune and when could we possibly pull this off? Time was ticking and I, of course, had failed to make a decision, so we finally settled on a date and spending a small fortune having it at a fancy location. When I mentioned the intended date to Elise's friend Ana's mom, she told me that it was the same day she planned to have Ana's party and suggested that we combine them since it would be pretty much the same kids invited anyway. This ended up being the best possible solution. It is lucky for me (and yet sort of strange) that all of Elise's best buddies are also June Bugs!

We had a joint celebration for Elise and Ana at Ana's house - a backyard BBQ with a little pool and swing-set that kept the kids fully entertained! The kids had a blast running around the yard and playing in the water, while the adults enjoyed hanging out on a wonderful afternoon. Almost all of Elise and Ana's friends from school were there - with the sad exception of Audrey, who was out of town and Sara Jane, who was having her own birthday party that day too (too many June babies!) but everyone that was there had a fabulous time.

When it was time to sing, we decided to sing Happy Birthday to each girl separately so they each got their turn in the spotlight. We sung to Ana first, since her birthday was first, and things went very smoothly until Ana blew out the candles. Elise burst into tears and I had to reassure her that we'd light them again for her! She had a little trouble getting it together for her birthday song - she was so traumatized by the candle incident - but it all ended up fine. She was thrilled to have an afternoon to celebrate and play with her friends from school and to celebrate with her good buddy Ana.

On her actual birthday, which fell on a Thursday, I told Elise that she could pick the dinner menu for her birthday celebration. She chose pizza, pretzels and peppers so we all had quite a yummy and eclectic feast as a family. Gram and Grandpa then joined us for cake and presents. She was thrilled to receive not one but TWO awesome new dolls - toddler Cinderella and a Fancy Nancy doll - which she has been playing with non-stop!

This weekend we celebrated yet again, this time in Delaware with Oma, Opa, Uncle Wolfe, Aunt Kate and cousin Eamon. More yummy cake and awesome presents - the girl certainly never seems to tire of being the center of attention and eating tons of sweets! Elise and Lucas had a great time hanging out with their cousin Eamon (although it made us wish we could get them all together more!) and also enjoying the 4th of July festivities in Delaware in addition to the birthday hoopla.

We had a wonderful week celebrating our little girl. She has really grown a lot over the last few months, which is so exciting to see but of course a little sad too! She is so excited about this next phase of her life - kindergarten in the fall, new friends and new adventures.

I have a feeling that five is going to be an awesome age for our sweet Elise.