Happy fifth birthday, Iris!

Iris' birthday celebrations started on Wednesday, when she had a few friends over to play. That morning, she woke up, all smiles, and asked me, "Do you know why I'm so excited?" "Is it because your friends are coming over to play?" She smiled real big and slyly answered, "Not thaaaat." "Is it that your birthday is in two days?" "Noooo." "Is it that Mrs. Haun is coming to our house?" "Yeeeesssss!" Mrs. Haun was Iris' Jr. Saints teacher this past year. And Iris was beside herself that she was actually coming to our house (along with her four young daughters and a couple of other families). They had a swell time, flitting about the yard, playing with the kitties and on the swingset.

Today's festivities began shortly after 6, when the birthday girl came in my room, all smiles, ready to start her day. Around here, birthdays consist of sweets for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and a lot of doing whatever the birthday girl or boy wants, and today was no exception. She selected Marshmallow Mateys (knock-off Lucky Charms) for breakfast, after which, she opened a gift from Mom and Dad (a baby carrier she'd asked for a long time ago that Mom got a long time ago off of Craigslist, although last week, she gave her favorite, only, and armless baby doll to her little sister), and a gift from the Wards (a Baby Elsa doll, which truly saved Mom and Dad's gift!). I made her requested chocolate cupcakes (after Mike made a quick trip to the store for eggs), took Athena to the vet (she's had a limp for the past couple of days but was also overdue for vaccines and such), and after I returned home, I loaded the kids up to make our Friday meal deliveries. We had half the number today and only short visits, and I had told the kids we'd get Culver's for lunch. And custard. We picked our food up at the drive-thru and took it down the road to the "roly-slide park," where the kids had a little time to play before it started to rain.

In the afternoon, the babies napped and the big kids played. Though, obviously, she was having a lot of fun, as Iris also fell asleep on the couch for some of quiet time. After quiet time, we Skyped with Elizabeth, and Iris got to open another gift from her- a Sleeping Beauty Lego set! Mid-Skype (or mid-internet issues), Grandma and Grandpa showed up, and then it was show-them-everything-new-since-we-last-saw-them-three-weeks-ago time.

We had our usual pizza night Friday, followed by chocolate cupcakes with ballerinas on top (bought two years ago for A's birthday that were never used), and movie night (Iris' choice: Thumbelina). All in all, I'd say she had a very special day full of fun and love.



some phone pics from the past couple of weeks-- Happy fifth birthday to our Snuggle Russie, big sister extraordinaire, little sister extraordinaire, always eager-to-please, super-imaginitive, contagiously happy, sweet-as-can-be Iris! What a blessing you have been to us over these past five years!!!