f.i.v.e.

Guess who just turned 5?

I'll give you 5 hints....

01. She dresses herself from head to toe every morning! Mom is no longer needed in that department. Kinda sad, but true. Although, I do step in when too many fashion rules are being broken. I love how she rocks her accessories! From her belts to her shoes to her jewelry...she always looks adorable.

02. Her favorite food is pizza, gluten free pizza, of course! She 's addicted to water but for a treat she asks for "Diet Coke" aka Root Beer. She sometimes wants me to put lemon wedges in her root beer because she never sees my DC without a lemon. Could I be rubbing off on her? Oh man, I hope not.

03. Her favorite thing to do in her spare time is "Dance Class". She and Izy get all dressed up in their dance attire, turn on the radio, and shake their booties in the living room. It is my favorite thing to watch because she takes it very seriously!!

04. She says "peckeroni" instead of "pepperoni".

05. Her mom and dad thank their lucky stars every day for her, her little sister thinks she walks on water and her baby brother's eyes light up whenever he sees her.

Give up?

My "miracle baby" turned 5 and I just can't believe it!

I have gone back and forth about letting my kids have big birthday parties every year or doing the "every other year" thing. 

What do you do?

I think birthday's are super special so part of me thinks they should get to celebrate BIG every birthday. But then part of me thinks that kids don't need to get spoiled year after year. 

So I decided I would try to implement the "every other year" concept for her 5th birthday. Avery had a fabulous party last year so this year it would be pretty low key. I told Avery that she could invite ONE friend to lunch and a movie with her family. 

The friend she chose was a darling little boy in her preschool class. How cute is that? For future references though, I made a motherly decision that she could invite another girl so it wasn't a date! I know they are 5 and totally innocent but can you picture us 10 years from now when she wants to go on a date before she is 16? 

"But Mom, you let me go on a date when I was 5 so what's difference?"

Just making sure all my bases are covered, ya know?

So she invited another little girl from her class but said that she wanted to invite ANOTHER girl from her class because "they are friends and she didn't want that friend to feel left out". That melted my heart that Avery was so concerned about her friend's feelings so naturally I said yes. 

The "off year" party concept changed overnight. 

 And I'm so glad it did because we had so much fun celebrating her birthday with her sweet little friends.

Luckily for my kids, the idea of having a party every year is back on.

I love how excited they get with their friends around them on their big day. 

You can just see how special they feel.    

For the party we dined at In and Out and then went and saw Tangled.

That is by far my favorite Disney movie!!

Happy Birthday Avers.......We absolutely positively love you to pieces.