Stop Growing Elizabeth!

Where did the last six years go? I can hardly recall the last six weeks, so it's no surprise to me that it seems like Elizabeth just turned five yesterday!

Nathan and I were scouting for bikes for Elizabeth for quite some time. We sadly took advantage of the poor Walmart employees and purchased Elizabeth's bike at about 60% off on Thanksgiving night. Nate dropped me off and in order to avoid Elizabeth seeing her gift, I reluctantly walked the bike home. 

Nate brought it in this morning and Elizabeth was thrilled!!

 Because of finals week and the holidays, I wasn't able to commit as much as I would have liked to to Elizabeth's sixth Birthday party. After it was all said and done, I don't think that it mattered. The kids had a blast and Elizabeth enjoyed her Birthday!!!

 Originally, Elizabeth wanted to have a bowling party (just like at age 4), but because of the holidays and Friday night league bowling, we were unable to book a lane. Elizabeth decided she would like to have a Christmas themed Birthday party instead. 

 I made ginger bread (yes, the cop-out version) the night before.

 I was very excited about these little Pinterest strawberry/whipped cream Santas...

...Pinterest failed to tell me that the Santas would melt within a matter of minutes!

We had a ginger bread house spread!

 And what would I have done without Ally?

 Ally came up with some amazing, all-from-scratch, Christmas cupcakes for the party. They were amazing! She even made Elizabeth her own personal mini Birthday cake.

 Peppermint/Chocolate cupcakes!

 Gingerbread cupcakes with eggnog frosting...need I say more??

 THANK YOU ALLY AND SCOTT!

 She even threw in some homemade...YES, homemade, star shaped marshmallows. 

 The ginger bread houses were a hit!!!

 Cora is concentrating!

 Darby got very creative and made a whole Christmas scenery complete with landscaping!

 Abby simply staring taking bites off of the house she made! Why not!!!

 The kids had a great time making the ginger bread houses! Afterwards, we let the kids bounce off of the walls (quite literally) for a few minutes before it was...

PRESENT TIME!!!

Brave was a hit this year!

 Elizabeth so graciously let all of her friends help her unwrap her gifts.

 A caboodle ..including make-up. Thanks Dana! Elizabeth has been curious about make-up for quite some time now and I think this will be a real hit! (NEW RULE: no make-up is to be worn outside of the house.)

 We all sang Happy Birthday. It was later brought to my attention that I only put four candles on the cake. As I mentioned before, it had been a VERY long week for Mom!

 Elizabeth was spoiled, as usual this year. (Please note Jude in the background--he's just too cool!)

I LOVE this photo because it sums up how everybody felt (kids and parents) when it was all said and done. 

Thanks to all who attended. Elizabeth had an amazing day with friends and family and we are so blessed to have so many loved ones to share the celebration with! I can't believe how quickly the years have gone by. All we can do it try to hold on to each and every moment!