Happy Birthday, Sarah!

While she was here on Sunday, Grandma Kohler mentioned that it was going to be hard to top this birthday for Sarah. I think she's right! Sarah had an entire two-day long celebration for her fifth birthday this year. On Saturday, she had her friends come over for a water party. They all had a blast playing in the sprinklers, chasing each other around with squirt guns, fishing out little toy goldfish from the kiddie pool, and blasting each other with water balloons. All that, combined with cake, capri suns, treat bags and a pinata filled with candy... how could they not have fun? Sarah really enjoyed herself. Her favorite gift of the day was Sleeping Beauty's horse. It walks, bows, twirls its tail and makes trotting sounds. It was the only gift that we knew she wanted ahead of time. Her best friend, Katie picked it out for her.

Okay. These two pictures pretty much sum up her Saturday water party:She had so much fun that day, and she couldn't quit smiling for very long. My friend Nicole took these. I'm so glad she was there to capture some really great shots. I was so busy taking care of party things that I didn't take as many pictures as I would have liked. Thanks Nicole!

Here they all are blasting each other with water balloons. As you can see, Jeff got in on the fun with this activity.

And we can't forget the squirt gun fight.

Preparing the pinata.

This is what happens when, after the pinata was broken, I say, "Audrey! Candy!" She came running.

I think she's developed a bit of a sweet tooth... Here she is waiting for her second piece of cake:

Speaking of cake, I couldn't leave out the coolest part of the party. Or should I say "hottest?" Sarah really liked this one. She got to keep the sunglasses for wearing later.


And here's the reason I was up so late so many nights this last week. Didn't they turn out cute? We only broke one of them, so I have three left for either decorating or using later. Although the one we hit with the bat didn't last long. It dented right away, but apparently we needed something a little stronger than yarn to hold it up. The "string" broke and the kids ended up having to beat the beach ball senseless right on the grass! Future reference noted. They still thought it was fun, though. And when Jeff took the broken pinata and made it rain candy from the sky, they all scrambled screaming to pick it all up. Whatever works, right?


Okay, on to the second day of partying:

Grandma and Grandpa Kohler (Grandma Dee Dee and Grandpa Smoky) came over for Sunday dinner and a second round of presents and cake. Now this was fun. After dinner, we had Sarah open up a couple more presents we had for her. A book, puzzle, and Sleeping Beauty's dress with two of her fairy godmothers. Only the dress, you say? Where is Sleeping Beauty, you say? And where is the other fairy godmother, you say? Well, let me show you:


Now didn't that turn out nicely? Sarah was ecstatic to see this one. She knew exactly who it was. Then she saw that it lights up to change the dress color. Heaven. The doll goes with her favorite present of Saturday: Sleeping Beauty's Horse. The doll can actually ride it. Yep. Heaven.

But that wasn't all. As she was eating her cake, a little trail of baby horses mysteriously appeared in the hallway and up the stairs to Sarah's room. When Sarah saw them, I said, "Sarah, they must know something. Maybe you should follow them." So she did. All the way up to her room, where she found this:


Now she has a new favorite birthday present. She wouldn't even come out of her room to watch the movie Grandma Dee Dee had brought with her (Disney's Bedtime Stories) She caught the last fifteen minutes or so when she was tired of playing alone. She played with her new barn for hours that night, and spent a good portion of her time in her room playing with it today. She also spent a good portion of her time giving hugs and kisses, and saying "I love you, Mama." Sometimes varied to say, "I love you too much, Mama." She really likes her new birthday presents. She's definitely a cutie! Happy Birthday, Sarah!!