In Which Allie Turns Five

Yesterday was Allie's birthday. One she has been looking forward to for about 11 months now. But before I would allow her the joy of turning five, I insisted that she get her hair cut. You may recall some of the struggles this child and I have had over the years with her hair. She can go to bed with it clean and brushed and manage to wake up with it matted and tangled. I'm not sure how she does it, but it's really amazing. Oh, and she hated me taking pictures of it looking this way, even when it was for my blog.

Tuesday, on the way home from preschool, I pulled into the parking lot of Craig's 7$ Cuts and told her that it was her lucky day. She wasn't going to have to deal with her crazy mom snapping pics of her first thing in the morning any longer, because she was no longer going to look like a Mop Top. She wasn't happy. She didn't want to get her hair cut any longer. She tried to talk me into coming back another day. But I wasn't going to be swayed. Especially since Tuesday was $5 day at Craig's and I saw no reason why I should have to pay an extra $2 just to make her happy. So, I promised her a Dum Dum and she caved. With her new short do she was ready for her birthday.

Jeff was leaving to go out of town at 7:00 am, so I told Allie if she wanted to open her two presents before he left, she needed to get up early. She took me seriously and wandered into my room at 6:30. The only other day she has ever been up that early on her own was Christmas morning. At least I know she has it in her. Her first present was a Barbie dress from Grandma and Grandpa. After the appropriate amount of hooting and hollering, she opened her other present, a scooter, and pretended to be surprised.


As Jeff was leaving, I didn't feel that I could take on a birthday party all alone, so I told her we would have to postpone it for a week or so. She wasn't thrilled, but she didn't complain too much. And although I definitely didn't want to spoil her, I wanted her to have a good birthday and I wanted her to know how much I love her. And I was kindly asked to "stop spending our money," after I accidentally cost us $300 to fix the computer and then forked out another $40 for a cleaner called Advanage when the guy came in and cleaned the hard water spots off my shower. So, how do I make her birthday special without really spending much money?

I made her waffles for breakfast (her request).
I let her take a bath in my tub (something they never get to do).
We went to Toys R Us where she got a balloon, crown and spent her $3 gift card (I pitched in another $3 so she could get a boy Barbie for the harem at home).
We went to Sonic for her free Wacky Pack.
I let her ride her new scooter around the house all day, because the weather outside was, well, frightful.
We went to Chuck E Cheese with our friends/next door neighbors (with the 31 tokens I found leftover from our last visit).
I made her spaghetti for dinner.

And at the end of the day she said, "Thank you for all the wonderful things." I think we succeeded.

The other kids had a good day, too. Just not with quite the "pampering" that Allie got.

This love sported his Jazz wear (thanks again to Ann M for his three shirts, so he can support his team every game!).

This love had nearly as much fun as Allie. She was invited into the bath with Allie and got her own Wacky Pack. She also attempted the scooter, which she is surprisingly good at.

And I love this pic of the boys.

Happy Birthday Allie! We wouldn't be nearly the same family without you. Here are the top five things I will remember about you this year:

1. You have grown tremendously academically. You can color, use scissors, and are learning to read. You are definitely ready for kindergarten.
2. You love Barbies. Nearly everything you wanted to buy for yourself was Barbie related.
3. You are the best big sister. You are usually so willing to share and Kyla adores you. I love hearing the two of you playing together. It is one of my favorite sounds in the world.
4. You are incredibly good at remembering song lyrics. Some I wish you would forget (like when you were riding your bike the other day singing, "I wanna take a ride on your disco stick").
5. You are such a girl. You love skirts and leggings, makeup, and high heels. You want to look pretty, and I love that about you.