Olivia turns 5 (sniff sniff)

Doesn't that sound old?  Sounds so old to me I can't believe she is 5.  She just seems way too grown up.  Carolyn made her an amazing Barbie cake this year.

She brought sidewalk chalk and fruit leathers into her class at preschool.  On the morning of her birthday, she climbed in my bed, snuggled up next to me and said, "Mom, I was thinking for my birthday...you and I could go get pedicures while the boys are taking their nap."  It was so adorable that I couldn't say no and made it happen.  Megan came down to babysit the boys and then wouldn't let me pay her on account of Livie's bday present.  She loved getting her nails painted and they even put a flower design on which she was ecstatic about.


She never wanted it to go away ever.  I let her pick whatever she wanted for her birthday dinner.  Sky's the limit, and even offered to take her out to a restaurant.  She wanted ramen noodle soup.

The whole week was so exciting with package after package from aunts and uncles and grandparents coming in.  My dad and Lynn sent flowers.  Grandma Nadine sent a bunch of fun activities, some cute clothes, and the Paddington bear movie complete with a stuffed Paddington and this birthday crown.

She insisted that she must have a friends birthday party and while I tried to whittle the invite list down as much as possible we still had 18 kids there.  Such is the way of a socialite I guess.  She requested a hopscotch birthday party of all things.  So we went with a side walk chalk theme.  Diane made a hopscotch shaped cake.

 We played hopscotch in the form of these dragonflies.

We did our own take on chalk the block and let each kid draw on these chalk canvases all up the front sidewalk.

Then, all the kids traced their outline and colored themselves in.  All the silhouettes are still there as a reminder of all the friends we had over to celebrate.  After all the games, we had pizza and cake and opened presents.

We handed out side walk chalk as a party favor with the inscription:  My birthday celebration was a hopping success and I'm chalking it up to you!  (Come on!  That's clever, and I came up with it all on my own.  No pinterest.)

Dad and Lynn flew in for the celebration.  It was so fun to spend the weekend with them.  They of course added a bounce house and pinata and a bunch of snacks to the party.  We had the bounce house all day and even still the next morning, so the kids got some good use out of it.   Derek and I even took a turn sliding and jumping with the kids.
Liv was overly indulged by her grandparents as usual.  Every thing that caught her eye at target she came home with.  She has told me numerous times since at the the store when she asks for something and I say no, that she likes Poppi and Lynn better because they buy her whatever she wants.  I guess that is the novelty of being a grandparent.

Straight from the party we went to Liv's soccer game which she played maybe a total of 8 minutes in.  Poor Poppi and Lynn hardly got to see her in action (I think she was just soooo worn out from the festivities that she didn't have any steam left).  Later that night, we got a special birthday visit from Aunt Stephanie and Chase.  They gave Liv this adorable Minnie dress which has been her favroite pick whenever it is clean as of late.

London's actual birthday was on the day of Liv's friend birthday party.  She's 4 this year.  Dad and Lynn got wind of this and were off to target again to get special doggie ice cream for her special day.