Amber's Birthday

We celebrated Amber's 5th Birthday today. Matt had the day off, so we spent the whole day partying! We went swimming, played outside, and had family and a few friends over tonight to celebrate.

We let the kids pick what ever dinner they want for their birthday, Amber's choice: sausage, spaghetti & salad! Our kids don't really like anything so I was surprised spaghetti made it to the top of the list. Spaghetti has always been my favorite, so I was happy to make it! My little nephew Nate for his birthday chose corn, potatoes and rice. I just asked Parker what he'd choose for his birthday dinner and he said "apples."

Yummy Carrot Cake...another pick by Amber. Her first cake she asked me to make was a big round cake with stripes and polka-dots with an Ariel Barbie/Mermaid Barbie in the middle. She wanted pink and purple polka-dots. This cake sounds very similar to the cake Mandy made Amber 2 years ago for her 3rd birthday. There is no way I could get close to anything that beautiful! Luckily Amber had a piece of carrot cake last week and LOVED it, and said "mom, this is the cake I want for my birthday." I lucked out again! If I had to choose carrot cake is definitely my favorite as well, so again another great choice by Amber!

Lemon cupcakes with lemon cream cheese frosting. Selfishly made for me! I love cream cheese frosting...add a little lemon juice, a lemon head on top, and it is just delicious! Amber helped me decorate them this year which was fun.

Playing duck-duck-goose on the tramp.

Another one of Amber's requests was a pinata. It was so much fun! Amber chose the biggest pinata at the store, so we filled it chuck full of candy. This was the high-light of the night for everyone. I love the anticipation and the excitement. I also love the attempts to hit the pinata and get close to hitting everyone else (I think it's funny! Not if someone gets hurt but if they almost get hurt!). Matt just about got whacked at least five different times!

All Amber asked for was a mermaid barbie with a dolphin. She lucked out and got three different versions of it.

This is cute Bailey and Amber. Bailey is Amber's best friend. They play soccer together and dance together.

I love this picture! Thank you Emily for capturing all the nights events.

Amber had such a great day. She was so sweet, and knew right away that today was special. She kept saying all day "I'm the birthday girl so I can..." Fill in the blank with "go first" "choose first" "play with this" "Keep this all day long." She loves her new toys, especially the Barbies. She was counting down the minutes until she could take a bath with her new toys. As soon as her bath was over she asked if she could sleep with them. What a cutie. Amber is such a sweet heart. People tell me all the time how compassionate she is, how loving and caring she is. I feel so lucky to have such a kind child. She really is a good friend to everyone. I love this stage of life, and will be sad to have her go to Kindergarten next year. She is such a big helper to me! She keeps Parker and Aubrey entertained all day long! She is such a good listener and rarely has to be asked more than once to do anything. She enjoys playing outside on the tramp and making "mud cakes" in the sandbox. She loves to pretend and finds even a rock and a stick entertaining. She has loved soccer this year, is learning to read and has read several books to me in the past two weeks. We can't wait to go camping and fishing all summer long this summer. Happy Birthday Amber!