Happy 5th Birthday Alli!

Can it really be true? 5 years old?!?

Wasn't it just a couple years ago we were bringing her home from the hospital? Well the time has flown and my little baby is a big girl! Today is going to be filled with a lot of fun. 

But today is still a school-day, so we've got to do that. Her teacher makes it special though. All the kids wished her a happy birthday, they sang to her, and she even got to lead the Pledge of Allegiance. 
Alli knows it's her special day and had all her meals requested ahead of time. 
Alli - For breakfast can I have sourdough bread and bacon? 

I think we can make something like that happen. I think she likes the sourdough so much because we would get it at Disneyland so often. 

Ian has been planning for this day for over a week now. He gets so excited about Alli's birthday and really wants to make it special. He's telling his school class about how it's Alli's birthday. Here he's making a big wall poster that says "Happy Birthday". Side note, these Post-It pads are awesome! The kids draw on them and they've got a strip of glue across the top, just like the smaller Post-It notes. 

All week long they've been making special things. Like pinatas made out of paper and yarn. 

Or "party streamers" made from yarn hung up all around the house. 

Alli is making homemade party hats for everyone for her party. 

Alli - You just need two pieces of paper and tape. 

She then decorated the hats for everyone with something special. On mine she wrote "STRWRS" (Star Wars) and drew a picture on the back of "Dark Vader". 

This one is hers that she made for herself. 

Alli - Mommy, for lunch, can you make Olive Garden and soup? 

Of course we can do that. Everybody loves homemade Olive Garden. 

Theresa has the soup recipe down. And I think the Alfredo sauce is even better than Olive Garden's. 

After lunch, the four of us headed out to the beach! 

You might ask, why are we wearing masks when we're outside on the beach away from everybody. Because them's the rules, and we're rule followers. 

At our house just a couple miles from the beach, it's sunny blue skies. A half mile from the ocean though, there's a big hill and on the other side there were low clouds and fog. It made for pleasant temperatures. 

As soon as we got there, the kids wanted to run down in the water and make sandcastles. 

We started with a small castle, then built a large wall on either side of it. The making of the wall led to the creation of a moat in the front. It's low tide, so we're not far from the over-saturated sand. Did a little deeper and you've got water. 

And with such a large wall, we need a more impressive castle. Ian is digging out a tributary for our moat. 

The kids worked together to build it all the way down to the waterline. 

Alli helping to make a lagoon with a dam at the end. Every time we scooped more out of the middle, the sides would collapse in a little bit more. It's hard to build things on top of liquified sand. 

The kids and I had a really good time running around and slopping sand all over. 

Ian dug out a lower pond. 

Then we started working on these dribbled sand towers. 

In the end, it was a nice 90 minute get-away. 

When we got home, Theresa got to work making Alli's birthday cake. She asked for Red Velvet with cream cheese frosting. She knows what she likes. 

And she wants to help! She added the vanilla pudding to the batter. 

And cracking a few eggs. 

And then she helped grease the bundt pan for her cake. 

Into the oven it goes. 

And 40 minutes later, a toothpick in the middle comes out clean. T, you're getting pretty good that these bundt cakes. 

All day Alli has been getting FaceTime calls from friends and family. Even though we can't be together, it's been nice to have that as an option. And with Theresa making frosting right now, Alli gets to lick one of the beaters. 

Alli showing off a few more of her celebration creations. Like the magnetic block "fireworks". They're filled with dice and when you toss them on the ground, the whole thing breaks apart with a satisfying crash and dice that fly out everywhere. Then there's other pinatas with candy in them that you can break apart. 

For her birthday dinner, she had a special request of fondue and Dr Pepper. We can make that happen. Both kids love when we make fondue at home. 

Yum!

Look at that delicious tray of fruit and treats. 

Now that's a yummy plate of food. 

Chocolate, marshmallow, and graham. It's almost a s'more. 

Time to get ready for the party! I had an old tank of helium and we got a few pink balloons. 

Theresa, your cake turned out wonderfully. 

Someone is very excited. 

Happy birthday Alli!

Time to sing!

The cake was delicious!

Now it's time to open presents! Theresa and I celebrated the kids' half birthday earlier in the quarantine, so this is mostly presents from family. 

A pink rainbow unicorn dress. Someone knows what this girl likes. 

As well as Hatchimals. The kids love them. These particular ones glow in the dark! 

A cute pink beanie. 

Ian used his own money to get Alli a present and wrapped it himself. He got her a sack of marbles. 

From Gram and Pop Pop, a pair of binoculars! We went outside to look at the moon, but it wasn't out yet. Instead we tried looking at planets but they were slightly larger fuzzy dots. We'll have to try it out in the daytime. 

Bath bombs, color street nail polish, hair clips, and a new dress. So much to love about all this. 

Reading her own birthday card. She's a bright little girl. 

And a card from Grammy and Grandpa too. 

Whoa, real walkie-talkies! This was a gift for them to share. 

Ian took his to the other side of the house while Alli stayed here. They had fun chatting back and forth. 

Alli - Ian forgot to say "Over" when he was done. 

Giant bubble wands and a bunch of bubbles! 

Along with the presents from everyone else, Theresa and I got them a little something. Just a few candies and glowsticks. 

They really love the Hatchimals, and they are pretty good about spacing them out. Of the 12, they opened only 2 tonight and are saving the rest for later times. 

I brought out my UV light to supercharge the glow-in-the-dark hatchimals. 

Alli showing us what to do with the really big glowsticks. 

The next morning all the balloons had sunk. The helium mix in these tanks has a bit of regular air in it, so it doesn't last very long. The kids gathered up the balloons and had fun decorating them. Then we spent something like 30 minutes as a family just playing "keep the balloon in the air". 

Happy birthday Alli!