Rory is FIVE!!

Rory turned FIVE years old on Friday, August 8th!

She had a celebration that lasted almost three weeks:

* Chuck E Cheese with Alayna & Westin 2 weeks before

* A party at Grandma & Papa's (Julie & Mark) 2 weeks before

* A party at Grandma & Grandpa's (Sharon & Rob) 1 week before

AND...

* A fun day with Mom, Dad & Soren on her birthday!

If you saw my posts on "Making the Cake," you know that Rory wanted a Barbie birthday cake. I delivered, with the marvelous Barbie cake decorated in pink frosting. I must say, I thought she'd be very excited. Here's a video of her reaction on when she woke up on her birthday. You be the judge:

She really enjoyed it later on with the candles and the singing. (And yes, it was really hard to get the candles on there without starting Barbie on fire!) The cake was really good, if I do say so myself. We ate bits and pieces for a few days. Yummmm!

We waited for Chris to get home from work and then Rory opened her presents. (She had already opened all the "good" presents from the Grandmas and Grandpas, so these were more functional from-Mom-and-Dad-type presents.) Here are a few pictures. Please note the FOUR band-aids on her thighs where she got FOUR "kindergarten shots" the day before her birthday. (My hearing is still recovering.)

Yes, that is a DVD of Hairspray she is holding. My kids love musicals. Even musicals that are mild-to-moderately inappropriate in nature. Ask them to sing "Good Morning Baltimore" for you. Its a great experience! And the boots are for walking to the bus stop in the rain.

After presents, we went to Culvers and then hit Rory's highlight of the day... going to Toys R' Us to spend some of her birthday money!

She looked at almost everything in the store, saying about several things, "We'll remember that this is here, and if I want it we can come back and get it." It seemed as if she'd been looking for one special thing without even knowing it. When she laid eyes on it, she HAD to have it- no question! What was this magical toy? Bunk beds for her baby dolls!

She even had enough money (and kindness) leftover to let Soren pick a toy. She chose a baby you can bathe in real water. For a while they referred to it as "Soren's Washing Baby," but soon added an extra syllable. Now the baby has historic political ties and is called, "Soren's Washington Baby." (I try to correct it, but they just don't even hear themselves!)

It was a great day, and now Rory's looking forward to kindergarten!

Check back as Rory heads off to Ekstrand Elementary School!