London's big day

We just recently passed one of the most anticipated birthdays in the history of earth (or at least in our family). London turned 5 on April 17th. Now let me explain ....

Somewhere around Christmas time, London figured out that her birthday would be the first one in our little family to come after Christmas. Now, in our defense, this is partly the fault of her well-intentioned preschool teacher who insisted on teaching her the months of the year. We may have filled in a little with the details. This was sort of like the time that we told the kids six months in advance that we were going to Disneyland. We didn't think that one through too well, and we heard about it every day (and a lot of nights) for six months.

So, guess what London has asked us several times a day each and every day since Christmas time?!?! You guessed it. Every morning started off with a very excited burst into our room with "It's my birthday today!!!" We had to soften the blow each and every day and explain "Not today honey, but soon ... I promise." I was starting to feel really bad for her about February, and we still had two more months to go! We started telling her that her birthday would come in the spring, so as soon as we saw any signs of spring (thankfully there were not many), her birthday excitement really intensified. We clearly did not handle this whole situation very well, but finally one day ....

The big day arrived! I'm sure you can imagine the excitement of all of us! London had a wonderful day full of family and friends and lots of fun. We let her have her first birthday party with friends (and cousins), and she had a wonderful time. She didn't quite know what to do with all the presents and attention, but she loved it, and it was fun to see her so happy and excited. We had about 20 friends and cousins over for games, a pinata, and cupcakes. Dave was great as party entertainment chairman and carried on a game of duck duck goose for almost 40 minutes. Seriously, it was amazing.

We are so grateful to have London in our family. She is our little "firecracker" and keeps thing exciting around here. She takes her role of "keeping the boys in line" very seriously and handles being the only girl pretty well. She likes to tow the line between her "girl things" (Barbies, dollhouse, and Dora), and keeping up with the boys with soccer, wrestling, jumping on the tramp, and being wild and crazy. We love her energy and contagious laugh. She is a lot of fun and we love her so much! It is fun to watch her grow up. She'll be starting school in the fall, and I can hardly believe it. She is so excited to "go to the big school" and loves to learn new things. I am grateful that she is healthy and strong and that she is so much fun. She loves to play with her brothers and especially loves to make T.J. laugh. We're so grateful for our little princess. Happy Birthday London! We love you.