Anna is 5!

I loaded these pictures form Anna's 5th birthday almost a year ago. We just celebrated Anna's 6th birthday this past weekend so I thought that I'd better make an attempt to post a few things before I get much more behind. I've missed posting but this past year has been one of the most hectic and crazy years on record. Let's see what I can do to catch up a little bit on this last year. 

Anna wanted a Moana birthday party and in looking at pictures (especially comparing them to what I did this year) I may have gone a little overboard on the decorations. It was a really fun party to plan and I did reuse some decorations from Anna's Under the Sea party a few years ago.

Making the volcano!

Heart of Te Fiti cookies that I actually made myself. I think they tasted okay. Coconut flavor! 

Heart of Te Fiti cookies

Anna also really wanted Tamatoa cupcakes so I did my best. I think they turned out pretty well considering my lack of baking abilities.

Tamatoa "Shiny" Cupcakes!

Here is where I reused decorations. All the fish, the shark, and the jellyfish were from the sea birthday party. Anna's name was from her space party the year before. This is why I save things people!

I had to have a craft! The kids made their own shiny crabs and there was also coconut playdough to play with. 

One of my favorite things to make was the Kakamora party favors. I just think they're so cute (even thought the kakamora aren't so cute in the movie)

I definitely wasted too much time making these flower lights but they are really pretty. I like to do crafty things when I'm stressed out and with all the house projects we had going on last year I was definitely stressed out!

The volcano was a big hit...even with Hailie and Seth even though Seth told me "This is the easiest science experiment ever". 

Jane and Eric

Anna and Ruby

Louis, Ethan, and Julia

Adell and Jane

Anna and Margot

 Jane working on her crab!

Playdough fun!

Kevin and Theresa

Sparkly Grandma, Hailie, and Red Grandma

The Grandpas

Brotherly love

Louis and Anna

Ethan, Anna, and Eric

Grandpa Chuck, Anna, and Red Grandma

Hailie and Anna

Sparkly Grandma and Grandpa

Jack, Anna, Julia, and Jane

 We bought Anna a new bike last year and she loved it because red. 

We often forget a family picture but last year we managed to remember before bed and used the timer to snag one. 

Here is Anna on her actual 5th birthday. I looked on my Facebook birthday post to see what I wrote about Anna on her birthday last year. I said "She is such an inquisitive, adventurous, caring little person and I can't believe how lucky I am to be her Mommy". 

At that time Anna wanted to be an astronaut but also a librarian in case she didn't like space. She loves the color red, making her own tacos, and mismatched sock/pajamas. She wanted to go on vacation to climb the highest mountain which we managed to talk her out of so she settled on the beach. Many of these things are still the same but she has grown so much in so many ways in the last year. Except for maybe in height. At Anna's 5 year appointment she was 10% for height and 30% for weight. I can't wait to see where she's at for her 6 year appointment. 

We sure love this little lady. 

California!

At the end of October Kevin and  I went to California for a wedding. Grandma was getting in at the airport from a work trip and we met her there to swap carseats and kids before parking and leaving for our trip. So many things could have gone wrong with our plan but it worked flawlessly. 

Airport greetings!

It was a whirlwind trip but we did get to meet up with Colin and Andi for brunch before getting ready for the wedding. We hadn't seen them in  about 4 years and we had so much fun catching up. 

Me and Andi

Colin and Kevin

Group selfie!

The wedding was at a beautiful golf resort in Morgan Hill (further south from San Jose). We had a fantastic time seeing so many old friends and dancing the night away. 

Rachel and Me

Arun, Matt (the groom), Dennis, and Kevin

We had to leave first thing the next morning and I wished we could have had more time but I'm so happy for the time we did get. It would have been nice to head up closer to our old stomping grounds to see more people but there wasn't enough time. Not trying to fit in visits made for a very relaxing and much needed break from life. 

Fall Fun

I always have so many photos on my phone and it takes a little longer to sort through them to load (especially when I'm really far behind). Here are some from the fall. 

We have a membership to Prairie Fire Museum and we've been making the most of it so far. There is a Discovery Room where the kids can touch and play with things. They even let the girls hold a giant cockroach! 😨

For this particular visit we met up with our friends. They had just opened up the space exhibit and we were all excited to check it out. 

Eric, Anna, Ethan, and Jane

After exploring the museum we wandered over to have lunch at Pinstripes and then stayed to play outside for a little bit.

Kevin had a day off from work and we found out Uncle Joe was in town so we met up with him for lunch. 

Storytime at the library! We hadn't been for awhile (preschool interferes a lot and our favorite librarian from one of the branches left and it hasn't been the same).

Every now and then we go to Debbie Howard's Open Gym to burn a little energy. 

This was the first time Anna was able to climb all the way up to the top of the climbing structure and it wore her out. Jane is still working on figuring it out but she wore herself out trying. 

One of Jane's favorite spots at the gym. 

She's my dangler!

Our friend Margot celebrated her 5th birthday and we had so much fun at her party. Dolls and Donuts for the win!

A little girl in Anna's preschool class invited all the girls to her birthday party at another gym. I almost missed the evite but luckily it worked out for us to go. Anna's buddy, Kenzie, was there she had an awesome time.