Kaia is 5

KAIA IS 5!!!!!!!!!!!!

Where in the world has my baby gone.  How can it be 5 years since she popped out.  And wow has life changed since then.  I feel like I am such a different person.  I have loved all the stages of my life but life these days is truly priceless.  I can't imagine it ever getting any better than this.

 

So what better way to celebrate than with a RAINBOW party!!

 Carl and I (obviously in serious need of hobbies) made flower chains in all the rainbow colors and let them blow in the breeze along the sides of the banda.  It was so dreamy :)  The flowers will now adorn her room until we move next.

 Dreamy.

 We had 28 kids come!!!  We definitely weren't expecting that.  All her besties.  What a zoo!!!!  And there were a couple of parents that said that their kids were shy and didn't like parties... but since it was Kaia's they really wanted to come.  What a compliment. 

 We had awesome games, 2 pools, and face painting.  Slotted it in for 2 hours.  Not a chance anyone could get bored.  At one point I thought it was pretty quiet and went inside to get a few things.  Once inside all I could hear the deafening roar of plastic bikes tires on the concrete as the kids raced around the house.  There were kids everywhere!!  We had to chase them from the rafters when it was time for the cake!!

 Kaia can still tend to be shy, especially in large groups or when the attention is focused on her.  She actually did quite well through out most of the party and became more comfortable as her friends arrived to support her and buffer her from the attention.  But when the cake came out she hid upstairs and refused to come out!!  Eventually she let me carry her but wouldn't unbury her head until the cake was cut and everyone was eating.

 What a beautiful rainbow cake for a beautiful 5 year old.  

Theo was kind enough to ease the tension and blow the candles out for her.

But the inside was my little surprise.  

6 individual layers.  This is how I show my love :)

BEST cake ever for the BEST girl ever!!

 We also gave away the cutest 'go away bags' as the kids called them.  These are crayon hearts that we melted in the oven from a pile of crayons we left in the sun and was trash anyway.  Carl made a little coloring book for each kid to go with it.  And when I took Kaia to school today a few of the girls brought in their books to show me how the pictures were coming along.  So utterly cute :)  

And that was it.  2 hours of chaos and then the calm returned.  Then we could relax and had a few friends for dinner.  We chatted on skype with family until it was time to collapse happily into bed to dream of sugarplums.