Happy Birthday Meenum!

In the midst of varying degrees of illness in various family members, Miriam turned a WHOLE hand this week! (sigh, how did I get old enough to have a 5-year-old?) Fortunately everyone was well enough on Monday to celebrate. And since it was a Solemnity (hooray for St. Joe!) we made sure to whoop it up!

basking in her birthday glow
(I think she wore this shirt, a birthday gift from A. Terri et al., every day this week!)

Yum, my like chockit!

certifiably insane (she must get it from her father)
This was our gift to her. Can a scooter GET any girlier? :)

Today we had Miriam's party with some of her little friends. Their mothers told me they were all VERY excited about the party. I know it was the first birthday party that at least one of the little girls was invited to, and she was SO jazzed. Her mother says she thinks she slept with the invitation.

Miriam's been looking forward to this moment for weeks.

Getting help blowing her candles out

Miriam & I had fun decorating her cake (she colored the bow & put half the sprinkles on).

Just wanted to show off my Martha-Stewart-like table decorating skills. :)

Unfortunately half of the pictures I took of the party, like all the present-opening, didn't come out (stoopid camera). There was a really cute one of all the girls sitting at the table, decorating their goodie bags with stickers. They were all very quiet and intent on their task. I noticed that a party with all boys would be so different. :)

Miriam enjoying her FAVORITE gift, a Disney princess CD player that plays very hyper versions of Disney songs at one volume level (LOUD). Why are the most popular gifts always the ones that are the most obnoxious?

After all the guests left, Miriam tried on all her new clothes. She's such a girl.

The reason Katie isn't in any of the party pictures is that she was in quarantine. We weren't sure if she was contagious or not, so to spare the families who hadn't had been exposed to this illness already, after she decorated her goodie bag Mr. Pickles whisked her upstairs for the duration of the party. (she spent most of it sleeping, anyway, so she didn't miss much)

All in all, I think the party was a success. No tears, no tantrums, no bathroom accidents, no vomiting, and all the children went home. A success in the parent's book.

Happy Birthday, baby girl!