Happy Birthday, sweet girl.

Charlotte is 5 (and has been for nearly two weeks now). She's so proud to be FIVE! Mike and I nearly can't believe it. I still remember Mike holding her at a few days old, crying because she was already getting older. And here it is now, five years later. We love that girl so much, all of her: her big heart, her big feelings, her big imagination. Nearly everything about her is bold and bright and beautiful. All wrapped up in this cute little girl.

On the day of her birthday, the girls and I were at my parents' house while the guys were home. So we had a small celebration with cupcakes that Charlotte made with me and a special "Mom and Charlie" trip to go shopping. Thanks to M, she had a gift certificate to the bookstore and some money to get her nails painted. However, at the salon, they told her that her fingernails were too short to be painted. I suggested we check her toe nails and she said, "Oh, that's a good idea! I don't chew those nearly as much as my fingernails!"

Sadly, those were also too short. She wasn't too disappointed when I suggested she could spend the money on the doll she's been asking for! So we went book shopping and dolly shopping and then we shared a pretzel.

When we got back home to our house, we had her first real birthday party. She invited five of her friends and they had such a great time. They splashed around in the pool in the backyard, played on the playground, and picked berries in the field near our house. I have alot of great pictures but they include the other children and I haven't asked permission to post them.