Elena is 5!

Bethany took Elena to see Beauty and the Beast 3D on the Saturday before her birthday. My mom and I tagged along. My dad stayed with Kevin and they played and watched the Bluray version at home.

Tuesday was Elena's fifth birthday. She had been counting down daily for weeks. First thing in the morning, she wanted to open her package from Abuelita and Abuelo. She loved everything, but thought that the ten $1 bills that were tucked into the card was the coolest thing ever. She also got a new puppy stuffed animal that she named Winter, and she adores her.

I taught preschool that day and so it was mostly business as usual except all the girls had cupcakes for snack. I let Elena skip her usual 1 hour quiet time and gave her a present to open early and play with instead. Then, Dan got home just before 4:00! That was a real treat. Then he and the kids watched Mr Popper's Penguins which was cute. I kind of watched too, but I was mostly in the kitchen. Her birthday meal request was chicken nuggets, macaroni and cheese, and french fries. It would have been so easy, but my pregnant stomach couldn't handle the thought of all that processing, so I made little fried chicken nuggets and baked some seasoned potato wedges. We did have Kraft mac and cheese of course, but I added in a salad and broccoli. It was actually a really good meal even it was a little more work than it needed to be.

Kevin liked the cupcake too.

After dinner, we had heart shaped cupcakes and Elena opened presents. She got her first set of Legos (rather than Lego Duplos), lots of books, clothes, a puzzle, and a Sleeping Beauty doll. She loved and gushed over everything. It's so nice that she's appreciative. We all played together for a while and then it was bedtime. As soon as her birthday was over, she immediately started to ask, "How many days until my party?"