Marianne Turns FIVE!

How can my baby be FIVE?!!

Somehow it happened, my little Sparkler larger than life and SO excited that her big day was finally here!

 Marianne decided that she wanted to go to the trampoline park with her friend Amira. We went and had a fantastic time! Toddler time at gravity park is GREAT, it's so empty and the little people have full run of the place. Could they be any cuter?!

Bekah really wanted a barbie dream house, but her room has absolutely no space for such an extravagance...so Bekah made her a smaller barbie house out of a box and some wood scraps. It was a very sweet thing for Bekah to do and Marianne loved it.

 For months Marianne had been musing over what kind of cake she wanted. Then for weeks she was perusing cookbooks and changing her mind, and for days she had her heart set on this castle cake.

I always feel like I dodged a bullet when it looks halfway decent!

 My mom was out of town but my dad came to dinner. Marianne loved having his attention...and I don't think Grandpa minded too much.

She really, really wanted a new bike helmet, so Grandpa got her one! 

After dinner we went out and rode bikes - she even rode without training wheels for a hot second until she got too nervous.
I love my Marianne! She is so smart, so bright and cheerful, inquisitive, competitive (just try besting her in a punch-buggy war!), thoughtful and kind and determined. I'm surprised by her on a regular basis and I've learned to never think I know what she's thinking. She loves mac and cheese, playing on the ipad, having a friend over every second of every day, writing notes to others, jumping on the trampoline, going out for sodas with dad, being tickled and snuggled, and having her hair curled and anything sparkly applied to her face. She's a force and I love her.