Five.

On November 6, Collette turned five. 

Five.

I know I will look back on it and laugh at myself, but right now I feel like five is so old. Like, she is truly a "big kid" now.  A school-aged kid! 

We are continuing our theme of doing a combined birthday party for Collette and Trey in between their two birthdays, but we wanted to have a little celebration for Collette on her actual day. Since our schedules get kind of crazy, we decided to keep doing our birthday breakfast tradition.  I made blueberry and banana chocolate chip pancakes, and we invited the grandparents and great grandparents over to celebrate. 

Collette blowing out her candle in her pancake.  It didn't stand very well, hence my hand. :)

My big birthday girl!

We are so blessed to have so much family nearby! Gram, Pap, Mimi, Bumpa, and Great Bumpa all came for breakfast. 

The Tangled singing card was a big hit.

We didn't get one "big" thing for Collette's birthday this year; just a few smaller things I found on sale throughout the year.  She is at a great stage where she is excited about so many different things.  She loved her Hello Kitty outfit, her Bitty Baby's outfits, and the Jesus Storybook Bible we got her. 

Here she is with a few of her favorites-- Bitty Baby in her new nightgown (Collette has a matching nightgown), new Owl footie PJs (she had been bemoaning the fact that footie pjs are hard to find in "big girl" sizes), and her new Tummy Stuffer from Mimi, Bumpa, and Great Bumpa (it has pockets in the back, mouth, feet, etc. for you to store things in it.)

We made cupcakes for her preschool class:

  

And a purple cake for us.  Collette picked out the cake mix and icing by herself. :) We don't usually do box mixes, but the day of her birthday also happened to the day we were leaving for Myrtle Beach for a week to visit my brother, and I knew time was going to be in short supply.  So, a box cake mix in a 9x13 pan, that I didn't even have to flip out of the pan or ice the sides of,  was great.  

Collette and Trey both helped make the striped design in the cake, and had a blast with it.

Our day got even more exciting when Elliott woke up with a fever and seemed miserable.  Took him to the doctor and discovered he had his first ear infection! Thankfully we were able to get him some medication and the doctor OK'ed him to travel.  It is kind of ironic that Elliott got sick for the first time on Collette's birthday, because Collette got sick and needed antibiotics for the first time ever the day that Elliott was born. :)  

My sweet Collette.  On her birth day and all of her birthdays. :)

Hopefully I can update soon on what five-year-old Collette is like, as well as our trip to the beach!