Emily's Mermaid Birthday

I can't believe how big Emily is getting! And look how beautiful:

Emily is 5 now!! Where does the time go?  She is growing up too fast and I feel like she was just a baby not that long ago.  Now, according to Emily, she is all grown up.

For her birthday this year, Emily wanted a mermaid birthday.  So that is what we did.  Here is the fun food we made for the party:

Ariel and Flounder cakes with Sebastian or crab cupcakes.  They were a big hit.  Everyone loved the watermelon shark Russell carved too.  This food was fun to make and it was the first time I have worked with cake fondant.  

We had a busy day on her birthday.  First we had the Primary Program practice.  Afterward we came home and got ready for the party.  Emily was able to open one present before the practice that morning:

New clothes!  While we were at the Program practice, Russell set up most of the decorations for the party.  Because it was a mermaid party, we had an underwater theme.  Here is our cool crepe paper waterfall:

Our table decorations were paper Ariel's and Flounders, and sea shells and blue rocks. 

Emily was so excited when all of the kids started arriving to her party.  She greeted each one of them and thanked them for coming to her party.  She even introduced each guest to the other guests!  She introduced her friends to her cousins and her cousins to her friends.  Emily was such a welcoming host.

The first activity we did was colored sand art:

We gave each of the kids a jar to put their colored sand in.  All we told them was they needed to put the colored sand in the jars and it will make cool designs.  When they were done, we had some pretty cool sand jars not to mention a big sandy mess!  Luckily it was outside so it was okay.  In the end the kids had fun shaking their jars so they were just mixed up colors after that.  But the kids loved them anyway.

Next we played our underwater relay:

First the kids had to walk like a crab, then they rode their seahorses to the fence, and finally they hopped like a mermaid to the tree.  At the tree, we found a treasure box.  I told them about how mermaids guard the pirates treasure.  Then each of the guests were able to get a treasure out of the box. 

Next we played Flounder, Flounder, Shark (or our version of Duck, Duck, Goose.)  This game is always a hit with kids this age.  They played for quite a while until everyone had a turn.  The funny thing about this game was it seemed like none of the kids knew how to run in a circle when it was their turn.  When they would say "Shark!" they would run all around the yard like they were playing tag.  It was so funny.  Finally toward the end they realized it is easier to just run around the circle than the whole yard.

Then there was the highlight of the party, the pinata:

Emily told me she wanted "one of those things you hit and candy comes out" at her birthday.  We figured out that meant a pinata.  I didn't want to spend a whole lot on something that was just going to get smacked and broken so I scored when I found this princess pinata at the dollar store.  The kids loved the pinata and each of them got a turn to smack the pinata.  I think Tyler and Russell had more fun moving the pinata around trying to get the kids to miss.  Finally some of the older kids like Paul, Taylor and Chrislyn broke the pinata and all of the kids dived right in to get the candy and stickers.  The pinata was the thing the kids told their parents about most when they went home.

Then it was present time:

Emily got a lot of nice gifts from her friends and family.  She loved everything she got and thanked everyone for her gifts.  Every time she opened a gift she exclaimed, "Oh this is just what I wanted! Thank You!!"  Then she would show me for a picture.  After Emily opened all of her presents, it was time for cake and ice cream.

We all sang Happy Birthday and she blew out her candle.  Then we all had cake and rainbow ice cream.  We had so much cake but we had a lot of people too.  Everyone loved the cakes.  It was a really fun birthday party.  I hope all of the kids had fun.  I know they were excited to come.  After everyone left, I asked Emily what her favorite part of her birthday was.  She said "Everything!"  I am so glad she had a good birthday.

At five years old, Emily now believes she is grown up and can do anything.  To tell you the truth, she can pretty much do whatever she sets her mind to.  She tells me, "I can do that, I am 5 now!"  The other day she came home from preschool and said, 

"Mom, I know who I am going to marry."

"Who?" I said.

"Trent."

"Oh is Trent in your class?" (Trent and Emily sit next to each other on the rug at school.)

"Yeah, and he has spiky hair."

"He must be pretty cute, huh?"

"Yeah, I will ask him to marry me when turns 5 like me."

I couldn't help but laugh to myself and think oh no here it starts...  The next day after school, I asked her if she was still going to marry Trent.  She told me that she asked him to marry her and he said no.  She was kind of sad.  I told her maybe it is because he is not 5 yet so he is not big enough yet.  She said yeah and seemed better.  Oh man here we go....

Happy Birthday Emily!! We love you!