Our big 5 year-old girl!

Jell has been looking forward to turning 5 for about a year now. We've been hearing about it in relation to all sorts of things, "Maybe those pants will fit me when I'm 5," "Maybe I'll like strawberries when I turn 5," "When do I get to be 5?" "I'll be big enough to climb that fence when I'm 5," and especially, the most important - "I get to go to kindergarten when I'm 5!" The morning of her birthday, she came into our bedroom to ask if it was okay for her to get up now since it was 8 o'clock. I replied, "guess what?" "What?" "You're 5 now!" She gasped and her jaw dropped to the floor, "REALLY? I'm 5 now?" (As if we hadn't been counting down everyday for weeks!) She laughed, and turned to her sis, "Meri, guess what?! I'm 5 now!!!" So although it's a week late, and was a tad overshadowed by bed rest and wedding preparations, and lacking a friend party, here's Jelly's birthday!
And the favorite present (and it's not even too loud and obnoxious. It's pretty cute actually - the box has color-coded notes to follow to play songs like "twinkle twinkle"):Free birthday dessert at Applebee's where we celebrated with Grandma and Grandpa Berne:
Happy Birthday Red! (Really can't believe she's 5 - can't believe I'm old enough to have a 5 year-old!!) We love you and the exuberance/intensity/curiosity/laughter/joy you bring to life!!