Brooke turns 5

I should be excited, but I've really been dreading my baby turning 5. It's just one step closer to her being all grown up, and I'm not ready for that. Brooke however has been as excited as popcorn in a hot pan. For months. We've been counting down to her birthday for 3 months now, and seriously, the kid doesn't forget a thing.

After much deliberation Brooke decided she wanted a Strawberry Shortcake themed party, to be held at Lollipops Playland. After listing every friend she knows, we finally narrowed the invite list down to 12, and I got busy making some invitations. I love how they turned out:


The next item on the agenda was finding the right cake. We found a photo of one online that we just loved, but the only cake decorators that could do it for us wanted about $500 for it. Ummm....I don't think so. We eventually settled on a Strawberry Torte cake from the Cheesecake shop, with a picture of Strawberry Shortcake and friends on the top. It tasted fantastic on the day, but I have to say I was disappointed with how the picture went all bumpy, but by the time I picked it up on the way to the party, it was too late to do anything about it. Brooke didn't notice though, and happily ate a whole slice.


The kids all had a blast at Lollipops. They played for an hour, then came to the party room for food, drink and presents, before going out to play some more. Brooke felt special in her birthday chair at the top of the table (which Elisa commandered the minute Brooke vacated), and she seemed to have a great time with her cousins and friends.


All in all a very successful party, with no cleaning up for me to do. Gotta love that. Thanks to my Dad for being the photographer, and to everyone for the wonderful presents Brooke got. There's more to blog about, but I'll do that in the next post.