It’s always a little challenging when a birthday lands on a weekday instead of a weekend. We try to make sure our girls feel special on their real day, and then we have a simple party with family on the weekend. Over the past few years, I’ve started calling these random fun things we do on their actual birthdays “birthday shenanigans”, so here are Kaelyn’s from this year!
She woke up before all her sisters (as she always does) and ran downstairs right away to find her balloons and streamers hanging from the ceiling. These simple things seem to mean the most to our girls.
She ran through the balloons, laughing and smiling.
We took the day off from school and headed to the pool as soon as everyone was ready! We were lucky that it wasn’t crowded at all that day, so the girls had an extra-fun time swimming wherever they wanted and playing on the slide and under the “dumping buckets”.
We came home for lunch and some sister snuggles. Kaelyn really, truly, adores Evie.
Everyone had naps, and when Daddy came home, we had Kaelyn’s favorite for dinner- homemade pizza! She had been waiting to wear the birthday crown for months, so she was excited it was finally her turn!
Now, Kaelyn had been talking about Dairy Queen for months. She had only ever been there as a baby, when we used to have one in the mall and would frequently make going there our “family date” activity. We gave her only little tastes back then, so she never remembered having it. The food court at the mall closed, and we hadn’t taken the girls to a Dairy Queen for years.
We decided to take her to the “new” nearby Dairy Queen for her birthday treat, and she was ecstatic! She chose this wild-looking “Zero Gravity” blizzard, which she thought was delicious. We sang to her, and she was the happiest girl in the world.
Kaya and Nella were also really happy to have ice cream. Thank goodness for Oxiclean, because Nella’s shirt was blue by the time we left.
To top it all off, we surprised her with one small gift- a Paw Patrol Marshall fire truck. She loved it.
The weather was absolutely perfect, and the three oldest girls loved running around together in the grass after finishing their dessert. I loved watching their happiness.
I got to hold her for a few moments before bedtime and then tuck her in, which is something Daddy usually does these days. It seems like yesterday that I was holding her as a 5.5-pound baby and waking up with her at night, so I’m grateful I could cuddle her again before saying goodnight.
Happy 5th Birthday Kaelyn! We love you so much!