Lauren's 5th Birthday

Better late then never! I am trying to catch up on posts a little at a time. 

Lauren turned 5 in July! She got to have her first friend birthday party too, which she was SUPER excited about. It was going to be a water/under the sea party, but the weather didn't cooperate much. Who would have guessed it would be a cold rainy day in July? Oh, well Lauren and all the girls had fun!

They started by making princess crowns while we waited for everyone to get there. She got to invite 5 little girls (since she was turning 5) and all but 1 were able to come. Courtney and Brady wanted to join the fun too. I made her a Mermaid cake, which took a lot longer than I expected! I made marshmallow fondant sea shapes (shells, coral, etc) to put around the cake. It turned out pretty cute, and Lauren LOVED it!

 

We went outside to play some games while Brock got the craft stuff put away. It was too cold to get wet so they just got a little wet in the rain running around. They played fish, fish, shark (AKA duck duck goose) too and had a blast.

Then snacks, juice, water, watermelon, goldfish and more games. Pin the flowers on the mermaid, which was fun. They made mermaid or mermen dolls (whatever they wanted) and then played with them while we cleaned up the table and got the cake and ice cream ready. The party went so quickly. We planned it for 2 hours (same as Brady), but the girls could have been there another hour without any problem whatsoever! Then cake and present time. All in all it was a success. Everyone had a fun time, and Lauren talked about it for a while after!

 

She also had a family party (BBQ) on her actual birthday which was tons of fun too. I didn't venture to make the same cake again though, but had a yummy chocolate zucchini cake instead, rice crispy treats, and graham crackers with chocolate frosting inside, and of course ice cream.  The food was yummy, and Lauren had fun playing with some of her cousins.

Courtney thinks it's her birthday every time one of the kids had a party:) She can't wait for her birthday!

 

 

Chris & Amy joined via Skype. 

She got her very own camera! She LOVES to take pictures with it, unfortunately her siblings do too! Her and Brady took several pictures around the backyard after the party ended.She got a pretty dress that she worn a ton, so much it actually has holes in it! She got a cute purse/wallet to match, some money to save up and buy something she really wants, and a school set!

She got girl Lego's too! She has wanted them for a bit once we saw them at Toys'r'us. They were a big hit, and now she and Brady can play Lego's together:) 

 

It was a very fun time, and busy month:)

This week will be her 2 year (well almost . . . truly the beginning of October) post chemo checkup! A very busy day filled with lab draws, Echocardiogram (to make sure the chemo didn't harm her heart), CT of her chest, pelvis, and abdomen (thus an IV for contrast and oral contrast to drink over an hour), then finally her clinic appointment. It will be a busy day Wednesday, but good to make sure everything is OK. It always creates a little anxiety, but I am hopeful she will have a clean bill of health (well, maybe not a great BUN. . .it is getting hard to get her to drink lately since she got a stomach bug a couple weeks ago, guess we will have to wait and see:)