Emily's 5th Birthday - A Jackson Family

A few weeks ago we started trying to help Emily hone in on what she wanted to do for her birthday this year. After many grand plans circulated, she decided she wanted to go to Happy Hollow Park with her friends and have a pink cake.

On Friday the kids and I worked together making and baking the strawberry cake. They loved putting all the ingredients in a bowl and laughed hysterically while using the hand mixer. I just stepped back and enjoyed the process with them and the fact that we were making a birthday cake for our FIVE year old.

In the afternoon we biked to Walmart so she could pick out the color of frosting and type of sprinkles she wanted. I asked her what kind she wanted and she responded with glee, “I don’t know! I’ll have to see what’s there!” The anticipation was so exciting and selecting it was fun too. I’ve basically decided not to worry about my own opinions or health concerns and just let the kids enjoy their birthdays.

On Friday night Andrew and I wrapped presents, hung the banner and made a crown (thanks to Emily reminding us earlier that day), and got the table set for a pancake breakfast.

We all slept in on Saturday morning and I woke up to the kids looking at books. The kids helped me make the pancakes. I’m starting to get pretty good at making the letter E and the 5 went pretty well too. During breakfast we told the story of when Emily was born, followed by Nathan and Laura’s birth stories upon request.

Emily opened her presents after she finished eating. We gave her a greenhouse this year (which she later commented that it is weird we call it a greenhouse because it is white. We clarified that it is the things inside it that are green), play silks that we will dye together soon, and a book from her grandma.

Putting the greenhouse together was a little family project that we finished before getting ready to head to the park. We got her some purple mums to go into the greenhouse, but she has already gone on two flower collecting trips on her bike this week and made a few beautiful wild flower bouquets to put in there.

Emily helped me frost and put sprinkles on her birthday cake. We were both surprised at how quickly the sprinkles came out but we decided to correct the problem by putting more on to spread out the abundance.

We got to the park around 10am and the kids played for about 45 minutes before we gathered everyone together for cake. Everyone sang to Emily and then she blew out the candles after a few tries. After everyone ate cake we played outside a bit longer before heading home for conference.