Birthday Girl

I can't believe it's taken me this long to post about Caitlyn's birthday! She turned five over a week ago, during my extended break from blogging, and after I e-mailed photos from her birthday to my mom, I forgot that I never posted any here!

This year Caitlyn really wanted a Wizard of Oz birthday party. She loves The Wizard of Oz, and will, in fact, be dressing as Dorothy for Halloween this year. She sings "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" beautifully (and often). So, remembering the number of McDonald's Happy Meal toys we had collected over the preceding weeks, I figured it would be quite simple to find a Dorothy doll to top her cake. (And, just so you know, we don't actually buy the Happy Meals themselves. For a dollar, we just stop by to purchase certain toys that particularly pique our interest. When we found out they were carrying Madame Alexander--a line of dolls I used to collect as a child--Wizard of Oz figures, I knew I had to have them.) Anyway, what I didn't realize was that these particular toys had been discontinued the previous week! In desperation, we called around to every McDonald's in town, hoping that perhaps one might have a few extras stashed under a counter somewhere. None had Dorothy, although a couple did have duplicates of characters we had already collected. But after a final unsuccessful phone call to the main local office, we actually received a return phone call that they had located a Dorothy for us! And, when Darren stopped by to gratefully receive it, they presented it free of charge with a wish for our daughter's happy birthday! Caitlyn loved her cake so much, and was so surprised to see it when she returned home from taking Dylan to CCD that day with Darren. She had no idea what I had planned!

Earlier that morning we made a "Pin the Heart on the Tinman" game which we played later that evening. It was hilarious! Caitlyn was clearly the winner, as you can see from the photo I took of our results. Embarrassingly, Darren and I did not even try to give her a birthday girl advantage. :)

My dad came over after dinner to have cake and ice cream with us, and to open presents. I was so proud of the thoughtfulness Dylan displayed this year in selecting her gifts. Almost immediately after his Super Wilson party, he confided to me that he really wanted to order for Caitlyn her very own "Blue Girl Drawing Pad". "Blue Girl" is the name they've given a particular character that Caitlyn loves to draw, so I helped Dylan secretly scan one of her drawings into photoshop and he added the title as he wanted it to appear on her notebook. He helped me order it from Walgreens, and it arrived on her birthday just as we were sitting down to dinner! Needless to say, we were quite relieved. She was absolutely delighted to open it (along with her very own gel pens!) and she has already very nearly filled it's pages with her adorable drawings. Most mornings, it's the first thing she wants to do when she wakes up!

Another gift that Dylan created (and that I absolutely love) was a beautiful "Make your own necklace kit". We were both so charmed with the gorgeous paper beads Charlotte recently shared on her blog, but instead of actually making a necklace for Caitlyn, Dylan thought she would have much more fun making her own. So, he and I shared a few late nights making beads together, which he packaged with elastic string in a decorated zip lock bag. Darling!

Caitlyn also received from us a few of her very own special books, ones which we just knew she would love, including Fancy Nancy, Ladybug Girl (one of our affectionate nicknames for her is Caitybug), Pinkalicious, and Someday. Particularly, it's that last one that I knew I really had to have for her when, months earlier, I stood in Target after reading it cover to cover (upon the recommendation of a dear friend) with tears just streaming down my cheeks. It begins, "One day I counted your fingers and kissed each one..." and concludes with "Someday, a long time from now, your own hair will glow silver in the sun. And when that day comes, love, you will remember me." Sniff!