"There are two great days in a person's life - the day we are born and the day we discover why."
-William Barclay
When we woke up this morning we were greeted by a very excited five year old. She jumped up on the bed like a kid on Christmas morning. When she ran out of the room, the realization kicked in. She’s five. FIVE. I still remember the late nights, holding her while she fell asleep. I remember her first smile, the crab crawl, wobbly steps, and all the firsts in a long line of firsts that led to this morning. I’m afraid to blink, because then she’ll be ten, then driving at 16, and then leaving the house for college a few years after. I’m not ready.
For now she’s still five, James is two, and Isla isn’t even one. It won’t be this way forever.
The week did not start with a birthday, it started with dinner at Grandma and Grandpa’s with the Wolfe family. Ashlyn and James made a mess as they always do but they cleaned up some of it afterwards.
Back to where started on the blog, when the birthday girl got downstairs on Sunday she dumped out a box of birthday presents and tore into them. The rest of the morning before the annual trip to the zoo was spent catching bugs and swimming with a mermaid tail.
As is our tradition every year, we went to the zoo for Ashlyn’s birthday. Nina and Papa joined us and kept the kids entertained with pounds of sugar, which in turn made them absolute joys to be around when we got home (thanks Nina and Papa!). The zoo itself was fun as always, the favorite events being the bird feeding and carousel.
Because one birthday isn’t enough, we’ll have two more next weekend. One with friends and one with family. Spoiled, right? She’s worth it though. Happy birthday little one.