Kara's Fifth Birthday

Kara, my once-thought "baby of the family", turned five on March 10th. I can't believe it. For her, this is a milestone which means she has to go to kindergarten and get five shots at the doctor. For me, it means another kid growing up, out of baby-hood, future and present attitude, less love and affection, and more money on bigger things. And, for some reason I have had a hard time getting past her third birthday. When people ask how old she is, I say three. I don't understand this, I don't do this with any of the other kids. It must have something to do with me wanting to hold on to her cute baby period when she was so sweet, or maybe the fact that I had it in my mind when she was born that SHE would be the baby of the family. Now, she's the ornery center of every fight in this household, but she is still the sweetest girl when she wants to be.

On her birthday, Kara had a Cinderella cake and she requested chicken and dumplings for dinner. On the morning of her birthday, Beth, our neighbor and stand in grandma, had left Kara a balloon (which they always love) and a card with a gift card to Toys R Us on our porch. Kara was excited that the festivities had begun already! Aunt Nancy had gotten her 2 outfits and some new goggles for the pool. Kara opened all her presents from us and was the cutest thing. She was so grateful for all the clothes she had gotten and ran over to Ron and I and thanked us both. She had begged for the American Girl, Elizabeth, and I bought that doll out of sheer guilt (after which Ron explained, if he found that doll laying around after a month, he was going to beat my ass!). The horrible part was that after opening all those spring clothes, Kara was satisfied and didn't even ASK if that was it. I hadn't put Elizabeth out yet and brought her out later. She WAS surprised and loved it, but for 90$, I could have skipped it and gotten away with it!