Happy 5th Birthday Anna

Today was Anna's 5th Birthday. It has taken some convincing on our part to make her believe that she is 5 and not 5 and a half. Always in a hurry to grow up. Speaking of growing up, as a gift and a reward for good behavior as of late, Anna earned the privilege of having her ears pierced. She has been asking to have them pierced for the last two years. I was 5 when I had my ears pierced and my Mom had to bribe me to stop crying in order to get my ears pierced so it seems only fitting that we had to do the same with Anna. A few weeks ago she was in the middle of a full blown tantrum over only having two candy corns instead of 3. She was so upset flailing around and screaming that she took her glasses from her face and snapped them right in half. I was so shocked I hardly knew what to do or how to react. We decided she no longer deserved to have her ears pierced but that she would have to "earn" the right to be a big girl, just as I did so many years ago. Anna did great the last few weeks and I think we all learned that she really can be a lot more in control than we all thought. She rightfully earned her earrings.

It was just the two of us as we headed to the mall to have them pierced. She told me up front that she wasn't going to cry. I told her that she could cry because it was going to hurt. We have been telling her for some time that it was going to hurt a lot to make sure that she was ready and really wanted to have it done. She wasn't at all worried. No surprise when the ears were pierced and she didn't even flinch. I was holding her hand trying to comfort her, but she needed no comfort. Not a tear. She was a amazing. She really is so tough. She has not cried for a vaccination probably since she was 2 or younger. When she had her tonsils out at 2 years old they said she would have to be hospitalized over night. She was so brave and doing so well that we were discharged within hours. She is amazing. She proves to be a challenge at times but with that said she is also one of the most loving people I know. She loves to be showered and shower others with affection. She wants nothing more than love, approval and affection. She is very nurturing and loves to play with small children. We recently watched a neighbors new baby for a few hours and she didn't leave the baby's side. She loved every second. Anna is such a sweetheart and we are grateful that she came to our family 5 years ago. We count her as one of our greatest blessings.

For weeks she has been asking that she have breakfast in bed for her birthday. This morning she was still counting on it even though she had already been awake for an hour or more. When we asked her to hop back into bed to have her special breakfast as requested she didn't want to do that. She even insisted that she hadn't asked for that. Such a funny girl. I think truth be told she realized it would be more fun to have breakfast while watching Saturday morning cartoons.

After breakfast and some more cartoons, we headed down to the Big, red barn to pick this years pumpkins. This has been a birthday tradition for the past 3 years. We rode a tractor pulled hay ride down to the pumpkin patch to pick the best we could find. After finding our pumpkins the kids picked out treats, doughnuts of course. For dinner we had Hawaiian pizza, Anna's favorite, and had to do with a little Dora cake from the store since our attempted Princess cake that was originally meant to be a pink pony cake didn't cook in the middle and turned out to be a huge mess. After dinner the kids watched "Happy Feet" as Annas pick. Anna was sure to remind us several times a day that it was "her special day" She even got to pick out her own pack of gum at the store. I think it was a special day indeed. We sure love our Anna.