Sophia's 5th birthday (part 2)

Sophia spent the day of her birthday opening breakfast presents, ski lessons, swimming, more presents, dinner with a huge chocolate cake (which she shared with all of the families at the tables around us), and finally collapsed into bed, a very tired & thrilled 5 year old!

Sophia's 5th birthday!!

I cannot believe our little girl is 5! She was so excited to celebrate her special day, and she actually had 2 celebrations, one at school the day before vacation & another on her birthday in the mountains!

The amazing thing about Sophia's birthday, is that it usually falls somewhere around the feast before the fasting, and this year was perfect.

At school the kids were encouraged to wear "fancy dress" (costumes for the US folks), and we had her birthday celebration in the morning with all the kids dressed up. Nana & Alexandra were with us, and we all sang to her (without her getting embarrassed at all!!), and then Sophia walked Nana all around the classroom during recess... She was so proud to show off her work!

Sophia's Birthday Party

A Birthday Balloon tail. Sophia loves having a tail, and has been "little puppy" most of the week.
Birthday cake & candles ~ Sophia actually blew out her own candles this year (with a little help from her buddy Jackson.) Previous birthdays she has gotten so nervous & shy when the birthday song starts that she becomes frozen in place.

Chaos & kids at the birthday table (cupcake decorating catastrophe's & explosions)
Sophia's new bike! (sorry the flash setting was a bit off). The Hallway has gotten lots of use this week.

Sophia is 4!

Sophia being helped by Sita (one of her favorite teachers) to pass out her birthday cupcakes at school. She did a great job, and then passed around the leftover gummy bears "one for you, one for me" to the kids at her preschool.

Sophia turns 3!

Sophia waiting for cupcakes with Ava & Nana

Blowing her own birthday horn with a head full of bubbles...

Celebrating with our friends Constance & Marc (Constance was only 1 month old at Sophia's birthday party last year!)

Sophia riding her new scooter with her Hello Kitty princess Mirror (it's hard to give up one toy to play with another on your birthday.)

Her first party with Taki (opa) the greek bear, Tiger, and Flora.

We decided to spread Sophia's birthday celebrations out over a few days. We had a party with friends on Sunday afternoon, and then Monday night had a family dinner with more presents. Then Troy was traveling on Tuesday, so she had to have presents to make up for the fact that daddy was gone, then more on Wednesday because it was Nana's last day. Over all I think she is left with the fact that you can have presents or treats for any reason at any time. That is a very powerful thought for a 3 year old to have in her mind.

We always notice when we go to the states for a vacation or holiday that Sophia goes thru a language explosion while we are there. I think not having the competing languages & just being able to concentrate on one allows her mind to absorb everything she hears. After the visit from Nana the last 2 weeks I think we can safely make the same assumption about visits from our family. Today we were having discussions about where we all were traveling to (a huge fascination since Nana left - Where did she go? How did she get there? Where is she now?) and Sophia announced that she was going to be traveling to London (to Buck Palace of all places), and daddy would be going to Germany. When I asked where I would be going, Sophia told me I would be going to "Spanish" of all places. Given the tapas restaurant we were at last night I thought that was rather appropriate, and with the weather the way it is now (Seattle-ish with lots of rain & wind) I wouldn't really mind going to Spain, even if I have to go by myself.

Sophia's animal party

Before the other (live) guests arrived, Sophia had a private VIP birthday party with her friends Taki (aka Opa), Tiger and Flora.

Sophia's animal birthday party
Video sent by moyamz

Sophia's birthday cupcakes

Just a little video of the birthday girl with her cupcakes. She could hardly keep her hands off them! Enjoy!!

Sophia & the cupcakes
Video sent by moyamz