The party

Today we celebrated Annabelle's upcoming fifth birthday with a bonafide party. Lots of children, lots of parents, lots of food, lots of fun!


Though she looks tired, you can see she's got her dad's eyes.


I can imagine requests for riding a bigger horse are eminent...


Complete with old time country music playing over the loudspeakers.


I found a very yummy grain-free, dairy-free cake. The best I've tasted. Dinosaurs by request!


Papa Frank had lots of hugs and smiles to share.


I thought two hours of unlimited pony rides would wear thin. But the children kept lining up over and over and over again. The bounce house couldn't compete and was a very distant second...


Annabelle is part bugling, didn't you know? (Dave and I are smiling, but we both know how tired we look... none of us slept well last night. Not sure if it was the anticipation or something else.)


Oma came ready to ride a pony too!


Vegetable sushi, pineapple, grapes, and mango rounded out the snack table.


This woman is my hero. AND she's super nice. AND she has a great sense of humor! She rolled twenty sushi rolls for the party, "Just because." She and I took a bunch of picture of each other just so we could laugh at ourselves... here she is laughing at how bad the previous picture was that I took of her.


The mango and the lemon meringues were favorites.


Unlimited train rides were a hit too.


I couldn't resist that tail!