Happy Birthday Naomi!

I can't believe my baby girl is 5!  Even more than that I can't believe she'll only be my baby girl for about another two months.  And yes, she is very much the baby of the family, but she is so excited about becoming a big sister.  Here she is in her "pop star" outfit from Sarah Ann and family.  I wish I had a video of the concert that the two of them put on at her family birthday party but I didn't get one.  Pretty sure there was some singing about baseball (they are both starting t-ball soon) and some other really random things.
Naomi is such a joy to our family and is just becoming the SWEETEST little thing in the world.  She has a huge heart and is always looking out for her sisters and cousins- wants to make sure everyone around her is happy. (yes, of course she has her moments of completely aggravating her sisters and cousins as well).  She throws herself passionately into everything she does.  Nomi, we all love you so much! 

This was the first year that we have been in the states for Naomi's birthday so we decided to just have a big family party and do barbecue and birthday cake at mom and dad's house.  Jason and I got back from our anniversary trip just a few days before I was planning on having the party and Jason convinced me that I didn't need to stress myself out by trying to make her a fancy birthday cake.  I love doing birthday cakes for the girls so I didn't want to NOT do it but I realized he was right about the stress of trying to do a fancy cake without any of my Wilton cake decorating stuff and very little time.  So instead we thought she would enjoy an ice cream cake that she could pick out herself.  When I first asked her if she wanted an ice cream cake she responded with, "Yes, we can make a big cake shaped just like an ice cream cone!"  No,no, no- point missed completely.  So the next day I took her by Ben and Jerry's to show her what I meant.  She was thrilled to get to flip through the "cake book" and pick out her own design and her own flavors of ice cream.  And let me tell you, a Ben and Jerry's ice cream cake with cookies and cream and strawberry ice cream AND chocolate chip cookies for the base- darn good (and that's not just because I"m pregnant...) .  It was a huge hit!

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(for some reason, I was a little off my game at this party and failed to get a picture of the birthday girl and her cake but you get the idea....)

Presents were flying right and left with lots of help from her cousins.  Pretty sure she had no idea what she had opened until we got home and looked back through everything the next day....  Admittedly, the adults in the room were a little distracted by the Tigers getting slaughtered by Rice in the background..

My sis-in-law Liz, is an AMAZING baker and she made these adorable cookies along the ice cream cone theme...

Thomas enjoying his cookie...

Baby Michael on the move...

By the end of the night, I think all the kids had a major sugar high.  Ice cream cake...

Cookies...

(look at Sarah Ann's eyes!)...

Oh, and I almost forgot- birthday punch!  Click here for this yummy and easy recipe...

These two cousins are so silly and funny together.  Pretty sure they were doing "cheers" with the birthday candles here.  We're having Sarah Ann come sleep over tonight so there should be plenty of good stories to go with that!  

 (can you tell Naomi adores her cousin?)

Happy Birthday Big Girl!  We love you!